The COVID-19 outbreak rapidly became a pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, posing an unprecedented threat and challenge to healthcare systems and the public. Governments in nearly every country focused on immunization programs for the general population using mRNA vaccines against this disease, marking the first large-scale use of this technology. Previously overlooked research papers on mRNA vaccine preparation or administration gained prominence. The impact was documented bibliographically through a surge in citations these papers received. These reports exemplify the Sleeping Beauty bibliometric phenomenon, while the articles that triggered this awakening act as the Sweet Prince, leading to the resurgence of the previous papers' bibliometric impact. Here, a backward reference search was performed in the Scopus bibliographic database to identify Sleeping Beauties by applying the Beauty Coefficient metric. A total of 915 original research articles were published in 2020, citing 21,979 referenced papers, including 1,181 focused on mRNA vaccines, with 671 of these being original research reports. By setting a threshold of at least 30 citations received before 2020, 272 papers published between 2005 and 2022 were examined. The finding that nearly half of the papers included were published in scientific journals between 2020 and 2022 is explained by the fact that these works received a significant number of citations as preprints or prepublications. We found that 28 papers from this bibliographic portfolio exhibited a Beauty Coefficient following the Sleeping Beauty bibliometric phenomenon. Our findings reveal that disruptive technological innovations may be built upon previously neglected reports that experienced sharp citation increases, driven by their crucial applicability to worldwide distresses.

This study presents a five-year longitudinal mixed-methods study of 17 Chinese digital painters, examining how their attitudes and practices evolved in response to generative AI. Our findings reveal a trajectory from resistance and defensiveness, to pragmatic adoption, and ultimately to reflective reconstruction, shaped by strong peer pressures and shifting emotional experiences. Persistent concerns around copyright and creative labor highlight the ongoing negotiation of identity and values. This work contributes by offering rare longitudinal empirical data, advancing a theoretical lens of "identity and value negotiation," and providing design implications for future human-AI collaborative systems.

Conventional Lagrangian formulations of gauge and gravity theories emphasize compactness and off-shell symmetry. This often obscures the structure of on-shell physical observables. In this work, we present a constructive framework that elevates gauge-invariant scattering amplitudes to the defining data for quantum field theory actions, including effective field theories. Focusing on double-copy theories, we promote color-dual amplitude numerators to quantum operators. This enables the systematic identification of novel local operator content at each multiplicity and the construction of double-copy-compatible actions. By applying this framework to the well-established double-copy relationship between Einstein gravity and Yang-Mills theory, which holds for all-multiplicity tree-level amplitudes, we demonstrate a systematic path to constructing the operator expansion of $\sqrt{-g}R$ from factorized gauge-theory components. This clarifies how gravitational interactions can be understood as emerging from simpler gauge-theoretic structures at the action level. This formalism extends color-kinematics duality from amplitude data to operator constructions, naturally realizing the double copy at the level of actions and asymptotic quantum states. We illustrate the method with Yang-Mills theory, Einstein gravity, and its application to generating higher-derivative operators inspired by Z-theory and open superstring amplitudes. This work provides a concrete bridge between structured amplitudes and effective actions, offering a physically grounded alternative to traditional EFT basis-building. It reveals at the operator level deep structural connections between gauge theory and gravity (connections long recognized in scattering amplitudes) from fundamental interactions to their quantum state descriptions and higher-derivative extensions.

We present a path-integral Monte Carlo estimator for calculating the dipole polarizability of interacting Coulomb plasma in the long-wavelength limit, i.e., the optical region. We present comprehensive details and method validation studies for our approach based on both collective and one-particle dipole autocorrelation functions in the imaginary time. The simulation of thermal equilibrium in imaginary time has exact Coulomb interactions and Boltzmann quantum statistics. For reference, we use analytically continued Drude model as the long-wavelength limit of the Lindhard response. Our collective response shows perfect match to the analytical reference. The one-particle response is used in systematic studies of physical and numerical parameters, and to discuss the phenomenological Drude scattering model.

