Superconducting quantum circuits are sensitive to their electrostatic environment: uncontrolled charges accumulating on the electrodes of a Josephson junction shift the energy levels of a qubit, perturbing its operation and restricting their design. This effect is captured by a single parameter - the charge offset - whose slow, unpredictable drift has proven difficult to eliminate in practice. Here, we report a tantalum-based transmon qubit in which the charge offset remains pinned at zero over nearly three months of measurements, including two thermal cycles, with no observable compromise to the qubit lifetime. This exceptional stability disappears in later cooldowns, indicating a fragile mechanism at play. We attribute it to the inductance of a thin superconducting layer inadvertently formed in parallel with the Josephson junction during fabrication. X-ray surface spectroscopy suggests this layer arises from an incomplete wet-etch of tantalum on sapphire. Deliberately engineering such a layer offers a route to eliminating charge-offset drift in superconducting circuits more broadly.

We construct isoperimetric regions from separating hypersurfaces in closed manifolds. This yields isoperimetric boundaries exhibiting a wide variety of topological types and singular sets.

Studying physical mechanisms and common geometric principles underlying known spherical packings is crucial for rational design of synthetic nanocontainers. Here we model the growth of small spherical shells containing n<72 identical particles that have their own curvature and interact with each other via the Lennard-Jones potential. The shell assembly is assumed to be nonequilibrium and sequential: at each step, a new particle is attached to the most energetically favorable position, after which the system relaxes. Along with well-known structures of the smallest icosahedral viral protein shells, the proposed mechanism generates a wide range of shells exhibiting square-triangular surface order. Most of such shells are the models of synthetic or natural protein complexes that have octahedral or tetrahedral symmetries and perform various functions. We compare the obtained structures with those resulting from the equilibrium assembly and corresponding to global energy minima. Also, we consider the temperature-dependent stochastic assembly and use the double-minimum Lennard-Jones-Gauss potential to mimic anisotropic particle interactions.

Multi-nucleon transfer (MNT) reactions between two heavy ions offer an effective method of producing heavy, neutron-rich nuclei that cannot currently be accessed efficiently using traditional production techniques. These nuclei are important for understanding many astrophysical phenomena, such as the formation of the r-process $A\sim 195$ abundance peak. The N=126 Factory currently commissioning at Argonne National Laboratory's ATLAS facility will make use of these reactions to allow for the study of these nuclei. To convert MNT reaction products, which have a wide angular distribution, into a collimated, bunched beam suitable for experiments, a series of apparatus will be used. These start with a large-volume gas catcher for stopping the reaction products, which are then extracted through a radiofrequency quadrupole ion guide, undergo preliminary dipole magnetic separation, cooling and bunching in a Cooler-Buncher, and final separation using a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass separator, before final delivery to experimental systems.

Let $p$ be a prime number. We investigate a refined version of the Iwasawa main conjectures for rational elliptic curves (and more general Galois representations) over anticyclotomic $\mathbb Z_p$-extensions of imaginary quadratic fields, both in the definite and in the indefinite settings. In order to do this, we describe (under mild arithmetic assumptions) all the higher Fitting ideals of Pontryagin duals of Selmer and Shafarevich-Tate groups over anticyclotomic $\mathbb Z_p$-extensions in terms of the bipartite Euler systems introduced by Bertolini and Darmon. As an application of our work on Fitting ideals, we offer new results on the structure of (Pontryagin duals of) anticyclotomic Selmer and Shafarevich-Tate groups of elliptic curves.

