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Showing votes from 2024-01-16 11:30 to 2024-01-19 12:30 | Next meeting is Friday Oct 25th, 11:30 am.
Sixty years after the publication of the seminal 3CR catalogue, astronomers are getting to grips with the nature of the radio emissions in active galaxies: black-hole-accretion- and star-formation-driven radio emissions occur in concert, with greatly varying contributions. However, what exactly drives the formation of jets remains to be solved. To jet or not to jet-that is the question!
We present an extended suite of the Auriga cosmological gravo-magnetohydrodynamical ``zoom-in'' simulations of 40 Milky Way-mass halos and 26 dwarf galaxy-mass halos run with the moving-mesh code Arepo. Auriga adopts the $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter ($\Lambda$CDM) cosmogony and includes a comprehensive galaxy formation physics model following the coupled cosmic evolution of dark matter, gas, stars, and supermassive black holes which has been shown to produce numerically well-converged galaxy properties for Milky Way-mass systems. We describe the first public data release of this augmented suite of Auriga simulations, which includes raw snapshots, group catalogues, merger trees, initial conditions, and supplementary data, as well as public analysis tools with worked examples of how to use the data. To demonstrate the value and robustness of the simulation predictions, we analyse a series of low-redshift global properties that compare well with many observed scaling relations, such as the Tully-Fisher relation, the star-forming main sequence, and HI gas fraction/disc thickness. Finally, we show that star-forming gas discs appear to build rotation and velocity dispersion rapidly for $z\gtrsim 3$ before they ``settle'' into ever-increasing rotation-dispersion ratios ($V/\sigma$). This evolution appears to be in rough agreement with some kinematic measurements from H$\alpha$ observations, and demonstrates an application of how to utilise the released data.
We present a framework to compute amplitudes for the gravitational analog of the Raman process, a quasi-elastic scattering of waves off compact objects, in worldline effective field theory (EFT). As an example, we calculate third post-Minkowskian (PM) order ($\mathcal{O}(G^3)$), or two-loop, phase shifts for the scattering of a massless scalar field including all tidal effects and dissipation. Our calculation unveils two sources of the classical renormalization-group flow of dynamical Love numbers: a universal running independent of the nature of the compact object, and a running self-induced by tides. Restricting to the black hole case, we find that our EFT phase shifts agree exactly with those from general relativity, provided that the relevant static Love numbers are set to zero. In addition, we carry out a complete matching of the leading scalar dynamical Love number required to renormalize a universal short scale divergence in the S-wave. Our results pave the way for systematic calculations of gravitational Raman scattering at higher PM orders.
We apply the hierarchical probabilistic SED model BayeSN to analyse a sample of 475 SNe Ia (0.015 < z < 0.4) from Foundation, DES3YR and PS1MD to investigate the properties of dust in their host galaxies. We jointly infer the dust law $R_V$ population distributions at the SED level in high- and low-mass galaxies simultaneously with dust-independent, intrinsic differences. We find an intrinsic mass step of $-0.049\pm0.016$ mag, at a significance of 3.1$\sigma$, when allowing for a constant intrinsic, achromatic magnitude offset. We additionally apply a model allowing for time- and wavelength-dependent intrinsic differences between SNe Ia in different mass bins, finding $\sim$2$\sigma$ differences in magnitude and colour around peak and 4.5$\sigma$ differences at later times. These intrinsic differences are inferred simultaneously with a difference in population mean $R_V$ of $\sim$2$\sigma$ significance, demonstrating that both intrinsic and extrinsic differences may play a role in causing the host galaxy mass step. We also consider a model which allows the mean of the $R_V$ distribution to linearly evolve with redshift but find no evidence for any evolution - we infer the gradient of this relation $\eta_R = -0.38\pm0.70$. In addition, we discuss in brief a new, GPU-accelerated Python implementation of BayeSN suitable for application to large surveys which is publicly available and can be used for future cosmological analyses; this code can be found here: https://github.com/bayesn/bayesn.
The thermal plasma filling the early universe generated a stochastic gravitational wave background that peaks in the microwave frequency range today. If the graviton production rate is expressed as a series in a fine-structure constant, $\alpha$, and the temperature over the Planck mass, $T^2_{ } / m_{\rm pl}^2$, then the lowest-order contributions come from single ($\sim \alpha T^2_{ }/m_{\rm pl}^2$) and double ($\sim T^4_{ }/m_{\rm pl}^4$) graviton production via $2\to 2$ scatterings. We show that in the Standard Model, single-graviton production dominates if the maximal temperature is smaller than $4\times 10^{18}_{ }$ GeV. This justifies previous calculations which relied solely on single-graviton production. We mention Beyond the Standard Model scenarios in which the single and double-graviton contributions could be of comparable magnitudes. Finally, we elaborate on what these results imply for the range of applicability of General Relativity as an effective theory.
Big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) probes the cosmic mass-energy density at temperatures $\sim 10$ MeV to $\sim 100$ keV. Here, we consider the effect of a cosmic matter-like species that is non-relativistic and pressureless during BBN. Such a component must decay; doing so during BBN can alter the baryon-to-photon ratio, $\eta$, and the effective number of neutrino species. We use light element abundances and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraints on $\eta$ and $N_\nu$ to place constraints on such a matter component. We find that electromagnetic decays heat the photons relative to neutrinos, and thus dilute the effective number of relativistic species to $N_{\rm eff} < 3$ for the case of three Standard Model neutrino species. Intriguingly, likelihood results based on {\em Planck} CMB data alone find $N_{\nu} = 2.800 \pm 0.294$, and when combined with standard BBN and the observations of D and \he4 give $N_{\nu} = 2.898 \pm 0.141$. While both results are consistent with the Standard Model, we find that a nonzero abundance of electromagnetically decaying matter gives a better fit to these results. Our best-fit results are for a matter species that decays entirely electromagnetically with a lifetime $\tau_X = 0.89 \ \rm sec$ and pre-decay density that is a fraction $\xi = (\rho_X/\rho_{\rm rad})|_{10 \ \rm MeV} = 0.0026$ of the radiation energy density at 10 MeV; similarly good fits are found over a range where $\xi \tau_X^{1/2}$ is constant. On the other hand, decaying matter often spoils the BBN+CMB concordance, and we present limits in the $(\tau_X,\xi)$ plane for both electromagnetic and invisible decays. For dark (invisible) decays, standard BBN (i.e. $\xi=0$) supplies the best fit. We end with a brief discussion of the impact of future measurements including CMB-S4.
In the theoretical framework of hierarchical structure formation, galaxy clusters evolve through continuous accretion and mergers of substructures. Cosmological simulations have revealed the best picture of the Universe as a 3-D filamentary network of dark-matter distribution called the cosmic web. Galaxy clusters are found to form at the nodes of this network and are the regions of high merging activity. Such mergers being highly energetic, contain a wealth of information about the dynamical evolution of structures in the Universe. Observational validation of this scenario needs a colossal effort to identify numerous events from all-sky surveys. Therefore, such efforts are sparse in literature and tend to focus on individual systems. In this work, we present an improved search algorithm for identifying interacting galaxy clusters and have successfully produced a comprehensive list of systems from SDSS DR-17. By proposing a set of physically motivated criteria, we classified these interacting clusters into two broad classes, 'merging' and 'pre-merging/postmerging' systems. Interestingly, as predicted by simulations, we found that most cases show cluster interaction along the prominent cosmic filaments of galaxy distribution (i.e., the proxy for DM filaments), with the most violent ones at their nodes. Moreover, we traced the imprint of interactions through multi-band signatures, such as diffuse cluster emissions in radio or X-rays. Although we could not find direct evidence of diffuse emission from connecting filaments and ridges; our catalogue of interacting clusters will ease locating such faintest emissions as data from sensitive telescopes like eROSITA or SKA, becomes accessible
As a prospective resolution of the Hubble tension, early dark energy (EDE) suffers from the coincidence problem, why EDE is active just at matter-radiation equality (equivalently why the slope of EDE potential is required to approximately equal to the Hubble parameter at that time). In this paper we present a dark-matter-trapped EDE mechanism, by which the bound on the slope of EDE potential can be relieved. We show how this mechanism can work, and discuss the possibility that after inflation ended EDE can settle down at the initial conditions required by observations.
We propose measuring the arrival time difference of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) along two adjacent sightlines as a new probe to dark matter substructures on scales down to $\sim 1\,$AU. We discuss two observational scenarios in which it may be possible to place interesting constraints on such models through monitoring repeating FRB sources: 1) By sending radio receivers to space to form a baseline of tens of AU or more and measuring the temporal variation of the arrival time difference between receivers. 2) By measuring the temporal variation of the arrival time difference between two lensed images of one strongly lensed repeater. In both scenarios, obtaining interesting constraints requires correlating the voltage time series to measure the radio-signal arrival time to sub-nanosecond precision. We find that two radio dishes separated by $20\,$AU may be sensitive to the enhancement of small-scale structures at $\sim 10^{-8}M_\odot$ masses in the QCD axion dark matter scenario or from an early epoch of matter-domination with a reheating temperature up to 60 MeV. Other dark matter models such as those composed of $\sim 10^{-13}M_{\odot}$ primordial black holes produced during inflation would also be probed by this method. We further show that a strong lensing situation of multiple images provides an equivalent $\sim 2000\,$AU baseline, which can be much more sensitive but with the uncertainty that intervening ISM decoherence may degrade the timing precision and that spatial variation in the FRB emission spot may result in confounding signals. We show that the lensing magnifications of Type Ia supernovea constrain a similar quantity to such FRB timing, with present limits being equivalent to ruling out the same parameter space that would be probed by a $0.14~$AU baseline.
Gravitational lensing by massive galaxy clusters distorts the observed cosmic microwave background (CMB) on arcminute scales, and these distortions carry information about cluster masses. Standard approaches to extracting cluster mass constraints from the CMB cluster lensing signal are either sub-optimal, ignore important physical or observational effects, are computationally intractable, or require additional work to turn the lensing measurements into constraints on cluster masses. We apply simulation based inference (SBI) using neural likelihood models to the problem. We show that in circumstances where the exact likelihood can be computed, the SBI constraints on cluster masses are in agreement with the exact likelihood, demonstrating that the SBI constraints are close to optimal. In scenarios where the exact likelihood cannot be feasibly computed, SBI still recovers unbiased estimates of individual cluster masses and combined constraints from multiple clusters. SBI will be a powerful tool for constraining the masses of galaxy clusters detected by future cosmic surveys. Code to run the analyses presented here will be made publicly available.
We analyze the formation of the redshifted hyperfine structure line 21-cm of hydrogen atoms in Dark Ages at $30\le z\le300$ in the different cosmologies. To study its dependence on the values of cosmological parameters and physical conditions in the intergalactic medium, the evolution of the global (sky-averaged) differential brightness temperature in this line was computed in standard and non-standard cosmological models with different parameters. The standard $\Lambda$CDM model with post-Planck parameters predicts a value of the differential brightness temperature in the center of the absorption line $\delta T_{br}\approx35$ mK at $z\approx87$. The frequency of the line in the absorption maximum is 16 MHz, the effective half-width of the line is 17 MHz. The depth of line is moderately sensitive to $\Omega_b$ and $H_0$, weakly sensitive to $\Omega_{dm}$, and insensitive to other parameters of the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. But line is very sensitive to the additional mechanisms of heating or cooling of baryonic matter during the Dark Ages, so it can be a good test of non-standard cosmological models. In the models with decaying and self-annihilating dark matter, as well as with a primordial stochastic magnetic field, the temperature of baryonic matter in this period is higher if the larger is the fraction of these energy components of dark matter and magnetic field strength. The absorption line becomes shallower, desappers and transitions to emission at values of the component parameters lower than the upper limits on them following from the current observational data. Estimates show that such spectral features may be detected by radio telescopes in the decameter wavelength range in the near future.
We analyze the possibilities of detecting a signal in the hydrogen 21 cm line, which was formed in the early universe during the Dark Ages, using the Ukrainian radio telescopes UTR-2 and GURT of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. As a result of cosmological expansion, this line is shifted to the decameter range of wavelengths ($\lambda_{obs}\approx18$ m, $\nu_{obs}\approx16$ MHz) and is in the band of operating frequencies of these telescopes. The brightness temperature of the predicted sky-averaged global signal ranges from $\sim-0.08$ to $\sim0.02$ K, depending on the cosmological model. Such a weak signal is a big challenge even for the world's largest radio telescope in the decameter wavelength range UTR-2, since the signal level of the synchrotron radiation of the Galaxy at these frequencies is 20,000-40,000 K. The paper highlights the peculiarities of spectroscopy at decameter waves, interfering factors of natural and instrumental origin and ways to eliminate them in order to reliably detect the signal in the 21 cm line, which can become an important source of information both about the environment in which the first stars and galaxies were born, and about the nature of dark matter particles and the magnitude of primordial magnetic fields. It was concluded that the detection of such a signal using the most sensitive radio telescopes of the decameter wavelength range is quite possible (with a frequency accumulation of 25 MHz, the detection time will be ~50 days) and can be implemented in the coming years of peace in Ukraine.
We investigate the nano-Hertz gravitational waves emitted by axion domain walls annihilation from the double level crossings. The double level crossings exists in the mass mixing between two axion fields, one of which is the $Z_{\mathcal N}$ QCD axion. Here we consider a general mixing case that the heavy and light mass eigenvalues do not necessarily have to coincide with the axion masses. In order to form the domain walls, the axions should start to oscillate slightly before the first level crossing, and the initial oscillation energy density should be large to climb over the barrier of potential. In this case, the axion dynamics has a chaotic run-away behavior, which is considered to be accompanied by domain walls formation. Then we investigate the gravitational waves emitted by axion domain walls annihilation, which is determined by their peak frequency and peak amplitude. Finally, we show the predicted nano-Hertz gravitational waves spectra from the double level crossings, which can be tested by the current and future pulsar timing array projects.
It is a fundamental unsolved question in general relativity how to unambiguously characterize the effective collective dynamics of an ensemble of fluid elements sourcing the local geometry, in the absence of exact symmetries. In a cosmological context this is sometimes referred to as the averaging problem. At the heart of this problem in relativity is the non-uniqueness of the choice of foliation within which the statistical properties of the local spacetime are quantified, which can lead to ambiguity in the formulated average theory. This has led to debate in the literature on how to best construct and view such a coarse-grained hydrodynamic theory. Here, we address this ambiguity by performing the first quantitative investigation of foliation dependence in cosmological spatial averaging. Starting from the aim of constructing slicing-independent integral functionals (volume, mass, entropy, etc.) as well as average functionals (mean density, average curvature, etc.) defined on spatial volume sections, we investigate infinitesimal foliation variations and derive results on the foliation dependence of functionals and on extremal leaves. Our results show that one may only identify fully foliation-independent integral functionals in special scenarios, requiring the existence of associated conserved currents. We then derive bounds on the foliation dependence of integral functionals for general scalar quantities under finite variations within physically motivated classes of foliations. Our findings provide tools that are useful for quantifying, eliminating or constraining the foliation dependence in cosmological averaging.
In this work, we have systematically investigated the Krylov complexity of the modified dispersion relation in inflation, using the algorithm in closed system and open system. Since many quantum gravitational frameworks could lead to this kind of modified dispersion relation, our analysis could be applied to the string cosmology, loop gravity, $\it e.t.c$. Following the Lanczos algorithm, we find the very early universe is an infinite, many-body, and maximal chaotic system. Our numerics shows that the Lanczos coefficient and Lyapunov index of the standard dispersion relation are mainly determined by the scale factor. As for the modified case, it is nearly determined by the momentum. In a method of the closed system, we discover that the Krylov complexity will show irregular oscillation before the horizon exits. The modified case will present faster growth after the horizon exists. As for the approach of an open system, we construct the exact wave function which is very robust only requiring the Lanczos coefficient proportional to $n$ (main quantum number). Based on it, we find the Krylov complexity and Krylov entropy could nicely recover in the case of a closed system under the weak dissipative approximation, in which our analysis shows that the evolution of Krylov complexity will not be the same with the original situation. Meanwhile, our numerics clearly shows the Krylov complexity will grow during the whole inflationary period. But for the small scales, there will be a peak after the horizon exits. Our analysis reveals that the dramatic change in background (inflation) will significantly impact the evolution of Krylov complexity. Since the curvature perturbation will transit from the classical level to the quantum level. We could expect that the decoherence will highly impact the Krylov complexity during inflation.
We propose a novel mechanism of electroweak baryogenesis based on the standard model only and explaining the coincidence between the baryon and dark matter densities in the Universe, as well as the observed value of the baryon-to-photon ratio. In our scenario, large curvature fluctuations slightly below the threshold for Primordial Black Hole (PBH) formation locally reheat the plasma above the sphaleron barrier when they collapse gravitationally but without forming a black hole. This rapid process can lead to a maximal baryogenesis in those regions at the Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) epoch at thermal temperatures between 20 MeV and 50 MeV. Compared to another mechanism relying on shock waves associated to the formation of PBHs, our mechanism instead applies to aborted PBHs. Using simulations in numerical relativity, we calculate the overdensity threshold for baryogenesis and show that the baryon-to-photon ratio is generically between two and three times larger than the relative abundance of PBHs formed at those temperatures. Finally, we show that PBH formation models at the QCD epoch leading to an abundance comparable to the dark matter could have generated a baryon density and an averaged baryon-to-photon ratio consistent with observations.
We study the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs) from density fluctuations due to supercooled phase transitions (PTs) triggered in an axion-like particle (ALP) model. We find that the mass of the PBHs is inversely correlated with the ALP decay constant $f_a$. For instance, for $f_a$ varying from ${\cal O}$(100 MeV) to ${\cal O}$($10^{12}$ GeV), the PBH mass varies between $(10^{3} - 10^{-24}) M_{\odot}$. We then identify the ALP parameter space where the PBH can account for the entire (or partial) dark matter fraction of the Universe, in a single (multi-component) dark matter scenario, with the ALP being the other dark matter candidate. The PBH parameter space ruled out by current cosmological and microlensing observations can thus be directly mapped onto the ALP parameter space, thus providing new bounds on ALPs, complementary to the laboratory and astrophysical ALP constraints. Similarly, depending on the ALP couplings to other Standard Model particles, the ALP constraints on $f_a$ can be translated into a lower bound on the PBH mass scale. Moreover, the supercooled PT leads to a potentially observable stochastic gravitational wave (GW) signal at future GW observatories, such as aLIGO, LISA and ET, that acts as another complementary probe of the ALPs, as well as of the PBH dark matter. Finally, we show that the recent NANOGrav signal of stochastic GW in the nHz frequency range can be explained in our model with $f_a\simeq (10~{\rm GeV}-1~{\rm TeV})$.
Understanding the statistical properties of synchrotron emission from our Galaxy is valuable from the perspective of observations targeting signals of cosmological origin, as well as for understanding physical processes in our Galaxy. In this work, we extend the analysis of arXiv:2104.00419v2 to -- (a) all-sky observed maps of total foreground emissions at different frequencies provided by WMAP, Planck and Stockert-Villa, (b) component separated synchrotron temperature maps provided by WMAP, Planck and BeyondPlanck, and (c) component separated polarization maps provided by WMAP and Planck. The tools we use are Minkowski functionals and tensors. Our main goals are twofold. First, we determine the variation of morphological properties of the total foreground maps with observing frequency and compare with simulations. This elucidates how the morphology varies due to the relative dominance of different foreground components at different frequencies. Next, we analyze the nature of non-Gaussianity and statistical isotropy of synchrotron fluctuations on smaller scales using various component separated synchrotron temperature and polarization maps. We find that all maps exhibit kurtosis non-Gaussianity, in agreement with the Haslam map. This result can be an important input for the modelling of small-scale synchrotron fluctuations for component separation pipelines. This also suggests that residual synchrotron contamination in CMB will manifest as kurtosis. Studying different component separated maps, we find that BeyondPlanck and WMAP MCMC-e agree well with Haslam at all scales. The other maps show differences of varying statistical significance. Our analysis suggests a combination of residual AME and/or free-free emissions and point sources as contributing to these differences, and underscores the need for further improvement of the pipelines.
Studies have proposed that there is evidence for cosmological coupling of black holes (BHs) with an index of $k\approx 3$; hence, BHs serve as the astrophysical source of dark energy. However, the data sample is limited for the redshifts of $\leq 2.5$. In recent years, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected many high-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and quasars. Among the JWST NIRSpec-/NIRCam-resolved AGNs, three are determined to be in early-type host galaxies with a redshift of $z\sim 4.5--7$. However, their $M_{\star}$ and $M_{\rm BH}$ are in tension with the predicted cosmological coupling of black holes with $k = 3$ at a confidence level of $\sim 2\sigma$, which challenges the hypothesis that BHs serve as the origin of dark energy. Future work on high-redshift AGNs using the JWST will further assess such a hypothesis by identifying more early-type host galaxies in the higher mass range.
Multiple theories have been proposed to describe the formation of black hole seeds in the early Universe and to explain the emergence of very massive black holes observed in the first billion years after Big Bang. Models consider different seeding and accretion scenarios, which require the detection and characterisation of black holes in the first few hundred million years after Big Bang to be validated. Here we present an extensive analysis of the JWST-NIRSpec spectrum of GN-z11, an exceptionally luminous galaxy at z=10.6, revealing the detection of the [NeIV]2423 and CII*1335 transitions (typical of Active Galactic Nuclei, AGN), as well as semi-forbidden nebular lines tracing gas densities higher than 10^9 cm-3, typical of the Broad Line Region of AGN. These spectral features indicate that GN-z11 hosts an accreting black hole. The spectrum also reveals a deep and blueshifted CIV1549 absorption trough, tracing an outflow with velocity 800-1000 km/s, likely driven by the AGN. Assuming local virial relations, we derive a black hole mass of log(M_BH/Msun) = 6.2 +- 0.3, accreting at about 5 times the Eddington rate. These properties are consistent with both heavy seeds scenarios, or scenarios envisaging intermediate/light seeds experiencing episodic super-Eddington phases. Our finding naturally explains the high luminosity of GN-z11 and can also provide an explanation for its exceptionally high nitrogen abundance.
We construct a theory of gravity in which a propagating massive vector field arises from a quadratic curvature invariant. The Einstein-Cartan formulation and a partial suppression of torsion ensure the absence of ghost and strong-coupling problems, as we prove with nonlinear Lagrangian and Hamiltonian analysis. Augmenting General Relativity with a propagating torsion vector, our theory provides a purely gravitational origin of Einstein-Proca models and constrains their parameter space. As an outlook to phenomenology, we discuss the gravitational production of fermionic dark matter.
We show that primordial black holes - in the observationally allowed mass window with $f_{\rm pbh}=1$ - formed from late nucleating patches in a first order phase transition imply upcoming gravitational wave interferometers will see a large stochastic background arising from the bubble collisions. As an example, we use a classically scale invariant $B-L$ model, in which the right handed neutrinos explain the neutrino masses and leptogenesis, and the dark matter consists of primordial black holes. The conclusion regarding the gravitational waves is, however, expected to hold model independently for black holes coming from such late nucleating patches.
We study the cancellation of quantum corrections on the superhorizon curvature perturbations from subhorizon physics beyond the single-clock inflation from the viewpoint of the cosmological soft theorem. As an example, we focus on the transient ultra-slow-roll inflation scenario and compute the one-loop quantum corrections to the power spectrum of curvature perturbations taking into account nontrivial surface terms in the action. We find that Maldacena's consistency relation is satisfied and guarantees the cancellation of contributions from the short-scale modes. As a corollary, primordial black hole production in single-field inflation scenarios is not excluded by perturbativity breakdown even for the sharp transition case in contrast to some recent claims in the literature. We also comment on the relation between the tadpole diagram in the in-in formalism and the shift of the elapsed time in the stochastic-$\delta N$ formalism. We find our argument is not directly generalisable to the tensor perturbations.
The circum-galactic medium (CGM) can feasibly be mapped by multiwavelength surveys covering broad swaths of the sky. With multiple large datasets becoming available in the near future, we develop a likelihood-free Deep Learning technique using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to infer broad-scale physical properties of a galaxy's CGM and its halo mass for the first time. Using CAMELS (Cosmology and Astrophysics with MachinE Learning Simulations) data, including IllustrisTNG, SIMBA, and Astrid models, we train CNNs on Soft X-ray and 21-cm (HI) radio 2D maps to trace hot and cool gas, respectively, around galaxies, groups, and clusters. Our CNNs offer the unique ability to train and test on ''multifield'' datasets comprised of both HI and X-ray maps, providing complementary information about physical CGM properties and improved inferences. Applying eRASS:4 survey limits shows that X-ray is not powerful enough to infer individual halos with masses $\log(M_{\rm{halo}}/M_{\odot}) < 12.5$. The multifield improves the inference for all halo masses. Generally, the CNN trained and tested on Astrid (SIMBA) can most (least) accurately infer CGM properties. Cross-simulation analysis -- training on one galaxy formation model and testing on another -- highlights the challenges of developing CNNs trained on a single model to marginalize over astrophysical uncertainties and perform robust inferences on real data. The next crucial step in improving the resulting inferences on physical CGM properties hinges on our ability to interpret these deep-learning models.
We apply state-of-the-art, likelihood-free statistical inference (machine-learning-based) techniques for reconstructing the spectral shape of a gravitational wave background (GWB). We focus on the reconstruction of an arbitrarily shaped signal by the LISA detector, but the method can be easily extended to either template-dependent signals, or to other detectors, as long as a characterisation of the instrumental noise is available. As proof of the technique, we quantify the ability of LISA to reconstruct signals of arbitrary spectral shape (${\it blind}$ reconstruction), considering a diversity of frequency profiles, and including astrophysical backgrounds in some cases. As a teaser of how the method can reconstruct signals characterised by a parameter-dependent template (${\it template}$ reconstruction), we present a dedicated study for power-law signals. While our technique has several advantages with respect to traditional MCMC methods, we validate it with the latter for concrete cases. This work opens the door for both fast and accurate Bayesian parameter estimation of GWBs, with essentially no computational overhead during the inference step. Our set of tools are integrated into the package ${\tt GWBackFinder}$, which is publicly available in https://github.com/AndronikiDimitriou/GWBackFinder.
The hydrogen 21-cm signal is predicted to be the richest probe of the young Universe including eras known as the cosmic Dark Ages, the Cosmic Dawn when the first star and black hole formed, and the Epoch of Reionization. This signal holds the key to deciphering processes that take place at the early stages of cosmic history. In this opinion piece, we discuss the potential scientific merit of lunar observations of the 21-cm signal and their advantages over more affordable terrestrial efforts. The moon is a prime location for radio cosmology which will enable precision observations of the low-frequency radio sky. The uniqueness of such observations is that they will provide an unparalleled opportunity to test cosmology and the nature of dark matter using the Dark Ages 21-cm signal. No less enticing is the opportunity to obtain a much clearer picture of Cosmic Dawn than what is achievable from the ground, which will allow us to probe properties of the first stars and black holes.
Cosmological parameters are constrained by a wide variety of observations. We examine the concordance diagram for modern measurements of the Hubble constant, the shape parameter from large scale structure, the cluster baryon fraction, and the age of the universe, all from non-CMB data. There is good agreement for $H_0 = 73.24 \pm 0.38\;\mathrm{km}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}\,\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ and $\Omega_m = 0.237 \pm 0.015$. This concordance value is indistinguishable from the WMAP3 cosmology but is not consistent with that of Planck: there is a tension in $\Omega_m$ as well as $H_0$. These tensions have emerged as progressively higher multipoles have been incorporated into CMB fits. This temporal evolution is suggestive of a systematic effect in the analysis of CMB data at fine angular scales, and may be related to the observation of unexpectedly massive galaxies at high redshift. These are overabundant relative to $\Lambda$CDM predictions by an order of magnitude at $z > 7$. Such massive objects are anomalous and could cause gravitational lensing of the surface of last scattering in excess of the standard calculation made in CMB fits, potentially skewing the best-fit cosmological parameters and contributing to the Hubble tension.
We present an updated analysis of eleven cosmological models that may help reduce the Hubble tension, which now reaches the $6\sigma$ level when considering the latest SH0ES measurement versus recent CMB and BAO data, assuming $\Lambda$CDM. Specifically, we look at five classical extensions of $\Lambda$CDM (with massive neutrinos, spatial curvature, free-streaming or self-interacting relativistic relics, or dynamical dark energy) and six elaborate models featuring either a time-varying electron mass, early dark energy or some non-trivial interactions in the neutrino sector triggered by a light Majoron. We improve over previous works in several ways. We include the latest data from the South Pole Telescope as well as the most recent measurement of the Hubble rate by the SH0ES collaboration. We treat the summed neutrino mass as a free parameter in most of our models, which reveals interesting degeneracies and constraints. We define additional metrics to assess the potential of a model to reduce or even solve the Hubble tension. We validate an emulator that uses active learning to train itself during each parameter inference run for any arbitrary model. We find that the time-varying electron mass and the Majoron models are now ruled out at more than $3\sigma$. Models with a time-varying electron mass and spatial curvature or with early dark energy reduce the tension to 1.0-2.9$\sigma$. Nevertheless, none of the models considered in this work is favored with enough statistical significance to become the next concordance model of Cosmology.
We consider antisymmetric Metric-Affine Theories of Gravity with a Lagrangian containing the most general terms up to dimension four and search for theories that are ghost- and tachyon-free when expanded around flat space. We find new examples that propagate only the graviton and one other massive degree of freedom of spin zero, one or two. These models require terms of the form $(\nabla T)^2$ in the Lagrangian, that have been largely ignored in the literature.
Recently, Pandya et al. (2023) argued that the shapes of dwarf galaxies in JWST-CEERS observations show a prolate fraction that rises from ~25% at redshifts z=0.5-1 to ~50-80% at z=3-8. Here we suggest that this apparent change could result from a surface-brightness bias, favoring the detection of edge-on disks at low-luminosities and high-redshifts.
In this paper we describe the global on-sky calibration strategy of the LSPE-Strip instrument. Strip is a microwave telescope operating in the Q- and W-bands (central frequencies of 43 and 95 GHz respectively) from the Observatorio del Teide in Tenerife, with the goal to observe and characterise the polarised Galactic foreground emission, and complement the observations of the polarisation of the cosmic microwave background to be performed by the LSPE-SWIPE instrument and other similar experiments operating at higher frequencies to target the detection of the B-mode signal from the inflationary epoch of the Universe. Starting from basic assumptions on some of the instrument parameters (NET, 1/f noise knee frequency, beam properties, observing efficiency) we perform realistic simulations to study the level of accuracy that can be achieved through observations of bright celestial calibrators in the Strip footprint (sky fraction of 30 %) on the determination and characterisation of the main instrument parameters: global and relative gain factors (in intensity and in polarisation), polarisation direction, polarisation efficiency, leakage from intensity to polarisation, beams, window functions and pointing model.