Periodically driven quantum many-body systems exhibit a wide variety of exotic nonequilibrium phenomena and provide a promising pathway for quantum applications. A fundamental challenge for stabilizing and harnessing these highly entangled states of matter is system heating by energy absorption from the drive. Here, we propose and demonstrate a disorder-free mechanism, dubbed Fock space prethermalization (FSP), to suppress heating. This mechanism divides the Fock-space network into linearly many sparse sub-networks, thereby prolonging the thermalization timescale even for initial states at high energy densities. Using 72 superconducting qubits, we observe an FSP-based time-crystalline order that persists over 120 cycles for generic initial Fock states. The underlying kinetic constraint of approximately conserved domain wall (DW) numbers is identified by measuring site-resolved correlators. Further, we perform finite-size scaling analysis for DW and Fock-space dynamics by varying system sizes, which reveals size-independent regimes for FSP-thermalization crossover and links the dynamical behaviors to the eigenstructure of the Floquet unitary. Our work establishes FSP as a robust mechanism for breaking ergodicity, and paves the way for exploring novel nonequilibrium quantum matter and its applications.

The decay $A\to ZH$ is a characteristic signal of two-Higgs-doublet models (2HDMs), where $A$ and $H$ lie primarily within the same $SU(2)_L$ multiplet, leading to a coupling of order $g_2$ to the $Z$ boson. The subsequent decay $H\to tt^{(*)}$ is particularly promising, as it gives rise to distinct final states involving multiple leptons and $b$-jets. The required splitting between $m_A$ and $m_H$ can naturally occur near the electroweak scale while being consistent with perturbative unitarity. Whereas dedicated ATLAS and CMS searches focused on the region with both top-quarks on-shell, we cover lower masses where one top quark is off-shell by recasting Standard Model $t\bar{t}Z$ measurements of ATLAS and CMS. The obtained limits on $σ(A\to ZH)\times {\rm Br} (H\to t\bar t)$ are between $0.12$ pb and $0.62$ pb. Interestingly, we observe these stringent limits despite a preference (up to $2.5σ$) for a non-zero new physics signal, most pronounced around for $m_A \approx 450-460$ GeV and $m_H\approx 290$ GeV, with a best-fit value of $σ(A \to ZH) \times {\rm Br}(H \to t\bar t) \approx 0.3$ pb. This cross section can be accommodated within a top-philic 2HDM for a top-Yukawa coupling of the second Higgs doublet of $μ_t \gtrsim 0.16$.

Prediction is a central task of statistics and machine learning, yet many inferential settings provide only partial information, typically in the form of moment constraints or estimating equations. We develop a finite, fully Bayesian framework for propagating such partial information through predictive distributions. Building on de Finetti's representation theorem, we construct a curvature-adaptive version of exchangeable updating that operates directly under finite constraints, yielding an explicit discrete-Gaussian mixture that quantifies predictive uncertainty. The resulting finite-sample bounds depend on the smallest eigenvalue of the information-geometric Hessian, which measures the curvature and identification strength of the constraint manifold. This approach unifies empirical likelihood, Bayesian empirical likelihood, and generalized method-of-moments estimation within a common predictive geometry. On the operational side, it provides computable curvature-sensitive uncertainty bounds for constrained prediction; on the theoretical side, it recovers de Finetti's coherence, Doob's martingale convergence and local asymptotic normality as limiting cases of the same finite mechanism. Our framework thus offers a constructive bridge between partial information and full Bayesian prediction.

Within a fixed hyperangular channel $s>0$ of a harmonically trapped system, the $1/R^2$ perturbation is absorbed exactly into a shift of the channel parameter, $s\to s_η$, so the single-channel model remains a harmonic oscillator with a shifted inverse-square term: radial gaps stay at $2\hbarω$ exactly and no monopole spectral weight appears at forbidden frequencies at any order. The first-order cancellation is also proved independently by a compact algebraic argument in which the ket and bra contributions cancel pairwise; this is the main new result. Substituting single-channel quantities into the established $m_1/m_{-1}$ sum-rule bound yields $Q^{-1}$ scaling of the sum-rule estimate ($Q\equiv 2q+s+1$, $q$ the radial quantum number) with an explicit coefficient; its finite-temperature average has a low-$T$ plateau and a $1/T$ high-$T$ tail. All results hold for any real $s>0$. The Laguerre polynomial identities extend formally to three dimensions, but exact 3D results show $q$-dependent contact corrections along $SO(2,1)$ ladders, so the physical interpretation there requires a separate derivation.