Diesel engine particulate matter (PM) is one of the most challenging emission constituents to predict. As engines become cleaner and emissions levels drop, manufacturers need reliable methods to quantify the PM generated by production engines. Due to the inaccuracy of commercial-grade sensors, they turn to predictive models to accurately estimate PM. In practice, this requires a computationally inexpensive model that provides PM estimates with calibrated uncertainty. Complex, multiscale physics make mechanistic models intractable and traditional data-driven methods struggle in transient drive cycles due to the stochastic nature of PM generation. Leveraging recent innovations in PM measurement technology, we introduce a novel PM model based on the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) process. The OU process is a mean-reverting stochastic process commonly used in financial modeling, now being explored for engineering applications, and can be described as a stochastic differential equation (SDE). We modify the OU process by parameterizing the terms of the SDE as functions of the engine state, which are then fit with a maximum likelihood estimate. In a synthetic example, we verify the ability of our model to learn a time-varying, parametrized OU process. We then train the model using real experimental data designed to dynamically cover the engine operating space and test the trained model on EPA-regulated drive cycles. For most drive cycles, we find the method accurately predicts cumulative output of PM across time.

Understanding covariate-varying interdependencies among features is of great interest in various applications. Motivated by microbiome studies where microbial abundances and interactions vary with environmental factors, we develop a Bayesian covariate-varying factor model. This model flexibly estimates heteroscedasticity in the covariance matrix as a function of covariates. Specifically, our approach employs covariance regression through linear regression on a lower-dimensional factor loading matrix. This formulation, combined with joint sparsity induced by the Dirichlet--Horseshoe prior for the factor loadings, provides robust estimation of covariate-varying covariance in high-dimensional settings. The model simultaneously incorporates a regression structure for the mean abundance and jointly addresses the covariate-varying mean and covariance structure. Furthermore, the model tackles key statistical challenges such as discreteness, over-dispersion, compositionality, and high dimensionality, common in microbiome data analysis, using a flexible nonparametric Bayesian framework. We thoroughly investigate the properties of the model and conduct extensive simulation studies to examine its performance. Real microbiome data examples are provided for illustration.

We show that if $G$ is a finite group whose Sylow $2$-subgroups are wreathed, then the intersection $\Outc(G) \cap \OutCol(G)$ has odd order, where $\Outc(G)$ and $\OutCol(G)$ denote the class-preserving and Coleman outer automorphism groups, respectively. This implies that $G$ satisfies the normalizer problem for its integral group ring. Combined with earlier work on the dihedral and semidihedral cases, this settles the question for all three families of $2$-groups of $2$-rank two classified by Gorenstein--Walter and Alperin--Brauer--Gorenstein.

The surprising manifestation of collectivity in small collision systems, such as nucleon-nucleon and nucleon-nucleus collisions, is perhaps even more striking when discussed at higher momenta. In larger systems, high-$p_T$ elliptic anisotropy is understood as a selection bias effect due to the smaller energy loss experienced along the shorter direction that aligns with the event plane. However, in small systems the amount of energy loss appears insufficient to reproduce the sizable angular anisotropy observed experimentally. In this work, we explore a new mechanism generating preferred orientations for energetic particles without the need of energy loss. We exploit a simple model that is based on two basic although inalienable ingredients: geometry and quantum mechanics. Our findings suggest that this sum-over-paths mechanism can provide a relevant contribution to so-called flow coefficients of energetic particles traversing deconfined media of any size.

Despite the remarkable quality of LLM-based text-to-speech systems, their reliance on autoregressive Transformers leads to quadratic computational complexity, which severely limits practical applications. Linear-time alternatives, notably Mamba, offer a potential remedy; however, they often sacrifice the global context essential for expressive synthesis. In this paper, we propose MamTra, an interleaved Mamba-Transformer framework designed to leverage the advantages of Mamba's efficiency and Transformers' modeling capability. We also introduce novel knowledge transfer strategies to distill insights from a pretrained Transformer into our hybrid architecture, thereby bypassing the prohibitive costs of training from scratch. Systematic experiments identify the optimal hybrid configuration, and demonstrate that MamTra reduces inference VRAM usage by up to 34% without compromising speech fidelity - even trained on only 2% of the original training dataset. Audio samples are available at https://mamtratts.github.io.