In our galaxy, the white dwarfs (WDs) will inevitably capture the dark matter (DM) particles streaming through them, if there exist interactions between DM particles and nuclei/electrons. At the same time, these DM particles can also be evaporated by the nuclei/electrons in a WD if they have proper mass and the WD is not too cold. The evaporation of DM particles will lead to a faster cooling evolution than that predicted by the stellar evolution theory. In this work, we ascribe the faster cooling evolution of three observed WDs to the capture and evaporation of DM particles, and get the possible DM particle's mass and DM-electron cross section as follows: for $F(q) = 1$, $40\ \mathrm{MeV}/c^{2} \lesssim m_{\chi} \lesssim 70\ \mathrm{MeV}/c^{2}$ and $10^{-57} \mathrm{cm}^{2} \lesssim \sigma_{\chi,e} \lesssim 10^{-55} \mathrm{cm}^{2}$; for $F(q) = (\alpha m_{e})^{2}/q^{2}$, $30\ \mathrm{MeV}/c^{2} \lesssim m_{\chi} \lesssim 60\ \mathrm{MeV}/c^{2}$ and $10^{-53} \mathrm{cm}^{2} \lesssim \sigma_{\chi,e} \lesssim 10^{-51} \mathrm{cm}^{2}$. These results are beyond the detection capabilities of current direct detection experiments and should be cross checked by more novel scenarios in the future.
The Fourth Open Gravitational-wave Catalogue (4-OGC) presented parameter estimation analyses for a number of gravitational wave triggers which had not previously been presented in catalogues published by the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA Collaborations (LVK). In this paper we present an analysis of these new triggers using the same analysis workflow which was used to generate the GWTC-2.1 and GWTC-3 catalogues published by the LVK, using a comparable analysis configuration. We do not find any significant differences between our analysis and that previously presented by 4-OGC, providing a reassuring cross-check between two differing analysis techniques. We provide our parameter estimation results in a format comparable to those of the GWTC-3 data release.
Dirac delta distributionally sourced differential equations emerge in many dynamical physical systems from neuroscience to black hole perturbation theory. Most of these lack exact analytical solutions and are thus best tackled numerically. This work describes a generic numerical algorithm which constructs discontinuous spatial and temporal discretisations by operating on discontinuous Lagrange and Hermite interpolation formulae recovering higher order accuracy. It is shown by solving the distributionally sourced wave equation, which has analytical solutions, that numerical weak-form solutions can be recovered to high order accuracy by solving a first-order reduced system of ordinary differential equations. The method-of-lines framework is applied to the DiscoTEX algorithm i.e through discontinuous collocation with implicit-turned-explicit (IMTEX) integration methods which are symmetric and conserve symplectic structure. Furthermore, the main application of the algorithm is proved, for the first-time, by calculating the amplitude at any desired location within the numerical grid, including at the position (and at its right and left limit) where the wave- (or wave-like) equation is discontinuous via interpolation using DiscoTEX. This is shown, firstly by solving the wave- (or wave-like) equation and comparing the numerical weak-form solution to the exact solution. Finally, one shows how to reconstruct the scalar and gravitational metric perturbations from weak-form numerical solutions of a non-rotating black hole, which do not have known exact analytical solutions, and compare against state-of-the-art frequency domain results. One concludes by motivating how DiscoTEX, and related algorithms, open a promising new alternative Extreme-Mass-Ratio-Inspiral (EMRI)s waveform generation route via a self-consistent evolution for the gravitational self-force programme in the time-domain.
The type Ia supernova (SN Ia) SN 2020nlb was discovered in the Virgo Cluster galaxy M85 shortly after explosion. Here we present observations that include one of the earliest high-quality spectra and some of the earliest multi-colour photometry of a SN Ia to date. We calculated that SN 2020nlb faded 1.28+/-0.02 mag in the B band in the first 15d after maximum brightness. We independently fitted a power-law rise to the early flux in each filter, and found that the optical filters all give a consistent first light date estimate. In contrast to the earliest spectra of SN 2011fe, those of SN 2020nlb show strong absorption features from singly ionised metals, including Fe II and Ti II, indicating lower-excitation ejecta at the earliest times. The spectra of SN 2020nlb then evolve to become hotter and more similar to SN 2011fe as it brightens towards peak. We also obtained a sequence of nebular spectra that extend up to 594 days after maximum light, a phase out to which SNe Ia are rarely followed. The [Fe III]/[Fe II] flux ratio (as measured from emission lines in the optical spectra) begins to fall around 300 days after peak; by the +594d spectrum, the ionisation balance of the emitting region of the ejecta has shifted dramatically, with [Fe III] by then being completely absent. The final spectrum is almost identical to SN 2011fe at a similar epoch, and in sharp contrast to a late nebular spectrum of SN 1994D, which still displayed strong [Fe III] emission at these late times. Comparing our data to other SN Ia nebular spectra, there is a possible trend where SNe that were more luminous at peak tend to have a higher [Fe III]/[Fe II] flux ratio in the nebular phase, but there are also notable outliers. Finally, using light-curve fitting on our data, we estimate the distance modulus for M85 to be 30.99+/-0.19 mag, corresponding to a distance of 15.8^{+1.4}_{-1.3} Mpc.
Recent years have seen broad observational support for the presence of a clumpy component within the circumnuclear gas around SMBHs. In the X-ray band, individual clouds can manifest themselves when they transit the line of sight to the X-ray corona, temporarily obscuring the X-ray continuum and thereby indicating the characteristics and location of these clouds. X-ray flux monitoring with SRG/eROSITA has revealed that in the Seyfert 1 AGN EC 04570-5206, the soft X-ray flux dipped abruptly for about 10-18 months over 2020-2021, only to recover and then drop a second time by early 2022. Here, we investigate whether these flux dips and recoveries could be associated with cloud occultation events. We complemented the eROSITA scans with multiwavelength follow-up observations, including X-ray/UV observations with Swift, XMM-Newton, and NICER, along with ground-based optical photometric and spectroscopic observations to investigate the spectral and flux variability. XMM-Newton spectra confirm that the soft X-ray flux dips were caused by partial-covering obscuration by two separate clouds. The 2020-2021 event was caused by a cloud with column density near 1e22 /cm2 and a covering fraction near 0.6. The cloud in the 2022 event had a column density near 3e23 /cm2 and a covering fraction near 0.8. The optical/UV continuum flux varied minimally and the optical emission line spectra showed no variability in Balmer profiles or intensity. The transiting gas clouds are neutral or lowly-ionized, while the lower limits on their radial distances are commensurate with the dust sublimation zone (cloud 1) or the optical broad line region (cloud 2). One possible explanation is a dust-free, outflowing wind with embedded X-ray clumps. These events are the first cloud obscuration events detected in a Seyfert galaxy using eROSITA's X-ray monitoring capabilities.
Type Ia supernovae are the outcome of the explosion of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf in a close binary system. They are thought to be the main contributors to the galactic nucleosynthesis of iron-peak elements, with important contributions to the yields of intermediate mass elements. Recent analyses of the phase diagram of carbon and oxygen containing impurities such as $^{22}$Ne and $^{56}$Fe in conditions relevant to white dwarf interiors suggest that both isotopes can partially separate when the temperature of the star is low enough to start solidifying. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of such a segregation on the yields of the different chemical species synthesized during explosions. A one-dimensional supernova code has been used to evaluate the impact of the sedimentation assuming different degrees of chemical separation. It is found that the main properties of the ejecta, kinetic energy and ejected mass of $^{56}$Ni do only vary slightly when the separation is taken into account. However, the yields of important isotopes that are used as diagnostic tools such as manganese can be strongly modified. Furthermore, the chemical segregation studied here is able to change several indicators related to progenitor metallicity (such as the mass ratio of calcium to sulphur in the ejecta or the UV flux of the supernova) and to its mass, whether it is a Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf or a substantially lighter one (such as the imprint of stable nickel on late-time infrared spectra or those related to the presence of radioactive nickel at the centre of the ejecta).
We present a search for intraday transient gamma-ray signals using 15 years of the Fermi Large Area Telescope data. The search is based on a recently developed variable-size sliding-time-window (VSSTW) analysis and aimed at studying variable gamma-ray emission from gamma-ray bursts and the Sun. We refined the algorithm for searches for transient sources in order to solve the search problem within a reasonable amount of CPU time. These refinements allowed us to increase the number of gamma-ray bursts, solar flares, and quiescent solar events detected with the VSSTW technique by several times compared to the previous VSSTW search. The current search revealed a new gamma-ray signal recorded with Fermi-LAT on 2018 January 12. This signal is probably from a GRB and deserves an exploration of the existing archival multi-wavelength observations in order to identify it in an unambiguous way. We furthermore report a gamma-ray signal from the solar flare on 2023 December 31 which occurred during the 25th solar cycle.
This article is the rapporteur's summary of the cosmic ray indirect sessions of the 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference in Nagoya, Japan. The rapporteur highlights cosmic ray indirect observatories around the world, and reviews a selection of the latest results regarding the cosmic ray energy spectrum, mass composition, anisotropy, hadronic interaction models, theory, geophysics, interdisciplinary research, and future projects.
Diffusive Shock Acceleration, resulting from first-order Fermi acceleration occurring near Magnetohydrodynamic shock waves, is essential in explaining the power law spectrum in various astrophysical radiation and cosmic rays. We perform Monte Carlo simulations to model the stochastic scattering process in Fermi acceleration, capturing the confinement of particles around the shock within the ambient fluid. The model is tested and validated by comparing it with the spectral index obtained with analytical calculation. Assuming a relativistic EoS, we calculate the power-law spectral index for different diffusion coefficients. With constant diffusion co-efficient and stiffer EoS, the observed range of the spectral index is very narrow; however, as the EoS becomes softer, the range increases. With varying diffusion co-efficient stiffer EoS fails to give a well-defined spectral index (no linear spectrum); however, as the EoS becomes softer, the spectral index lies between $2-4$. For ultra-relativistic shocks, we consistently obtained a linear spectrum; however, the spectral index range varied considerably with the diffusion coefficient.
We present the first polarimetric analysis of Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (QPO) in a black hole binary utilizing \textit{IXPE} data. Our study focuses on Swift J1727.8--1613, which experienced a massive outburst that was observed by various telescopes across different wavelengths. The \textit{IXPE} observation we studied was conducted during the Hard-Intermediate state. The polarization degree (PD) and polarization angle (PA) were measured at 4.28$\pm$0.20\% and $1.9^{\circ}\pm1.4^{\circ}$, respectively. Remarkably, significant QPO signals were detected during this observation, with a QPO frequency of approximately 1.34 Hz and a fractional root-mean-square (RMS) amplitude of about 12.3\%. Furthermore, we conducted a phase-resolved analysis of the QPO using the Hilbert-Huang transform technique. The photon index showed a strong modulation with respect to the QPO phase. In contrast, the PD and PA exhibit no modulations in relation to the QPO phase, which is inconsistent with the expectation of the Lense-Thirring precession of the inner flow. Further theoretical studies are needed to conform with the observational results.
Neutron star magnetic field evolution is mediated through the Hall effect and Ohmic dissipation in the crust while ambipolar diffusion is taking place in the core. These effects have been studied in detail in either part of the star, however, their combined, simultaneous evolution and interplay has not been explored in detail yet. Here, we present simulation results of the simultaneous evolution of the magnetic field in the core due to ambipolar diffusion and the crust due to Hall effect and Ohmic decay, under the assumption of axial symmetry. We find that a purely poloidal field generates a toroidal field in the crust, due to the Hall effect, that sinks into the core. A purely toroidal field remains toroidal and spreads into the core and the crust. Finally, for a mixed poloidal-toroidal field, the north-south symmetry is broken due to the Hall effect in the crust, however, ambipolar diffusion, tends to restore it. We examine the role of ambipolar diffusion to the magnetic field decay and we compare the rate of the conversion of magnetic field energy into heat, finding that it enhances the magnetic field decay in neutron stars.
The detailed structure of core-collapse supernova progenitors is crucial for studying supernova explosion engines and the corresponding multimessenger signals. In this paper, we investigate the influence of stellar rotation on binary systems consisting of a 30 solar mass donor star and a 20 solar mass accretor using the MESA stellar evolution code. We find that through mass transfer in binary systems, fast-rotating red- and blue-supergiant progenitors can be formed within a certain range of initial orbital periods, albeit the correlation is not linear. We also find that even with the same initial mass ratio of the binary system, the resulting final masses of the collapsars, the iron core masses, the compactness parameters, and the final rotational rates can vary widely and are sensitive to the initial orbital periods. For instance, the progenitors with strong convection form a thinner Si-shell and a wider O-shell compared to those in single-star systems. In addition, we conduct two-dimensional self-consistent core-collapse supernova simulations with neutrino transport for these rotating progenitors derived from binary stellar evolution. We find that the neutrino and gravitational-wave signatures of these binary progenitors could exhibit significant variations. Progenitors with larger compactness parameters produce more massive proto-neutron stars, have higher mass-accretion rates, and emit brighter neutrino luminosity and louder gravitational emissions. Finally, we observe stellar-mass black hole formation in some of our failed exploding models.
Forbush decreases (FDs) are short-term depressions in the galactic cosmic ray flux and one of the common signatures of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the heliosphere. They often show a two-step profile, the second one associated with the CMEs magnetic structure (flux rope, FR), which can be described by the recently developed model ForbMod. The aim of this study is to utilise ForbMod to develop a best-fit procedure to be applied on FR-related FDs as a convenient measurement tool. We develop a best-fit procedure that can be applied to a data series from an arbitrary detector. Thus, the basic procedure facilitates measurement estimation of the magnitude of the FR-related FD, with the possibility of being adapted for the energy response of a specific detector for a more advanced analysis. The non-linear fitting was performed by calculating all possible ForbMod curves constrained within the FR borders to the designated dataset and minimising the mean square error (MSE). In order to evaluate the performance of the ForbMod best-fit procedure, we used synthetic measurements produced by calculating the theoretical ForbMod curve for a specific example CME and then applying various effects to the data to mimic the imperfection of the real measurements. We also tested the ForbMod best-fit function on the real data, measured by detector F of the SOHO-EPHIN instrument on a sample containing 30 events, all of which have a distinct FD corresponding to the CMEs magnetic structure. Overall, we find that the ForbMod best-fit procedure performs similar to the traditional algorithm-based observational method, but with slightly smaller values for the FD amplitude, as it is taking into account the noise in the data. Furthermore, we find that the best-fit procedure has an advantage compared to the traditional method as it can estimate the FD amplitude even when there is a data gap at the onset of the FD.
By means of HARM\_COOL\_EOS, which is our code for conservative relativistic magnetohydrodynamics, we developed a new scheme for the simulation of a system formed after compact binary merger. Our code works with a tabulated equation of state of dense matter, accounts for the neutrino leakage, and follows the mass outflows via the tracer particle method. We discuss the numerical scheme, and present the recovery method included in our code. We also show results of a numerical simulation, addressed to the post-merger system after the coalescence of binary neutron stars, or a neutron star with a stellar mass black hole. The plasma is very neutron-rich, so the r-process nucleosynthesis in the ejected material may lead to unstable heavy isotopes creation. They are responsible for an electromagnetic signal, observed as a kilonova. In addition, the magnetized, neutrino-driven wind can act as a collimating mechanism for the relativistic jet.
Seyfert galaxy NGC 5252 harbors enormously extended ionization cones, which have been previously detected in the optical and X-ray band, offering a unique opportunity to investigate the interaction between the central active galactic nucleus (AGN) and the surrounding gas in the AGN host galaxy. We present deep Chandra imaging spectroscopy of NGC 5252 with a total exposure time of 230 ks. The morphology in the soft X-rays shows resolved extended structure from nucleus to a large radial distance, and for the first time we detect the outermost X-ray arc at $\sim$20 kpc. The X-ray cone mostly follows the direction of the optical ionization cones in the southeast and northwest direction, about 20 degrees misaligned with the major axis of the galactic disk of NGC 5252. Fitting the spectra extracted from radial sectors with photoionization models supports that extended emission is mainly photoionized by the central AGN. We also examine the variation of the photoionization parameter along the radial extension, and infer a decreasing ionizing continuum of the central engine by a factor of $\sim$50 over the past 64000 years. These findings are consistent with previous suggestion that NGC 5252 resembles a quasar relic with a $M\sim 10^9 M_{\odot}$ supermassive black hole, which went through a minor merger event and switched to a low accretion rate state.
Cen X-3 shows alternate spin-up/spin-down episodes lasting for tens of days. We study the orbital profiles and spectra of Cen X-3 during these spin-up/spin-down intervals, using long-term data monitored by Fermi/GBM, Swift/BAT and MAXI/GSC. In spin-up intervals, its orbital profile in 2-10 keV is symmetrically peaked around orbital phase 0.42, while in spin-down intervals of similar fluxes and similar magnitudes of spin change rate, its profile reaches a peak around orbital phase 0.22 and then declines gradually. Such a distinct orbital difference between spin-up and spin-down states of similar flux is hard to explain in the standard disk model and indicates that its torque reversals are related to processes on the orbital scale. The durations of continuous spin-up/spin-down trend (tens of days) also point to a superorbital variation. One possible scenario is the irradiation-driven warping disk instability, which may produce a flipped inner disk for tens of days.
We propose an innovative approach to the concurrent exploration of gravitational waves originating from Galactic binaries through the development of a new Local Maxima Particle Swarm Optimization (LMPSO) algorithm. Our methodology employs strategic Create Voids (CV) to streamline parameter space, maximizing the identification of local maxima for the $\mathcal{F}$-statistic even in the overlapped signals case. Subsequently, a ``find-real-$\mathcal{F}$-statistic-analysis", which implements the astrophysical models and properties of $\mathcal{F}$-statistic in parameter space, is conducted to reveal Galactic binary gravitational wave signals within the dataset. Our new approach eliminates inaccuracies associated with signal subtraction contamination, which is a challenge for traditional iterative-subtraction methods when addressing low signal-to-noise ratio signals (e.g., SNR $<$ 15). To demonstrate the efficacy of our approach, we utilize the residuals from the LISA mock data challenge (LDC1-4), where 10982 injection sources with optimal SNR $>$ 15 have been eliminated. The LMPSO-CV method efficiently identifies 8995 signals with a 47.7\% false source fraction or 3463 signals with a 26.9\% false source fraction when the correlation coefficient threshold is set to 0.8.
We discuss the possible association of an astrophysical neutrino (IC220405B) with the recently reported, extremely energetic tidal disruption event (TDE) candidate AT2021lwx (ZTF20abrbeie, aka ``Scary Barbie'') at redshift $z=0.995$. Although the TDE is about $2.6^\circ$ off the direction of the reconstructed neutrino event (${outside}$ the 90% C.L. localization region), the TDE candidate shares some important characteristics with so far reported neutrino-TDE associations: a strong infrared dust echo, high bolometric luminosity, a neutrino time delay with respect to the peak mass accretion rate of the order of hundred days, and a high observed X-ray luminosity. We interpret this new association using an isotropic emission model, where neutrinos are produced by the collision of accelerated protons with infrared photons. After accounting for the high redshift of AT2021lwx (by interpreting the data in the SMBH frame), we find that the expected neutrino fluences and neutrino time delays are qualitatively comparable to the other TDEs. Since data are only available up to 300 days post-peak in the SMBH frame, significant uncertainties exist in the dust echo interpretation, and therefore in the predicted number of neutrinos detected, $\mathcal N_{\nu}\simeq3.0\times10^{-3}-0.012$. We recommend further follow-up on this object for an extended period, and suggest refining the reconstruction the neutrino arrival direction in this particular case.
The nonresonant streaming instability (Bell instability) plays a pivotal role in the acceleration and confinement of cosmic rays (CRs); yet, the exact mechanism responsible for its saturation and the magnitude of the final amplified magnetic field have not been assessed from first-principles. Using a survey of hybrid simulations (with kinetic ions and fluid electrons), we study the evolution of the Bell instability as a function of the parameters of the CR population. We find that, at saturation, the magnetic pressure in the amplified field is comparable with the initial CR anisotropic pressure, rather than with the CR energy flux as previously argued. These results provide a predictive prescription for the total magnetic field amplification expected in the many astrophysical environments where the Bell instability is important.
The optimal statistic (OS) is a frequentist estimator for the amplitude and significance of a spatially-correlated signal in pulsar timing array (PTA) data, and it is widely used to search for the gravitational wave background (GWB). However, the OS cannot perfectly distinguish between different spatial correlations. In this paper, we introduce the multiple component optimal statistic (MCOS): a generalization of the OS that allows for multiple correlations to be simultaneously fit to the data. We use simulated data to show that this method more accurately recovers injected spatially correlated signals, and in particular reduces the risk of a false detection of a signal with the wrong spatial correlation. We also demonstrate that this method can be used to recover multiple correlated signals.
NGC 4151, a nearby Seyfert galaxy, has recently been reported to emit gamma rays in the GeV range, posing an intriguing astrophysical mystery. The star formation rate of NGC 4151 is too low to explain the observed GeV flux, but the galaxy is known for its coronal activity in X-ray and jet activity in radio. We propose that either the combination of these two activities or the jet activity alone can account for the gamma-ray spectrum. An energy-dependent variability search will allow one to distinguish between the two scenarios, as the coronal component can only contribute at energies of $\lesssim1$ GeV. Our analysis also indicates that it might still be difficult to see coronal neutrinos from the apparently X-ray brightest Seyfert NGC 4151 with current-generation neutrino observatories.
The Fermi-LAT observations of SN 2023ixf, a Type II supernova in the nearby Pinwheel Galaxy, Messier 101 (M101), presents us with an excellent opportunity to constrain MeV-scale Axion-Like Particles (ALPs). By examining the photon decay signature from heavy ALPs that could be produced in the explosion, the existing constraints on the ALP-photon coupling can be improved, under optimistic assumptions, by up to a factor of $ \sim 2 $ for masses $ m_a \lesssim 3 $ MeV. Under very conservative assumptions, we find a bound that is slightly weaker than the existing ones for $ m_a \lesssim 0.5$ MeV. The exact reach of these searches depends mostly on properties of the SN progenitor. This study demonstrates the relevance of core-collapse supernovae, also beyond the Magellanic Clouds, as probes of fundamental physics.
We present a detailed study on SN2019szu, a Type I superluminous supernova at $z=0.213$, that displayed unique photometric and spectroscopic properties. Pan-STARRS and ZTF forced photometry shows a pre-explosion plateau lasting $\sim$ 40 days. Unlike other SLSNe that show decreasing photospheric temperatures with time, the optical colours show an apparent temperature increase from $\sim$15000 K to $\sim$20000 K over the first 70 days, likely caused by an additional pseudo-continuum in the spectrum. Remarkably, the spectrum displays a forbidden emission line even during the rising phase of the light curve, inconsistent with an apparently compact photosphere. We show that this early feature is [O II] $\lambda\lambda$7320,7330. We also see evidence for [O III] $\lambda\lambda$4959, 5007, and [O III] $\lambda$4363 further strengthening this line identification. Comparing with models for nebular emission, we find that the oxygen line fluxes and ratios can be reproduced with $\sim$0.25 M$_{\odot}$ of oxygen rich material with a density of $\sim10^{-15} \rm{g cm}^{-3}$. The low density suggests a circumstellar origin, but the early onset of the emission lines requires that this material was ejected within the final months before the terminal explosion, consistent with the timing of the precursor plateau. Interaction with denser material closer to the explosion likely produced the pseudo-continuum bluewards of $\sim$5500 \AA. We suggest that this event is one of the best candidates to date for a pulsational pair-instability ejection, with early pulses providing the low density material needed for the forbidden emission line, and collisions between the final shells of ejected material producing the pre-explosion plateau.
We show that ATLAS, a collider detector, can measure the flux of high-energy supernova neutrinos, which can be produced from days to months after the explosion. Using Monte Carlo simulations for predicted fluxes, we find at most $\mathcal{O}(0.1-1)$ starting events and $\mathcal{O}(10-100)$ throughgoing events from a supernova 10 kpc away. Possible Galactic supernovae from Betelgeuse and Eta Carinae are further analyzed as demonstrative examples. We argue that even with limited statistics, ATLAS has the ability to discriminate among flavors and between neutrinos and antineutrinos, making it an unique neutrino observatory so far unmatched in this capability.
In this paper, we present the discovery of a dual AGN in a $\sim$11:1 minor merger between the galaxy SDSS J125417.98+274004.6 and its unnamed dwarf satellite. We calculated stellar masses of the primary and secondary galaxy to be 2.5$\times$10$^{10}$M$_{\odot}$ and 2.2$\times$10$^{9}$M$_{\odot}$, respectively. We used archival Chandra X-ray observations to assess the presence of AGN. We found that both AGN have comparable luminosities of $\sim$2$\times$10$^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$, with the secondary AGN being more likely to be the dominant one. The galaxies are in the early stages of the merger and are connected by a tidal bridge. Previous works suggest that the secondary AGN should experience a brief but intensive period of Eddington-limit approaching accretion during the early stages of the merger. During the merger, the secondary black hole can increase its mass by a factor of ten. SDSS J125417.98+274004.6 is the first known dual AGN in an early-stage minor merger with a comparably or more luminous secondary AGN. As such, it will be of great value for future studies of merger-triggered accretion and black hole growth mechanisms.
The Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) is the main radiation field responsible for attenuating extragalactic gamma-ray emission at very high energies, but its precise spectral intensity is not fully determined. Therefore, disentangling propagation effects from the intrinsic spectral properties of gamma-ray sources (such as active galactic nuclei, AGN) is the primary challenge to interpreting observations of these objects. We present a Bayesian and Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach to simultaneously infer parameters characterizing the EBL and the intrinsic spectra in a combined fit of a set of sources, which has the advantage of easily incorporating the uncertainties of both sets of parameters into one another through marginalization of the posterior distribution. Taking a sample of synthetic blazars observed by the ideal CTA configuration, we study the effects on the EBL constraints of combining multiple observations and varying their exposure. We also apply the methodology to a set of 65 gamma-ray spectra of 36 different AGNs measured by current Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes, using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo as a solution to the difficult task of sampling in spaces with a high number of parameters. We find robust constraints in the mid-IR region while simultaneously obtaining intrinsic spectral parameters for all of these objects. In particular, we identify Markarian 501 (Mkn 501) flare data (HEGRA/1997) as essential for constraining the EBL above 30$\mu$m.
The purpose of this work is to describe the assumptions built into the X-ray spectrum fitting software XSPEC for the calculation of element abundances and emission measure of a plasma and to describe the effects when those assumptions are not accurate. The ratio of electron density to hydrogen density in XSPEC is fixed at a constant. The correct ratio can be calculated from the ionization states of the elements. We show the constant value used in XSPEC is valid to within 3.5% for a solar abundance plasma. For a plasma that deviates from solar abundance, such as hydrogen-poor or heavy element rich plasmas as found in the ejecta of supernova remnants, this ratio can smaller by factors of 0.1 to 0.001. The hydrogen emission measure, defined by integral of electron density times hydrogen density over plasma volume, is derived from the norm in XSPEC, but one needs to include the hydrogen abundance factor. For other elements, the emission measures are the XSPEC values multiplied by the element abundance factors. Using the correct electron-to-hydrogen ratio and emission measures, we show the correct electron density is smaller by the square root of the correct electron density ratio divided by the XSPEC value. Element densities and total masses (for given distance and volume) are larger by the abundance factors divided by the above square root. Because hydrogen-poor plasmas occur in the ejecta of Type Ia supernova remnants, previously estimated element masses from X-ray spectra are likely significantly underestimated.
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 $TXS~0506+056$.
White dwarfs are one of the densest form of matter following neutron star and black holes. A typical white dwarf is as massive as our sun has radius comparable to the earth. This paper reviewed the Fermi gas model Equation of State of white dwarfs and numerical computation of mass-radius and pressure density profile. A section in brief has been included for the calculation of average speed of electrons in the white dwarf environment.
We develop a new deconvolution method to improve the angular resolution of the Crab Nebula image taken by the Hitomi HXT. Here, we extend the Richardson-Lucy method by introducing two components for the nebula and the Crab pulsar with regularization for smoothness and flux, respectively, and deconvolving multi-pulse-phase images simultaneously. The deconvolved nebular image at the lowest energy band of 3.6--15 keV looks consistent with the Chandra X-ray image. Above 15 keV, we confirm that the NuSTAR's findings that the nebula size decreases in higher energy bands. We find that the north-east side of the nebula becomes dark in higher energy bands. Our deconvolution method can be applicable for any telescope images of faint diffuse objects containing a bright point source.
We performed radiative transfer calculations and observing simulations to reproduce the 1.3-mm dust-continuum and C$^{18}$O (2-1) images in the Class I protostar R CrA IRS7B-a, observed with the ALMA Large Program ``Early Planet Formation in Embedded Disks (eDisk)". We found that the dust disk model passively heated by the central protostar cannot reproduce the observed peak brightness temperature of the 1.3-mm continuum emission ($\sim$195 K), regardless of the assumptions about the dust opacity. Our calculation suggests that viscous accretion heating in the disk is required to reproduce the observed high brightness temperature. The observed intensity profile of the 1.3-mm dust-continuum emission along the disk minor axis is skewed toward the disk far side. Our modeling reveals that such an asymmetric intensity distribution requires flaring of the dust along the disk's vertical direction with the scale-height following $h/r \sim r^{0.3}$ as function of radius. These results are in sharp contrast to those of Class II disks, which show geometrically flat dust distributions and lower dust temperatures. From our modeling of the C$^{18}$O (2-1) emission, the outermost radius of the gas disk is estimated to be $\sim$80 au, larger than that of the dust disk ($\sim$62 au), to reproduce the observed distribution of the C$^{18}$O (2-1) emission in IRS 7B-a. Our modeling unveils a hot and thick dust disk plus a larger gas disk around one of the eDisk targets, which could be applicable to other protostellar sources in contrast to more evolved sources.
We compare observed with predicted distributions of galaxy stellar masses $M_*$ and galaxy rest-frame ultra-violet luminosities per unit bandwidth $L_{UV}$, in the redshift range $z = 2$ to 13. The comparison is presented as a function of the comoving warm dark matter free-streaming cut-off wavenumber $k_{fs}$. For this comparison the theory is a minimal extension of the Press-Schechter formalism with only two parameters: the star formation efficiency, and a proportionality factor between the star formation rate per galaxy and $L_{UV}$. These two parameters are fixed to their values obtained prior to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data. The purpose of this comparison is to identify if, and where, detailed astrophysical evolution is needed to account for the new JWST observations.
The second data release of ESA's $Gaia$ mission revealed numerous signatures of disequilibrium in the Milky Way's disc. These signatures are seen in the planar kinematics of stars, which manifest as ridges and ripples in $R-v_{\phi}$, and in vertical kinematics, where a prominent spiral is seen in the $z-v_z$ phase space. In this work, we show an equivalent $\Delta R-v_{\mathrm{R}}$ phase spiral forms following a perturbation to the disc. We demonstrate the behaviour of the $\Delta R-v_{\mathrm{R}}$ phase spirals in both a toy model and a high resolution $N$-body simulation of a satellite interaction. We then confront these models with the data, where we find partial $\Delta R-v_{\mathrm{R}}$ phase spirals in the Solar neighborhood using the most recent data from $Gaia$ DR3. This structure indicates ongoing radial phase mixing in the Galactic disc, suggesting a history of recent perturbations, either through internal or external (e.g., satellite) processes. Future work modelling the $z-v_z$ and $\Delta R-v_{\mathrm{R}}$ phase spirals in tandem may help break degeneracy's between possible origins of the perturbation.