The decomposition of arbitrary unitary transformations into sequences of simpler, physically realizable operations is a foundational problem in quantum information science, quantum control, and linear optics. We establish a 1D Quantum Field Theory model for justifying the universality of a broad class of such factorizations. We consider parametrizations of the form $U = D_1 V_1 D_2 V_2 \cdots V_{M-1}D_M$, where $\{D_j\}$ are programmable diagonal unitary matrices and $\{V_j\}$ are fixed mixing matrices. By leveraging concepts like the anomalies of our effective model, we establish universality criteria given the set of mixer matrices. This approach yields a rigorous proof grounded in physics for the conditions required for the parametrization to cover the entire group of special unitary matrices. This framework provides a unified method to verify the universality of various proposed architectures and clarifies the nature of the ``generic'' mixers required for such constructions. We also provide a deterministic algorithm for verifying this genericity condition and a geometry-aware optimization method for finding the parameters of a decomposition.

We present a quantum quadratic gravity inflationary scenario that can accommodate the new cosmological constraints, which have disfavored Starobinsky inflation. The theory is asymptotically free in the ultraviolet, but 1-loop running is found to dynamically lead to slow-roll inflation toward the infrared. When a large number of matter fields contribute to the beta functions, the spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio can be phenomenologically viable. We find that as inflation ends, the theory approaches its strong coupling regime and general relativity must emerge, as an effective field theory, as the universe must reheat and enter its standard radiation era. In order to avoid strong coupling, a minimum tensor-to-scalar ratio of 0.01 is predicted for this theory. Our framework offers a laboratory for connecting a concrete ultraviolet completion (quantum quadratic gravity) with inflationary dynamics, reheating, and precise cosmological observations.

We present a new method for generating emission spectra from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in arbitrary radiation fields. We utilize the single-photon limit for PAH heating and emission to treat individual photon absorptions as independent events. This allows the construction of a set of single-photon emission "basis spectra" that can be scaled to produce an output emission spectrum given any input heating spectrum. We find that this method produces agreement with PAH emission spectra computed accounting for multi-photon effects to within $\simeq10\%$ in the $3-20~{\rm μm}$ wavelength range for radiation fields with intensity $U<100$. We use this framework to explore the dependence of PAH band ratios on the radiation field spectrum across grain sizes, finding in particular a strong dependence of the 3.3 to $11.2~μ$m band ratio on radiation field hardness. A Python-based tool and a set of basis spectra that can be used to generate these emission spectra are made publicly available.

Quantum thermometry plays a critical role in the development of low-temperature sensors and quantum information platforms. In this work, we propose and theoretically analyze a hybrid circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture in which a superconducting qubit is dispersively coupled to two distinct bosonic modes: one initialized in a weak coherent state and the other coupled to a thermal environment. We show that the qubit serves as a sensitive readout of the probe mode, mapping the interference between thermal and coherent photon-number fluctuations onto measurable dephasing. This mechanism enables enhanced sensitivity to sub-millikelvin thermal energy fluctuations through Ramsey interferometry. We derive analytic expressions for the qubit coherence envelope, compute the quantum Fisher information for temperature estimation, and demonstrate numerically that the presence of a coherent reference amplifies the qubit's sensitivity to small changes in thermal photon occupancy. Our results establish a new paradigm for quantum-enhanced thermometry and provide a scalable platform for future calorimetric sensing in high-energy physics and quantum metrology.

Efficient exploration of the vast chemical space is a fundamental challenge in materials design and discovery, particularly for designing functional inorganic crystalline materials with targeted properties. Diffusion-based generative models have emerged as a powerful route, but most existing approaches require domain-specific constraints and separate diffusion processes for atom types, atomic positions, and lattice parameters, adding complexity and limiting efficiency. Here, we present DiffCrysGen, a fully data-driven, score-based diffusion model that generates complete crystal structures in a single, end-to-end diffusion process. This unified framework simplifies the model architecture and accelerates sampling by two to three orders of magnitude compared to existing methods without compromising chemical and structural diversity of the generated materials. In order to demonstrate the efficacy of DiffCrysGen in generating valid and useful materials, using density functional theory (DFT), we validate a number of newly generated rare earth-free magnetic materials that are energetically and dynamically stable, and are potentially synthesizable. These include ferromagnets with high saturation magnetization and large magnetocrystalline anisotropy, as also metallic antiferromagnets. These results establish DiffCrysGen as a general platform for accelerated design of functional materials.