Social media can reveal patient experiences with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) that extend beyond clinical trial data. We analyzed 410,198 Reddit posts (May 2019-June 2025) mentioning semaglutide or tirzepatide. A total of 67,008 users self-reported using these medications, and 43.5% described at least one side effect. Gastrointestinal symptoms predominated, including nausea (36.9%), fatigue (16.7%), vomiting (16.3%), constipation (15.3%), and diarrhea (12.6%). Notably, reproductive symptoms (e.g., menstrual irregularities) and temperature-related complaints (e.g., chills, hot flashes) emerged as unrecognized potential effects. These findings highlight patient concerns not well captured in current labeling or trials. Large-scale social media analysis can complement traditional pharmacovigilance by detecting emerging safety signals and expanding understanding of the real-world safety profile of GLP-1 RAs.

We study the early stages of an oscillatory reheating phase in an inflaton plus spectator axion-SU(2) system, including both an axion-gauge Chern-Simons coupling $χF\tilde{F}$ and a gravitational Chern-Simons coupling $χR\tilde{R}$. Assuming an isotropic SU(2) background configuration of chromo-natural type and quadratic potentials, we numerically solve the coupled background and tensor perturbation equations during the first e-fold of reheating. The gravitational Chern-Simons term induces a helicity-dependent modification of the tensor kinetic coefficient, yielding a chiral enhancement of the tensor power spectrum on the order of tens of percent for a representative benchmark. We illustrate how such an early-time enhancement can map to a narrow feature in the present-day stochastic gravitational wave spectrum, potentially relevant for upcoming and proposed space-based detectors, while a fully self-consistent determination of the peak scale requires scanning comoving wavenumbers and specifying the reheating history.

We propose a route for pinning zero-field superconducting vortices in systems which are exchange-coupled to magnetic islands and feature Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We consider islands with sizes which greatly exceed those of the vortex cores and possess out-of-plane magnetic moments. A crucial ingredient of our approach is that it considers superconductors which are governed by magnetic correlations without, however, exhibiting long range magnetic order. The arising total magnetization is inhomogeneous and its gradients generate a nonzero vorticity in the superconducting phase. Vortices become energetically stable due to the energy reduction brought about from the generation of electronic magnetization. Using our developed framework, we make concrete predictions for the emergence of zero-field vortices and Majorana zero modes in superconducting topological insulator surfaces and planar Rashba superconductors. Our theory uncovers a nonstandard path for trapping composite vortex-Majorana excitations in systems which appear to be within experimental reach.

The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) has revealed a population of Galactic gamma-ray sources radiating beyond 100 TeV, but the nature of several of them is still uncertain. In this contribution, we explore the idea that some of these ultrahigh-energy emitters are not powered by currently active accelerators, but by the fossil remains of microquasars (MQs). We consider systems in which mass transfer onto the stellar-mass black hole has already stopped, so that the central engine and its jets are permanently quenched. During the active phase, powerful transrelativistic jets inflate a hot cocoon whose interior is filled with cosmic rays (CRs) accelerated at the jet termination shocks. Once the jets switch off, the cocoon enters a long afterlife stage in which it behaves as a large reservoir of PeV CRs. If the remnant lies in or near a star-forming region, these relic CRs can still interact with dense clumps and molecular clouds, inside the cocoon or in the surrounding interstellar medium, leading to delayed gamma-ray emission via inelastic pp collisions and the subsequent decay of neutral pions. We present a time-dependent model for the jet-cocoon system, follow the evolution of the CR population during and after the MQ phase, and discuss the conditions under which the resulting microquasar remnants can account for some of the unidentified LHAASO sources.

First-principles descriptions of correlated quantum materials require a simultaneous treatment of strong local many-body effects and nonlocal dynamical screening. We present an efficient fully self-consistent implementation of $GW$+EDMFT that combines nonlocal effects at the $GW$ level with a non-perturbative treatment of local correlations within extended dynamical mean-field theory (EDMFT), while providing a controlled double-counting prescription. Crucially, self-consistency in both the Green's function and the dynamically screened interaction is essential to achieve a consistent description of screening processes across energy scales. The efficient computation of this self-consistent solution is enabled here by compressing two-particle correlation functions using interpolative separable density fitting (ISDF). Applying the scheme to the Mott insulator SrMnO$_3$ and the correlated metal LaNiO$_3$, we show that full self-consistency resolves the overscreening inherent to constrained-RPA approaches. By suppressing spurious low-energy screening channels, a Mott-insulating state in quantitative agreement with experiment is obtained for SrMnO$_3$. These results establish fully self-consistent $GW$+EDMFT as a predictive ab initio framework for strongly correlated quantum materials.