This study involves a comparative analysis of the SFRs of AGN and non-AGN galaxies and of the SFRs of type 1 and 2 AGN. To carry out this investigation, we assembled a dataset consisting of 2\,677 X-ray AGN detected by the XMM-Newton observatory and a control sample of 64\,556 galaxies devoid of AGN. We generated SEDs for these objects using photometric data from the DES, VHS, and AllWISE surveys, and we harnessed the CIGALE code to extract measurements for the (host) galaxy properties. Our dataset encompasses sources spanning a range from $\rm 9.5<\log\,[M_*(M_\odot)]<12.0$, $\rm 42<\log\,[L_{X,2-10keV}(ergs^{-1})]<45.5$, and $\rm 0.3<z<2.5$. To compare SFRs, we calculated the SFR$_{norm}$ parameter. Our analysis revealed that AGN tend to exhibit elevated SFRs compared to non-AGN galaxies, particularly beyond a certain threshold in L$_X$. Notably, this threshold increases as we move towards more massive galaxies. Additionally, for AGN systems with the same L$_X$, the magnitude of the SFR$_{norm}$ decreases as we consider more massive galaxies. This suggests that in galaxies with AGN, the increase in SFR as a function of M$_*$ is not as prominent as in galaxies without AGN. This interpretation finds support in the shallower slope we identify in the X-ray star-forming MS in contrast to the galaxy MS. Employing CIGALE's measurements, we classified AGN into type 1 and type 2. In our investigation, we focused on a subset of 652 type 1 AGN and 293 type 2 AGN with $\rm 10.5<\log,[M_(M_\odot)]<11.5$. Based on our results, type 1 AGN display higher SFRs than type 2 AGN, at redshifts below $\rm z<1$. However, at higher redshifts, the SFRs of the two AGN populations tend to be similar. At redshifts $\rm z<1$, type 1 AGN show augmented SFRs in comparison to non-AGN galaxies. In contrast, type 2 AGN exhibit lower SFRs when compared to galaxies that do not host an AGN.
Clusters of galaxies at z>1 are expected to be increasingly active sites of star formation. To test this, an 850um survey was undertaken of eight high-redshift clusters at z=1.6-2.0 using SCUBA-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Mid-infrared properties were used to identify 53 probable counterparts to 45 SCUBA-2 sources with colours that suggested that the majority of these were likely to be cluster members. This uncovered a modest average projected overdensity of 850um-selected sources with far-infrared luminosities Lir>10^12Lo (SFR>100Mo/yr) and colours consistent with being cluster members of a factor of 4+/-1 within the central 1Mpc radius of the clusters. The submillimetre photometry of these galaxies was used to estimate the total cluster star formation rates. These showed that the mass-normalised rates in the clusters are two orders of magnitude higher than in local systems, evolving as (1+z)^(5.5+/-0.6). This rapid evolution means that the mass-normalised star formation rates in these clusters matched that of average halos in the field at z~1.8+/-0.2 marking the epoch where the local star formation-density relation reverses in massive halos. The estimated stellar masses of the cluster submillimetre galaxies suggest that their descendants will be amongst the most massive galaxies in z~0 clusters. This reinforces the suggestion that the majority of the massive early-type galaxy population in z~0 clusters were likely to have formed at z>1.5-2 through very active, but dust-obscured, starburst events.
Nearly a decade ago, we began to see indications that reionization-era galaxies power hard radiation fields rarely seen at lower redshift. Most striking were detections of nebular CIV emission in what appeared to be typical low mass galaxies, requiring an ample supply of 48 eV photons to triply ionize carbon. The nature of this population has long remained unclear owing to limitations of ground-based spectroscopy. We have obtained deep JWST/NIRSpec R=1000 spectroscopy of the two z>6 CIV-emitting galaxies known prior to JWST. Here we present a rest-UV to optical spectrum of one of these two systems, the multiply-imaged z=6.1 lensed galaxy RXCJ2248-ID. NIRCam imaging reveals two compact (<22pc) clumps separated by 220pc, with one comprising a dense concentration of massive stars ($>10,400M_{\odot}$/yr/kpc$^2$) formed in a recent burst. We stack spectra of 3 images of the galaxy (J=24.8-25.9), yielding a very deep spectrum providing a high S/N template of strong emission line sources at z>6. The spectrum reveals narrow high ionization lines (HeII, CIV, NIV]) with line ratios consistent with powering by massive stars. The rest-optical spectrum is dominated by very strong emission lines ([OIII] EW=2798\AA), albeit with weak emission from low-ionization transitions ([OIII]/[OII]=184). The electron density is found to be very high($6.4-31\times10^4$cm$^{-3}$) based on three UV transitions. The ionized gas is metal poor ($12+\log(\rm O/H)=7.43^{+0.17}_{-0.09}$), yet highly enriched in nitrogen ($\log(\rm N/O)=-0.39^{+0.11}_{-0.10}$). The spectrum appears broadly similar to that of GNz11 at z=10.6, without showing the same AGN signatures. We suggest that the hard radiation field and rapid nitrogen enrichment may be a short-lived phase that many z>6 galaxies go through as they undergo strong bursts of star formation. We comment on the potential link of such spectra to globular cluster formation.
We present new HI observations of the REionization-Limited HI Cloud (RELHIC) candidate, M94-CL9, detected around M94 by Zhou et al. using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST). M94-CL9's HI properties as detected by FAST are consistent with a RELHIC as noted by Benitez-Llambay & Navarro. Our observations with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) detect greater HI emission in M94-CL9 and result in HI properties that are larger (corrected velocity width, $W_{50,c,t}=35.7\pm0.6\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$; and integrated flux, $\int\mathrm{Sdv}=0.28\pm0.04\,\mathrm{Jy}\cdot\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$) than those found by Zhou et al. but that match those from the FAST All-Sky HI (FASHI) survey. These larger properties do not preclude M94-CL9 from being a RELHIC, but the wider spectral extent and spectral asymmetry reported here may be in tension with predictions of RELHIC properties.
We present observational evidence for a stellar Fundamental Metallicity Relation (FMR), a smooth relation between stellar mass, star-formation rate (SFR) and the light-weighted stellar metallicity of galaxies (analogous to the well-established gas-phase FMR). We use the flexible, non-parametric software pPXF to reconstruct simultaneously the star-formation and chemical-enrichment history of a representative sample of galaxies from the local MaNGA survey. We find that (i) the metallicity of individual galaxies increases with cosmic time and (ii) at all stellar masses, the metallicity of galaxies is progressively higher, moving from the star-burst region above the main sequence (MS) towards the passive galaxies below the MS, manifesting the stellar FMR. These findings are in qualitative agreement with theoretical expectations from IllustrisTNG, where we find a mass-weighted stellar FMR. The scatter is reduced when replacing the stellar mass $M_{*}$ with $M_{*}/R_{\rm e}$ (with $R_{\rm e}$ being the effective radius), in agreement with previous results using the velocity dispersion $\sigma_{\rm e}$, which correlates with $M_{*}/R_{\rm e}$. Our results point to starvation as the main physical process through which galaxies quench, showing that metal-poor gas accretion from the intergalactic/circumgalactic medium -- or the lack thereof -- plays an important role in galaxy evolution by simultaneously shaping both their star-formation and their metallicity evolutions, while outflows play a subordinate role. This interpretation is further supported by the additional finding of a young stellar FMR, tracing only the stellar populations formed in the last 300 Myr. This suggests a tight co-evolution of the chemical composition of both the gaseous interstellar medium and the stellar populations, where the gas-phase FMR is continuously imprinted onto the stars over cosmic times.
We present results from the first spatially resolved kinematic and dynamical modelling analysis of the unique SDSSJ0946+1006 ('Jackpot') triple-source lens system, where a single massive foreground $z\,=\,0.222$ galaxy multiple-images three background sources at different redshifts. Deep IFU spectroscopic data were obtained using the MUSE instrument on the VLT, which, compared to previous single-slit observations, provides full azimuthal area coverage, high sensitivity (5 hour integration) and high angular resolution ($0.5\,$arcsec FWHM). To account for the strong continuum contributions from the $z\,=\,0.609$ source, a multiple-component stellar template fitting technique is adopted to fit to the spectra of both the lens galaxy and the bright lensed background arc simultaneously. Through this, we robustly measure the first and second moments of the two-dimensional stellar kinematics out to about $10\,$kpc from the centre of the lens, as well as resolving the inner profile inwards to $\sim1\,$kpc. The two-dimensional kinematic maps show a steep velocity dispersion gradient and a clear rotational component. We constrain the characteristic properties of the stellar and dark matter (DM) mass components with a sufficiently flexible parameterised dynamical model and an imposed lensing mass and find a DM density slope of $\gamma\,=\,1.73\substack{+0.17 \\ -0.26}$, i.e. significantly steeper than an unmodified NFW profile ($\gamma\,=\,1$) and consistent with a contracted DM halo. Our fitted models have a lensing-equivalent density slope of $\eta\,=\,0.96\pm0.02$, and thus we confirm most pure lensing results in finding a near isothermal profile for this galaxy.
We use new 144 MHz observations over 5634 deg$^2$ from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) to compile the largest sample of uniformly-selected, spectroscopically-confirmed quasars from the 14th data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR14). Using the classical definition of radio-loudness, $R=\log(L_{\rm{1.4GHz}}/L_{i})$, we identify 3,697 radio-loud (RL) and 111,132 radio-quiet (RQ) sources at $0.6<z<3.4$. To study their properties, we develop a new rest-frame spectral stacking algorithm, designed with forthcoming massively-multiplexed spectroscopic surveys in mind, and use it to create high signal-to-noise composite spectra of each class, matched in redshift and absolute $i$-band magnitude. We show that RL quasars have redder continuum and enhanced [OII] emission than their RQ counterparts. These results persist when additionally matching in black hole mass, suggesting that this parameter is not the defining factor in making a QSO radio-loud. We find that these features are not gradually varying as a function of radio-loudness but are maintained even when probing deeper into the RQ population, indicating that a clear-cut division in radio-loudness is not apparent. Upon examining the star formation rates (SFRs) inferred from the [OII] emission line, with the contribution from AGN removed using the [NeV] line, we find that RL quasars have a significant excess of star-formation relative to RQ quasars out to $z=1.9$ at least. Given our findings, we suggest that radio-loud sources either preferably reside in gas-rich systems with rapidly-spinning black holes, or represent an earlier obscured phase of QSO evolution.
The properties of warm-hot gas around $\sim L_{*}$ galaxies can be studied with absorption lines from highly ionized metals. We predict Ne VIII column densities from cosmological zoom-in simulations of halos with masses in $\sim 10^{12}$ and $\sim 10^{13}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ from the FIRE project. Ne VIII traces the volume-filling, virial-temperature gas in $\sim 10^{12}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ halos. In $\sim 10^{13}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ halos the Ne VIII gas is clumpier, and biased towards the cooler part of the warm-hot phase. We compare the simulations to observations by the CASBaH and CUBS surveys. We show that when inferring halo masses from stellar masses to compare simulated and observed halos, it is important to account for the scatter in the stellar-mass-halo-mass relation, especially at $\,\mathrm{M}_{\star} \gtrsim 10^{10.5} \,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$. Median Ne VIII columns in the fiducial FIRE-2 model are about as high as observed upper limits allow, while the simulations analyzed do not reproduce the highest observed columns. This suggests that the median Ne VIII profiles predicted by the simulations are consistent with observations, but that the simulations may underpredict the scatter. We find similar agreement with analytical models that assume a product of the halo gas fraction and metallicity (relative to solar) $\sim 0.1$-$0.3$, indicating that observations are consistent with plausible CGM temperatures, metallicities, and gas masses. Variants of the FIRE simulations with a modified supernova feedback model and/or AGN feedback included (as well as some other cosmological simulations from the literature) more systematically underpredict Ne VIII columns. The circumgalactic Ne VIII observations therefore provide valuable constraints on simulations that otherwise predict realistic galaxy properties.
Photometrically derived stellar masses are known to suffer from systematic uncertainties, particularly due to nebular emission contributions to the spectral energy distribution. Using \emph{JWST} NIRCam imaging from the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS), we introduce a comparison study of photometrically-derived redshifts and stellar masses based on two photometric catalogs of the same field spanning $\sim$0.4-4.5$\mu$m: one consisting solely of wide band photometry, and another employing a combination of wide and medium band photometry. We find that \tilda70\% of galaxies have consistent photometric redshifts between both catalogs, with median stellar mass difference between the two catalogs of \lessthan\ 0.2 dex across all redshift bins. There are however a subset of galaxies (5\% at z\tilda2 up to 15\% at z\tilda6) where wide bands underestimate star formation rates and infer older stellar populations, leading to median stellar mass differences of \tilda0.7 dex. Examination of the SEDs for galaxies with inconsistent photometric redshifts shows this is caused by the inability of the wide bands to distinguish continuum emission from emission lines. Computing a stellar mass density with our sample we find that it is potentially underestimated using wide-band photometry by \tilda10-20\% at z \lessthan\ \ 4, and potentially overestimated by as much as a factor of 2-3 at z \greaterthan\ 5. These systematic differences caused by the poor spectral resolution of wide bands have implications for both ongoing and future planned observing programs which determine stellar mass and other physical properties of high redshift galaxies solely via wide band photometry.
We study little red dots (LRD) detected by JADES and covered by the SMILES MIRI survey. Our sample contains 31 sources, $\sim70$% detected in the two bluest MIRI bands, 40% in redder filters. The median/quartiles redshifts are $z=6.9_{5.9}^{7.7}$ (55% spectroscopic). We analyze the rest-frame ultraviolet through near/mid-infrared spectral energy distributions of LRDs combining NIRCam and MIRI observations, using a variety of modeling techniques that include emission from stars, dust, and (un)obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN). The NIRCam$-$MIRI colors, for $\geq10$ $\mu$m, are bluer than direct pure emission from AGN tori; the spectral slope flattens in the rest-frame near-infrared, consistent with a 1.6 $\mu$m stellar bump. Both observations imply that stellar emission makes the dominant contribution at these wavelengths, expediting a stellar mass estimation: the median/quartiles are $\log \mathrm{M_\star/M_\odot}=9.4_{9.1}^{9.7}$. The number density of LRDs is $10^{-4.0\pm0.1}$ Mpc$^{-3}$, accounting for $14\pm3$% of the global population of galaxies with similar redshifts and masses. The flat ultraviolet spectral range is dominated by young stars. The rest-frame near/mid-infrared (2-4 $\mu$m) spectral slope reveals significant amounts of dust (bolometric stellar attenuation $\sim3-4$ mag) heated by strong radiation fields arising from highly embedded compact sources. Our models imply $<0.4$ kpc heating knots, containing dust-enshrouded OB stars or an AGN producing a similar radiation field, obscured by $\mathrm{A(V)}>10$ mag. We conclude that LRDs are extremely intense and compact starburst galaxies with mass-weighted ages 5-10 Myr, very efficient in producing dust, their global energy output dominated by the direct and dust-recycled emission from OB stars, with some contribution from obscured AGN in the mid-infrared.
I present results of the analysis of a set of images obtained in the field of the Milky Way globular cluster NGC 6362 using the Dark Energy Camera, which is mounted in the 4.0m Victor Blanco telescope of the Cerro-Tololo Interamerican observatory. The cluster was selected as a science case for deep high-quality photometry because of the controversial observational findings and theoretical predictions on the existence of cluster tidal tails. The collected data allowed us to build an unprecedented deep cluster field color-magnitude diagram, from which I filtered stars to produce a stellar density map, to trace the stellar density variation as a function of the position angle for different concentric annulii centered on the cluster, and to construct a cluster stellar density radial profile. I also built a stellar density map from a synthetic color-magnitude diagram generated from a model of the stellar population distribution in the Milky Way. All the analysis approached converge toward a relatively smooth stellar density between 1 and $\sim$ 3.8 cluster Jacobi radii, with a slightly difference smaller than 2 times the background stellar density fluctuation between the mean stellar density of the south-eastern and that of north-western hemispheres, the latter being higher. Moreover, the spatial distribution of the recently claimed tidal tail stars agrees well not only with the observed composite star field distribution, but also with the region least affected by interstellar absorption. Nevertheless, I detected a low stellar density excess around the cluster Jacobi radius, from which I conclude that NGC 6362 present a thin extra tidal halo.
The study of binary stars in different astronomical environments offers insights into the dynamical state of the hosting stellar systems. The Binary Fraction in fact plays a crucial role in the dynamical evolution of stellar system, regulating processes like mass segregation and dynamical heating, and in some cases leading to the formation exotic object, like for instance blue straggler stars. We used two methodologies to estimate the binary fraction in three different-age open star clusters: FSR 866, NGC 1960 (M36), and Stock 2. The first, a photometric approach based on colour-magnitude diagram analysis, and the second, a spectroscopic technique which employs radial velocity measurements. We used Gaia DR3 data in tandem with new spectroscopic observations, and employed the DBSCAN clustering algorithm to identify probable cluster members based on proper motion and parallax in 3D space. The new sample of cluster members allows us to provide new estimates of the cluster fundamental parameters. As a by-product, we found two previously undetected, small physical groups of stars in the background of NGC 1960. The resulting binary fractions lie in the range 0.3 - 0.5 and are in good agreement with those expected theoretically for open clusters.
We investigate the 2023 season data from high-cadence microlensing surveys with the aim of detecting partially covered short-term signals and revealing their underlying astrophysical origins. Through this analysis, we ascertain that the signals observed in the lensing events KMT-2023-BLG-0416, KMT-2023-BLG-1454, and KMT-2023-BLG-1642 are of planetary origin. Considering the potential degeneracy caused by the partial coverage of signals, we thoroughly investigate the lensing-parameter plane. In the case of KMT-2023-BLG-0416, we have identified two solution sets, one with a planet-to-host mass ratio of $q\sim 10^{-2}$ and the other with $q\sim 6\times 10^{-5}$, within each of which there are two local solutions emerging due to the inner-outer degeneracy. For KMT-2023-BLG-1454, we discern four local solutions featuring mass ratios of $q\sim (1.7-4.3)\times 10^{-3}$. When it comes to KMT-2023-BLG-1642, we identified two locals with $q\sim (6-10)\times 10^{-3}$ resulting from the inner-outer degeneracy. We estimate the physical lens parameters by conducting Bayesian analyses based on the event time scale and Einstein radius. For KMT-2023-BLG-0416L, the host mass is $\sim 0.6~M_\odot$, and the planet mass is $\sim (6.1-6.7)~M_{\rm J}$ according to one set of solutions and $\sim 0.04~M_{\rm J}$ according to the other set of solutions. KMT-2023-BLG-1454Lb has a mass roughly half that of Jupiter, while KMT-2023-BLG-1646Lb has a mass in the range of between 1.1 to 1.3 times that of Jupiter, classifying them both as giant planets orbiting mid M-dwarf host stars with masses ranging from 0.13 to 0.17 solar masses.
Galaxy morphology offers significant insights into the evolutionary pathways and underlying physics of galaxies. As astronomical data grows with surveys such as Euclid and Vera C. Rubin , there is a need for tools to classify and analyze the vast numbers of galaxies that will be observed. In this work, we introduce a novel classification technique blending unsupervised clustering based on morphological metrics with the scalability of supervised Convolutional Neural Networks. We delve into a comparative analysis between the well-known CAS (Concentration, Asymmetry, and Smoothness) metrics and our newly proposed EGG (Entropy, Gini, and Gradient Pattern Analysis). Our choice of the EGG system stems from its separation-oriented metrics, maximizing morphological class contrast. We leverage relationships between metrics and morphological classes, leading to an internal agreement between unsupervised clustering and supervised classification. Applying our methodology to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, we obtain 95% of Overall Accuracy of purely unsupervised classification and when we replicate T-Type and visually classified galaxy catalogs with accuracy of 88% and 89% respectively, illustrating the method's practicality. Furthermore, the application to Hubble Space Telescope data heralds the potential for unsupervised exploration of a higher redshift range. A notable achievement is our 95% accuracy in unsupervised classification, a result that rivals when juxtaposed with Traditional Machine Learning and closely trails when compared to Deep Learning benchmarks.
The hosts of two low-luminosity high-z quasars, J2255+0251 and J2236+0032, were recently detected using JWST's NIRCam instrument. These represent the first high-z quasar host galaxy stellar detections and open a new window into studying high-z quasars. We examine the implications of the measured properties of J2255+0251 and J2236+0032 within the context of the hydrodynamic simulation BlueTides at z = 6.5. We find that these observed quasars fall on the BlueTides stellar to black hole mass relation and have similar luminosities to the brightest simulated quasars. We predict their star formation rates, estimating approximately $10^{2-3}$ $M_{\odot}/ \rm yr$ for both quasar hosts. J2255+0251 and J2236+0032's host galaxy radii also fall within estimates of the radii of the simulated host galaxies of similar luminosity quasars. We generate mock JWST NIRCam images of analogs to the observed quasars within BlueTides and perform a point source removal to illustrate both a qualitative and quantitative comparison of the measured and simulated radii and magnitudes. The quasar subtraction works well for similar luminosity quasars, and the recovered host images are consistent with what was observed for J2255+0251 and J2236+0032, further supporting the success of those observations. We also use our mock imaging pipeline to make predictions for the detection of J2255+0251 and J2236+0032's hosts in upcoming JWST observations. We anticipate that the simulation analogs of future high-z quasar host discoveries will allow us to make accurate predictions of their properties beyond the capabilities of JWST.
We present an analysis of the effects of spectral resolution and aperture scales on derived galaxy properties using far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectra of local star-forming galaxies from the International Ultraviolet Explorer (R~250, FOV~10"x20") and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope (R~15,000, FOV~2.5"). Using these spectra, we measured FUV luminosities, spectral slopes, dust attenuation, and equivalent widths. We find that galaxies with one dominant stellar cluster have FUV properties that are independent of aperture size, while galaxies with multiple bright clusters are sensitive to the total light fraction captured by the aperture. Additionally, we find significant correlations between the strength of stellar and interstellar absorption-lines and metallicity, indicating metallicity-dependent line-driven stellar winds and interstellar macroscopic gas flows shape the stellar and interstellar spectral lines, respectively. The observed line-strength versus metallicity relation of stellar-wind lines agrees with the prediction of population synthesis models for young starbursts. In particular, measurements of the strong stellar CIV 1548,1550 line provide an opportunity to determine stellar abundances as a complement to gas-phase abundances. We provide a relation between the equivalent width of the CIV line and the oxygen abundance of the galaxy. We discuss this relation in terms of the stellar-wind properties of massive stars. As the driving lines in stellar winds are mostly ionized iron species, the CIV line may eventually offer a method to probe alpha-element-to-iron ratios in star-forming galaxies once consistent models with non-solar abundance ratios are available. These results have important implications for the galaxy-scale, low-resolution observations of high-redshift galaxies from JWST (R~100-3,500).
We present a thorough investigation of the long standing sulfur anomaly enigma. Our analysis uses chemical abundances from the most extensive dataset available for 126 planetary nebulae (PNe) with improved accuracy and reduced uncertainties from a 10x10 degree Galactic bulge region. By using argon as a superior PNe metallicity indicator, the anomaly is significantly reduced and better constrained. For the first time in PNe we show sulfur alpha-element lock-step with both oxygen and argon. We dispel hypotheses that the anomaly originates from underestimation of higher sulfur ionization stages. Using a machine learning approach, we show that earlier ionization correction factor (ICFs) schemes contributed significantly to the anomaly. We find a correlation between the sulfur anomaly and the age/mass of PNe progenitors, with the anomaly either absent or significantly reduced in PNe with young progenitors. Despite inherent challenges and uncertainties, we link this to PNe dust chemistry, noting those with carbon-dust chemistry show a more pronounced anomaly. By integrating these findings, we provide a plausible explanation for the residual, reduced sulfur anomaly and propose its potential as an indicator of relative galaxy age compositions based on PNe.
Galaxy environment plays an important role in driving the transformation of galaxies from blue and star-forming to red and quenched. Recent works have focused on the role of cosmic web filaments in galaxy evolution and have suggested that stellar mass segregation, quenching of star formation and gas-stripping may occur within filaments. We study the relationship between distance to filament and the stellar mass, colour and HI gas content of galaxies using data from the REsolved Spectroscopy of a Local VolumE (RESOLVE) survey and Environmental COntext (ECO) catalogue, two overlapping census-style, volume-complete surveys. We use the Discrete Persistence Structures Extractor (DisPerSE) to identify cosmic web filaments over the full ECO area. We find that galaxies close to filaments have higher stellar masses, in agreement with previous results. Controlling for stellar mass, we find that galaxies also have redder colours and are more gas poor closer to filaments. When accounting for group membership and halo mass, we find that these trends in colour and gas content are dominated by the increasing prevalence of galaxy group environments close to filaments, particularly for high halo mass and low stellar mass galaxies. Filaments have an additional small effect on the gas content of galaxies in low-mass haloes, possibly due to cosmic web stripping.
We aimed to measure the CMF in the evolved W33-Main star-forming protocluster to compare it with CMF recently obtained in other Galactic star-forming regions, including the ones included in the ALMA-IMF program. We used observations from the ALMA-IMF large program: 2'x2' maps of emission from the continuum and selected lines at 1.3mm and 3mm observed by the ALMA 12m only antennas. Our angular resolution was typically 1'', that is 2400au at a distance of 2.4kpc. The lines we analysed are CO(2-1), SiO(5-4), N2H+(1-0), H41alpha as well as He41alpha blended with C41alpha. We built a census of dense cores in the region, and we measured the associated CMF based on a core-dependent temperature value. We confirmed the 'evolved' status of W33-Main by identifiying three HII regions within the field, and to a lesser extent based on the number and extension of N2H+ filaments. We produced a filtered core catalog of 94 candidates, that we refined to take into account the contamination of the continuum by free-free and line emission, obtaining 80 cores with masses that range from 0.03 to 13.2Msun. We fitted the resulting high-mass end of the CMF with a single power law of the form N(log(M)) ~ M^alpha, obtaining alpha = -1.44(+0.16)(-0.22), slightly steeper but consistent with the Salpeter index. We categorized our cores in pre- and protostellar, mostly based on outlow activity and hot core nature. We found the prestellar CMF to be steeper than a Salpeter-like distribution, and the protostellar CMF to be slightly top heavy. We found a higher proportion of cores within the HII regions and their surroundings than in the rest of the field. We also found that the cores' masses were rather low (maximum mass of 13Msun).
Recent works have used a linear birth metallicity gradient to estimate the evolution of the [Fe/H] profile in the Galactic disk over time, and infer stellar birth radii (R$_\text{birth}$) from [Fe/H] and age measurements. These estimates rely on the evolution of [Fe/H] at the Galactic center ([Fe/H](0, $\tau$)) and the birth metallicity gradient ($\nabla$[Fe/H]($\tau)$) over time -- quantities that are unknown and inferred under key assumptions. In this work, we use the sample of Milky Way/Andromeda analogues from the TNG50 simulation to investigate the ability to recover [Fe/H](R, $\tau$) and R$_\text{birth}$ in a variety of galaxies. Using stellar disk particles, we test the assumptions required in estimating R$_\text{birth}$, [Fe/H](0, $\tau$), and $\nabla$[Fe/H]($\tau)$ using recently proposed methods to understand when they are valid. We show that $\nabla$[Fe/H]($\tau)$ can be recovered in most galaxies to within 22% from the range in [Fe/H] across age, with better accuracy for more massive and stronger barred galaxies. We also find that the true central metallicity is unrepresentative of the genuine disk [Fe/H] profile; thus we propose to use a projected central metallicity instead. About half of the galaxies in our sample do not have a continuously enriching projected central metallicity, with a dilution in [Fe/H] correlating with mergers. Most importantly, galaxy-specific [Fe/H](R, $\tau$) can be constrained and confirmed by requiring the R$_\text{birth}$ distributions of mono-age, solar neighborhood populations to follow inside-out formation. We conclude that examining trends with R$_\text{birth}$ is valid for the Milky Way disk and similarly structured galaxies, where we expect R$_\text{birth}$ can be recovered to within 16% assuming today's measurement uncertainties in TNG50.
This paper discusses the B\"ohm-Vitense gap, a gap in the colours of stars that occurs when the atmosphere changes from radiative to convective in deep layers. We are using different algorithms for detecting gaps in colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs), including the k-nearest neighbours (k-NN) and UniDip algorithms. We propose using a combination of the k-NN algorithm and the UniDip algorithm and manual verification to identify gaps unlikely to be of a statistical origin. Using the $Gaia$ photometric system, i.e. BP-RP, we took the data of 130 star clusters and searched for gaps in the ranges of 0.40 to 0.47 mag, and 0.56 to 0.60 mag, respectively. We analysed all data statistically and identified the gaps in the individual clusters. Finally, we applied the kernel density estimator to see how the gaps are distributed.
We present TREVR2 (Tree-based REVerse Ray Tracing 2), a fast, general algorithm for computing the radiation field, suitable for both particle and mesh codes. It is designed to self-consistently evolve chemistry for zoomed-in astrophysical simulations, such as cosmological galaxies with both internal sources and prescribed background radiation, rather than large periodic volumes. Light is propagated until absorbed, with no imposed speed limit other than those due to opacity changes (e.g. ionization fronts). TREVR2 searches outward from receiving gas in discrete directions set by the HEALPIX algorithm (unlike its slower predecessor TREVR), accumulating optical depth and adding the flux due to sources combined into progressively larger tree cells with distance. We demonstrate $N_\textrm{active}\log_2 N$ execution time with absorption and many sources. This allows multi-band RT costs comparable to tree-based gravity and hydrodynamics, and the usual speed-up when active particles evolve on individual timesteps. Sources embedded in non-homogeneous absorbing material introduce systematic errors. We introduce transmission averaging instead of absorption averaging which dramatically reduces these systematic effects. We outline other ways to address systematics including an explicit complex source model. We demonstrate the overall performance of the method via a set of astrophysical test problems.
We present the second data release (DR2) of the Far-Infrared Polarimetric Large-Area CMZ Exploration (FIREPLACE) survey. This survey utilized the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera plus (HAWC+) instrument at 214 $\mu$m (E-band) to observe dust polarization throughout the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way. DR2 consists of observations that were obtained in 2022 covering the region of the CMZ extending roughly from the Brick to the Sgr C molecular clouds (corresponding to a roughly 1$^{\circ}$ $\times$ 0.75$^{\circ}$ region of the sky). We combine DR2 with the first FIREPLACE data release covering the Sgr B2 region to obtain full coverage of the CMZ (a 1.5$^{\circ}$ $\times$0.75$^{\circ}$ region of the sky). After applying total and polarized intensity significance cuts on the full FIREPLACE data set we obtain $\rm\sim$65,000 Nyquist-sampled polarization pseudovectors. The distribution of polarization pseudovectors confirms a bimodal distribution in the CMZ magnetic field orientations, recovering field components that are oriented predominantly parallel or perpendicular to the Galactic plane. These magnetic field orientations indicate possible connections between the previously observed parallel and perpendicular distributions. We also inspect the magnetic fields toward a set of prominent CMZ molecular clouds (the Brick, Three Little Pigs, 50 km s$\rm^{-1}$, Circum-nuclear Disk, CO 0.02-0.02, 20 km s$\rm^{-1}$, and Sgr C), revealing spatially varying magnetic fields that generally trace the morphologies of the clouds. We find evidence that compression from stellar winds and shear from tidal forces are prominent mechanisms influencing the structure of the magnetic fields observed within the clouds.