We introduce a notion of (co)presheaf on a lax double functor $X$, which we generally call an instance. In the terminology of double-categorical logic, a lax double functor valued in sets, possibly preserving finite products, is called a model of a double (Lawvere) theory. By varying the double theory, we uniformly define a well-behaved notion of instances of categories, profunctors, monads, monoidal categories, multicategories, and more, and we recover for instance the multifunctors into the category of sets in the last example. We show that instances of $X$ can be described either in terms of modules from the terminal model $I$ to $X,$ satisfying an additional condition on triviality of the left action, or as loose natural transformations from $I$ to $X.$ We propose a notion of discrete opfibration between models of a double theory, establish a comprehensive factorization system, and prove an elements correspondence giving an equivalence between the category of instances of and the category of discrete opfibrations over a model $X.$ We describe properties of the resulting categories of instances, relying on a "collage" construction which we characterize as a lax colimit of a model of a double theory. An appendix gives a detailed treatment of certain morphisms of lax functors relevant also for bicategory theory: (loose) transformations versus modules and modifications versus modulations.

Non-Hermiticity naturally arises in many physical systems that exchange energy with their environment. The presence of non-Hermiticity leads to many novel topological physics phenomena and device applications. In the non-Hermitian energy band theory, the foundation of these physics and applications, both energies and wavevectors can take complex values. The energy bands thus become a Riemann surface, and such an energy-band Riemann surface underlies all the important signatures of non-Hermitian topological physics phenomena. Despite a long history and recent theoretical interests, the energy-band Riemann surface has not been experimentally studied. Here we provide a photonic observation of the energy-band Riemann surface of a non-Hermitian system. This is achieved by applying a tunable imaginary gauge transformation on the platform of the photonic synthetic frequency dimension. From the measured topology of the Riemann surface, we reveal the complex-energy winding, the open-boundary-condition spectrum, the generalized Brillouin zone, and the branch points. Our findings demonstrate a unified framework in the studies of diverse effects in non-Hermitian topological physics through an experimental observation of energy-band Riemann surfaces.

The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment aims to detect rare interactions between dark matter particles and xenon. Although the detector is designed to be the most sensitive to GeV/$c^2$--TeV/$c^2$ Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), it is also capable of measuring low-energy ionization signals down to a single electron that may be produced by scatters of sub-GeV/$c^2$ dark matter. The major challenge in exploiting this sensitivity is to understand and suppress the ionization background in the few-electron regime. We report a characterization of the delayed electron backgrounds following energy depositions in the LZ detector under different detector conditions. In addition, we quantify the probability for photons to be emitted in coincidence with electron emission from the high voltage grids. We then demonstrate that spontaneous grid electron emission can be identified and rejected with a high efficiency using a coincident photon tag, which provides a tool to improve the sensitivity of future dark matter searches.

We report the generation of helical electromagnetic radiation in a microwave cavity resonator, achieved by introducing mirror asymmetry, i.e., chirality, through a controlled geometric twist of the conducting boundary conditions. The emergence of electromagnetic helicity is attributed to a nonzero spatial overlap between the electric and magnetic mode eigenvectors, quantified by $\text{Im}\left[\vec{\mathbf{E}}_i(\vec{r})\cdot{\vec{\mathbf{H}}}_i^*(\vec{r})\right]$, a feature not observed in conventional cavity resonators. This phenomenon originates from magnetoelectric coupling between nearly degenerate transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes, resulting in a measurable frequency shift of the resonant modes as a function of the twist angle, $ϕ$. In addition to the bulk helicity induced by global geometric twist, internal helical corrugations break structural symmetry on the surface, introducing an effective surface chirality $κ_{\text{eff}}$, which perturbs the resonant conditions and contributes to asymmetric frequency tuning. By dynamically varying $ϕ$, we demonstrate real-time, macroscopic manipulation of both electromagnetic helicity and resonant frequency. Furthermore, we investigate the underlying mode-coupling dynamics of the system, highlighting strong photon-photon interactions.

We study the inflationary gravitational wave background induced by Abelian gauge fields generated by non-minimal kinetic and axial couplings to the inflaton. We show that, up to slow-roll corrections, for coupling functions that share the same dependence on conformal time, the gravitational wave spectrum is nearly scale invariant. We also derive its amplitude for generic gauge field coupling parameters, within the slow-roll approximation. The coupling values and the scale of inflation for which the induced gravitational wave background is observable, while ensuring that back-reaction on the inflationary dynamics remains negligible, are calculated. We find that a sizeable axial coupling can boost this secondary gravitational wave signal above the standard inflationary background. In the course of our analysis, we also show how to analytically match tensor perturbations across an arbitrary number of eras with different equations of state.