We investigate the cosmological information in higher-order statistics of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing convergence field for a near-term experiment with noise properties similar to the Simons Observatory (SO). Using a fully field-level forward-modeling pipeline based on ray-traced simulations from the MassiveNuS suite and realistic SO-like CMB lensing reconstruction, we naturally include nonlinear structure formation, post-Born effects, and higher-order reconstruction noise. We measure several non-Gaussian statistics, including Minkowski functionals, peak and minima counts, moments, and wavelet-scattering coefficients. We train Gaussian-process emulators to model each statistic's dependence on the matter density fraction $Ω_m$, the scalar power spectrum amplitude $A_s$, and the neutrino mass sum $M_ν$. We quantify the relative information gain these statistics provide beyond the lensing power spectrum and identify which are most robust to reconstruction noise. We find that morphology-based statistics, particularly Minkowski functionals and peak/minima counts, offer significant complementary constraining power: combining all non-Gaussian statistics with the power spectrum yields reductions of 40% and 38% in the marginalized uncertainties on $Ω_m$ and $A_s$, respectively, and a 70% reduction in the one-sided uncertainty on $M_ν$. These gains remain non-negligible even when the power spectrum is extended to larger scales and combined with primary CMB and BAO data, with Minkowski functionals providing an additional 11% improvement in $σ(M_ν)$ and 35% in $σ(Ω_m)$ beyond the extended power spectrum. By contrast, moments and wavelet-scattering coefficients provide more limited gains at SO noise levels. Our results highlight the potential of non-Gaussian statistics to enhance cosmological constraints from SO and future CMB surveys.

Efficient sampling from ensembles of Hamiltonian cycles is critical for predicting the thermodynamic properties of compact polymers, with applications including modeling protein and RNA folding and designing soft materials. Although classical Monte Carlo methods are widely regarded as the standard approach, their efficiency is strongly limited when applied to compact polymers. In this work, we enable a quadratic speedup in the estimation of thermodynamic properties of maximally compact polymers and heteropolymers by quantum computation. To this end, we encode the target thermodynamic ensemble into the amplitudes of a quantum state, i.e., a quantum sample, which can be processed via amplitude amplification. Using quantum equational reasoning, we construct a local parent Hamiltonian whose unique ground state realizes a quantum sample of all Hamiltonian cycles. This state can be prepared on quantum hardware using ground-state preparation methods, such as quantum annealing, and subsequently manipulated to generate quantum samples of polymers and heteropolymers at a target temperature. Finally, we approximate the quantum sample as a tensor network, revealing an entanglement area law. For fixed-width rectangular lattices, we obtain a time-efficient and compact encoding of the full ensemble of Hamiltonian cycles, enabling the efficient evaluation of expectation values, partition functions, and configuration probabilities via tensor contractions, without resorting to sampling.

Gravitational waves (GWs) exhibit wave-optics effects when their wavelength is comparable to the scale of the gravitational lens. This may occur in lensing from galactic subhalos in GWs emitted by binary black-hole mergers, and is gaining interest as a novel probe of dark matter. Predictions for observables in these cases ultimately rely on evaluating a Fresnel integral that quantifies the effect of lensing on the amplitude of a GW at a given frequency. However, numerical evaluation of this Fresnel integral is tricky, and several algorithms and publicly available codes that implement it have been developed. Here, we show that the dependence of this integral on the lens position can be written as a two-dimensional Fourier transform. Modern FFT techniques then enable rapid evaluation at all-sky positions simultaneously for general lenses without symmetry. Vectorization of FFT routines allows for derivatives with respect to model parameters to be obtained with only incremental additional computational cost. If the lens is axisymmetric, further speedups can be achieved with recently developed techniques for non-uniform fast Hankel transforms. To demonstrate, we make available Fresnel Integral Optimization with Non-uniform trAnsforms (FIONA), an efficient and accurate code that is significantly faster than current methods for dense source grids, reaching 2-3 orders of magnitude speedups for $\sim 10^6$ GW-emitting points. As part of FIONA, we developed code that provides vectorized non-uniform fast Hankel transforms that may have other uses (e.g., calculation of cosmological two-point correlation functions) beyond those considered here.