We compute parametric measurements of the Einstein-radius-enclosed total mass for 177 cluster-scale strong gravitational lenses identified by the ChicagO Optically-selected Lenses Located At the Margins of Public Surveys (COOL-LAMPS) collaboration with lens redshifts ranging from $\sim0.2$ to $\sim1.0$ using only two parameters: the Einstein radius and the brightest-cluster-galaxy (BCG) redshift. We constrain the Einstein-radius-enclosed luminosity and stellar mass by fitting parametric spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with aperture photometry from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS) in the $grz$ Dark Energy Camera (DECam) filters. We find that the BCG redshift, enclosed total mass, and enclosed luminosity are strongly correlated and well described by a planar relationship in 3D space. We also find that the enclosed total mass and stellar mass are correlated with a logarithmic slope of $0.443\pm0.035$, and the enclosed total mass and stellar-to-total mass fraction are correlated with a logarithmic slope of $-0.563\pm0.035$. The correlations described here can be used to validate strong lensing candidates in upcoming imaging surveys -- such as Rubin/Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) -- in which an algorithmic treatment of lensing systems will be needed due to the sheer volume of data these surveys will produce.
We present a novel method for anomaly detection in Solar System object data, in preparation for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. We train a deep autoencoder for anomaly detection and use the learned latent space to search for other interesting objects. We demonstrate the efficacy of the autoencoder approach by finding interesting examples, such as interstellar objects, and show that using the autoencoder, further examples of interesting classes can be found. We also investigate the limits of classic unsupervised approaches to anomaly detection through the generation of synthetic anomalies and evaluate the feasibility of using a supervised learning approach. Future work should consider expanding the feature space to increase the variety of anomalies that can be uncovered during the survey using an autoencoder.
The Ice Giants represent a unique and relatively poorly characterized class of planets that have been largely unexplored since the brief Voyager 2 flyby in the late 1980's. Uranus is particularly enigmatic, due to its extreme axial tilt, offset magnetic field, apparent low heat budget, mysteriously cool stratosphere and warm thermosphere, as well as a lack of well-defined, long-lived storm systems and distinct atmospheric features. All these characteristics make Uranus a scientifically intriguing target, particularly for missions able to complete in situ measurements. The 2023-2032 Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology prioritized a flagship orbiter and probe to explore Uranus with the intent to "...transform our knowledge of Ice Giants in general and the Uranian system in particular" (National Academies of Sciences and Medicine, 2022). In support of this recommendation, we present community-supported science questions, key measurements, and a suggested instrument suite that focuses on the exploration and characterization of the Uranian atmosphere by an in situ probe. The scope of these science questions encompasses the origin, evolution, and current processes that shape the Uranian atmosphere, and in turn the Uranian system overall. Addressing these questions will inform vital new insights about Uranus, Ice Giants and Gas Giants in general, the large population of Neptune-sized exoplanets, and the Solar System as a whole.
This study presents the implementation of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methodologies, particularly the fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), in prioritizing technosignatures (TSs) for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). By incorporating expert opinions and weighted criteria based on the established Axes of Merit, our analysis offers insights into the relative importance of various TSs. Notably, radio and optical communications are emphasized, in contrast to dark side illumination and starshades in transit. We introduce a new axis, Scale Sensitivity, designed to assess the variability of TS metrics. A sensitivity analysis confirms the robustness of our approach. Our findings, especially the highlighted significance of artifacts orbiting Earth, the Moon, or the Sun, indicate a need to broaden evaluative criteria within SETI research. This suggests an enhancement of the Axes of Merit, with a focus on addressing the plausibility of TSs. As the quest to resolve the profound question of our solitude in the cosmos continues, SETI efforts would benefit from exploring innovative prioritization methodologies that effectively quantify TS search strategies.
We report on recent progress in the development of Laue lenses for applications in hard X/soft gamma-ray astronomy. Here we focus on the realization of a sector of such a lens made of 11 bent Germanium crystals and describe the technological challenges involved in their positioning and alignment with adhesive-based bonding techniques. The accurate alignment and the uniformity of the curvature of the crystals are critical for achieving optimal X-ray focusing capabilities. We have assessed how the errors of misalignment with respect to the main orientation angles of the crystals affect the point spread function (PSF) of the image diffracted by a single sector. We have corroborated these results with simulations carried out with our physical model of the lens, based on a Monte Carlo ray-tracing technique, adopting the geometrical configuration of the Laue sector, the observed assembly accuracy and the measured curvatures of the crystals. An extrapolation of the performances achieved on a single sector to an entire Laue lens based on this model has shown that a PSF with half-power-diameter of 4.8 arcmin can be achieved with current technology. This has the potential to lead to a significant improvement in sensitivity of spectroscopic and polarimetric observations in the 50-600 keV band
Solar radio emissions provide several unique diagnostics to estimate different physical parameters of the solar corona, which are otherwise simply inaccessible. However, imaging the highly dynamic solar coronal emissions spanning a large range of angular scales at radio wavelengths is extremely challenging. At GHz frequencies, MeerKAT radio telescope is possibly globally the best-suited instrument at present for providing high-fidelity spectroscopic snapshot solar images. Here, we present the first published spectroscopic images of the Sun made using the observations with MeerKAT in the 880-1670 MHz band. This work demonstrates the high fidelity of spectroscopic snapshot MeerKAT solar images through a comparison with simulated radio images at MeerKAT frequencies. The observed images show extremely good morphological similarities with the simulated images. Our analysis shows that below ~900 MHz MeerKAT images can recover essentially the entire flux density from the large angular scale solar disc. Not surprisingly, at higher frequencies, the missing flux density can be as large as ~50%. However, it can potentially be estimated and corrected for. We believe once solar observation with MeerKAT is commissioned, it will enable a host of novel studies, open the door to a large unexplored phase space with significant discovery potential, and also pave the way for solar science with the upcoming Square Kilometre Array-Mid telescope, for which MeerKAT is a precursor.
Astronomical knowledge entities, such as celestial object identifiers, are crucial for literature retrieval and knowledge graph construction, and other research and applications in the field of astronomy. Traditional methods of extracting knowledge entities from texts face challenges like high manual effort, poor generalization, and costly maintenance. Consequently, there is a pressing need for improved methods to efficiently extract them. This study explores the potential of pre-trained Large Language Models (LLMs) to perform astronomical knowledge entity extraction (KEE) task from astrophysical journal articles using prompts. We propose a prompting strategy called Prompt-KEE, which includes five prompt elements, and design eight combination prompts based on them. Celestial object identifier and telescope name, two most typical astronomical knowledge entities, are selected to be experimental object. And we introduce four currently representative LLMs, namely Llama-2-70B, GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and Claude 2. To accommodate their token limitations, we construct two datasets: the full texts and paragraph collections of 30 articles. Leveraging the eight prompts, we test on full texts with GPT-4 and Claude 2, on paragraph collections with all LLMs. The experimental results demonstrated that pre-trained LLMs have the significant potential to perform KEE tasks in astrophysics journal articles, but there are differences in their performance. Furthermore, we analyze some important factors that influence the performance of LLMs in entity extraction and provide insights for future KEE tasks in astrophysical articles using LLMs.
Einstein's general relativity is the best available theory of gravity. In recent years, spectacular proofs of Einstein's theory have been conducted, which have aroused interest that goes far beyond the narrow circle of specialists. The aim of this work is to offer an elementary introduction to general relativity. In this first part, we introduce the geometric concepts that constitute the basis of Einstein's theory. In the second part we will use these concepts to explore the curved spacetime geometry of general relativity.
We develop a purely quantum theory based on the novel principle of relativity, termed the quantum principle of relativity, without introducing general relativity. We demonstrate that the essence of the principle of relativity can be naturally extended into the quantum realm, maintaining the identical structures of active and passive transformations. By employing this principle, we show that gravitational effects are naturally incorporated into the renormalizable theory, with general relativity emerging in the classical regime. We derive graviton propagators and provide several examples grounded in this novel theory.
In this paper, we study the viability and stability of anisotropic compact stars in the context of $f(\mathcal{Q})$ theory, where $\mathcal{Q}$ is non-metricity scalar. We use Finch-Skea solutions to investigate the physical properties of compact stars. To determine the values of unknown constants, we match internal spacetime with the exterior region at the boundary surface. Furthermore, we study the various physical quantities, including effective matter variables, energy conditions and equation of state parameters inside the considered compact stars. The equilibrium and stability states of the proposed compact stars are examined through the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation, causality condition, Herrera cracking approach and adiabatic index, respectively. It is found that viable and stable compact stars exist in $f(\mathcal{Q})$ theory as all the necessary conditions are satisfied.
Motivated by the first image of a black hole captured by the EHT, there has been a surge of research using observations of black hole shadows to test gravity theories. In this paper, we carry out the related study about shadow of Kerr black hole surrounded by a cloud of strings in Rastall gravity, which deviates from the Kerr black hole due to the presence of the string parameter $a_0$ and the parameter $\beta$. The horizons, ergospheres, and photon region of the black hole are shown. Moreover, we explore the shadow and observations of the black hole, which are closely linked to the parameters $a_0$ and $\beta$. Treating M87* as Kerr black hole surrounded by a cloud of strings under Rastall gravity, we constrain the black hole parameters by the EHT observations. For a given $\beta$, the circularity deviation of the black hole obeys $\Delta C\lesssim0.1$ in all regions. The angular diameter $\theta_{d}=42\pm3\mu as$ can give the upper bound of parameters $a$ and $a_0$ for fixed $\beta$. The shadow axis ratio satisfies the observation data of EHT ($1<D_x\lesssim4/3$) in the whole space for a given $\beta$. These results are consistent with the public information of EHT. In other words, candidates for real astrophysical black holes can be Kerr black holes surrounded by a cloud of strings in Rastall gravity.
We refine and extend a recent construction of sets of black hole microstates with semiclassical interiors that span a Hilbert space of dimension $e^S$, where $S$ is the black hole entropy. We elaborate on the definition and properties of microstates in statistical and black hole mechanics. The gravitational description of microstates employs matter shells in the interior of the black hole, and we argue that in the limit where the shells are very heavy, the construction acquires universal validity. To this end, we show it for very wide classes of black holes: we first extend the construction to rotating and charged black holes, including extremal and near-extremal solutions, with or without supersymmetry, and we sketch how the construction of microstates can be embedded in String Theory. We then describe how the approach can include general quantum corrections, near or far from extremality. For supersymmetric black holes, the microstates we construct differ from other recent constructions in that the interior excitations are not confined within the near-extremal throat.
We explore quantum corrections of electrically charged black holes subject to vacuum polarization effects of fermion fields in QED. Solving this problem exactly is challenging so we restrict to perturbative corrections that one can obtain using the heat kernel expansion in the one-loop effective action for electrons. Starting from the corrections originally computed by Drummond and Hathrell, we solve the full semiclassical Einstein-Maxwell system of coupled equations to leading order in Planck constant, and find a new electrically charged, static black hole solution. To probe these quantum corrections, we study electromagnetic and gravitational (axial) perturbations on this background, and derive the coupled system of Regge-Wheeler master equations that govern the propagation of these waves. In the classical limit our results agree with previous findings in the literature. We finally compare these results with those that one can obtain by working out the Euler-Heisenberg effective action. We find again a new electrically charged static black hole spacetime, and derive the coupled system of Regge-Wheeler equations governing the propagation of axial electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations. Results are qualitatively similar in both cases. We briefly discuss some challenges found in the numerical computation of the QNM frequency spectra when quantum corrections are included.
A random matrix model definition of a family of ${\cal N}{=}1$ supersymmetric extensions of the Virasoro minimal string of Collier, Eberhardt, M\"{u}hlmann, and Rodriguez is presented. An analysis of the defining string equations shows that the models all naturally have unambiguous non-perturbative completions, which are explicitly supplied by the double-scaled orthogonal polynomial techniques employed. Perturbatively, the multi-loop correlation functions of the model define a special supersymmetric class of ``quantum volumes'', generalizing the prototype case. For two of the models the volumes vanish to all orders in the perturbative topological expansion. This amounts to a prediction for expected related computations in 3D gravity, intersection theory, and 2D dilaton gravity.
In the traditional view a cosmic first-order phase transition cannot occur without nucleating handful of bubbles in the entire Hubble volume. The presence of domain walls during the transition may, however, significantly alter the dynamics of the phase transitions. Using lattice simulation, we demonstrate that vacuum fluctuations induce the destabilization of the domain walls that will classically transform into the domain trenches of the true vacuum, resulting in successful phase transitions without bubbles. After providing an analytical method to estimate the temperature at which the domain trenches are produced, we take the Z2-odd singlet model as an example and conclude that the bubble-free mechanism developed in this Letter constitutes a competing means of completing the phase transition against with quantum tunneling, opening up the new viable parameter region.
The Hubble tension arises when comparing two different methods of determining $H_{0}$: one based on local measurements within our cosmic vicinity and another derived from observations of the early universe, specifically the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In this article, we investigated the Hubble tension by coupling neutrinos to Rastall gravity. We estimate the $H_{0}$ in both Ealy and the Local universe. The data were use in this paper are CMB (plikTTTEEE+lowl+lowE), and Lensing. BAO, CC, and Pantheon + Analysis. In the Early universe for (CMB + Lensing) the $H_{0}$ value is $69.2 \pm 1.52$ and for the Local universe (CC + BAO + Pantheon + Analysis) is $70.14 \pm 0.98$. There is a 0.54$\sigma$ deviation in comparing the $H_{0}$ value in the Early and the Local universe. As a result, it can be concluded that the Hubble tension may be resolved.
Lie-Poisson gauge formalism provides a semiclassical description of noncommutative $U(1)$ gauge theory with Lie algebra type noncommutativity. Using the Dirac approach to constrained Hamiltonian systems, we focus on a class of Lie-Poisson gauge models, which exhibit an admissible Lagrangian description. The underlying noncommutativity is supposed to be purely spatial. Analysing the constraints, we demonstrate that these models have as many physical degrees of freedom as there are present in the Maxwell theory.
This study introduces and investigates Lorentzian traversable wormhole solutions rooted in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). The static and spherically symmetric solutions to be examined stem from the energy density sourcing self-dual regular black holes discovered by L. Modesto, relying on the parameters associated with LQG, which account for the quantum nature of spacetime. We specifically focus on macroscopic wormholes characterized by small values of these parameters. Our analysis encompasses zero-tidal solutions and those with non-constant redshift functions, exploring immersion diagrams, curvatures, energy conditions, equilibrium requirements, and the requisite quantity of exotic matter to sustain these wormholes. The investigation underscores the influence of LQG parameters on these features, highlighting the pivotal role of spacetime's quantum properties in shaping these wormholes and governing their behavior.
The effect of gravity in Maxwell's equations is often treated as a medium property. The commonly used formulation is based on managing Maxwell's equations in exactly the same form as in Minkowski spacetime and expressing the effect of gravity as a set of constitutive relations. We show that such a set of Maxwell's equations is, in fact, a combination of the electric and magnetic fields defined in two different non-covariant ways, both of which fail to identify the associated observer's four-vectors. The suggested constitutive relations are also ad hoc and unjustified. To an observer with a proper four-vector, the effect of gravity can be arranged as effective polarizations and magnetizations appearing in both the homogeneous and inhomogeneous parts. Modifying the homogeneous part by gravity is inevitable to any observer, and the result cannot be interpreted as the medium property. For optical properties one should directly handle Maxwell's equations in curved spacetime.
In recent years, the modified theory of gravity known as $f(Q)$ gravity has drawn interest as a potential alternative to general relativity. According to this theory, the gravitational force is determined by a function of the so-called ``non-metricity" tensor $Q$, which expresses how far a particle space-time is from the metric geometry. In contrast to general relativity, which describes the gravitational field using the curvature tensor, $f(Q)$ gravity builds a theory of gravity using the non-metricity tensor. For this class of theories, dynamical system analysis of the background and perturbation equations has been carried out in this work to determine how various models behave cosmologically. Here, the critical points are determined for two $f(Q)$ models from the literature: the power law, $ f(Q)=Q+mQ^{n} $, and the logarithmic, $ f(Q)=\alpha+\beta log Q $ models. The stability behaviour and corresponding cosmology are displayed for each critical point. For the power law model, we achieve a matter-dominated saddle point with the right matter perturbation growth rate. For the logarithmic model, we get a saddle point dominated by the geometric component of the $ f(Q)$ model with perturbations in the decomposition of matter. For both models, we later achieved a stable and accelerating Universe with constant matter perturbations.
We minimally coupled a scalar potential $V(\phi)$ with asymmetric vacua to the Einstein gravity to numerically construct the hairy Reissner-Nordstrom black hole (RNBH) as a direct generalization of RNBHs to possess scalar hair. By fixing the electric charge to mass ratio $q$, a branch of hairy RNBHs bifurcates from the RNBH when the scalar field $\phi_H$ is non-trivial at the horizon. The values of $q$ are bounded for $0 \leq q \leq 1$, which contrast to a class of hairy black holes with $q>1$ in the Einstein-Maxwell-scalar theory. We find that the profiles of solutions affected by the competition between the strength of $\phi_H$ and $q$, for instance, the gradient of scalar field at the horizon can increase very sharply when $q \rightarrow 1$ and $\phi_H$ is small but its gradient can be very small which independent of $q$ when $\phi_H$ is large. Furthermore, the weak energy condition of hairy RNBHs, particularly at the horizon can be satisfied when $q>0$.
Dark matter density can be significantly enhanced by the supermassive black hole at the galactic center, leading to a structure called dark matter spike. Dark matter spike may change the spacetime properties of black holes that constitute deviations from GR black holes. Based on these interesting background, we construct a set of solutions of black holes in a dark matter spike under the Newtonian approximation and full relativity. Combining the mass model of M87, we study the quasinormal modes of black holes in the scalar field perturbation and compared the with Schwarzschild black hole. Besides, the impacts of dark matter on the quasinormal mode of black holes have been studied in depth. In particular, our results show that the impacts of dark matter spike on the quasinormal mode of black holes can reach up to $10^{-4}$. These new features from quasinormal mode of black holes under the Newtonian approximation and full relativity may provide some help for the establishment of the final dark matter model, and provide a new thought for the indirect detection of dark matter.
Understanding the interface dynamics in non-equilibrium quantum systems remains a challenge. We study the interface dynamics of strongly coupled immiscible binary superfluids by using holographic duality. The full nonlinear evolution of the binary superfluids with a relative velocity shows rich nonlinear patterns toward quantum turbulence, which is reminiscent of the quantum Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The wave number of the fast growing modes $k_0$ extracted from the interface pattern yields a non-monotonic dependence of the relative velocity, independent of the temperature and interaction. The value of $k_0$ first increases with the velocity difference and then decreases, which stands in sharp contrast to the results of mean-field theory described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and is confirmed by using the linear analyses on top of the stationary configuration. We uncover that the critical velocity associated with the maximum correspond to the case when the mean separation of vortices generated by interface instabilities becomes comparable to the vortex size, which could be a universal physical mechanism at strongly interacting superfluids and is directly testable in laboratory experiments.
We construct the hydrodynamic expansion for a rotating and accelerated medium in a curved space-time, and establish a duality between the currents related to the cosmological constant and the acceleration. Then we consider the more general case with a non-zero Weyl tensor, and show the relationship between the current in flat space-time and the gravitational axial anomaly. This generalizes the previous derivation to the case with a non-zero Ricci tensor.
In this manuscript, we consider the Schwarzschild black hole surrounded by the quintessence matter in noncommutative spacetime. At first, we examine its thermodynamics in the context of the Hawking temperature, entropy, and specific heat functions. Then, we discuss the phase transitions and stability. Next, we predict the shadow images in the presence of plasma. After visualizing these results, we derive the quasinormal modes in WKB and Mashhoon approximations.
We investigate Klein-Gordon (KG) oscillators in traversable wormhole (TWH) spacetime in rainbow gravity. We discuss a conditional exact solution for the corresponding KG-oscillators through some parametric correlation between the frequency of the KG-oscillators and the TWH throat radius. We report/discuss the effects of throat radius, rainbow parameter, and oscillator frequency on the spectroscopic structure of a vast number of $\left( n,m\right) $-states (the radial and magnetic quantum numbers, respectively). In the process, we use two loop quantum gravity motivated rainbow functions pairs. We observe that rainbow gravity affects on both particles and anti-particles alike.
A powerful strategy to treat quantum field theories beyond perturbation theory is by putting them on a lattice. However, the dynamical and symmetry structure of general relativity have for a long time stood in the way of a well-defined lattice formulation of quantum gravity. These issues are resolved by using Causal Dynamical Triangulations (CDT) to implement a nonperturbative, background-independent path integral for Lorentzian quantum gravity on dynamical lattices. We describe the essential ingredients of this formulation, and how it has allowed us to move away from formal considerations in quantum gravity to extracting quantitative results on the spectra of diffeomorphism-invariant quantum observables, describing physics near the Planck scale. Key results to date are the emergence of a de Sitter-like quantum universe and the discovery of an anomalous spectral dimension at short distances.
There exist two extensions to the interaction region of the Ferrari and Ibanez solution. However, no one gives the corresponding conditions for each extension. To solve this problem, we have introduced quantum effects to constrain these extensions and given the corresponding conditions. By calculation, the Schwarzschild black hole can form after gravitational waves colliding whose expected energy is small.
Spectral methods are now common in the solution of ordinary differential eigenvalue problems in a wide variety of fields, such as in the computation of black hole quasinormal modes. Most of these spectral codes are based on standard Chebyshev, Fourier, or some other orthogonal basis functions. In this work we highlight the usefulness of a relatively unknown set of non-orthogonal basis functions, known as Bernstein polynomials, and their advantages for handling boundary conditions in ordinary differential eigenvalue problems. We also report on a new user-friendly package, called \texttt{SpectralBP}, that implements Berstein-polynomial-based pseudospectral routines for eigenvalue problems. We demonstrate the functionalities of the package by applying it to a number of model problems in quantum mechanics and to the problem of computing scalar and gravitational quasinormal modes in a Schwarzschild background. We validate our code against some known results and achieve excellent agreement. Compared to continued-fraction or series methods, global approximation methods are particularly well-suited for computing purely imaginary modes such as the algebraically special modes for Schwarzschild gravitational perturbations.
We show that there is a remarkable phase in quantum gravity where gravitational scattering amplitudes mediated by virtual gravitons can be calculated explicitly in effective field theory, when the impact parameter $b$ satisfies $L_{Pl}\ll b \lesssim R_S$, with $R_S$ being the Schwarzschild radius. This phase captures collisions with energies satisfying $\sqrt{s}\gg \gamma M_{Pl}$ (with $\gamma \sim M_{Pl}/M_{BH}$) near the horizon. We call this the black hole eikonal phase, in contrast to its flat space analogue where collisions are trans-Planckian. Hawking's geometric optics approximation neglects gravitational interactions near the horizon, and results in thermal occupation numbers in the Bogoliubov coefficients. We show that these interactions are mediated by graviton exchange in $2 \rightarrow 2$ scattering near the horizon, and explicitly calculate the S-matrix non-perturbatively in $M_{Pl}/M_{BH}$. This involves a re-summation of infinitely many ladder diagrams near the horizon, all mediated by virtual soft gravitons. The S-matrix turns out to be a pure phase upon this re-summation and is agnostic of Planckian physics and any specific ultraviolet completion. In contrast to the flat space eikonal limit, the black hole eikonal phase captures collisions of extremely low energy near the horizon.
We review the construction of ("free") elementary systems in de Sitter (dS) spacetime, in the Wigner sense, as associated with unitary irreducible representations (UIR's) of the dS (relativity) group. This study emphasizes the conceptual issues arising in the formulation of such systems and discusses known results in a mathematically rigorous way. Particular attention is paid to: "smooth" transition from classical to quantum theory; physical content under vanishing curvature, from the point of view of a local ("tangent") Minkowskian observer; and thermal interpretation (on the quantum level), in the sense of the Gibbons-Hawking temperature. We review three decompositions of the dS group physically relevant for the description of dS spacetime and classical phase spaces of elementary systems living on it. We review the construction of (projective) dS UIR's issued from these group decompositions. (Projective) Hilbert spaces carrying the UIR's (in some restricted sense) identify quantum ("one-particle") states spaces of dS elementary systems. Adopting a well-established Fock procedure, based on the Wightman-G\"{a}rding axioms and on analyticity requirements in the complexified Riemannian manifold, we proceed with a consistent quantum field theory (QFT) formulation of elementary systems in dS spacetime. This dS QFT formulation closely parallels the corresponding Minkowskian one, while the usual spectral condition is replaced by a certain geometric Kubo-Martin-Schwinger (KMS) condition equivalent to a precise thermal manifestation of the associated "vacuum" states.
We construct a holographic map that takes the semi-classical state of an evaporating black hole and its Hawking radiation to a microscopic model that reflects the scrambling dynamics of the black hole. The microscopic model is given by a nested sequence of random unitaries, each one implementing a scrambling time step of the black hole evolution. Differently from other models, energy conservation and the thermal nature of the Hawking radiation are taken into account. We show that the QES formula follows for the entropy of multiple subsets of the radiation and black hole. We further show that a version of entanglement wedge reconstruction can be proved by computing suitable trace norms and quantum fidelities involving the action of a unitary on a subset of Hawking partners. If the Hawking partner is in an island, its unitary can be reconstructed by a unitary on the radiation. We also adopt a similar setup and analyse reconstruction of unitaries acting on an infalling system.
Differentiation of the scalar Feynman propagator with respect to the spacetime coordinates yields the metric on the background spacetime that the scalar particle propagates in. Now Feynman propagators can be modified in order to include quantum-gravity corrections as induced by a zero-point length $L>0$. These corrections cause the length element $\sqrt{s^2}$ to be replaced with $\sqrt{s^2 + 4L^2}$ within the Feynman propagator. In this paper we compute the metrics derived from both the quantum-gravity free propagators and from their quantum-gravity corrected counterparts. We verify that the latter propagators yield the same spacetime metrics as the former, provided one measures distances greater than the quantum of length $L$. We perform this analysis in the case of the background spacetime $\mathbb{R}^D$ in the Euclidean sector.
In this work we are revisiting the well studied Ellis wormhole solution in a generalized Horndeski theory motivated from the Kaluza-Klein compactification procedure of the more fundamental higher dimensional Lovelock gravity. We show that the Ellis wormhole is analytically supported by a gravitational theory with a non-trivial coupling to the Gauss-Bonnet term and we expand upon this notion by introducing higher derivative contributions of the scalar field. The extension of the gravitational theory does not yield any back-reacting component on the spacetime metric, which establishes the Ellis wormhole as a stealth solution in the generalized framework. We propose two simple mechanisms that dress the wormhole with an effective ADM mass. The first procedure is related to a conformal transformation of the metric which maps the theory to another Horndeski subclass, while the second one is inspired by the spontaneous scalarization effect on black holes.
We compute the gravitational action of a free massive Majorana fermion coupled to two-dimensional gravity on compact Riemann surfaces of arbitrary genus. The structure is similar to the case of the massive scalar. The small-mass expansion of the gravitational yields the Liouville action at zeroth order, and we can identify the Mabuchi action at first order. While the massive Majorana action is a conformal deformation of the massless Majorana CFT, we find an action different from the one given by the David-Distler-Kawai (DDK) ansatz.
The fluid-gravity correspondence is a duality between anti-de Sitter Einstein gravity and a relativistic fluid living at the conformal boundary. We show that one can accommodate the causal first-order viscous hydrodynamics recently developed by Bemfica, Disconzi, Noronha, and Kovtun in this framework, by requiring a set of natural conditions for the geometric data at the horizon. The latter hosts an induced Carrollian fluid, whose equations of motion are shown to be tightly tied to the ones describing the fluid at the boundary. Functional expressions for the transport coefficients are found --with those associated to viscosity and heat flux uniquely determined--, satisfying a set of known causality requirements for the underlying equations of motion.
Explaining the behavior of macroscopic objects from the point of view of the quantum paradigm has challenged the scientific community for a century today. A mechanism of gravitational self-interaction, governed by the so-called Schroedinger-Newton equation, is among the proposals that aim to shed some light on it. Despite all efforts, this mechanism has been proven difficult to probe. Here, we consider a simple Stern-Gerlach-like experiment to try it out. The Schroedinger-Newton equation can be analytically solved under certain proper conditions, and a dephasing effect induced by the gravitational self-interacting potential can be calculated.
We prove there is a unique vacuum solution in split-signature spacetimes with Kleinian SO(2,1) spherical symmetry. We extend our analysis to accommodate a positive or negative cosmological constant and we prove the Kleinian spherically symmetric solutions to Einstein's equation are locally isomorphic to the split-signature analogues of Schwarzschild-(Anti)-de Sitter or Nariai spacetimes. Our analysis provides a Kleinian extension of Birkhoff's theorem to metrics with split-signature. Axisymmetric vacuum solutions are also considered, including (2,2) signature formulations of the Kerr and Taub-NUT metrics.
I give a brief introduction to and explain the geometry of teleparallel models of modified gravity. In particular I explain why, in my opinion, the covariantised approaches are not needed and the Weitzenb\"ock connection is the most natural representation of the parallel transport structure. An interesting point is that it also applies to the symmetric teleparallel case. I also share my thoughts on why the teleparallel framework does not seem to be a next rung in the ladder of understanding the real worlds' gravity. At the same time, these theories do have a clear and justified academic interest to them.
We discuss back-reaction in the semiclassical treatment of quantum fields near a black hole. When the state deviates significantly from Hartle-Hawking, simple energetic considerations of back-reaction give rise to a characteristic radial distance scale $\sim (r_s^{2}G_N)^{1/D}$, below which some breakdown of effective field theory may occur.
The Abelian decomposition of QCD tells that there are two types of gluons in QCD, the color neutral neurons and colored chromons, which behave differently. This implies that QCD has two types of gluon jets, the neuron jet and chromon jet. One quarter of the gluon jets is made of the neuron jets which have sharper jet radius and smaller particle multiplicity, while three quarters of them are made of chromon jets which have the broader jet radius and larger particle multiplicity. Moreover, the neuron jet has a distinct color flow which forms an ideal color dipole pattern, while the chromon jets have distorted dipole pattern. In this paper we provide circumferential evidences of the existence of two types of gluon jets from the existing ALEPH data on $e \bar e \rightarrow Z \rightarrow b \bar b g$ decay and the CMS data on Pb-Pb heavy ion collision.
We review the Standard Model extension that results from the dimensional reduction of a $10D$, $\mathcal{N}=1$, $E_8$ gauge theory over the $M_4 \times SU(3)/U(1) \times U(1) \times \mathbf{Z}_3 $ space, which leads to a $4D$, $\mathcal{N}=1$, $SU(3)^3\times U(1)^2$ theory. Below the unification scale we obtain a Split NMSSM effective theory. The third generation quark and light Higgs masses are within the experimental limits at 2-loop level and the neutralino LSP mass is predicted $<800$ GeV.
The Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model is the simplest field theory of a composite scalar boson, consisting of a pair of chiral fermions. A bound state emerges from an assumed point-like 4-fermion interaction and is described by local effective field, $\Phi(x)$. We review this in the context of the renormalization group and show some its phenomenological successes, such as the QCD chiral dynamics and the prediction of stable heavy-light resonances that reveal the single light quark chiral dynamics. We also review some NJL--inspired composite Higgs models. We then describe a novel UV completion of the NJL model, to an extended interaction, where the solution is described by a bilocal effective, Yukawa field, $\Phi(x,y)$. I conclude with a personal recollection of Yoichiro Nambu.