Architected metamaterials such as foams and lattices exhibit a wide range of properties governed by microstructural instabilities and emerging phase transformations. Their macroscopic response--including energy dissipation during impact, large recoverable deformations, morphing between configurations, and auxetic behavior--remains difficult to capture with conventional continuum models, which often rely on discrete approaches that limit scalability. We propose a nonlocal continuum formulation that captures both stable and unstable responses of elastic architected metamaterials. The framework extends anisotropic hyperelasticity by introducing nonlocal variables and internal length scales reflective of microstructural features. Local polyconvex free-energy models are systematically augmented with two families of non-(poly)convex energies, enabling both metastable and bistable responses. Implementation in a finite element framework enables solution using a hybrid monolithic--staggered strategy. Simulations capture densification fronts, forward and reverse transformations, hysteresis loops, imperfection sensitivity, and globally coordinated auxetic modes. Overall, this framework provides a robust foundation for accelerated modeling of instability-driven phenomena in architected materials, while enabling extensions to anisotropic, dissipative, and active systems as well as integration with data-driven and machine learning approaches.

We introduce a family of coefficients based on U-statistics that generalize the notion of correlation and explore their properties in the large dimensional multivariate case, showing that in the null case of uncorrelated variables, the spectrum of generalized correlation matrices is distributed according to an affine transformation of the Marčenko-Pastur law.

The nonuniqueness of Leray-Hopf solutions to the unforced incompressible 3D Navier-Stokes equations is one of the central open problems in mathematical fluid dynamics. In this paper, we provide, to our knowledge, the first rigorous computer-assisted proof demonstrating such nonuniqueness. Inspired by earlier works in this area, we construct a Leray-Hopf solution in the self-similar setting and then establish the existence of a second solution by analyzing the stability of the linearized operator around this profile, showing that it corresponds to an unstable perturbation. To achieve this, we develop an innovative numerical method that computes candidate solutions with high precision and propose a framework for rigorously establishing exact solutions in a neighborhood of these candidates. A key step is to decompose the linearized operator into a coercive part plus a compact perturbation, which is further approximated by a finite-rank operator up to a small error. The invertibility of the linearized operator restricted to the image of this finite-rank approximation is then rigorously verified using computer-assisted proofs. This certifies the existence of an unstable eigenpair and, consequently, yields a second solution - indeed, infinitely many Leray-Hopf solutions.

In this paper, we prove the diameter comparison, the global weighted volume comparison and the splitting theorem in weighted manifolds when the infinity-Bakry-Emery Ricci curvature has a lower bound in the spectrum sense. Our results extend Antonelli-Xu's spectral Bonnet-Myers and Bishop-Gromov theorems, and Antonelli-Pozzetta-Xu's spectral splitting theorem to weighted manifolds. Our results are also some supplements of Chu-Hao's spectral diameter and global volume comparisons, and Yeung's spectral splitting theorem in weighted manifolds.

We prove an infinite sequence of inequalities among scalar polynomial invariants of symmetric rank-2 tensors of Segre types $A1$, $A3$, and $B$. In particular, these inequalities apply to the Ricci tensor and the energy-momentum tensor. If at least one of them is violated by the Ricci tensor, then the Einstein equations force violation of all classical energy conditions. In addition, we use one of the inequalities to generalize the known relation between the second Ricci invariant and the Kretschmann scalar.

In physics, Lie groups represent the algebraic structure that describes symmetry transformations of a given system. Then, the descending Lie algebra of those groups are necessarily real. In most cases, the complexification of those Lie algebras is necessary in order to derive irreducible representations of the Lie algebra and subsequently of the symmetry group. In this paper, we give a precise definition of the concept and prove step by step an important result $\left(\mathfrak{g}^\mathbb{R}\right)_\mathbb{C} \simeq \mathfrak{g} \times \bar{\mathfrak{g}}$. This result is used to determine the irreducible representations of the proper Lorentz group and thus the physical objects admissible when this symmetry is present. It is shown that finite representations of the proper Lorentz group are characterized by pairs of half-integers $(j_1,j_2)$, which determine unambiguously the physical object associated to the given representation. For example, the representation $(0,0)$ of dimension $1$ is called the scalar representation, it corresponds to the Higgs field, and $(\frac{1}{2},0) \oplus (0,\frac{1}{2})$ of dimension $4$ is called the Dirac spinor representation, it corresponds to matter particle called fermions. This means that the mathematical group structure determines the material content of the universe following this algebraic structure.