We show that spacetime curvature alone can classically stabilize black strings. Working within a consistent five-dimensional dilaton-gravity system with a flat brane, we find that sufficiently large black strings are classically stable when they extend from the brane to a timelike boundary, which may be either regular or conformal. Black strings are also classically stable in the critical case of the linear dilaton spacetime. In some of the curved backgrounds considered, black strings are stable despite having infinite horizon area.

We apply the point particle EFT approach to a compact star to systematically compute dynamical tidal love numbers for various non-rotating compact objects, extending the treatment of {arXiv:2307.10391[hep-th], arXiv:2407.08327 [gr-qc]}. We calculate the scattering amplitude in Black Hole Perturbation Theory(BPHT) for \textit{arbitrary} non-rotating compact stars using the Mano-Suzuki-Takasugi(MST) method with non zero surface reflectivity and match it with that obtained from point particle EFT order by order in the low frequency expansion. This sets up a systematic framework for extracting the static and dynamical tidal love numbers(TLNs) to any order in the multipole expansion. In this paper, we employ the technique to compute the Next-to-Next-to Leading Order TLN upto a universal constant and its Renormalization Group equation for non-viscous Neutron stars and Neutron stars admixed with Bosonic or Fermionic dark matter.

The interplay of antiferromagnetic order, momentum-dependent Bloch spin-splitting, time-reversal (T), and parity (P) symmetries in non-relativistic systems has emerged as a central theme for spintronics. Two well-known examples are P-preserving and T-violating altermagnets and P-violating and T-preserving odd-parity magnets. These both exhibit an Ising, or uniaxial, Bloch spin-splitting. Here we introduce a new class of coplanar AFMs that generate a P and T symmetric, translation-invariant Ising spin order in real space. Naively, such AFMs are not expected to exhibit unusual phenomena. Here we show that the spin-rotational symmetry breaking generated by these AFMs allows: pure non-relativistic longitudinal (or transverse) spin-conductivities, the generation of non-relativistic altermagnetic spin-splittings through circularly polarized light, and the generation of non-relativistic odd-parity spin-splittings through parity symmetry breaking, by, for example, applied electric fields. We identify 16 candidate materials in the Magndata database for which our theory applies and provide effective microscopic models and DFT-based results that highlight the large emergent responses.

We study the electronic properties of multilayer "spirals" of two-dimensional materials with continuously increasing twist angle. The electronic states are shown to undergo a universal 3D-to-2D transition on increasing the in-plane momentum ${\bf k}_\parallel$ away from the $Γ$ point. The states with $k_\parallel>k_c$ are localized along the z axis due to mismatch between electronic dispersions of the twisted layers, whereas those with $k_\parallel<k_c$ are extended. We support our results by mapping of the system on the Aubry-André model and deduce the experimental signatures of 3D to 2D localization in transport experiments.

Ultraluminous infrared galaxies are powered by a combination of rapid star formation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) emission, but their relative importance is not always observationally clear. We study the galactic continuum spectrum of a cosmologically simulated $\sim 4 \times 10^{10} M_\odot$ stellar mass starburst galaxy at redshift $z\sim 4.4$ that refines down to resolve beyond the dust sublimation boundary of its super-Eddington-accreting $\sim 10^7 M_\odot$ supermassive black hole. We find that this system resembles the rare class of hot dust-obscured galaxy (Hot DOG), with a roughly flat (in $νF_ν$) IR emission spectrum that sharply drops off at wavelengths $\lesssim 5~μ\mathrm{m}$. Our system also matches with the observational properties of many Hot DOGs, including undergoing multiple galaxy mergers and being the most massive galaxy within a dense cosmological environment. The distinctive Hot DOG spectral shape in our system is caused by AGN-heated mid-IR warm dust, predominately starburst-heated far-IR cold dust, and a steep near- to mid-IR cutoff caused by strong absorption in the dense ISM of the galactic nucleus, rather than the dust torus itself. This system is lower luminosity ($L_\mathrm{IR} \sim 2 \times 10^{12} L_\odot$) than those detected by the WISE survey at similar redshifts, but will be a prime target for future far-IR surveys such as PRIMA. Our results show that Hot DOGs can naturally result as a transitional phase during rapid AGN accretion, but before significant AGN-driven outflows clear optically thin paths.