We consider neutrino flavour and spin oscillations in a magnetic field using formalism of wave packets. Decoherence effects due to neutrino wave packets separation are studied. The considered effects are especially important for describing astrophysical neutrino oscillations, since they propagate on kiloparsec scale and bigger. The obtained results are of interest for neutrino telescopes IceCube, Baikal-GVD and KM3NeT, and also can be applied for description of supernovae neutrino oscillations effects would be detected by JUNO and Hyper-Kamiokande.
We present a numerical linear programming bootstrap to construct dual model scattering amplitudes. Dual models describe tree-level exchanges of higher spin resonances in theories like string theory and large $N$ gauge theories. Despite being very simple objects, their numerical bootstrap has proven challenging due to slow convergence of the infinite sums over resonances. Our bootstrap succeeds thanks to an efficient parametrization of the amplitude in terms of Mandelstam-Regge poles and the use of combined regions that make crossing symmetry constraining. Along the way, we discover and conjecture a property of ``super-unitarity'' of the Veneziano amplitude, which we use to keep a linear problem. As results, we present first the study of a class of string-like amplitudes with linear trajectories, for which we observe that the Veneziano amplitude lies at a preferred location, at the bottom of a pit, which minimizes crossing. Then, we introduce a toy-model deformation to non-linear trajectories, mimicking some features of QCD, for which our algorithm also detects a clear pit. This gives compelling evidence that our bootstrap is able to produce amplitudes that can exhibit non-trivial phenomenological features.
Dilatons are pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons arising from the breaking of conformal invariance. In this letter we point out that in general a dilaton mass has a power-law dependence on a small parameter related to the explicit breaking of conformal invariance whereas the ratio between the ultraviolet and infrared scales in the theory are exponentially related to the same parameter. We show that this scaling results in a separation between the dilaton mass and the infrared scale that can not be arbitrary large. Therefore a small dilaton mass necessarily is associated to a secluded conformal sector. We argue that the fact that the dilaton field must have a small displacement from the minimum of its effective potential generated near the infrared scale precludes a cosmologically interesting amount of dilatonic dark matter to be produced by a misalignment mechanism in the early Universe.
Two particles can exert forces on each other when embedded in a sea of weakly-coupled particles. These "wake forces'' occur whenever the source and target particles have quadratic interactions with the mediating particles; they are proportional to the ambient energy density, and typically have a range of order the characteristic de Broglie wavelength of the background. The effect can be understood as source particles causing a disturbance in the background waves -- a wake -- which subsequently interacts with the target particles. Wake forces can be mediated by bosons or fermions, can have spin dependence, may be attractive or repulsive, and have a generally anisotropic spatial profile and range that depends on the phase-space distribution of the ambient particles. In this work, I investigate the application of wake forces to dark matter searches, recast existing limits on short-range forces into leading constraints on dark matter with quadratic couplings, and sketch out potential experimental modifications to optimize sensitivity. Wake forces occur in the Standard Model: the presence of the cosmic neutrino background induces a millimeter-range force about 22 orders of magnitude weaker than gravity. Wake forces may also be relevant in condensed-matter and atomic physics.
We construct a set of parton distribution functions (PDFs), based on the recent NNPDF4.0 PDF set, that also include a photon PDF. The photon PDF is constructed using the LuxQED formalism, while QED evolution accounting for O(alpha), O(alpha alphas) and O(alpha^2) corrections is implemented and benchmarked by means of the EKO code. We investigate the impact of QED effects on NNPDF4.0, and compare our results both to our previous NNPDF3.1QED PDF set and to other recent PDF sets that include the photon. We assess the impact of photon-initiated processes and electroweak corrections on a variety of representative LHC processes, and find that they can reach the 5% level in vector boson pair production at large invariant mass.
The recent observation of entanglement between top and anti-top quarks at the LHC opens the way to interpreting collider data with quantum information tools. In this work we investigate the relevance of quantum observables in searches of new physics. To this aim, we study spin correlations of top/anti-top pairs originating from various intermediate resonances, and compare the discovery reach of quantum observables compared to classical ones. We find that they provide complementary information and, in several notable cases, also the additional leverage necessary to detect new effects.
We propose a novel method using the $ZZ$-fusion channel and forward muon detection at high-energy muon colliders to address the challenge of the Higgs coupling-width degeneracy. Our approach enables inclusive Higgs rate measurement to 0.75% at 10~TeV muon collider, breaking the coupling-width degeneracy. Results indicate the potential to refine Higgs coupling to sub-percent levels and estimate its total width within (-0.41%, +2.1%). Key insights include the effectiveness of forward muon tagging in signal-background separation despite broad recoil mass distribution due to muon energy reconstruction and beam energy spread. The study emphasizes the significance of muon rapidity coverage up to $|\eta (\mu)|<6$, enhancing measurement precision. Our findings highlight the unique capabilities of high-energy lepton colliders for model-independent Higgs coupling determination and lay the groundwork for future advancements in muon collider technology and Higgs physics research.
Anomaly, or out-of-distribution, detection is a promising tool for aiding discoveries of new particles or processes in particle physics. In this work, we identify and address two overlooked opportunities to improve anomaly detection for high-energy physics. First, rather than train a generative model on the single most dominant background process, we build detection algorithms using representation learning from multiple background types, thus taking advantage of more information to improve estimation of what is relevant for detection. Second, we generalize decorrelation to the multi-background setting, thus directly enforcing a more complete definition of robustness for anomaly detection. We demonstrate the benefit of the proposed robust multi-background anomaly detection algorithms on a high-dimensional dataset of particle decays at the Large Hadron Collider.
It is long known that interference effects play an important role in understanding the shape of the $\pi^+\pi^-$ spectrum of resonances near the threshold. In this manuscript we investigate the role of the $\rho-\omega$ interference in the study of semileptonic $B \to \pi^+ \pi^- \ell \bar \nu_\ell$ decays. We determine for the first time the strong phase between $B \to \rho^0 \ell \bar \nu_\ell$ and $B \to \omega \ell \bar \nu_\ell$ from a recent Belle measurement of the $m_{\pi\pi}$ spectrum of $B \to \pi^+ \pi^- \ell \bar \nu_\ell$. We find $ \phi_{\rho-\omega} = \left( -46_{-67}^{+155} \right)\unicode{xb0}$ and extract the branching fraction of $\mathcal{B}(B \to \rho^0 \ell \bar \nu_\ell) = \left(1.41_{-0.38}^{+0.49} \right) \times 10^{-4} $. In addition, we set a limit on the $S$-wave component within a mass window ranging from $2 m_\pi$ to $1.02 \, \mathrm{GeV}$ of $ 0.51 \times 10^{-4} \,\, \mathrm{at} \, \, 90\% \, \mathrm{CL} $. We also determine the absolute value of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element of $|V_{ub}|_{\rho-\omega} = \left( 3.03^{+0.49}_{-0.44} \right) \times 10^{-3}$, which takes into account the $\rho-\omega$ interference.
We discuss dark shower signals at the LHC from a dark QCD sector, containing GeV-scale dark pions. The portal with the Standard Model is given by the mixing of the Z boson with a dark Z' coupled to the dark quarks. Both mass and kinetic mixings are included, but the mass mixing is the essential ingredient, as it is the one mediating visible decays of the long-lived dark pions. We focus especially on the possibility that the dark Z' is lighter than the Z. Indirect constraints are dominated by electroweak precision tests, which we thoroughly discuss, showing that both Z-pole and low-energy observables are important. We then recast CMS and LHCb searches for displaced dimuon resonances to dark shower signals initiated by the production of on-shell Z or Z', where the visible signature is left by a dark pion decaying to $\mu^+ \mu^-$. We demonstrate how dark shower topologies have already tested new parameter space in Run 2, reaching better sensitivity on a light dark Z' compared to the flavor-changing decays of B mesons, which can produce a single dark pion at a time, and the electroweak precision tests.
We revisit the stability of the Standard Model vacuum, and investigate its quantum effective potential using the highest available orders in perturbation theory and the most accurate determination of input parameters to date. We observe that the stability of the electroweak vacuum centrally depends on the values of the top mass and the strong coupling constant. We estimate that reducing their uncertainties by a factor of two is sufficient to establish or refute SM vacuum stability at the $5\sigma$ level. We further investigate vacuum stability for a variety of singlet scalar field extensions with and without flavor using the Higgs portal mechanism. We identify the BSM parameter spaces for stability and find sizable room for new physics. We further study the phenomenology of Planck-safe models at colliders, and determine the impact on the Higgs trilinear, the Higgs-to-electroweak-boson, and the Higgs quartic couplings, some of which can be significant. The former two can be probed at the HL-LHC, the latter requires a future collider with sufficient energy and precision such as the FCC-hh.
We unveil blind spot regions in dark matter (DM) direct detection (DMDD), for weakly interacting massive particles with a mass around a few hundred~GeV that may reveal interesting photon signals at the LHC. We explore a scenario where the DM primarily originates from the singlet sector within the $Z_3$-symmetric Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). A novel DMDD spin-independent blind spot condition is revealed for singlino-dominated DM, in cases where the mass parameters of the higgsino and the singlino-dominated lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) exhibit opposite relative signs (i.e., $\kappa < 0$), emphasizing the role of nearby bino and higgsino-like states in tempering the singlino-dominated LSP. Additionally, proximate bino and/or higgsino states can act as co-annihilation partner(s) for singlino-dominated DM, ensuring agreement with the observed relic abundance of DM. Remarkably, in scenarios involving singlino-higgsino co-annihilation, higgsino-like neutralinos can distinctly favor radiative decay modes into the singlino-dominated LSP and a photon, as opposed to decays into leptons/hadrons. In exploring this region of parameter space within the singlino-higgsino compressed scenario, we study the signal associated with at least one relatively soft photon alongside a lepton, accompanied by substantial missing transverse energy and a hard initial state radiation jet at the LHC. In the context of singlino-bino co-annihilation, the bino state, as the next-to-LSP, exhibits significant radiative decay into a soft photon and the LSP, enabling the possible exploration at the LHC through the triggering of this soft photon alongside large missing transverse energy and relatively hard leptons/jets resulting from the decay of heavier higgsino-like states.
The finite mass of the heavy quark suppresses the collimated radiations, which is generally referred to as the dead cone effect. In this paper, we study the distribution of hadron multiplicity over the hadron opening angle with respect to the jet axis in various flavors of jets. The corresponding measurement can be the most straightforward and simplest to explore the dynamical evolution of the radiations in the corresponding jet, which can expose the mass effect. We also propose the transverse energy-weighted angular distribution which sheds light on the interplay between perturbative and nonperturbative effects in the radiation. With Monte-Carlo simulations, our calculation shows that the dead cone effect can be clearly seen by taking the ratio between the b jet and the light-quark (inclusive) jet, promising to be measured at the LHC in the future.
Exclusive semi-leptonic decay is a very important channel for the study of heavy flavor physics because of its simple experimental measurement. In this work, we study the hadron matrix element and hadron tensor in exclusive semi-leptonic decay. We rethink the existing exclusive decay theory from a new angle, and the result is that the baryon part is not problematic, but the meson part needs to be modified. Using the differential width calculated by the new form factor of Taylor series expansion to fit the experimental data requires fewer and simpler parameters than the ordinary LCSR form factors. We have also generalized the new method to the conditions where the strict V-A process is not satisfied and $( f_2,g_2,f_3,g_3) \not=0$.
Virtually all high-energy-physics (HEP) simulations for the LHC rely on Monte Carlo using importance sampling by means of the VEGAS algorithm. However, complex high-precision calculations have become a challenge for the standard toolbox. As a result, there has been keen interest in HEP for modern machine learning to power adaptive sampling. Despite previous work proving that normalizing-flow-powered neural importance sampling (NIS) sometimes outperforms VEGAS, existing research has still left major questions open, which we intend to solve by introducing Z\"uNIS, a fully automated NIS library. We first show how to extend the original formulation of NIS to reuse samples over multiple gradient steps, yielding a significant improvement for slow functions. We then benchmark Z\"uNIS over a range of problems and show high performance with limited fine-tuning. The library can be used by non-experts with minimal effort, which is crucial to become a mature tool for the wider HEP public.
In a recent publication we studied the decay rate of primordial black holes perceiving the dark dimension, an innovative five-dimensional (5D) scenario that has a compact space with characteristic length-scale in the micron range. We demonstrated that the rate of Hawking radiation of 5D black holes slows down compared to 4D black holes of the same mass. Armed with our findings we showed that for a species scale of ${\cal O} (10^{9}~{\rm GeV})$, an all-dark-matter interpretation in terms of primordial black holes should be feasible for black hole masses in the range $10^{14} \lesssim M/{\rm g} \lesssim 10^{21}$. As a natural outgrowth of our recent study, herein we calculate the Hawking evaporation of near-extremal 5D black holes. Using generic entropy arguments we demonstrate that Hawking evaporation of higher-dimensional near-extremal black holes proceeds at a slower rate than the corresponding Schwarzschild black holes of the same mass. Assisted by this result we show that if there were 5D primordial near-extremal black holes in nature, then a PBH all-dark-matter interpretation would be possible in the mass range $10^{7}\sqrt{\beta} \lesssim M/{\rm g} \lesssim 10^{21}$, where $\beta$ is a parameter that controls the difference between mass and charge of the associated near-extremal black hole.
In this contribution to the Quark Matter 2023 proceedings, we study the hydrodynamization process in heavy-ion collisions using QCD kinetic theory and introduce the new concept of limiting attractors. They are defined via an extrapolation of observables to vanishing and infinite couplings. We find that the pressure ratio exhibits both a hydrodynamic and a bottom-up limiting attractor, while the ratios of hard probes transport coefficients $\hat q^{zz}/\hat q^{yy}$ and $\kappa_T/\kappa_z$ are better described in terms of the new bottom-up limiting attractor.
We investigate heavy flavor dibaryons with five heavy quarks $Q$ ($Q=\{c,b\}$) and one light quark $q$ ($q=\{u,d,s\}$), namely the $Q^{5}q$ dibaryons. In the framework of an extended chromomagnetic model, we systematically study the mass spectrum of these dibaryons. We find no stable state below the corresponding baryon-baryon thresholds. In addition to the analysis of the masses, we also study their two body decay properties by estimating the relative width ratios of the decay channels. We hope our study will be of help for future experiments.
The machine learning (ML) techniques to predict unitarity (UNI) and bounded from below (BFB) constraints in multi-scalar models is employed. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by applying it to the two and three Higgs doublet models, as well as the left-right model. By employing suitable neural network architectures, learning algorithms, and carefully curated training datasets, a significantly high level of predictivity is achieved. Machine learning offers a distinct advantage by enabling faster calculations compared to alternative numerical methods, such as scalar potential minimization. This research investigates the feasibility of utilizing machine learning techniques as an alternative for predicting these constraints, offering potential improvements over traditional numerical calculations.
We study $\chi_{cJ}\to VV$ decays using the QCD effective field theory approach. The helicity suppressed decay amplitudes are also considered. The colour-singlet contributions of these amplitudes suffer from the endpoint singularities, it is shown that they can be absorbed into renormalisation of the nonfactorisable colour-octet matrix element. The latter can be associated with the colour-octet component of the charmonium wave function. The heavy quark spin symmetry makes it possible to establish the relationships between colour-octet matrix elements for different states $\chi_{cJ}$ up to higher order corrections in small velocity $v$. This allows us to estimate the polarisation parameters for $\chi_{c2}\to VV$ using data for $\chi_{c0,1}\to VV$. This analysis is carried out for the available data on the $\chi_{cJ}\to \phi\phi$ decays.
We present a comprehensive review of the theoretical and experimental progress in the investigation of novel high-temperature quantum chromodynamics phenomena in small systems at both the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider. We highlight the challenges and opportunities associated with studying small systems, by which we generally mean collision systems that involve at least one light ion or even a photon projectile. We discuss perspectives on possible future research directions to better understand the underlying physics at work in the collisions of small systems.
Recently, we have computed the short-distance asymptotics of the generating functional of Euclidean correlators of single-trace twist-$2$ operators in the large-$N$ expansion of SU($N$) Yang-Mills (YM) theory to the leading-nonplanar order. Remarkably, it has the structure of the logarithm of a functional determinant, but with the sign opposite to the one that would follow from the spin-statistics theorem for the glueballs. In order to solve this sign puzzle, we have reconsidered the proof in the literature that in the 't Hooft topological expansion of large-$N$ YM theory the leading-nonplanar contribution to the generating functional consists of the sum over punctures of $n$-punctured tori. We have discovered that for twist-$2$ operators it contains -- in addition to the $n$-punctured tori -- the normalization of tori with $1 \leq p \leq n$ pinches and $n-p$ punctures. Once the existence of the new sector is taken into account, the violation of the spin-statistics theorem disappears. Moreover, the new sector contributes trivially to the nonperturbative $S$ matrix because -- for example -- the $n$-pinched torus represents nonperturbatively a loop of $n$ glueball propagators with no external leg. This opens the way for an exact solution limited to the new sector that may be solvable thanks to the vanishing $S$ matrix.
Following on our recent analysis of the energy momentum tensor (EMT) of light nuclei in the impulse approximation, we evaluate the leading exchange corrections also upto momenta of the order of the nucleon mass. The exchange contributions to the EMT, are composed of the pair interaction, plus the seagull and the pion exchange interactions, modulo the recoil correction. The exchange contributions are shown to satisfy the current conservation requirement. These contributions are small compared to those from the impulse approximation for most of the deuteron gravitational form factors (GFFs), for momenta smaller than half of the nucleon mass. For larger momenta, the exchange contributions are significant for the deuteron A- and D-GFFs. We suggest that the pion GFFs can be extracted from the exchange contributions of select deuteron GFFs.
An analytic formula is given for the three-point energy correlator (EEEC) at leading order (LO) in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory ($\mathcal{N}=4$ sYM). This is the first analytic calculation of a three-parameter event shape observable, which provides valuable data for various studies ranging from conformal field theories to jet substructure. The associated class of functions define a new type of single-valued polylogarithms characterized by 16 alphabet letters, which manifest a $D_6 \times Z_2$ dihedral symmetry of the event shape. With the unexplored simplicity in the perturbative structure of EEEC, all kinematic regions including collinear, squeezed and coplanar limits are now available.
This work makes an exhaustive search for generic renormalizable R-symmetric Wess-Zumino models with up to 5 chiral fields, and checks the consistency of their vacuum solutions with predictions from the Nelson-Seiberg theorem and its generalizations. Each model is recorded as the R-charge assignment of fields, which uniquely determines the cubic polynomial superpotentials with generic coefficients. Redundancy from permutation symmetries and reducible models are properly eliminated in the searching algorithm. We found that among 859 models in total, 19 of them have supersymmetric vacua unpredicted by the Nelson-Seiberg theorem and its generalizations. These exceptional models have their specific R-charge assignments covered by constructions found in previous literature. The search result can be used to estimate the accuracy of the field counting method for finding supersymmetric models in the string landscape. More applications of the dataset are expected in future work.
The extreme conditions of temperature and density produced in ultrarelativistic collisions of heavy nuclei facilitate the formation of the most fundamental fluid in the universe, the deconfined phase of Quantum Chromodynamics called quark-gluon plasma. Despite the extensive experimental evidence collected over the past decade of its production in colliding systems such as Au-Au and Pb-Pb, establishing quark-gluon plasma formation in the collision of smaller systems, such as p-Pb, remains an open question. In this study, we describe the evolution of matter formed in p-Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV using a state-of-the-art hybrid model based on viscous relativistic hydrodynamics. We investigate the thermodynamic properties of the medium and final state observables. Our findings are compared with experimental data and first-principles calculations derived from lattice quantum chromodynamics. The results support the formation of a collective phase of strongly interacting matter in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions.
We study the role of perturbative unitarity in the resonant annihilation of two dark matter particles into the standard model bath. Systematically including all kinematically allowed holomorphic cuts of the corresponding forward-scattering diagram, cancelation of the singularities occurs, resulting in a fixed-order correction to the narrow-width approximation for the annihilation cross section. Unlike the standard approach based on including the finite width of the mediator, no double counting of intermediate states occurs.
In models with spontaneous symmetry breaking by scalar fields in large group representations, we observe that some of the scalar masses can be loop-suppressed with respect to the naive expectation from symmetry selection rules. We present minimal models -- the $\rm{SU(2)}$ five-plet and $\rm{SU(3)}$ ten-plet -- with such accidentally light scalars, featuring compact tree-level flat directions lifted by radiative corrections. We sketch some potential applications, from stable relics and slow roll in cosmology, to hierarchy and fine-tuning problems in particle physics.
Upcoming experiments will improve the reach for the lepton flavour violating (LFV) processes $\mu \to e \gamma$, $\mu \to e \bar{e} e$ and $\mu A \to e A$ by orders of magnitude. We investigate whether this upcoming data could rule out some popular TeV-scale LFV models (the type II seesaw, the inverse seesaw and a scalar leptoquark) using a bottom-up EFT approach involving twelve Wilson coefficients that can in principle all be determined by experimental measurements. In this 12-dimensional coefficient space, each model can only predict points in a specific subspace; for instance, flavour change involving singlet electrons is suppressed in the seesaw models, and the leptoquark induces negligible coefficients for 4-lepton scalar operators. Using the fact that none of these models can populate the whole region accessible to upcoming experiments, we show that $\mu \to e$ experiments have the ability to rule them out.
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.
The three-body systems $\eta K^* \bar{K}^*$, $\pi K^* \bar{K}^*$, and $K K^* \bar{K}^*$ are further investigated within the framework of fixed-center approximation, where $K^* \bar{K}^*$ is treated as the fixed-center, corresponding to the possible scalar meson $a_0(1780)$ or the tensor meson $f_2'(1525)$. The interactions between $\eta$, $\pi$, $K$, and $K^*$ are taken from the chiral unitary approach. The resonance structures appear in the modulus squared of the three-body scattering amplitude and suggest that $\eta / \pi / K$-$(K^*\bar{K}^*)_{a_0(1780)/f'_2(1525)}$ hadron state can be formed. By scattering the $\eta$ meson on the fixed-center $(K^* \bar{K}^*)_{a_0(1780)}$, it is found that there is a distinct peak around 2100 MeV, as shown in the modulus squared of the three-body scattering amplitude, which can be associated with the meson $\pi(2070)$. For the scattering of the $\eta$ meson on the $(K^* \bar{K}^*)_{f_2'(1525)}$, a resonance structure around 1890 MeV is found and it can be associated with the $\eta_2(1870)$ meson. Other resonance structures are also found and can be associated with $\pi_2(1880)$ and $\eta(2010)$.
In high-energy heavy-ion collisions a nearly perfect fluid, the so-called strongly coupled quark gluon plasma forms. After the short period of thermalisation, the evolution of this medium can be described by the laws of relativistic hydrodynamics. The time evolution of the quark gluon plasma can be understood through direct photon spectra measurements, which are sensitive to the entire period between the thermalisation and the freeze-out of the medium. I present a new analytic formula that describes the thermal photon radiation and it is derived from an exact and finite solution of relativistic hydrodynamics with accelerating velocity field. Then I compare my calculations to the most recent nonprompt spectrum of direct photons for $Au+Au$ at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=$200 GeV collisions. I have found a convincing agreement between the model and the data, which allows to give an estimate of the initial temperature in the center of the fireball. My results predict hydrodynamic scaling behaviour for the thermal photon spectra of high-energy heavy-ion collisions.
The particle spectrum of all Majorana neutrino mass models with spontaneous violation of global lepton number include a Goldstone boson, the so-called majoron. The presence of this massless pseudoscalar changes the phenomenology dramatically. In this work we derive general analytical expressions for the 1-loop coupling of the majoron to charged leptons. These can be applied to any model featuring a majoron that have a clear hierarchy of energy scales, required for an expansion in powers of the low-energy scale to be valid. We show how to use our general results by applying them to some example models, finding full agreement with previous results in several popular scenarios and deriving novel ones in other setups.
We present a feasibility study to probe quantum entanglement and Belle inequality violation in the process $\textrm{e}^{+}\textrm{e}^{-} \rightarrow \tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 10.579$ GeV. The sensitivity of the analysis is enhanced by applying a selection on the scattering angle $\vartheta$ in the $\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ center-of-mass frame. We analyze events in which both $\tau$ leptons decay to hadrons, using a combination of decay channels $\tau^{-} \rightarrow \pi^{-}\nu_{\tau}$, $\tau^{-} \rightarrow \pi^{-}\pi^{0}\nu_{\tau}$, and $\tau^{-} \rightarrow \pi^{-}\pi^{+}\pi^{-}\nu_{\tau}$. The spin orientation of the $\tau$ leptons in these decays is reconstructed using the polarimeter-vector method. Assuming a dataset of $200$ million $\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ events and accounting for experimental resolutions, we expect the observation of quantum entanglement and Bell inequality violation by the Belle-II experiment will be possible with a significance well in excess of five standard deviations.
Machine learning algorithms are heavily relied on to understand the vast amounts of data from high-energy particle collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The data from such collision events can naturally be represented with graph structures. Therefore, deep geometric methods, such as graph neural networks (GNNs), have been leveraged for various data analysis tasks in high-energy physics. One typical task is jet tagging, where jets are viewed as point clouds with distinct features and edge connections between their constituent particles. The increasing size and complexity of the LHC particle datasets, as well as the computational models used for their analysis, greatly motivate the development of alternative fast and efficient computational paradigms such as quantum computation. In addition, to enhance the validity and robustness of deep networks, one can leverage the fundamental symmetries present in the data through the use of invariant inputs and equivariant layers. In this paper, we perform a fair and comprehensive comparison between classical graph neural networks (GNNs) and equivariant graph neural networks (EGNNs) and their quantum counterparts: quantum graph neural networks (QGNNs) and equivariant quantum graph neural networks (EQGNN). The four architectures were benchmarked on a binary classification task to classify the parton-level particle initiating the jet. Based on their AUC scores, the quantum networks were shown to outperform the classical networks. However, seeing the computational advantage of the quantum networks in practice may have to wait for the further development of quantum technology and its associated APIs.
From a recently found family of analytic, finite and accelerating 1+1-dimensional solutions to perfect fluid relativistic hydrodynamics, we derive simple and powerful formulae to describe the rapidity and pseudorapidity density distributions. By introducing a new scaling function, we notice that the rapidity distribution data of the different experiments all collapse into a single curve. This data-collapsing (or scaling) behaviour in the rapidity distributions suggests that high-energy $p+p$ collisions may be described as collective systems.
It is commonly believed that string theory amplitudes cannot be expanded in terms of poles of all channels, thereby distinguishing them from the usual Feynman diagram expansion in quantum field theory. We present here new representations of the Euler-Beta function and string theory amplitudes which are analytic everywhere except at the poles but sum over poles in all channels, and, crucially, include contact diagrams, very much in the spirit of quantum field theory. This enables us to consider mass-level truncation, which preserves all the features of the original amplitude. By starting with such expansions for generalized Euler-Beta functions and demanding QFT like features, we single out the open string amplitude. Our considerations also lead to new field theory inspired representations of the Zeta function, which have very fast convergence. We demonstrate the difficulty in deforming away from the string amplitude and show that a class of such deformations can be potentially interesting when there is level truncation.
In order to stimulate new engagement and trigger some concrete studies in areas where further work would be beneficial towards fully understanding the physics potential of an $e^+e^-$ Higgs / Top / Electroweak factory, we propose to define a set of focus topics. The general reasoning and the proposed topics are described in this document.
In analogy to null electromagnetic fields we define null YM fields. We show that the null non-abelian $SU(N)$ gauge fields admit a set of $2 N^2$ conserved ``helicities''. We derive null YM solutions that carry finite helicities by uplifting the abelian Hopfion solution and their generalizations. Another method that we implement is to deform YM solutions which do not carry helicities into ones that have nontrivial helicities. A nontrivial non-Abelian solution with helicities is found as a wave of infinite energy. We also discuss non-abelian generalizations of the Bateman parameterization for null abelian gauge fields.
We present a theory unifying the topological responses and anomalies of various gapless fermion systems exhibiting Fermi surfaces, including those with Berry phases, and nodal structures, which applies beyond non-interacting limit. As our key finding, we obtain a general approach to directly relate gapless fermions and topological insulators in phase space, including first- and higher-order insulators. Using this relation we show that the low-energy properties and response theories for gapless fermionic systems can be directly obtained without resorting to microscopic details. Our results provide a unified framework for describing such systems using well-developed theories from the study of topological phases of matter.
Magnetic quivers have been an instrumental technique for advancing our understanding of Higgs branches of supersymmetric theories with 8 supercharges. In this work, we present the decay and fission algorithm for unitary magnetic quivers. It enables the derivation of the complete phase (Hasse) diagram and is characterised by the following key attributes: First and foremost, the algorithm is inherently simple; just relying on convex linear algebra. Second, any magnetic quiver can only undergo decay or fission processes; these reflect the possible Higgs branch RG-flows (Higgsings), and the quivers thereby generated are the magnetic quivers of the new RG fixed points. Third, the geometry of the decay or fission transition (i.e. the transverse slice) is simply read off. As a consequence, the algorithm does not rely on a complete list of minimal transitions, but rather outputs the transverse slice geometry automatically. As a proof of concept, its efficacy is showcased across various scenarios, encompassing SCFTs from dimensions 3 to 6, instanton moduli spaces, and little string theories.
We study properties of the $^{12}$C nucleus within the generalized Skyrme model where, in addition to the standard massive Skyrme model, the sextic term and the pionic potential squared are included. We find that the model continues to accurately describe the rotational bands of the $^{12}$C nucleus. In addition, at variance with the case of the standard Skyrme model, it provides the correct energy ordering of the classical solutions which correspond to the ground state and the Hoyle state, respectively.
The SW(3/2,2) current algebras come in two discrete series indexed by central charge, with the chiral algebra of a supersymmetric sigma model on a Spin}(7) manifold as a special case. The unitary representations of these algebras were classified by Gepner and Noyvert, and we use their results to perform an analysis of null descendants and compute the characters for every representation. We obtain threshold relations between the characters of discrete representations and those with continuous conformal weights. Modular transformations are discussed, and we show that the continuous characters can be written as bilinear combinations of characters for consecutive minimal models.
Scattering amplitudes are tempered distributions, which are defined through their action on functions in the Schwartz space $S(\mathbb{R})$ by duality. For massless particles, their conformal properties become manifest when considering their Mellin transform. Therefore we need to mathematically well-define the Mellin transform of distributions in the dual space $S'(\mathbb{R}^+)$. In this paper, we investigate this problem by characterizing the Mellin transform of the Schwartz space $S(\mathbb{R}^+)$. This allows us to rigorously define the Mellin transform of tempered distributions through a Parseval-type relation. Massless celestial amplitudes are then properly defined by taking the Mellin transform of elements in the topological dual of the Schwartz space $S(\mathbb{R}^+)$. We conclude the paper with applications to tree-level graviton celestial amplitudes.
We survey on-shell and off-shell higher derivative supergravities in dimensions $1\le D\le 11$. Various approaches to their construction, including the Noether procedure, (harmonic) superspace, superform method, superconformal tensor calculus, $S$-matrix and dimensional reduction, are summarized. Primarily the bosonic parts of the invariants and the supertransformations of the fermionic fields are provided. The process of going on-shell, solutions to the Killing spinor equations, typical supersymmetric solutions, and the role of duality symmetries in the context of $R^4, D^4 R^4$ and $D^6 R^4$ invariants are reviewed.