This paper proposes a numerical method using neural networks to solve the path integral problem in quantum mechanics for arbitrary potentials. The method is based on a radial basis function expansion of the interaction term that appears in the Euclidean path integral formalism. By constructing a corresponding multi-layered perceptron-type neural network with exponential nonlinearities in the hidden layer, the original path integral can be approximated by a linear combination of Gaussian path integrals that can be solved analytically. The method has been tested for the double-well potential that includes a quadratic and a quartic term, giving very good, within a few percent agreement between the true and estimated bound state wave functions that are extracted from the propagator at large Euclidean times. The proposed method can also be used to describe potentials that have imaginary parts, which is tested for a simple Gaussian path integral with complex frequencies, where the model uncertainty stays below one percent for both the real and imaginary parts of the propagator.

In this review, we summarize the foundations underlying a variety of phenomena in superconductor-ferromagnet hybrid structures, with a focus on recent advances in several key areas. These include: (i) the fundamental understanding of proximity effects in superconductor-ferromagnet based systems; (ii) spin-valve effects in superconductor-ferromagnet and superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor Josephson junctions; and (iii) the design and realization of superconducting memory elements, particularly in hybrid Josephson junctions. We also discuss the experimental progress in fabricating and characterizing spin-valve structures.

We study magnetic conversion of ultra-relativistic axion-like particles (ALPs) into photons in compact-star environments, focusing on the hot, transient conditions of core-collapse supernova (SN) remnants and neutron-star mergers (NSMs). We address previously overlooked uncertainties, particularly the suppression caused by ejected matter near the stellar surface, a region crucial to the conversion process. We derive analytical expressions for the transition rate; they reveal the influence of key parameters and their uncertainties. We update constraints using historical gamma-ray data from SN~1987A and find $g_{aγ}<5\times10^{-12}~{\rm GeV}^{-1}$ for $m_a\lesssim10^{-9}$ eV. We also forecast sensitivities for a future Galactic SN and for NSMs, assuming observations with Fermi-LAT or similar gamma-ray instruments. We distinguish ALPs -- defined as coupling only to photons and produced via Primakoff scattering -- from axions, which also couple to nucleons and emerge through nuclear bremsstrahlung. We omit pionic axion production due to its large uncertainties and inconsistencies, though it could contribute comparably to bremsstrahlung under optimistic assumptions. For the compact sources, we adopt time-averaged one-zone models, guided by numerical simulations, to enable clear and reproducible parametric studies.

We consider the three-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in a bounded domain with Navier boundary conditions. We provide a sufficient condition for the absence of anomalous energy dissipation without making assumptions on the behaviour of the corresponding pressure near the boundary or the existence of a strong solution to the incompressible Euler equations with the same initial data. We establish our result by using our recent regularity results for the pressure corresponding to weak solutions of the incompressible Euler equations [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal., 249 (2025), 28].

We present a model-independent null test of the late-time cosmological response to a reduced sound horizon, as typically required by early-universe solutions to the Hubble tension. In this approach, we phenomenologically impose a shorter sound horizon without modeling early-universe physics to isolate its impact on late-time dark energy inference. Using baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), supernovae (SN), big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), and local $H_0$ data, while explicitly avoiding CMB anisotropies, we examine how this calibration shift propagates into constraints on the dark energy equation of state. We find that lowering $r_d$ systematically drives the $w_0$-$w_a$ posterior toward less dynamical, quintessence-like behavior, bringing it closer to $Λ$CDM. This result underscores that some of the apparent evidence for evolving or phantom-like dark energy may reflect early-universe assumptions rather than genuine late-time dynamics. More broadly, our analysis highlights the importance of carefully disentangling calibration effects from physical evolution in interpreting forthcoming results from DESI and future surveys.

Large language models can influence users through conversation, creating new forms of dark patterns that differ from traditional UX dark patterns. We define LLM dark patterns as manipulative or deceptive behaviors enacted in dialogue. Drawing on prior work and AI incident reports, we outline a diverse set of categories with real-world examples. Using them, we conducted a scenario-based study where participants (N=34) compared manipulative and neutral LLM responses. Our results reveal that recognition of LLM dark patterns often hinged on conversational cues such as exaggerated agreement, biased framing, or privacy intrusions, but these behaviors were also sometimes normalized as ordinary assistance. Users' perceptions of these dark patterns shaped how they respond to them. Responsibilities for these behaviors were also attributed in different ways, with participants assigning it to companies and developers, the model itself, or to users. We conclude with implications for design, advocacy, and governance to safeguard user autonomy.