Traveling-Wave Parametric Amplifiers (TWPAs) are ubiquitous in superconducting circuit readout, providing high gain with near-quantum-limited noise performance across a wide bandwidth. Their operation, however, relies on a strong microwave pump tone that is typically delivered using off-chip passive components, such as directional couplers or diplexers. These external elements add loss, increase system complexity, and limit scalability. Here, we present a traveling-wave parametric amplifier that incorporates on-chip input and output diplexers for pump routing. This co-fabricated architecture offers a compact and scalable solution for superconducting-circuit readout.

Accurate predictions for dark matter-electron scattering in solids require an all-electron treatment together with a faithful description of dielectric screening beyond simple approximations. In particular, local field effects, arising from microscopic inhomogeneities of the electronic response, can significantly modify scattering rates across relevant momentum and energy scales. We present an all-electron framework for computing dark matter-electron scattering rates that incorporates dielectric screening at the random-phase approximation (RPA) level, including local field effects. Using crystalline silicon as a benchmark, we show that local field effects play an important role both at large momentum transfers, spanning multiple Brillouin zones, and at low momentum near the plasmon resonance. We compute electron recoil spectra and projected sensitivities for non-relativistic halo dark matter and for boosted dark matter or other dark-sector particles, which are sensitive to the impact of local field effects in these high and low momentum regimes, respectively. We further present RPA dielectric functions including local field effects for Ge, GaAs, SiC, and diamond, enabling a systematic comparison across target materials. These developments are implemented in the open source code QCDark2.

Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) feedback plays a critical role in galaxy formation and evolution. AGN-driven winds can significantly influence their host galaxies, although the details of their impact remain unclear. In this study, we investigate the feedback effects of AGN winds on idealized disc galaxies using the SWIFT hydrodynamical code with COLIBRE subgrid physics. We implement a new thermal AGN feedback model in which the energy injection coupling efficiency has a power-law dependence on the Eddington ratio of the black hole (BH) accretion rate, motivated by scaling relations for AGN winds from numerical models and observations. We simulate idealised Milky Way-mass galaxies, incorporating a BH, cold gas disc, stellar disc, and hot circumgalactic medium, within a static dark matter halo. We vary the BH mass and the slope and normalisation of the new coupling efficiency model. For a fixed BH mass, we find that while systematic trends with coupling efficiency exist, most galaxy and BH properties show only modest variations. This likely reflects BH self-regulation in the COLIBRE model, which modulates the effects of changes in the feedback efficiency, provided the BH mass is sufficiently high. Key exceptions are the BH accretion rate and mass growth history, and outflow behaviour, where lower coupling efficiencies lead to faster BH growth and weaker outflows, potentially helping to explain the presence of overmassive BHs at high redshifts. Varying the BH mass, however, has a much larger impact, confirming that BH mass remains the primary factor shaping galaxy and BH evolution in our simulations.

We point out that the existence of an outer automorphism (Out) is a sufficient condition for the existence of a fixed hyperplane (fixed point, separatrix) in the renormalization group (RG) flow of a Quantum Field Theory (QFT). The corresponding RG fixed hyperplane is determined by a symmetry argument and can be computed without resorting to perturbation theory. This provides the mathematical underpinning of 't Hooft's technical naturalness argument, and results in a systematic way to derive non-perturbative all-order constraints on the RG beta functions. If an Out exists, the symmetry of the fully coupled system of beta functions is larger than the symmetry of the action. We also stress the importance of including goofy transformations in these considerations.