This work derives 5 methods to evaluate families of odd zeta values by combining a power of $\pi$ with Lambert series whose ratios of successive terms tend to $e^{-\pi\sqrt{a}}$ with integer $a>4$. Families with $a=7$ and $a=8$ evaluate $\zeta(2n+1)$. Families with $a=9$ and $a=16$ evaluate $\zeta(4n+1)$ with faster convergence. A fifth family with $a=12$ evaluates $\zeta(6n+1)$ and hence gives the fastest convergence for $\zeta(12n+7)$. Members of three of the 5 families were discovered empirically by Simon Plouffe. An intensive new search identified two more families and strongly suggests that there are no more than 5 such families. Quasi-modular transformations of Lambert series are used to resolve intriguing rational sequences that were discovered empirically. Expansions of Lambert series in terms of polylogarithms, familiar from quantum field theory, yield identities that provide proofs for the 5 families.
Motivated by the study of Polyakov lines in gauge theories, Hanada and Watanabe recently presented a conjectured formula for the distribution of eigenphases of Haar-distributed random SU(N) matrices ($\beta=2$), supported by explicit examples at small N and by numerical samplings at larger N. In this note, I spell out a concise proof of their formula, and present its symplectic and orthogonal counterparts, i.e. the eigenphase distributions of Haar-random unimodular symmetric ($\beta=1$) and selfdual ($\beta=4$) unitary matrices parametrizing SU(N)/SO(N) and SU(2N)/Sp(2N), respectively.
We investigate the link between position-based quantum cryptography (PBQC) and holography established in [MPS19] using holographic quantum error correcting codes as toy models. If the "temporal" scaling of the AdS metric is inserted by hand into the toy model via the bulk Hamiltonian interaction strength we recover a toy model with consistent causality structure. This leads to an interesting implication between two topics in quantum information: if position-based cryptography is secure against attacks with small entanglement then there are new fundamental lower bounds for resources required for one Hamiltonian to simulate another.
We relate the Lounesto classification of regular and singular spinors to the orbits of the $Spin(3,1)$ group in the space of Dirac spinors. We find that regular spinors are associated with the principal orbits of the spin group while singular spinors are associated with special orbits whose isotropy group is $C$. We use this to clarify some aspects of the classical and quantum theory of spinors restricted to a class in this classification. In particular, we show that the degrees of freedom of an ELKO field, which has been proposed as a candidate for dark matter, can be reexpressed as a Dirac field preserving locality. We also propose an interacting Lagrangian which can consistently describe all 6 classes of regular and singular spinors.
In this paper, we present a theory for gravity coupled with scalar, SU$(n)$ and spinor fields on manifolds with null-boundary. We perform the symplectic reduction of the space of boundary fields and give the constraints of the theory in terms of local functionals of boundary vielbein and connection. For the three different couplings, the analysis of the constraint algebra shows that the set of constraints does not form a first class system.
In this work, we propose a modern view of the integer spin simple currents which have played a central role in discrete torsion. We reintroduce them as nonanomalous composite particles constructed from $Z_{N}$ parafermionic field theories. These composite particles have an analogy with the Cooper pair in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory and can be interpreted as a typical example of anyon condensation. Based on these $Z_{N}$ anomaly free composite particles, we propose a systematic construction of the cylinder partition function of $Z_{N}$ fractional quantum Hall effects (FQHEs). One can expect realizations of a class of general topological ordered systems by breaking the bulk-edge correspondence of the bosonic parts of these FQH models. We also give a brief overview of various phenomena in contemporary condensed matter physics, such as $SU(N)$ Haldane conjecture, general gapless and gapped topological order with respect to the quantum anomaly defined by charges of these simple currents and bulk and boundary renormalization group flow. Moreover, we point out an analogy between these FQHEs and 2d quantum gravities coupled to matter, and propose a $Z_{N}$ generalization of supersymmetry known as "fractional supersymmetry" in the composite parafermionic theory and study its analogy with quark confinement. Our analysis gives a simple but general understanding of the contemporary physics of topological phases in the form of the partition functions derived from the operator formalism.
It is a long-established and heavily-used fact that the integral cohomology ring of the Deligne-Mumford moduli space of (complex) rational curves is the polynomial ring on the boundary divisors modulo the ideal generated by the obvious geometric relations between them. We show that the rational cohomology ring of the Deligne-Mumford moduli space of real rational curves with conjugate marked points only is the polynomial ring on certain (``complex") boundary divisors and real boundary hypersurfaces modulo the ideal generated by the obvious geometric relations between them and the geometric relation in positive dimension and codimension identified in a previous paper.
We describe a sequence of smooth quotients of the Deligne-Mumford moduli space ${\mathbb R}\overline{\mathcal M}_{0,\ell+1}$ of real rational curves with $\ell\!+\!1$ conjugate pairs of marked points that terminates at ${\mathbb R}\overline{\mathcal M}_{0,\ell}\!\times\!{\mathbb C}{\mathbb P}^1$. This produces an analogue of Keel's blowup construction of the Deligne-Mumford moduli spaces $\overline{\mathcal M}_{\ell+1}$ of rational curves with $\ell\!+\!1$ marked points, but with an explicit description of the intermediate spaces and the blowups of three different types. The same framework readily adapts to the real moduli spaces with real points. In a sequel, we use this inductive construction of ${\mathbb R}\overline{\mathcal M}_{0,\ell+1}$ to completely determine the rational (co)homology ring of ${\mathbb R}\overline{\mathcal M}_{0,\ell}$.
We present a new family of IR dualities in three space-time dimensions with eight supercharges. In contrast to 3d mirror symmetry, these dualities map Coulomb branches to Coulomb branches and Higgs branches to Higgs branches in the deep IR. For a large class of quiver gauge theories with an emergent Coulomb branch global symmetry, one can construct a sequence of such dualities by step-wise implementing a set of quiver mutations. The duality sequence leads to a set of quiver gauge theories which flow to the same IR superconformal field theory -- a phenomenon we refer to as IR N-ality. We show that this set of N-al quivers always contains a theory for which the rank of the IR Coulomb branch symmetry is manifest in the UV. For a special subclass of theories, the emergent symmetry algebra itself can be read off from the quiver description of the aforementioned theory.
We study how the global structure of rank-one 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric field theories is encoded into global aspects of the Seiberg-Witten elliptic fibration. Starting with the prototypical example of the $\mathfrak{su}(2)$ gauge theory, we distinguish between relative and absolute Seiberg-Witten curves. For instance, we discuss in detail the three distinct absolute curves for the $SU(2)$ and $SO(3)_\pm$ 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories. We propose that the $1$-form symmetry of an absolute theory is isomorphic to a torsion subgroup of the Mordell-Weil group of sections of the absolute curve, while the full defect group of the theory is encoded in the torsion sections of a so-called relative curve. We explicitly show that the relative and absolute curves are related by isogenies (that is, homomorphisms of elliptic curves) generated by torsion sections -- hence, gauging a one-form symmetry corresponds to composing isogenies between Seiberg-Witten curves. We apply this approach to Kaluza-Klein (KK) 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories that arise from toroidal compactifications of 5d and 6d SCFTs to four dimensions, uncovering an intricate pattern of 4d global structures obtained by gauging discrete $0$-form and/or $1$-form symmetries. Incidentally, we propose a 6d BPS quiver for the 6d M-string theory on $\mathbb{R}^4\times T^2$.
By applying an inverse Kaluza-Klein procedure, we provide explicit coordinate expressions for Riemannian metrics on two homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic spheres in seven dimensions. We identify Milnor's bundles, among which ten out of the fourteen exotic seven-spheres appear (ignoring orientation), with non-principal bundles having homogeneous fibres. Then, we use the techniques in \cite{10.1063/1.525753} to obtain a general ansatz for the coordinate expression of a metric on the total space of any Milnor's bundle. The ansatz is given in terms of a metric on $S^4$, a metric on $S^3$ (which can smoothly vary throughout $S^4$), and a connection on the principal $SO(4)$-bundle over $S^4$. As a concrete example, we present explicit formulae for such metrics for the ordinary sphere and the Gromoll-Meyer exotic sphere. Then, we perform a non-abelian Kaluza-Klein reduction to gravity in seven dimensions, according to (a slightly simplified version of) the metric ansatz above. We obtain the standard four-dimensional Einstein-Yang-Mills system, for which we find solutions associated with the geometries of the ordinary sphere and of the exotic one. The two differ by the winding numbers of the instantons involved.
We illustrate how the Conformal Ward Identities (CWI) and the gravitational chiral anomaly completely determine the structure of the $\langle TTJ_{5}\rangle$ (graviton-graviton-chiral gauge current) correlator in momentum space. This analysis extends our previous results on the anomaly vertices $\langle AVV\rangle$ and $\langle AAA\rangle$, as well as the $\langle TJJ\rangle$ parity-odd conformal anomaly vertex in general CFTs. The $\langle TTJ_{5}\rangle$ plays a fundamental role in the analysis of the conformal backreaction in early universe cosmology, affecting the particle content and the evolution of the primordial plasma. Our approach is nonperturbative and not Lagrangian-based, requiring the inclusion of a single anomaly pole in the solution of the anomaly constraint. The pole and its residue, along with the CWIs, determine the entire correlator in all of its sectors (longitudinal/transverse), all of which are proportional to the same anomaly coefficient. The method does not rely on a specific expression of the CP-odd anomalous current, which in free field theory can be represented either by a bilinear fermion current or by a gauge-dependent Chern-Simons current; it relies solely on the symmetry constraints. We compute the correlator perturbatively at one-loop in free field theory and verify its exact agreement with the non-perturbative result. A comparison with the perturbative analysis confirms the presence of a sum rule satisfied by the correlator, similar to the parity-even $\langle TJJ\rangle$ and the chiral $\langle AVV\rangle$.
We provide the first supersymmetric embedding of an integrable $\lambda$-deformation to type-II supergravity. Specifically, that of the near horizon of the NS1-NS5 brane intersection, geometrically corresponding to $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times T^4$. We show that the deformed background preserves 1/4 of the maximal supersymmetry. In the Penrose limit we show that it preserves no-more than one half of the maximal supersymmetry.
We use Krylov complexity to study operator growth in the $q$-body dissipative SYK model, where the dissipation is modeled by linear and random $p$-body Lindblad operators. In the large $q$ limit, we analytically establish the linear growth of two sets of coefficients for any generic jump operators. We numerically verify this by implementing the bi-Lanczos algorithm, which transforms the Lindbladian into a pure tridiagonal form. We find that the Krylov complexity saturates inversely with the dissipation strength, while the dissipative timescale grows logarithmically. This is akin to the behavior of other $\mathfrak{q}$-complexity measures, namely out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) and operator size, which we also demonstrate. We connect these observations to continuous quantum measurement processes. We further investigate the pole structure of a generic auto-correlation and the high-frequency behavior of the spectral function in the presence of dissipation, thereby revealing a general principle for operator growth in dissipative quantum chaotic systems.
We study correlations between geometric subfactors living on the Ryu-Takayanagi surface that bounds the entanglement wedge. Using the surface-state correspondence and the bit threads program, we are able to calculate mutual information and conditional mutual information between subfactors. This enables us to count the shared Bell pairs between subfactors, and we propose an entanglement distillation procedure over these subsystems via a SWAP gate protocol. We comment on extending to multipartite entanglement.
We explore the relationship between lattice field theory and graph theory, placing special emphasis on the interplay between Dirac and scalar lattice operators and matrices within the realm of spectral graph theory. Beyond delving into fundamental concepts of spectral graph theory, such as adjacency and Laplacian matrices, we introduce a novel matrix named as "anti-symmetrized adjacency matrix", specifically tailored for cycle digraphs ($T^1$ lattice) and simple directed paths ($B^1$ lattice). The nontrivial relation between graph theory matrices and lattice operators shows that the graph Laplacian matrix mirrors the lattice scalar operator and the Wilson term in lattice fermions, while the anti-symmetrized adjacency matrix, along with its extensions to higher dimensions, are equivalent to naive lattice Dirac operators. Building upon these connections, we provide rigorous proofs for two key assertions: (i) The count of zero-modes in a free lattice scalar operator coincides with the zeroth Betti number of the underlying graph (lattice). (ii) The maximum count of Dirac zero-modes in a free lattice fermion operator is equivalent to the cumulative sum of all Betti numbers when the $D$-dimensional graph results from a cartesian product of cycle digraphs ($T^1$ lattice) and simple directed paths ($B^1$ lattice).
Gradient Flow Exact Renormalization Group (GF-ERG) is a framework to define the renormalization group flow of Wilsonian effective action utilizing coarse-graining along the diffusion equations. We apply it for Scalar Quantum Electrodynamics and derive flow equations for the Wilsonian effective action with the perturbative expansion in the gauge coupling. We focus on the quantum corrections to the correlation functions up to the second order of the gauge coupling and discuss the gauge invariance of the GF-ERG flow. We demonstrate that the anomalous dimension of the gauge field agrees with the standard perturbative computation and that the mass of the photon keeps vanishing in general spacetime dimensions. The latter is a noteworthy fact that contrasts with the conventional Exact Renormalization Group formalism in which an artificial photon mass proportional to a cutoff scale is induced. Our results imply that the GF-ERG can give a gauge-invariant renormalization group flow in a non-perturbative way.
Motivated by recent study of DSSYK and the non-commutative nature of its bulk dual, we review and analyze an example of a non-commutative spacetime known as the quantum disk proposed by L. Vaksman. The quantum disk is defined as the space whose isometries are generated by the quantum algebra $U_q(\mathfrak{su}_{1,1})$. We review how this algebra is defined and its associated group $SU_q(1,1)$ that it generates, highlighting its non-trivial coproduct that sources bulk non-commutativity. We analyze the structure of holography on the quantum disk and study the imprint of non-commutativity on the putative boundary dual.
In conventional ionization chambers (ICs) using P-10 (Ar+CH4) gas, as the atomic number (Z) of the ion beams increases in the energy region of 200-300 MeV/u, the Z resolution deteriorates rapidly when Z>70. This degradation is attributed to substantial energy loss straggling caused by charge state fluctuation when the beams traverse a gas medium. The energy loss straggling intensifies when the beams cannot attain charge state equilibrium in the IC gas. In this study, a xenon-based gas (Xe+CH4), presenting a larger charge state changing cross section, was employed in the IC to reach charge state equilibrium. The responses of ICs with P-10 and the xenon-based gases were examined using 238U beams and cocktail radioactive isotope (RI) beams with Z=40-90 at the RI Beam Factory (RIBF). For 238U beams at 165-344 MeV/u, the P-10 gas IC yielded an energy resolution of 1.9-3.0% in full width at half maximum (FWHM), which proved inadequate for Z identification in the uranium region. In contrast, the xenon-based gas IC demonstrated a satisfactory energy resolution of 1.4-1.6%. When using cocktail RI beams, a Z resolution of 1.28 and 0.74 was achieved by the P-10 and the xenon-based gas ICs, respectively, for beams with Z=84-88 at 200 MeV/u. The contrast in Z resolutions between the P-10 and the xenon-based gas ICs was effectively elucidated by the energy loss straggling model, incorporating collisional straggling and straggling due to charge state changes in the IC gases. The xenon-based gas IC, with more than 3sigma Z separation across a broad Z range (Z=40-90), emerged as a practical solution for Z identification of heavy ion beams.
Using $(10.087\pm0.044)\times10^{9}$ $J/\psi$ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII storage ring, the processes $\Lambda p\rightarrow\Lambda p$ and $\bar{\Lambda}p\rightarrow\bar{\Lambda}p$ are studied, where the $\Lambda/\bar{\Lambda}$ baryons are produced in the process $J/\psi\rightarrow\Lambda\bar{\Lambda}$ and the protons are the hydrogen nuclei in the cooling oil of the beam pipe. Clear signals are observed for the two reactions. The cross sections in $-0.9\leq\rm{cos}\theta_{\Lambda/\bar{\Lambda}}\leq0.9$ are measured to be $\sigma(\Lambda p\rightarrow\Lambda p)=(12.2\pm1.6_{\rm{stat}}\pm1.1_{\rm{sys}})$ mb and $\sigma(\bar{\Lambda} p\rightarrow\bar{\Lambda} p)=(17.5\pm2.1_{\rm{stat}}\pm1.6_{\rm{sys}})$ mb at the $\Lambda/\bar{\Lambda}$ momentum of $1.074$ GeV/$c$ within a range of $\pm0.017$ GeV/$c$, where the $\theta_{\Lambda/\bar{\Lambda}}$ are the scattering angles of the $\Lambda/\bar{\Lambda}$ in the $\Lambda p/\bar{\Lambda}p$ rest frames. Furthermore, the differential cross sections of the two reactions are also measured, where there is a slight tendency of forward scattering for $\Lambda p\rightarrow\Lambda p$, and a strong forward peak for $\bar{\Lambda}p\rightarrow\bar{\Lambda}p$. We present an approach to extract the total cross sections by extrapolation. The study of $\bar{\Lambda}p\rightarrow\bar{\Lambda}p$ represents the first study of antihyperon-nucleon scattering, and these new measurements will serve as important inputs for the theoretical understanding of the (anti)hyperon-nucleon interaction.
Measurements of flow coefficients and correlations between different types of particles are used to characterise the properties of the quark-gluon plasma created in heavy-ion collisions. Moreover, these precise measurements became a key observable in understanding the possible origin of the collective-like behaviour in small collision systems. Recent results of flow and correlations measurements of light and heavy hadrons, in pp, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions are presented.
Based on a data sample of 10 billion $J/\psi$ events collected with the BESIII detector, improved measurements of the Dalitz decays $\eta/\eta'\rightarrow\gamma e^+e^-$ are performed, where the $\eta$ and $\eta'$ are produced through the radiative decays $J/\psi\rightarrow\gamma \eta/\eta'$. The branching fractions of $\eta\rightarrow\gamma e^+e^-$ and $\eta'\rightarrow\gamma e^+e^-$ are measured to be $(7.07 \pm 0.05 \pm 0.23)\times10^{-3}$ and $(4.83\pm0.07\pm0.14)\times10^{-4}$, respectively. Within the single pole model, the parameter of electromagnetic transition form factor for $\eta\rightarrow\gamma e^+e^-$ is determined to be $\Lambda_{\eta}=(0.749 \pm 0.027 \pm 0.007)~ {\rm GeV}/c^{2}$. Within the multi-pole model, we extract the electromagnetic transition form factors for $\eta'\rightarrow\gamma e^+e^-$ to be $\Lambda_{\eta'} = (0.802 \pm 0.007\pm 0.008)~ {\rm GeV}/c^{2}$ and $\gamma_{\eta'} = (0.113\pm0.010\pm0.002)~ {\rm GeV}/c^{2}$. The results are consistent with both theoretical predictions and previous measurements. The characteristic sizes of the interaction regions for the $\eta$ and $\eta'$ are calculated to be $(0.645 \pm 0.023 \pm 0.007 )~ {\rm fm}$ and $(0.596 \pm 0.005 \pm 0.006)~ {\rm fm}$, respectively. In addition, we search for the dark photon in $\eta/\eta^\prime\rightarrow\gamma e^{+}e^{-}$, and the upper limits of the branching fractions as a function of the dark photon are given at 90\% confidence level.
The absolute branching fraction of the decay $\Lambda_{c}(2625)^{+}\to \Lambda^{+}_{c}\pi^+\pi^-$ is measured for the first time to be $(50.7 \pm 5.0_{\rm{stat.}} \pm 4.9_{\rm{syst.}} )\%$ with 368.48 pb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ collision data collected by the BESIII detector at the center-of-mass energies of $\sqrt{s} = 4.918$ and $4.950$ GeV. This result is lower than the naive prediction of 67\%, obtained from isospin symmetry, by more than $2\sigma$, thereby indicating that the novel mechanism referred to as the \textit{threshold effect}, proposed for the strong decays of $\Lambda_{c}(2595)^{+}$, also applies to $\Lambda_{c}(2625)^{+}$. This measurement is necessary to obtain the coupling constants for the transitions between $s$-wave and $p$-wave charmed baryons in heavy hadron chiral perturbation theory. In addition, we search for the decay $\Lambda_{c}(2595)^{+}\to \Lambda^{+}_{c}\pi^+\pi^-$. No significant signal is observed, and the upper limit on its branching fraction is determined to be 80.8\% at the 90\% confidence level.
The increase in the number of readout channels in new detectors, like the Micro Pattern Gas Detectors (MPGD), in the order of several millions, requires a large amount of electrical power to supply the front-end electronics, up to hundreds kW. If this power is generated at long distances from the detector, the voltage drop on the connection cables puts serious constraints to the supply current, to the wire cross-section and to the power distribution. A large amount of voltage drop on the cables, apart an increased power dissipation on wire resistance, determines regulation issues on the load in case of current transients. To mitigate these problems, a new generation DC/DC converter, working in a heavily hostile environment and with a power density greater than 200 W/dm3, was developed. It is modular, with up to four independent modules, eight channels each, collected in a water-cooled crate, and can supply the load with an adjustable 10 to 12 V output up to 170 W per channel. In this contribution, the design constraints of such a converter are analysed, taking as a basis the environmental, electrical and mechanical requirements of the ATLAS New Small Wheel (NSW) project. Thermal considerations require the converter to be water-cooled, and the dimensional constraints impose the adoption of an innovative design to convey the dissipated heat towards the heat exchanger. The control and monitoring system allows for the full remote management of the converter. Main electrical parameters were measured and are reported. The converter was also characterized in a harsh working environment, with radiation tests in the CERN CHARM facility beyond the limits estimated for ten years operation in ATLAS, and with magnetic field tests in various orientations, using different magnets at CERN up to 1.3 T.
Xenon is the target material of choice in several rare event searches. The use of infrared (IR) scintillation light, in addition to the commonly used vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light, could increase the sensitivity of these experiments. Understanding the IR scintillation response of xenon is essential in assessing the potential for improvement. This study focuses on characterizing the time response and light yield (LY) of IR scintillation in gaseous xenon for alpha particles at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. We have previously observed that the time response can be described by two components: one with a fast time constant of O(ns) and one with a slow time constant of O($\mathrm{\mu}$s). This work presents new measurements that improve our understanding of the slow component. The experimental setup was modified to allow for a measurement of the IR scintillation time response with a ten times longer time window of about 3 $\mathrm{\mu}$s, effectively mitigating the dominant systematic uncertainty of the LY measurement. We find that the slow component at about 1 bar pressure can be described by a single exponential function with a decay time of about 850 ns. The LY is found to be (6347 $\pm$ 22 (stat) $\pm$ 400 (syst)) ph / MeV, consistent with our previous measurement. In addition, a measurement with zero electric field along the alpha particle tracks was conducted to rule out the possibility that the slow component is dominated by light emission from drifting electrons or the recombination of electrons and ions.
This letter reports the observation of $W(\ell\nu)\gamma\gamma$ production in proton-proton collisions. This measurement uses the full Run 2 sample of events recorded at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV by the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. Events with a leptonically-decaying $W$ boson and at least two photons are considered. The background-only hypothesis is rejected with an observed and expected significance of $5.6$ standard deviations. The inclusive fiducial production cross section of $W(e\nu)\gamma\gamma$ and $W(\mu\nu)\gamma\gamma$ events is measured to be $\sigma_{\mathrm{fid}} = 13.8 \pm 1.1 (\mathrm{stat}) \substack{+2.1 \\ -2.0} (\mathrm{syst}) \pm 0.1 (\mathrm{lumi})$ fb, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction.
The silicon vertex detector (SVD) is installed at the heart of the Belle II experiment, taking data at the high-luminosity $B$-Factory SuperKEKB since 2019. The detector has shown a stable and above-99\% hit efficiency, with a large signal-to-noise in all sensors since the beginning of data taking. Cluster position and time resolution have been measured with 2020 and 2022 data and show excellent performance and stability. The effect of radiation damage is visible, but not affecting the performance. As the luminosity increases, higher machine backgrounds are expected and the excellent hit-time information in SVD can be exploited for background rejection. In particular, we have recently developed a novel procedure to select hits by grouping them event-by-event based on their time. This new procedure allows a significant reduction of the fake rate, while preserving the tracking efficiency, and it has therefore replaced the previous cut-based procedure. We have developed a method that uses the SVD hits to estimate the track time (previously unavailable) and the collision time. It has a similar precision to the estimate based on the drift chamber but its execution time is three orders of magnitude smaller, allowing a faster online reconstruction that is crucial in a high luminosity regime. The track time is a powerful information provided to analysis that allows, together with the above-mention grouping selection, to raise the occupancy limit above that expected at nominal luminosity, leaving room for a safety factor. Finally, in June 2022 the data taking of the Belle II experiment was stopped to install a new two-layer DEPFET detector (PXD) and upgrade components of the accelerator. The whole silicon tracker (PXD+SVD) has been extracted from Belle II, the new PXD installed, the detector closed and commissioned. We briefly describe the SVD results of this upgrade.
In this article we present a new modelling framework for structured concepts using a category-theoretic generalisation of conceptual spaces, and show how the conceptual representations can be learned automatically from data, using two very different instantiations: one classical and one quantum. A contribution of the work is a thorough category-theoretic formalisation of our framework. We claim that the use of category theory, and in particular the use of string diagrams to describe quantum processes, helps elucidate some of the most important features of our approach. We build upon Gardenfors' classical framework of conceptual spaces, in which cognition is modelled geometrically through the use of convex spaces, which in turn factorise in terms of simpler spaces called domains. We show how concepts from the domains of shape, colour, size and position can be learned from images of simple shapes, where concepts are represented as Gaussians in the classical implementation, and quantum effects in the quantum one. In the classical case we develop a new model which is inspired by the Beta-VAE model of concepts, but is designed to be more closely connected with language, so that the names of concepts form part of the graphical model. In the quantum case, concepts are learned by a hybrid classical-quantum network trained to perform concept classification, where the classical image processing is carried out by a convolutional neural network and the quantum representations are produced by a parameterised quantum circuit. Finally, we consider the question of whether our quantum models of concepts can be considered conceptual spaces in the Gardenfors sense.
The primary ingredients of reality are the universal quantum fields, which fluctuate persistently, spontaneously, and randomly. The general perception of the scientific community is that these quantum fluctuations are due to the uncertainty principle. Here, we present cogent arguments to show that the uncertainty principle is a consequence of the quantum fluctuations, but not their cause. This poses a conspicuous enigma as to how the universal fields remain immutable with an expectation value so accurate that it leads to experimental results, which are precise to one part in a trillion. We discuss some reasonable possibilities in the absence of a satisfactory solution to this enigma.
We establish tighter uncertainty relations for arbitrary finite observables via $(\alpha,\beta,\gamma)$ weighted Wigner-Yanase-Dyson ($(\alpha,\beta,\gamma)$WWYD) skew information. The results are also applicable to the $(\alpha,\gamma)$ weighted Wigner-Yanase-Dyson ($(\alpha,\gamma)$WWYD) skew information and the weighted Wigner-Yanase-Dyson (WWYD) skew information. We also present tighter lower bounds of quantum channels and unitary channels via $(\alpha,\beta,\gamma)$ modified weighted Wigner-Yanase-Dyson ($(\alpha,\beta,\gamma)$MWWYD) skew information. Detailed examples are provided to illustrate tightness of our uncertainty relations.
This Thesis explores the limits in the application of propagating quantum microwaves for quantum communication and quantum sensing, as well as the design of new devices and protocols to fight these limitations. We take advantage of Gaussian quantum states for quantum teleportation and quantum illumination, and studies how these protocols can be improved using entanglement distillation and partial purification, respectively. The Thesis is centered around open-air entanglement distribution, and it follows the steps of state generation inside the cryostat, impedance matching between the cryostat and the open air with a new generation of coplanar antennae, and open air propagation, in the limited framework of current microwave technology. We also address the limitations produced by losses and measurement inefficiencies, and explore the extension to satellite quantum communications. There, we analyze the effects of diffraction and turbulence, studying how the latter affects signals in the optical regime as well. We conclude by studying the teleportation of quantum information in a quantum local area network. To sum up, this Thesis contributes to the development of wireless quantum communications in the microwave regime, studying its technological limitations and how to overcome them. Nevertheless, quantum technologies working in this frequency range are still emergent and plenty of work must be accomplished in order to make them competitive.
Flux attachment provides a powerful conceptual framework for understanding certain forms of topological order, including most notably the fractional quantum Hall effect. Despite its ubiquitous use as a theoretical tool, directly realizing flux attachment in a microscopic setting remains an open challenge. Here, we propose a simple approach to realizing flux attachment in a periodically-driven (Floquet) system of either spins or hard-core bosons. We demonstrate that such a system naturally realizes correlated hopping interactions and provides a sharp connection between such interactions and flux attachment. Starting with a simple, nearest-neighbor, free boson model, we find evidence -- from both a coupled wire analysis and large-scale density matrix renormalization group simulations -- that Floquet flux attachment stabilizes the bosonic integer quantum Hall state at $1/4$ filling (on a square lattice), and the Halperin-221 fractional quantum Hall state at $1/6$ filling (on a honeycomb lattice). At $1/2$ filling on the square lattice, time-reversal symmetry is instead spontaneously broken and bosonic integer quantum Hall states with opposite Hall conductances are degenerate. Finally, we propose an optical-lattice-based implementation of our model on a square lattice and discuss prospects for adiabatic preparation as well as effects of Floquet heating.
High-coherence qubits, which can store and manipulate quantum states for long times with low error rates, are necessary building blocks for quantum computers. We propose a superconducting qubit architecture that uses a Floquet flux drive to modify the spectrum of a static fluxonium molecule. The computational eigenstates have two key properties: disjoint support to minimize bit flips, along with first- and second-order insensitivity to flux noise dephasing. The rates of the three main error types are estimated through numerical simulations, with predicted coherence times of approximately 50 ms in the computational subspace and erasure lifetimes of about 500 $\mu$s. We give a protocol for high-fidelity single qubit rotation gates via additional flux modulation on timescales of roughly 500 ns. Our results indicate that driven qubits are able to outperform some of their static counterparts.
Lattice gauge theories (LGTs) were introduced in 1974 by Wilson to study quark confinement. These models have been shown to exhibit (de-)confined phases, yet it remains challenging to define experimentally accessible order parameters. Here we propose percolation-inspired order parameters (POPs) to probe confinement of dynamical matter in $\mathbb{Z}_2$ LGTs using electric field basis snapshots accessible to quantum simulators. We apply the POPs to study a classical $\mathbb{Z}_2$ LGT and find a confining phase up to temperature $T=\infty$ in 2D (critical $T_c$, i.e. finite-$T$ phase transition, in 3D) for any non-zero density of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ charges. Further, using quantum Monte Carlo we demonstrate that the POPs reproduce the square lattice Fradkin-Shenker phase diagram at $T=0$ and explore the phase diagram at $T>0$. The correlation length exponent coincides with the one of the 3D Ising universality class and we determine the POP critical exponent characterizing percolation. Our proposed POPs provide a geometric perspective of confinement and are directly accessible to snapshots obtained in quantum simulators, making them suitable as a probe for quantum spin liquids.
We consider polarization dynamics of an atom placed in a cavity coupled with a ring resonator. The interaction with the cavity leads to the excitation of atomic polarization and the transition of atom from the excited state to the ground one with the emission of a photon, which then propagates through the ring resonator and returns to the atom. We demonstrate that it is possible to observe a doubling of the return time in this system, which means that the wave emitted by the atom should bypass the ring resonator twice to return to its initial state instead of once. We show that there is a range of system parameters at which the atomic polarization acquires nontrivial geometric phase after photon bypass of the ring resonator. In this range, the state of the atom returns to its initial state only after two bypasses of the emitted photon along ring resonator. We demonstrate that unlike systems with nontrivial geometric topology, in the proposed system the effect arises due to a change in the density of eigenstates, which is controlled by the magnitude of the coupling strength between the atom and the cavity. The proposed system does not require geometric peculiarities, such as twisting and self-intersections, and provides additional opportunities for creation the non-trivial topological phase in optical system with possible integration on a chip.
To facilitate the transition of quantum effects from the controlled laboratory environment to practical real-world applications, there is a pressing need for scalable platforms. One promising strategy involves integrating thermal vapors with nanostructures designed to manipulate atomic interactions. In this tutorial, we aim to gain deeper insights into this by examining the behavior of thermal vapors that are confined within nanocavities or waveguides and exposed to near-resonant light. We explore the interactions between atoms in confined dense thermal vapors. Our investigation reveals deviations from the predictions of continuous electrodynamics models, including density-dependent line shifts and broadening effects. In particular, our results demonstrate that by carefully controlling the saturation of single atoms and the interactions among multiple atoms using nanostructures, along with controlling the geometry of the atomic cloud, it becomes possible to manipulate the effective optical nonlinearity of the entire atomic ensemble. This capability renders the hybrid thermal atom-nanophotonic platform a distinctive and valuable one for manipulating the collective effect and achieving substantial optical nonlinearities.
Optically levitated multiple nanoparticles has emerged as a platform for studying complex fundamental physics such as non-equilibrium phenomena, quantum entanglement, and light-matter interaction, which could be applied for sensing weak forces and torques with high sensitivity and accuracy. An optical trapping landscape of increased complexity is needed to engineer the interaction between levitated particles beyond the single harmonic trap. However, existing platforms based on spatial light modulators for studying interactions between levitated particles suffered from low efficiency, instability at focal points, the complexity of optical systems, and the scalability for sensing applications. Here, we experimentally demonstrated that a metasurface which forms two diffraction-limited focal points with a high numerical aperture (0.9) and high efficiency (31%) can generate tunable optical potential wells without any intensity fluctuations. A bistable potential and double potential wells were observed in the experiment by varying the focal points distance, and two nanoparticles were levitated in double potential wells for hours, which could be used for investigating the levitated particles nonlinear dynamics, thermal dynamics, and optical binding. This would pave the way for scaling the number of levitated optomechanical devices or realizing paralleled levitated sensors.
We present a cavity-electromechanical system comprising a superconducting quantum interference device which is embedded in a microwave resonator and coupled via a pick-up loop to a 6 $\mu$g magnetically-levitated superconducting sphere. The motion of the sphere in the magnetic trap induces a frequency shift in the SQUID-cavity system. We use microwave spectroscopy to characterize the system, and we demonstrate that the electromechanical interaction is tunable. The measured displacement sensitivity of $10^{-7} \, \mathrm{m} / \sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, defines a path towards ground-state cooling of levitated particles with Planck-scale masses at millikelvin environment temperatures.
Quantum entanglement is an indispensable resource for many significant quantum information processing tasks. Thus, distilling more entanglement from less entangled resource is a task of practical significance and has been investigated for decades. The literature [Verstraete \textit{et al}., \href{https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.64.010101}{Phys. Rev. A 64, 010101(2001)}] considered a scenario to increase the entanglement by local filtering operation and qualitatively derived the variance relation of entanglement. We investigate the scenario with general two-qubit resources to find the optimal strategy of filtering operations. We obtain the upper bound for the ratio of entanglement increase and find the corresponding optimal local filtering operation to achieve the maximal ratio. Our analysis shows that the upper bound ratio grows with the length of local Bloch vector while the success probability decrease with it. We further extend the research to investigate the optimal measurement strategy by considering general measurement. Our result shows that local measurement can not increase the expectation of quantum entanglement, which gives more analytical evidence to the well known fact that local operation can not create quantum entanglement.
In this paper we study the Clifford+Toffoli universal fault-tolerant gate set. We introduce a generating set in order to represent any unitary implementable by this gate set and with this we derive a bound on the Toffoli-count of arbitrary multi-qubit unitaries. We analyse the channel representation of the generating set elements, with the help of which we infer $|\mathcal{J}_n^{Tof}|<|\mathcal{J}_n^T|$, where $\mathcal{J}_n^{Tof}$ and $\mathcal{J}_n^T$ are the set of unitaries exactly implementable by the Clifford+Toffoli and Clifford+T gate set, respectively. We develop Toffoli-count optimal synthesis algorithms for both approximately and exactly implementable multi-qubit unitaries. With the help of these we prove $|\mathcal{J}_n^{Tof}|=|\mathcal{J}_n^{CS}|$, where $\mathcal{J}_n^{CS}$ is the set of unitaries exactly implementable by the Clifford+CS gate set.
We provide a general formulation of the spin-orbit coupling on a 2D curved surface. Considering the wide applicability of spin-orbit effect in spinor-based condensed matter physics, a general spin-orbit formulation could aid the study of spintronics, Dirac graphene, topological systems, and quantum information on curved surfaces. Particular attention is then devoted to the development of an important spin-orbit quantity known as the spin-orbit torque. As devices trend smaller in dimension, the physics of local geometries on spin-orbit torque, hence spin and magnetic dynamics shall not be neglected. We derived the general expression of a spin-orbit anisotropy field for the curved surfaces and provided explicit solutions in the special contexts of the spherical, cylindrical and flat coordinates. Our expressions allow spin-orbit anisotropy fields and hence spin-orbit torque to be computed over the entire surfaces of devices of any geometry.
We propose a quantum game based on coin-based quantum walks. Given a quantum walk and a Hermitian operator on the coin-position composite space, winning this game involves choosing an initial coin state such that the given quantum walk leads to a composite state in which the expectation value of the given Hermitian operator is greater than a certain value. Parrondo's paradox is a phenomenon where a combination of losing strategies becomes a winning strategy. We give a deterministic scheme for identifying Parrondo's paradox in our game, in the sense that, given a collection of distinct quantum steps, we identify initial coin states which happen to be losing states for all quantum walks comprising solely of these steps individually, but turn out to be winning states for a quantum walk comprising of all the given steps taken in a sequence. Unlike traditional quantum steps that allow for equal magnitude forward and backward strides based on the outcome of the coin-toss, the steps of the quantum walks employed here, though still contingent upon coin-toss, permit the strides to be of unequal magnitude, and not necessarily in opposite directions. We believe the results presented here will contribute to a deeper understanding of evolution of expectation values of observables in quantum walks, and facilitate the development of novel quantum algorithms.
Quantum cryptography is the study of delivering secret communications across a quantum channel. Recently, Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) has been recognized as the most important breakthrough in quantum cryptography. This process facilitates two distant parties to share secure communications based on physical laws. The BB84 protocol was developed in 1984 and remains the most widely used among BB92, Ekert91, COW, and SARG04 protocols. However the practical security of QKD with imperfect devices have been widely discussed, and there are many ways to guarantee that generated key by QKD still provides unconditional security. This paper proposed a novel method that allows users to communicate while generating the secure keys as well as securing the transmission without any leakage of the data. In this approach sender will never reveal her basis, hence neither the receiver nor the intruder will get knowledge of the fundamental basis.Further to detect Eve, polynomial interpolation is also used as a key verification technique. In order to fully utilize the quantum computing capabilities provided by IBM quantum computers, the protocol is executed using the Qiskit backend for 45 qubits. This article discusses a plot of % error against alpha (strength of eavesdropping). As a result, different types of noise have been included, and the success probability of the desired key bits has been determined. Furthermore, the success probability under depolarizing noise is explained for different qubit counts.Last but not least, even when the applied noise is increased to maximum capacity, a 50% probability of successful key generation is still observed in an experiment.
Several articles and books adequately cover quantum computing concepts, such as gate/circuit model (and Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm, QAOA), Adiabatic Quantum Computing (AQC), and Quantum Annealing (QA). However, they typically stop short of accessing quantum hardware and solve numerical problem instances. This tutorial offers a quick hands-on introduction to solving Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) problems on currently available quantum computers. We cover both IBM and D-Wave machines: IBM utilizes a gate/circuit architecture, and D-Wave is a quantum annealer. We provide examples of three canonical problems (Number Partitioning, Max-Cut, Minimum Vertex Cover), and two models from practical applications (from cancer genomics and a hedge fund portfolio manager, respectively). An associated GitHub repository provides the codes in five companion notebooks. Catering to undergraduate and graduate students in computationally intensive disciplines, this article also aims to reach working industry professionals seeking to explore the potential of near-term quantum applications.
This research extends quantum singular value transformation (QSVT) for general bounded operators embedded in unitary operators on possibly infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. Through in-depth mathematical exploration, we have achieved a refined operator-theoretic understanding of QSVT, leading to a more streamlined approach. One of the key discoveries is that polynomial transformations in QSVT inherently apply to the entire operator, rather than being contingent on the selection of a specific basis. We expect that this research will pave the way for applying these insights to a broader range of problems in quantum information processing and provide analytical tools for quantum dynamics, such as quantum walks.
Inspired by the concept of fault tolerance quantum computation, this article proposes a framework dubbed Exact Homomorphic Encryption, EHE, enabling exact computations on encrypted data without the need for pre-decryption. The introduction of quantum gates is a critical step in constructing the message encryption and the computation encryption within the framework. Of significance is that both encryptions are respectively accomplished in a multivariate polynomial set generated by quantum gates. Two fundamental traits of quantum gates, the invertibility and the noncommutativity, establish the success of EHE. The employment of invertible gates allows exact decryptions for both an encrypted message and encrypted computation. The encrypted computation is exact as well because its encryption transformation is conducted with invertible gates. The second trait of noncommutativity among applied quantum gates brings forth the security for the two encryptions. In the message encryption, a plaintext is encoded into a ciphertext via a polynomial set generated by a product of noncommuting gates randomly chosen. Toward the computation encryption, a desired operation is encoded into an encrypted polynomial set generated by another product of noncommuting gates. The encrypted computation is then the evaluation of the encrypted polynomial set on the ciphertext and is referred to as the cryptovaluation. EHE is not only attainable on quantum computers, but also straightforwardly realizable on traditional computing environments. Surpassing the standard security 2^128 of quantum resilience, both the encryptions further reach a security greater than the suggested threshold 2^1024 and are characterized as hyper quantum-resilient. Thanks to the two essential traits of quantum gates, this framework can be regarded as the initial tangible manifestation of the concept noncommutative cryptography.
The conventional circuit paradigm, utilizing a limited number of gates to construct arbitrary quantum circuits, is hindered by significant noise overhead. For instance, the standard gate paradigm employs two CNOT gates for the partial ZZ rotation in the quantum Fourier transform, even when the rotation angle is very small. In contrast, certain devices, such as IBM cross-resonance-based devices, can directly implement such operations using their native interaction, resulting in considerably shorter and less noisy implementations for small rotation angles. Unfortunately, beyond noise (incoherent errors), coherent errors stemming from qubit crosstalk and calibration imperfections render these implementations impractical. In Clifford gates such as the CNOT, these errors can be addressed through Pauli twirling (also known as randomized compiling). However, this technique is not applicable to the short non-Clifford native implementations described above. The present work introduces, analyzes, and experimentally demonstrates a technique called Pseudo Twirling to address coherent errors in general gates and circuits. Additionally, we experimentally showcase that integrating pseudo twirling with a quantum error mitigation method called adaptive KIK enables the simultaneous mitigation of both noise and coherent errors in non-Clifford gates. This advancement paves the way for error mitigation in larger circuits than ever before.
Rapid advances in quantum computing technology lead to an increasing need for software simulators that enable both algorithm design and the validation of results obtained from quantum hardware. This includes calculations that aim at probing regimes of quantum advantage, where a quantum computer outperforms a classical computer in the same task. High performance computing (HPC) platforms play a crucial role as today's quantum devices already reach beyond the limits of what powerful workstations can model, but a systematic evaluation of the individual performance of the many offered simulation packages is lacking so far. In this Technical Review, we benchmark several software packages capable of simulating quantum dynamics with a special focus on HPC capabilities. We develop a containerized toolchain for benchmarking a large set of simulation packages on a local HPC cluster using different parallelisation capabilities, and compare the performance and system size-scaling for three paradigmatic quantum computing tasks. Our results can help finding the right package for a given simulation task and lay the foundation for a systematic community effort to benchmark and validate upcoming versions of existing and also newly developed simulation packages.
One of the most promising applications of quantum computers is to simulate quantum mechanical systems and deliver an advantage to classical computation by leveraging their inherent quantum behaviour. In this work, we present a new approach to achieve a noise tolerant Hamiltonian simulation algorithm for ground state energy estimation which also surmounts stochastic limitations most of its counterparts face. This algorithm is based on an adaptive set of fuzzy bisection searches to estimate the ground state energy digit by digit that can get to any arbitrary target precision. It builds upon the Quantum Eigenvalue Transformation of Unitary Matrices (QETU) algorithm and it delivers good approximations in simulations with quantum depolarizing probability up to 1e-3, particularly for the Transverse-Field Ising Model (TFIM). We ran simulations with different system Hamiltonians, system sizes and time evolution encoding methods on IBM Qiskit and we demonstrate the key results in this work, as well as compare the performance with other existing methods.
Following a consistent geometrical description previously introduced in Parra-Rodriguez et al. (2023), we present an exact method for obtaining canonically quantisable Hamiltonian descriptions of nonlinear, nonreciprocal quasi-lumped electrical networks. Utilising the Faddeev-Jackiw method once more, we identify and classify all possible singularities arising in the quest for Hamiltonian descriptions of general quasi-lumped element networks, and we offer systematic solutions to them--a major challenge in the context of canonical circuit quantisation. Accordingly, the solution relies on the correct identification of the reduced classical circuit-state manifold, i.e., a mix of flux and charge fields and functions. Starting from the geometrical description of the transmission line, we provide a complete program including lines coupled to one-port lumped-element networks, as well as multiple lines connected to nonlinear lumped-element networks. On the way, we naturally extend the canonical quantisation of transmission lines coupled through frequency-dependent, nonreciprocal linear systems, such as practical circulators. Additionally, we demonstrate how our method seamlessly facilitates the characterisation of general nonreciprocal, dissipative linear environments. This is achieved by extending the Caldeira-Leggett formalism, utilising continuous limits of series of immittance matrices. We expect this work to become a useful tool in the analysis and design of electrical circuits and of special interest in the context of canonical quantisation of superconducting networks. For instance, this work will provide a solid ground for a precise input-output theory in the presence of nonreciprocal devices, e.g., within waveguide QED platforms.
We study the problem of dynamic cooling whereby a target qubit is cooled at the expense of heating up $N-1$ further identical qubits, by means of a global unitary operation. A standard back-of-the-envelope high temperature estimate establishes that the target qubit temperature can only be dynamically cooled by at most a factor of $1/\sqrt{N}$. Here, we provide the exact expression for the smallest temperature to which the target qubit can be cooled and reveal that there is a crossover from the high initial temperature regime where the scaling is in fact $1/\sqrt{N}$ to a low initial temperature regime where a much faster scaling of $1/N$ occurs. This slow $1/\sqrt{N}$ scaling, relevant for early high-temperature NMR quantum computers, is the reason dynamic cooling was dismissed as ineffectual around 20 years ago; the fact that current low-temperature quantum computers fall in the fast $1/N$ scaling regime, reinstates the appeal of dynamic cooling today. We further show that the associated work cost of cooling is exponentially more advantageous in the low temperature regime. Finally, we discuss the quantum circuit complexity and optimal implementation of dynamic cooling, and examine the effects of noise on cooling in near-term quantum computers.
We study the pumping of matter-wave solitons formed in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) with attractive atomic interactions that are loaded into optical superlattices in which one of the lattices is moving with respect to the other. We find that solitons exhibit the remarkably similar pumping properties in both shallow and deep lattices, and that for exactly the same soliton initially excited, switching between integer (fractional) pumping and trapping can be achieved by simply adjusting the lattice parameters. In addition, we find that the gap solitons, which bifurcate from the lowest energy band in a semi-infinite band gap, also exhibit this lattice-parameter-dependent pumping and trapping. The treatment of solitons as classical particles with effective centre-of-mass equations of motion provides a good description of this parameter-dependent integer (fractional) pumping and trapping of solitons.
A bang-bang (BB) algorithm prepares the ground state of a two-dimensional (2D) quantum many-body Hamiltonian $H=H_1+H_2$ by evolving an initial product state alternating between $H_1$ and $H_2$. We use the neighborhood tensor update to simulate the BB evolution with an infinite pair-entangled projected state (iPEPS). The alternating sequence is optimized with the final energy as a cost function. The energy is calculated with the tangent space methods for the sake of their stability. The method is benchmarked in the 2D transverse field quantum Ising model near its quantum critical point against a ground state obtained by variational optimization of the iPEPS. The optimal BB sequence differs non-perturbatively from a sequence simulating quantum annealing or adiabatic preparation (AP) of the ground state. The optimal BB energy converges with the number of bangs much faster than the optimal AP energy.
The system-bath entanglement theorem (SBET) was established in terms of linear response functions [J. Chem. Phys. 152, 034102 (2020)] and generalized to correlation functions [arXiv: 2312.13618 (2023)] in our previous works. This theorem connects the entangled system-bath properties to the local system and bare bath ones. In this work, firstly we extend the SBET to field-dressed conditions with multiple bosonic Gaussian environments at different temperatures. Not only the system but also environments are considered to be of optical polarizability, as in reality. With the aid of the extended SBET developed here, for the evaluation of the nonlinear spectroscopy such as the pump-probe, the entangled system-bath contributions can be obtained upon reduced system evolutions via certain quantum dissipative methods. The extended SBET in the field-free condition and its counterpart in the classical limit is also presented. The SBET for fermionic environments is elaborated within the transport scenarios for completeness.
We introduce the generative quantum eigensolver (GQE), a novel method for applying classical generative models for quantum simulation. The GQE algorithm optimizes a classical generative model to produce quantum circuits with desired properties. Here, we develop a transformer-based implementation, which we name the generative pre-trained transformer-based (GPT) quantum eigensolver (GPT-QE), leveraging both pre-training on existing datasets and training without any prior knowledge. We demonstrate the effectiveness of training and pre-training GPT-QE in the search for ground states of electronic structure Hamiltonians. GQE strategies can extend beyond the problem of Hamiltonian simulation into other application areas of quantum computing.
Simulating chemical systems is highly sought after and computationally challenging, as the simulation cost exponentially increases with the system size. Quantum computers have been proposed as a computational means to overcome this bottleneck. Most efforts recently have been spent on determining the ground states of chemical systems. Hardness results and the lack of efficient heuristics for initial-state generation sheds doubt on the feasibility. Here we propose an inherently efficient approach for solving chemical simulation problems, meaning it requires quantum circuits of size scaling polynomially in relevant system parameters. If a set of assumptions can be satisfied, our approach finds good initial states by assembling initial states for dynamical simulation in a scattering tree. We discuss a variety of quantities of chemical interest that can be measured based on quantum simulation, e.g. of a reaction, succeeding the initial state preparation.
Presently, noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers encounter significant technological challenges that make it impossible to generate large amounts of entanglement. We leverage this technological constraint as a resource and demonstrate that a shallow variational eigensolver can be trained to successfully target quantum many-body scar states. Scars are area-law high-energy eigenstates of quantum many-body Hamiltonians, which are sporadic and immersed in a sea of volume-law eigenstates. We show that the algorithm is robust and can be used as a versatile diagnostic tool to uncover quantum many-body scars in arbitrary physical systems.
We investigate signatures of non-Markovianity in the dynamics of a periodically-driven qubit coupled to a dissipative bosonic environment. We propagate the dynamics of the reduced density matrix of the qubit by integrating the numerically exact hierarchical equations of motion. Non-Markovian features are quantified by comparing the prediction from diverse and complementary approaches to quantum dissipation. In particular, we analyze the distinguishability of quantum states, the decay of the volume accessible to the qubit on the Hilbert space, the negativity of the canonical rates in the generalized Lindblad equation and the relaxation of the memory kernels in the Nakajima-Zwanzig generalized quantum master equation. We discuss the out-of-equilbrium stationary limit reached by the dissipative-driven dynamics and a numerical approach to identify resonant driving frequencies leading to maximal information revival. We discuss that the phenomenon of eternal non-Markovianity can be observed for sufficiently small system--bath coupling and enhanced by modulating the frequency of the external drive. The present work provides a broad theoretical analysis on quantum control within the framework of open quantum dynamics and quantum information.
We consider an interacting bipartite network through a Bayesian game-theoretic framework and demonstrate that weak measurements introduce an inherent asymmetry that is not present when using standard projective measurements. These asymmetries are revealed in the expected payoff for a Bayesian version of Prisoner's dilemma, demonstrating that certain advantages can be found for given subsystems depending on the measurements performed in the network. We demonstrate that this setup allows measurement-induced control for one of the respective parties.
We propose cooperative two-photon lasing in two quantum dots coupled to a single mode photonic crystal cavity. We consider both quantum dots are driven either incoherently or coherently using external pump. We incorporate exciton-phonon coupling using polaron transformed master equation. Using quantum laser theory, single and multi-photon excess emission (difference between emission and absorption) into cavity mode are investigated. The single and two-photon excess emission contribute to cavity photons, predominantly. Varying the pump strength can lead to single-photon excess emission change from negative to positive and thus by appropriately selecting pump strength single-photon excess emission can be made negligible.
In this work, we consider different theoretical aspects and simple applications of the Milburn equation, which is governed by a parameter controlling what is known as intrinsic decoherence. The main goal is to show some similarities observed also when external decoherence is considered. Purity, Ehrenfest relations, probability density current, the Wigner representation as well as the relation to a Linbladian master equation are analyzed in terms of this intrinsic decoherence, leading to new insights on the Milburn dynamics. Interference of two wave packets, tunneling and the bouncing ball problem are also analyzed under this perspective.
Designing performant and noise-robust circuits for Quantum Machine Learning (QML) is challenging -- the design space scales exponentially with circuit size, and there are few well-supported guiding principles for QML circuit design. Although recent Quantum Circuit Search (QCS) methods attempt to search for performant QML circuits that are also robust to hardware noise, they directly adopt designs from classical Neural Architecture Search (NAS) that are misaligned with the unique constraints of quantum hardware, resulting in high search overheads and severe performance bottlenecks. We present \'Eliv\'agar, a novel resource-efficient, noise-guided QCS framework. \'Eliv\'agar innovates in all three major aspects of QCS -- search space, search algorithm and candidate evaluation strategy -- to address the design flaws in current classically-inspired QCS methods. \'Eliv\'agar achieves hardware-efficiency and avoids an expensive circuit-mapping co-search via noise- and device topology-aware candidate generation. By introducing two cheap-to-compute predictors, Clifford noise resilience and Representational capacity, \'Eliv\'agar decouples the evaluation of noise robustness and performance, enabling early rejection of low-fidelity circuits and reducing circuit evaluation costs. Due to its resource-efficiency, \'Eliv\'agar can further search for data embeddings, significantly improving performance. Based on a comprehensive evaluation of \'Eliv\'agar on 12 real quantum devices and 9 QML applications, \'Eliv\'agar achieves 5.3% higher accuracy and a 271$\times$ speedup compared to state-of-the-art QCS methods.
It is widely appreciated, due to Bell's theorem, that quantum phenomena are inconsistent with local-realist models. In this context, locality refers to local causality, and there is thus an open possibility for reproducing the quantum predictions with models which internally violate the causal arrow of time, while otherwise adhering to the relevant locality condition. So far, this possibility has been demonstrated only at a toy-model level, and only for systems involving one or two spins (or photons). The present work extends one of these models to quantum correlations between three or more spins which are entangled in the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state.
We introduce a variational quantum solver for combinatorial optimizations over $m=\mathcal{O}(n^k)$ binary variables using only $n$ qubits, with tunable $k>1$. The number of parameters and circuit depth display mild linear and sublinear scalings in $m$, respectively. Moreover, we analytically prove that the specific qubit-efficient encoding brings in a super-polynomial mitigation of barren plateaus as a built-in feature. This leads to unprecedented quantum-solver performances. For $m=7000$, numerical simulations produce solutions competitive in quality with state-of-the-art classical solvers. In turn, for $m=2000$, an experiment with $n=17$ trapped-ion qubits featured MaxCut approximation ratios estimated to be beyond the hardness threshold $0.941$. To our knowledge, this is the highest quality attained experimentally on such sizes. Our findings offer a novel heuristics for quantum-inspired solvers as well as a promising route towards solving commercially-relevant problems on near term quantum devices.
Many-body localization (MBL) of a disordered interacting boson system in one dimension is studied numerically at the filling faction one-half. The von Neumann entanglement entropy SvN is commonly used to detect the MBL phase transition but remains challenging to be directly measured. Based on the U(1) symmetry from the particle number conservation, SvN can be decomposed into the particle number entropy SN and the configuration entropy SC. In light of the tendency that the eigenstate's SC nears zero in the localized phase, we introduce a quantity describing the deviation of SN from the ideal thermalization distribution; finite-size scaling analysis illustrates that it shares the same phase transition point with SvN but displays the better critical exponents. This observation hints that the phase transition to MBL might largely be determined by SN and its fluctuations. Notably, the recent experiments [A. Lukin et al., Science 364, 256 (2019); J. Leonard et al., Nat. Phys. 19, 481 (2023)] demonstrated that this deviation can potentially be measured through the SN measurement. Furthermore, our investigations reveal that the thermalized states primarily occupy the low-energy section of the spectrum, as indicated by measures of localization length, gap ratio, and energy density distribution. This low-energy spectrum of the Bose model closely resembles the entire spectrum of the Fermi (or spin XXZ) model, accommodating a transition from the thermalized to the localized states. While, owing to the bosonic statistics, the high-energy spectrum of the model allows the formation of distinct clusters of bosons in the random potential background. We analyze the resulting eigenstate properties and briefly summarize the associated dynamics. To distinguish between the phase regions at the low and high energies, a probing quantity based on the structure of SvN is also devised.
It has been advocated by Bell and Bohm that the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) correlations are mediated through faster-than-light (FTL) interactions. In a previous paper a way to avoid causal paradoxes derived from this FTL hypothesis (via the breakdown of Lorentz symmetry) has been suggested. Lorentz transformations would remain valid, but there would be no equivalence between active and passive Lorentz transformations in the case of EPR correlations. Some counterintuitive consequences of this assumption are briefly examined here.
The quantum-walk-based spatial search problem aims to find a marked vertex using a quantum walk on a graph with marked vertices. We describe a framework for determining the computational complexity of spatial search by continuous-time quantum walk on arbitrary graphs by providing a recipe for finding the optimal running time and the success probability of the algorithm. The quantum walk is driven by a Hamiltonian derived from the adjacency matrix of the graph modified by the presence of the marked vertices. The success of our framework depends on the knowledge of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the adjacency matrix. The spectrum of the Hamiltonian is subsequently obtained from the roots of the determinant of a real symmetric matrix $M$, the dimensions of which depend on the number of marked vertices. The eigenvectors are determined from a basis of the kernel of $M$. We show each step of the framework by solving the spatial searching problem on the Johnson graphs with a fixed diameter and with two marked vertices. Our calculations show that the optimal running time is $O(\sqrt{N})$ with an asymptotic probability of $1+o(1)$, where $N$ is the number of vertices.
Nanodevices exploiting quantum effects are critically important elements of future quantum technologies (QT), but their real-world performance is strongly limited by decoherence arising from local `environmental' interactions. Compounding this, as devices become more complex, i.e. contain multiple functional units, the `local' environments begin to overlap, creating the possibility of environmentally mediated decoherence phenomena on new time-and-length scales. Such complex and inherently non-Markovian dynamics could present a challenge for scaling up QT, but -- on the other hand -- the ability of environments to transfer `signals' and energy might also enable sophisticated spatiotemporal coordination of inter-component processes, as is suggested to happen in biological nanomachines, like enzymes and photosynthetic proteins. Exploiting numerically exact many body methods (tensor networks) we study a fully quantum model that allows us to explore how propagating environmental dynamics can instigate and direct the evolution of spatially remote, non-interacting quantum systems. We demonstrate how energy dissipated into the environment can be remotely harvested to create transient excited/reactive states, and also identify how reorganisation triggered by system excitation can qualitatively and reversibly alter the `downstream' kinetics of a `functional' quantum system. With access to complete system-environment wave functions, we elucidate the microscopic processes underlying these phenomena, providing new insight into how they could be exploited for energy efficient quantum devices.
We investigate the performance of parallel and adaptive quantum channel discrimination strategies for a finite number of channel uses. It has recently been shown that, in the asymmetric setting with asymptotically vanishing type I error probability, adaptive strategies are asymptotically not more powerful than parallel ones. We extend this result to the non-asymptotic regime with finitely many channel uses, by explicitly constructing a parallel strategy for any given adaptive strategy, and bounding the difference in their performances, measured in terms of the decay rate of the type II error probability per channel use. We further show that all parallel strategies can be optimized over in time polynomial in the number of channel uses, and hence our result can also be used to obtain a poly-time-computable asymptotically tight upper bound on the performance of general adaptive strategies.
High-dimensional entanglement has been identified as an important resource in quantum information processing, and also as a main obstacle for simulating quantum systems. Its certification is often difficult, and most widely used methods for experiments are based on fidelity measurements with respect to highly entangled states. Here, instead, we consider covariances of collective observables, as in the well-known Covariance Matrix Criterion (CMC)[1] and present a generalization of the CMC for determining the Schmidt number of a bipartite system. This is potentially particularly advantageous in many-body systems, such as cold atoms, where the set of practical measurements is very limited and only variances of collective operators can typically be estimated. To show the practical relevance of our results, we derive simpler Schmidt-number criteria that require similar information as the fidelity-based witnesses, yet can detect a wider set of states. We also consider paradigmatic criteria based on spin covariances, which would be very helpful for experimental detection of high-dimensional entanglement in cold atom systems. We conclude by discussing the applicability of our results to a multiparticle ensemble and some open questions for future work.
Quantum sensors and qubits are usually two-level systems (TLS), the quantum analogs of classical bits which assume binary values '0' or '1'. They are useful to the extent to which they can persist in quantum superpositions of '0' and '1' in real environments. However, such TLS are never alone in real materials and devices, and couplings to other degrees of freedom limit the lifetimes - called decoherence times - of the superposition states. Decoherence occurs via two major routes - excitation hopping and fluctuating electromagnetic fields. Common mitigation strategies are based on material improvements, exploitation of clock states which couple only to second rather than first order to external perturbations, and reduction of interactions via extreme dilution of pure materials made from isotopes selected to minimize noise from nuclear spins. We demonstrate that for a dense TLS network in a noisy nuclear spin bath, we can take advantage of interactions to pass from hopping to fluctuation dominance, increasing decoherence times by almost three orders of magnitude. In the dilute rare-earth insulator LiY1-xTbxF4, Tb ions realize TLS characterized by a 30GHz splitting and readily implemented clock states. Dipolar interactions lead to coherent, localized pairs of Tb ions, that decohere due to fluctuating quantum mechanical ring-exchange interaction, sensing the slow dynamics of the surrounding, nearly localized Tb spins. The hopping and fluctuation regimes are sharply distinguished by their Rabi oscillations and the invisible vs. strong effect of classic 'error correcting' microwave pulse sequences. Laying open the decoherence mechanisms at play in a dense, disordered and noisy network of interacting TLS, our work expands the search space for quantum sensors and qubits to include clusters in dense, disordered materials, that can be explored for localization effects.