Accreted stars in the Milky Way (MW) preserve information about the progenitor galaxies where they formed in their chemical and kinematic properties. In this study, we use the chemo-dynamical signatures in the merger debris to approximate the posterior distribution of disrupted satellite properties at the time of infall. Adopting a simulation-based inference framework, we train an ensemble of normalizing flows using samples of merger debris from the Auriga suite of simulations of MW-like galaxies. Applying this methodology to a local sample of accreted stars in the MW, we infer the lookback times, stellar and halo masses, and halo mass merger ratios of several known accretion events in the Galaxy: Gaia Enceladus-Sausage (GES), Helmi streams, Heracles, I'itoi, LMS-1/Wukong, Sagittarius (Sgr), Sequoia and Thamnos. Our predictions align with the accretion time and mass estimates from the literature, and the expected relation between the progenitor stellar masses and debris metallicities across redshifts. The total stellar mass accreted from these events is predicted to be $2.2^{+1.1}_{-0.6}\times10^{9}~\rm{M_{\odot}}$, with GES and Sgr being the largest contributors. The predicted stellar mass accreted from fully disrupted progenitors in the stellar halo is $1.3^{+1.0}_{-0.5}\times10^{9}~\rm{M_{\odot}}$, which is consistent with previous mass measurements of this component. We provide a prediction for the evolution of the MW halo mass until the accretion of Sgr ($z\approx1$): specifically, we find that the mass growth of the Galaxy from the time of its first merger ($z\approx5$) to $z\approx2$ exceeds the total mass of the known progenitors accreted during that interval, suggesting the presence of unidentified substructures. Our estimate of the Galaxy halo mass after the Sgr merger, but prior to the accretion of the Magellanic Clouds, is $5.9^{+1.4}_{-1.1}\times10^{11}~\rm{M_{\odot}}$.

Antideuterons and antihelium nuclei in the cosmic-ray spectrum have long been considered a smoking gun signature of dark matter annihilation, making the tentative observation of several such events by AMS highly intriguing. Conventional dark matter models, however, can produce only up to O(1) antideuteron events at AMS and are not capable of generating observable fluxes of antihelium. In this letter, we propose a class of models in which dark matter annihilates into particles carrying baryon and lepton number, whose subsequent decays produce enhanced fluxes of antinucleons and antinuclei. Such scenarios are motivated by Grand Unified Theories and can lead to an order-of-magnitude or larger enhancement in the resulting antideuteron and antihelium-3 fluxes, providing a means by which to potentially explain the events reported by the AMS Collaboration.

For nearly three decades frustrated magnetism research in three dimensions (3D) has centered on the pyrochlore geometry of corner-sharing tetrahedra and the classical spin liquid (CSL) known as spin ice. In this work, we propose that a lattice of corner-sharing octahedra -- appropriately dubbed the octochlore lattice -- may provide a next-generation platform for the study of 3D frustrated magnetism, with realizations in anti-perovskite and certain potassium-fluoride compounds. We study the phase diagram of Ising spins on the octochlore lattice with first- and second-neighbor interactions within each octahedron, which displays a rich variety of frustrated phases, including CSLs with extensive ground state degeneracies, as well as phases with subextensive ground state degeneracies intermediate between spin liquids and long-range order. In addition to a spin ice CSL, we identify a novel fracton CSL with excitations restricted to move along one-dimensional (1D) lines, which is a classical U(1) analog of the celebrated X-cube model, a paradigmatic realization of fracton topological order. The existence of these two CSLs is rationalized as condensation of 1D ferro-spinons bound states from a parent phase with subextensive degeneracy due to frustration of ferromagnetically polarized chains. We also find a spin nematic phase exhibiting two-stage dimensional reduction from cubic to tetragonal (uniaxial) and finally orthorhombic (biaxial) symmetry, driven by strong fluctuations arising from deconfined 1D antiferro-spinons. This work paves the way for the potential realization of fracton CSLs and the exploration of other exotic frustrated states in real materials.