Recent constructions of quantum low-density parity-check (QLDPC) codes provide optimal scaling of the number of logical qubits and the minimum distance in terms of the code length, thereby opening the door to fault-tolerant quantum systems with minimal resource overhead. However, the hardware path from nearest-neighbor-connection-based topological codes to long-range-interaction-demanding QLDPC codes is a challenging one. Given the practical difficulty in building a monolithic architecture for quantum computers based on optimal QLDPC codes, it is worth considering a distributed implementation of such codes over a network of interconnected quantum processors. In such a setting, all syndrome measurements and logical operations must be performed using high-fidelity shared entangled states between the processing nodes. Since probabilistic many-to-1 distillation schemes for purifying entanglement are inefficient, we investigate quantum error correction based entanglement purification in this work. Specifically, we employ QLDPC codes to distill GHZ states, as the resulting high-fidelity logical GHZ states can interact directly with the code used to perform distributed quantum computing (DQC), e.g. for fault-tolerant Steane syndrome extraction. This protocol is applicable beyond DQC since entanglement purification is a quintessential task of any quantum network. We use the min-sum algorithm (MSA) based iterative decoder for distilling $3$-qubit GHZ states using a rate $0.118$ family of lifted product QLDPC codes and obtain an input threshold of $\approx 0.7974$ under i.i.d. single-qubit depolarizing noise. This represents the best threshold for a yield of $0.118$ for any GHZ purification protocol. Our results apply to larger size GHZ states as well, where we extend our technical result about a measurement property of $3$-qubit GHZ states to construct a scalable GHZ purification protocol.
We describe the design and operation of a surface-electrode Paul trap for parallel entangling gate implementation. In particular, we demonstrate the possibility of separating or coupling ion motion by adjusting the DC-voltages on a set of electrodes and show the possibility of parallel MS-gate operations for specific voltage configurations. We verify the scalability of this approach and characterize the performance of these gates in the presence of the finite phonon mode occupation and of the finite drift of the phonon frequencies. Additionally, we investigate how the number of ions per individual trapping site and anharmonic potential terms affect the coupling between the wells.
The quantum supremacy experiment, such as Google Sycamore [Nature \textbf{574}, 505 (2019)], poses great challenge for classical verification due to the exponentially-increasing compute cost. Using a new-generation Sunway supercomputer within $8.5$ days, we provide a direct verification by computing three million exact amplitudes for the experimentally generated bitstrings, obtaining an XEB fidelity of $0.191\%$ (the estimated value is $0.224\%$). The leap of simulation capability is built on a multiple-amplitude tensor network contraction algorithm which systematically exploits the ``classical advantage" (the inherent ``store-and-compute" operation mode of von Neumann machines) of current supercomputers, and a fused tensor network contraction algorithm which drastically increases the compute efficiency on heterogeneous architectures. Our method has a far-reaching impact in solving quantum many-body problems, statistical problems as well as combinatorial optimization problems.
Novel platforms interfacing trapped cold atoms and guided light in nanoscale waveguides are a promising route to achieve a regime of strong coupling between light and atoms in single pass, with applications to quantum non-linear optics and quantum simulation. A strong challenge for the experimental development of this emerging waveguide-QED field of research is to combine facilitated optical access for atom transport, atom trapping via guided modes and robustness to inherent nanofabrication imperfections. In this endeavor, here we propose to interface Rubidium atoms with a photonic-crystal waveguide based on a large-index GaInP slab. With a specifically tailored half-W1 design, we show that a large chiral coupling to the waveguide can be obtained and guided modes can be used to form two-color dipole traps for atoms at 116~nm from the edge of the structure. This optimized device should greatly improve the level of experimental control and facilitate the atom integration.
Quantum communications bring a paradigm change in internet security by using quantum resources to establish secure keys between parties. Present-day quantum communications networks are mainly point-to-point and use trusted nodes and key management systems to relay the keys. Future quantum networks, including the quantum internet, will have complex topologies in which groups of users are connected and communicate with each-other. Here we investigate several architectures for quantum communication networks. We show that photonic orbital angular momentum (OAM) can be used to route quantum information between different nodes. Starting from a simple, point-to-point network, we will gradually develop more complex architectures: point-to-multipoint, fully-connected and entanglement-distribution networks. As a particularly important result, we show that an $n$-node, fully-connected network can be constructed with a single OAM sorter and $n-1$ OAM values. Our results pave the way to construct complex quantum communication networks with minimal resources.
Wave functions on periodic lattices are commonly described by Bloch band theory. Besides Abelian Bloch states labeled by a momentum vector, hyperbolic lattices support non-Abelian Bloch states that have so far eluded analytical treatments. By adapting the solid-state-physics notions of supercells and zone folding, we devise a method for the systematic construction of non-Abelian Bloch states. The method applies Abelian band theory to sequences of supercells, recursively built as symmetric aggregates of smaller cells, and enables a rapidly convergent computation of bulk spectra and eigenstates for both gapless and gapped tight-binding models. Our supercell method provides an efficient means of approximating the thermodynamic limit and marks a pivotal step towards a complete band-theoretic characterization of hyperbolic lattices.
Recently topogical excitons have attracted much attention. However, studies on the topological properties of excitons in one dimension are still rare. Here we have computed the Zak phase for a generic one-dimensional dimerised excitonic model. Tuning relevant hopping parameters gives rise to a rich spectrum of physics, including non-trivial topological phase in uniform chain unlike the conventional Su-Shcrieffer-Heeger model, topologically nontrivial flat bands, and exotic fractional phase. a new concept of ``composite chiral site" was developed to interpret the Zak phase of $\pi$ in our calculations. Our finite-chain calculations substantiate topological edge states, providing more information about their characteristics. Most importantly, in the first time, a topological phase transition assisted by the Dexter electron exchange process has been found.
Spin anticoherent states acquired recently a lot of attention as the most "quantum" states. Some coherent and anticoherent spin states are known as optimal quantum rotosensors. In this work, we introduce a measure of quantumness for orthonormal bases of spin states, determined by the average anticoherence of individual vectors and the Wehrl entropy. In this way, we identify the most coherent and most quantum states, which lead to orthogonal measurements of extreme quantumness. Their symmetries can be revealed using the Majorana stellar representation, which provides an intuitive geometrical representation of a pure state by points on a sphere. Results obtained lead to maximally (minimally) entangled bases in the $2j+1$ dimensional symmetric subspace of the $2^{2j}$ dimensional space of states of multipartite systems composed of $2j$ qubits. Some bases found are iso-coherent as they consist of all states of the same degree of spin-coherence.
Anomaly detection in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is a critical task in cybersecurity programs of large companies. With rapidly growing amounts of data and the omnipresence of zero-day attacks, manual and rule-based detection techniques are no longer eligible in practice. While classical machine learning approaches to this problem exist, they frequently show unsatisfactory performance in differentiating malicious from benign anomalies. A promising approach to attain superior generalization than currently employed machine learning techniques are quantum generative models. Allowing for the largest representation of data on available quantum hardware, we investigate Quantum Annealing based Quantum Boltzmann Machines (QBMs) for the given problem. We contribute the first fully unsupervised approach for the problem of anomaly detection using QBMs and evaluate its performance on an EDR inspired synthetic dataset. Our results indicate that QBMs can outperform their classical analog (i.e., Restricted Boltzmann Machines) in terms of result quality and training steps in special cases. When employing Quantum Annealers from D-Wave Systems, we conclude that either more accurate classical simulators or substantially more QPU time is needed to conduct the necessary hyperparameter optimization allowing to replicate our simulation results on quantum hardware.
Crystal symmetries play an essential role in band structures of non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. In this paper, we propose a non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE) enforced by nonsymmorphic symmetries. We show that the NHSE inevitably occurs if a two-dimensional non-Hermitian system satisfies conditions derived from the nonsymmorphic symmetry of the doubled Hermitian Hamiltonian. This NHSE occurs in symmetry classes with and without time-reversal symmetry. The NHSE enforced by nonsymmorphic symmetries always occurs simultaneously with the closing of the point gap at zero energy. We also show that such a NHSE can occur in specific three-dimensional space groups with nonsymmorphic symmetries.
We establish a general framework for developing approximation algorithms for a class of counting problems. Our framework is based on the cluster expansion of abstract polymer models formalism of Koteck\'y and Preiss. We apply our framework to obtain efficient algorithms for (1) approximating probability amplitudes of a class of quantum circuits close to the identity, (2) approximating expectation values of a class of quantum circuits with operators close to the identity, (3) approximating partition functions of a class of quantum spin systems at high temperature, and (4) approximating thermal expectation values of a class of quantum spin systems at high temperature with positive-semidefinite operators. Further, we obtain hardness of approximation results for approximating probability amplitudes of quantum circuits and partition functions of quantum spin systems. This establishes a computational complexity transition for these problems and shows that our algorithmic conditions are optimal under complexity-theoretic assumptions. Finally, we show that our algorithmic condition is almost optimal for expectation values and optimal for thermal expectation values in the sense of zero freeness.
Shared entanglement can significantly amplify classical correlations between systems interacting over a limited quantum channel. A natural avenue is to use entanglement of the same dimension as the channel because this allows for unitary encodings, which preserve global coherence until a measurement is performed. Contrasting this, we here demonstrate a distributed task based on a qubit channel, for which irreversible encoding operations can outperform any possible coherence-preserving protocol. This corresponds to using high-dimensional entanglement and encoding information by compressing one of the subsystems into a qubit. Demonstrating this phenomenon requires the preparation of a four-dimensional maximally entangled state, the compression of two qubits into one and joint qubit-ququart entangled measurements, with all modules executed at near-optimal fidelity. We report on a proof-of-principle experiment that achieves the advantage by realizing separate systems in distinct and independently controlled paths of a single photon. Our result demonstrates the relevance of high-dimensional entanglement and non-unitary operations for enhancing the communication capabilities of standard qubit transmissions.
The investigation of the dynamical universality classes of quantum systems is an important, and rather less explored, aspect of non-equilibrium physics. In this work, considering the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of spinless fermions in a one-dimensional quasiperiodic model with and without a periodic driving, we report the existence of the dynamical one-parameter based Family-Vicsek (FV) scaling of the "quantum surface-roughness" associated with the particle-number fluctuations. In absence of periodic driving, the model is interestingly shown to host a subdiffusive critical phase separated by two subdiffusive critical lines and a triple point from other phases. An analysis of the fate of critical phase in the presence of (inter-phase) driving indicates that the critical phase is quite fragile and has a tendency to get absorbed into the delocalized or localized regime depending on the driving parameters. Furthermore, periodic driving can conspire to show quantum Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ)-like superdiffusive dynamical behavior, which seems to have no classical counterpart. We further construct an effective Floquet Hamiltonian, which qualitatively captures this feature occurring in the driven model
Dual-unitary circuits are a class of quantum systems for which exact calculations of various quantities are possible, even for circuits that are nonintegrable. The array of known exact results paints a compelling picture of dual-unitary circuits as rapidly thermalizing systems. However, in this Letter, we present a method to construct dual-unitary circuits for which some simple initial states fail to thermalize, despite the circuits being "maximally chaotic," ergodic and mixing. This is achieved by embedding quantum many-body scars in a circuit of arbitrary size and local Hilbert space dimension. We support our analytic results with numerical simulations showing the stark contrast in the rate of entanglement growth from an initial scar state compared to nonscar initial states. Our results are well suited to an experimental test, due to the compatibility of the circuit layout with the native structure of current digital quantum simulators.
Our previous work dealt with the zeta function for the interacting particle system (IPS) including quantum cellular automaton (QCA) as a typical model in the study of ``IPS/Zeta Correspondence". On the other hand, the absolute zeta function is a zeta function over F_1 defined by a function satisfying an absolute automorphy. This paper proves that a new zeta function given by QCA is an absolute automorphic form of weight depending on the size of the configuration space. As an example, we calculate an absolute zeta function for a tensor-type QCA, and show that it is expressed as the multiple gamma function. In addition, we obtain its functional equation by the multiple sine function.
Maximally entangled Bell states are of crucial importance for entanglement based methods in quantum information science. Typically, a standard construction of a complete orthonormal Bell-basis by Weyl-Heisenberg operators is considered. We show that the group structure of these operators has strong implication on error correction schemes and on the entanglement structure within Bell-diagonal states. In particular, it implies a equivalence between a Pauli channel and a twirl channel. Interestingly, other complete orthonormal Bell-bases do break the equivalence and lead to a completely different entanglement structure, for instance in the share of PPT-entangled states. In detail, we find that the standard Bell basis has the highest observed share on PPT-states and PPT-entangled states compared to other Bell bases. In summary, our findings show that the standard Bell basis construction exploits a very special structure with strong implications to quantum information theoretic protocols if a deviation is considered.
The Rydberg dipole-blockade has emerged as the standard mechanism to induce entanglement between neutral atom qubits. In these protocols, laser fields that couple qubit states to Rydberg states are modulated to implement entangling gates. Here we present an alternative protocol to implement entangling gates via Rydberg dressing and a microwave-field-driven spin-flip blockade [Y.-Y. Jau et al, Nat. Phys. 12, 71 (2016)]. We consider the specific example of qubits encoded in the clock states states of cesium. An auxiliary hyperfine state is optically dressed so that it acquires partial Rydberg character. It thus acts as a proxy Rydberg state, with a nonlinear light-shift that plays the role of blockade strength. A microwave-frequency field coupling a qubit state to this dressed auxiliary state can be modulated to implement entangling gates. Logic gate protocols designed for the optical regime can be imported to this microwave regime, for which experimental control methods are more robust. We show that unlike the strong dipole-blockade regime usually employed in Rydberg experiments, going to a moderate-spin-flip-blockade regime results in faster gates and smaller Rydberg decay. We study various regimes of operations that can yield high-fidelity two-qubit entangling gates and characterize their analytical behavior. In addition to the inherent robustness of microwave control, we can design these gates to be more robust to thermal fluctuations in atomic motion as well to laser amplitude, and other noise sources such as stray background fields.
We uncover the exact athermal eigenstates in the Bose-Hubbard (BH) model with a three-body constraint, motivated by the exact construction of quantum many-body scar (QMBS) states in the $S=1$ $XY$ model. These states are generated by applying an $\rm SU(2)$ ladder operator consisting of a linear combination of two-particle annihilation operators to the fully occupied state. By using the improved Holstein-Primakoff expansion, we clarify that the QMBS states in the $S=1$ $XY$ model are equivalent to those in the constrained BH model with additional correlated hopping terms. We also find that, in the strong-coupling limit of the constrained BH model, the QMBS state exists as the lowest-energy eigenstate of the effective model in the highest-energy sector. This fact enables us to prepare the QMBS states in a certain adiabatic process and opens up the possibility of observing them in ultracold-atom experiments.
Power broadening $-$ the broadening of the spectral line profile of a two-state quantum transition as the amplitude of the driving field increases $-$ is a well-known and thoroughly examined phenomenon in spectroscopy. It typically occurs in continuous-wave driving when the intensity of the radiation field increases beyond the saturation intensity of the transition. In pulsed-field excitation, linear power broadening occurs for a pulse of rectangular temporal shape. Pulses with smooth shapes are known to exhibit much less power broadening, e.g. logarithmic for a Gaussian pulse shape. It has been predicted, but never experimentally verified, that pulse shapes which vanish in time as $\sim |t|^{-\lambda}$ should exhibit the opposite effect $-$ power narrowing $-$ in which the post-pulse transition line width decreases as the amplitude of the driving pulse increases. In this work, power narrowing is demonstrated experimentally for a class of powers-of-Lorentzian pulse shapes on the IBM Quantum processor ibmq_manila. Reduction of the line width by a factor of over 10 is observed when increasing the pulse area from $\pi$ to $7\pi$, in a complete reversal of the power broadening paradigm. Moreover, thorough theoretical and experimental study is conducted on the truncation of the pulse wings which introduces a (small) power-broadened term which prevents power narrowing from reaching extreme values $-$ a hitherto unknown cut-off broadening effect for which an explicit analytical formula is derived. In the absence of other power broadening mechanisms, Lorentzian pulses truncated at sufficiently small values can achieve as narrow line profiles as desired.
Generalized string-net models have been recently proposed in order to enlarge the set of possible topological quantum phases emerging from the original string-net construction. In the present work, we do not consider vertex excitations and restrict to plaquette excitations, or fluxons, that satisfy important identities. We explain how to compute the energy-level degeneracies of the generalized string-net Hamiltonian associated to an arbitrary unitary fusion category. In contrast to the degeneracy of the ground state, which is purely topological, that of excited energy levels depends not only on the Drinfeld center of the category, but also on internal multiplicities obtained from the tube algebra defined from the category. For a noncommutative category, these internal multiplicities result in extra nontopological degeneracies. Our results are valid for any trivalent graph and any orientable surface. We illustrate our findings with nontrivial examples.
The scaling law of entanglement entropy could undergo qualitative changes during the nonunitary evolution of a quantum many-body system. In this work, we uncover such entanglement phase transitions in one-dimensional non-Hermitian quasicrystals (NHQCs). We identify two types of entanglement transitions with different scaling laws and critical behaviors due to the interplay between non-Hermitian effects and quasiperiodic potentials. The first type represents a typical volume-law to area-law transition, which happens together with a PT-symmetry breaking and a localization transition. The second type features an abnormal log-law to area-law transition, which is mediated by a critical phase with a volume-law scaling in the steady-state entanglement entropy. These entangling phases and transitions are demonstrated in two representative models of NHQCs. Our results thus advanced the study of entanglement transitions in non-Hermitian disordered systems and further disclosed the rich entanglement patterns in NHQCs.
The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) is one of the most promising Noisy Intermediate Quantum Algorithms (NISQ) in solving combinatorial optimizations and displays potential over classical heuristic techniques. Unfortunately, QAOA performance depends on the choice of parameters and standard optimizers often fail to identify key parameters due to the complexity and mystery of these optimization functions. In this paper, we benchmark QAOA circuits modified with metaheuristic optimizers against classical and quantum heuristics to identify QAOA parameters. The experimental results reveal insights into the strengths and limitations of both Quantum Annealing and metaheuristic-integrated QAOA across different problem domains. The findings suggest that the hybrid approach can leverage classical optimization strategies to enhance the solution quality and convergence speed of QAOA, particularly for problems with rugged landscapes and limited quantum resources. Furthermore, the study provides guidelines for selecting the most appropriate approach based on the specific characteristics of the optimization problem at hand.
We characterise the measurement sensitivity, quantified by the Quantum Fisher Information (QFI), of a single-fermionic thermometric probe strongly coupled to the sample of interest, a fermionic bath, at temperature $T$. For nonequilibrium protocols, in which the probe is measured before reaching equilibrium with the sample, we find new behaviour of the measurement sensitivity arising due to non-Markovian dynamics. First, we show that the QFI displays a highly non-monotonic behaviour in time, in contrast to the Markovian case where it grows monotonically until equilibrium, so that non-Markovian revivals can be exploited to reach a higher QFI. Second, the QFI rate is maximised at a finite interrogation time $t^*$, which we characterize, in contrast to the solution $t^* \rightarrow 0$ known in the Markovian limit [Quantum 6, 869 (2022)]. Finally, we consider probes make up of few fermions and discuss different collective enhancements in the measurement precision.
Deconfined quantum criticality describes continuous phase transitions that are not captured by the Landau-Ginzburg paradigm. Here, we investigate deconfined quantum critical points in the long-range, anisotropic Heisenberg chain. With matrix product state simulations, we show that the model undergoes a continuous phase transition from a valence bond solid to an antiferromagnet. We extract the critical exponents of the transition and connect them to an effective field theory obtained from bosonization techniques. We show that beyond stabilizing the valance bond order, the long-range interactions are irrelevant and the transition is well described by a double frequency sine-Gordon model. We propose how to realize and probe deconfined quantum criticality in our model with trapped-ion quantum simulators.
Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) is a key distribution scheme whose security is based on the laws of quantum physics but does not require any assumptions about the devices used in the protocol. The security of the existing entanglement-based DIQKD protocol relies on the Bell test. Here, we propose an efficient device-independent quantum key distribution (EDIQKD) protocol in which one participant prepares states and transmits them to another participant through a quantum channel to measure. In this prepare-and-measure protocol, the transmission process between participants is characterized according to the process tomography for security, ruling out any mimicry using the classical initial, transmission, and final state. Comparing the minimal number of bits of the raw key to guarantee security against collective attacks, the efficiency of the EDIQKD protocol is two orders of magnitude more than that of the DIQKD protocol for the reliable key of which quantum bit error rate is allowed up to 6.5\%. This advantage will enable participants to substantially conserve the entangled pair's demanded resources and the measurement. According to the highest detection efficiency in the recent most advanced photonic experiment, our protocol can be realized with a non-zero key rate and remains more efficient than usual DIQKD. Our protocol and its security analysis may offer helpful insight into identifying the typical prepare-and-measure quantum information tasks with the device-independent scenario.
Communication complexity quantifies how difficult it is for two distant computers to evaluate a function f(X,Y) where the strings X and Y are distributed to the first and second computer, respectively and under the constraint of exchanging as few bits as possible. Surprisingly, some nonlocal boxes, which are resources shared by the two computers, are so powerful that they allow to collapse communication complexity, in the sense that any Boolean function f can be correctly estimated with the exchange of only one bit of communication. The Popescu-Rohrlich (PR) box is an example of such a collapsing resource, but a comprehensive description of the set of collapsing nonlocal boxes remains elusive. In this work, we carry out an algebraic study of the structure of wirings connecting nonlocal boxes, thus defining the notion of the "product of boxes" $P\boxtimes Q$, and we show related associativity and commutativity results. This gives rise to the notion of the "orbit of a box", unveiling surprising geometrical properties about the alignment and parallelism of distilled boxes. The power of this new framework is that it allows to prove previously-reported numerical observations concerning the best way to wire consecutive boxes, and to numerically and analytically recover recently-identified noisy PR boxes that collapse communication complexity for different types of noise models.
Energy filter methods in combination with quantum simulation can efficiently access the properties of quantum many-body systems at finite energy densities [Lu et al. PRX Quantum 2, 020321 (2021)]. Classically simulating this algorithm with tensor networks can be used to investigate the microcanonical properties of large spin chains, as recently shown in [Yang et al. Phys. Rev. B 106, 024307 (2022)]. Here we extend this strategy to explore the properties of off-diagonal matrix elements of observables in the energy eigenbasis, fundamentally connected to the thermalization behavior and the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. We test the method on integrable and non-integrable spin chains of up to 60 sites, much larger than accessible with exact diagonalization. Our results allow us to explore the scaling of the off-diagonal functions with the size and energy difference, and to establish quantitative differences between integrable and non-integrable cases
Using a general-order many-body Green's-function method for molecules, we numerically illustrate several pathological behaviors of the Feynman-Dyson diagrammatic perturbation expansion of one-particle many-body Green's functions as electron propagators, which are separate from the infrared/ultraviolet divergences or the Kohn-Luttinger nonconvergence. (i) The perturbation expansion of the frequency-dependent self-energy is not convergent at the exact self-energy in many frequency domains. (ii) An odd-perturbation-order self-energy has a qualitatively wrong shape and, as a result, many roots of the corresponding Dyson equation are nonphysical in that the poles may be complex or the residues can exceed unity. (iii) The Dyson equation with an even-order self-energy has roots whose energies approach sheer orbital energy differences of the zeroth-order mean-field theory with little to no electron-correlation effects taken into account. (iv) Infinite partial summation of diagrams by vertex or edge modification exacerbates these problems. Not only do these nonconvergences render higher-order Feynman-Dyson diagrammatic perturbation theory useless for many lower-lying ionization or higher-lying electron-attachment roots, but they also call into question the validity of its combined use with the ans\"{a}tze requiring the knowledge of all poles and residues. Such ans\"{a}tze include the Galitskii-Migdal identity, self-consistent Green's-function methods, and some models of the algebraic diagrammatic construction.
We introduce a notion of commutativity between operators on a tensor product space, nominally Pauli strings on qubits, that interpolates between qubit-wise commutativity and (full) commutativity. We apply this notion, which we call $k$-commutativity, to measuring expectation values of observables in quantum circuits and show a reduction in the number measurements at the cost of increased circuit depth. Last, we discuss the asymptotic measurement complexity of $k$-commutativity for several families of $n$-qubit Hamiltonians, showing examples with $O(1)$, $O(\sqrt{n})$, and $O(n)$ scaling.
Monitored quantum many-body systems display a rich pattern of entanglement dynamics, which is unique to this non-unitary setting. This work studies the effect of quantum jumps on the entanglement dynamics beyond the no-click limit corresponding to a deterministic non-Hermitian evolution. We consider two examples, a monitored SSH model and a quantum Ising chain, for which we show the jumps have remarkably different effects on the entanglement despite having the same statistics as encoded in their waiting-time distribution. To understand this difference, we introduce a new metric, the statistics of entanglement gain and loss due to jumps and non-Hermitian evolution. This insight allows us to build a simple stochastic model of a random walk with partial resetting, which reproduces the entanglement dynamics, and to dissect the mutual role of jumps and non-Hermitian evolution on the entanglement scaling. We demonstrate that significant deviations from the no-click limit arise whenever quantum jumps strongly renormalize the non-Hermitian dynamics, as in the case of the SSH model at weak monitoring or in the Ising chain at large transverse field. On the other hand, we show that the weak monitoring phase of the Ising chain leads to a robust sub-volume logarithmic phase due to weakly renormalized non-Hermitian dynamics.
Transport in open quantum systems can be explored through various theoretical frameworks, including the quantum master equation, scattering matrix, and Heisenberg equation of motion. The choice of framework depends on factors such as the presence of interactions, the coupling strength between the system and environment, and whether the focus is on steady-state or transient regimes. Existing literature treats these frameworks independently, lacking a unified perspective. Our work addresses this gap by clarifying the role and status of these approaches using a minimal single-level quantum dot model in a two-terminal setup under voltage and temperature biases. We derive analytical expressions for particle and energy currents and their fluctuations in both steady-state and transient regimes. Exact results from the Heisenberg equation are shown to align with scattering matrix and master equation approaches within their respective validity regimes. Crucially, we establish a protocol for the weak-coupling limit, bridging the applicability of master equations at weak-coupling with Heisenberg or scattering matrix approaches at arbitrary coupling strength.
Exceptional-point (EP) sensors are characterized by a square-root resonant frequency bifurcation in response to an external perturbation. This has lead numerous suggestions for using these systems for sensing applications. However, there is an open debate as to whether or not this sensitivity advantage is negated by additional noise in the system. We show that an EP sensor's imprecision in measuring a generalized force is independent of its operating point's proximity to the EP. That is because frequency noises of fundamental origin in the sensor -- due to quantum and thermal fluctuations -- increase in a manner that exactly cancels the benefit of increased resonant frequency sensitivity near the EP. So the benefit of EP sensors is limited to the regime where sensing is limited by technical noises. Finally, we outline an EP sensor with phase-sensitive gain that does have an advantage even if limited by fundamental noises.
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.
Quantum low-density parity-check (QLDPC) codes are among the most promising candidates for future quantum error correction schemes. However, a limited number of short to moderate-length QLDPC codes have been designed and their decoding performance is sub-optimal with a quaternary belief propagation (BP) decoder due to unavoidable short cycles in their Tanner graphs. In this paper, we propose a novel joint code and decoder design for QLDPC codes. The constructed codes have a minimum distance of about the square root of the block length. In addition, it is, to the best of our knowledge, the first QLDPC code family where BP decoding is not impaired by short cycles of length 4. This is achieved by using an ensemble BP decoder mitigating the influence of assembled short cycles. We outline two code construction methods based on classical quasi-cyclic codes and finite geometry codes. Numerical results demonstrate outstanding decoding performance over depolarizing channels.
We present a generalization of the geometric phase to pure and thermal states in $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric quantum mechanics (PTQM) based on the approach of the interferometric geometric phase (IGP). The formalism first introduces the parallel-transport conditions of quantum states and reveals two geometric phases, $\theta^1$ and $\theta^2$, for pure states in PTQM according to the states under parallel-transport. Due to the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian in PTQM, $\theta^1$ is complex and $\theta^2$ is its real part. The imaginary part of $\theta^1$ plays an important role when we generalize the IGP to thermal states in PTQM. The generalized IGP modifies the thermal distribution of a thermal state, thereby introducing effective temperatures. At certain critical points, the generalized IGP exhibits discrete jumps at finite temperatures, signaling a geometric phase transition. We demonstrate the finite-temperature geometric phase transition in PTQM by a two-level system and visualize its results.
We discover that quantum dynamical tunneling, occurring between phase space regions in a classically forbidden way, can break conserved quantities in pseudointegrable systems. We rigorously prove that a conserved quantity in a class of typical pseudointegrable systems can be broken quantum mechanically. We then numerically compute the uncertainties of this broken conserved quantity, which remain non-zero for up to $10^5$ eigenstates and exhibit universal distributions similar to energy level statistics. Furthermore, all the eigenstates with large uncertainties show the superpositions of regular orbits with different values of the conserved quantity, showing definitive manifestation of dynamical tunneling. A random matrix model is constructed to successfully reproduce the level statistics in pseudointegrable systems.
Parahydrogen-Induced Polarization (PHIP) is a potent technique for generating target molecules with high nuclear spin polarization. The PHIP process involves a chemical reaction between parahydrogen and a target molecule, followed by the transformation of nuclear singlet spin order into magnetization of a designated nucleus through magnetic field manipulations. Although the singlet-to-magnetization polarization transfer process works effectively at moderate concentrations, it is observed to become much less efficient at high molar polarization, defined as the product of polarization and concentration. This strong dependence on the molar polarization is attributed to interference from the field produced by the sample's magnetization during polarization transfer, which leads to complex dynamics and can severely impact the scalability of the technique. We address this challenge with a pulse sequence that negates the influence of the distant dipolar field, while simultaneously achieving singlet-to-magnetization polarization transfer to the desired target spins, free from restrictions on the molar polarization.
Fully-augmented Matrix Product States (FAMPS) was proposed recently (Chin. Phys. Lett. 40, 057102 (2023)) as an accurate numerical tool to study two-dimensional quantum many-body systems. It is constructed by including a disentangler layer upon MPS. The cost of simulating quantum models with FAMPS is similar as DMRG (with small overhead), but FAMPS can support area-law entanglement entropy for two-dimensional systems. These properties make FAMPS an effective and efficient tool. In this work, we demonstrate that for each FAMPS we can construct a two-dimensional Hamiltonian with the FAMPS being its ground state. We show how to construct the parent Hamiltonian for given FAMPS. We also perform numerical simulation to show that the algorithm proposed in Chin. Phys. Lett. 40, 057102 (2023) can find the exact FAMPS for the parent Hamiltonian. FAMPS and the corresponding parent Hamiltonian provides a useful framework for the future study of two-dimensional quantum many-body systems