Muscovite mica is a translucent, layered silicate mineral whose basal cleavage, low radiogenic background, gigayear exposures, and demonstrated track retention over geological timescales make it a compelling target for rare particle searches. In this work, we develop a new framework for detecting heavy composite dark matter using muscovite mica as a paleodetector. We model melt track formation by heavy composite dark matter transiting through mica using a Sedov-Taylor thermal spike formalism, and validate the sub-micron regime with SRIM/TRIM simulations of nuclear recoil cascades, which also calibrate the phonon efficiency governing local energy deposition. We demonstrate a novel readout method using rapid X-ray fluorescence mapping with a copper backing contrast technique, capable of identifying micron-scale damage features in cleaved mica sheets over macroscopic scan areas, and calibrate the minimum detectable track size using laser-ablated defect regions. We present projected sensitivities for opaque and diffuse composite dark matter, including a sub-melt hole-channel detection mode for large composites substantially attenuated by overburden. We also revisit prior dark matter exclusions from etched mica searches, identifying shortcomings that compromise the robustness of these constraints.

Multilayers of Babinet complementary periodic structures constructed with miniarrays of spherical plasmonic nanoresonators were optimized to ensure Generalized Faraday Rotation. Nonreciprocal rotation and asymmetric transmission were achieved in spectrally overlapping regions due to the reach physics involving (i) symmetry breaking via coupled localized modes, (ii) Brillouin zone-folding stemmed from constituent sub-lattices forming in-plane twisted coupled loops, (iii) interlayer coupling between Babinet complementary patterns. The nanophotonical phenomena include (i) quasi-BIC resonances, (ii) hierarchically coupled localized and propagating modes that results in time-periodic Floquet modulation, (iii) initialization of synthetic potentials tuneable independently via intra and inter-layer parameters. The unique bianisotropic composites result in a synthetic vector gauge and emulated magnetic field manifesting itself in tilted-precessing magnetic dipoles and the accompanying modulation being time-periodic, inherently ensures a synthetic dimension. The asymmetric transmission is enhanced in the classical sense along quantized flat bands, and in mixed and forward bases inside finite wavelength-and-tilting intervals overlapping with nonreciprocal polarization rotation. The transmitted pulse re-shaping proves beating of nearby resonant modes, the loss can be compensated with active ad-layers thereby resulting in Faraday isolator capability. The multilayers synthetize topological phenomena in high-dimensional synthetic parameter spaces.

Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM) models with large cross sections at relative velocities below $\sim100\,{\rm km \, s}^{-1}$ can be tested with dwarf galaxy observations. We analyze six dark-matter-only zoom-in $\sim10^{10}\,{\rm M}_\odot$ halos with diverse assembly histories, adopting a cross section over mass of $σ/m = 70\,cm^2 \, g^{-1}$. We find that mergers inject orbital kinetic energy into the halo, altering the heat transport and the gravothermal evolution of the core. Three of the six halos -- those with the most quiescent merger histories -- show clear signs of core collapse in these simulations. Halos with sustained mergers do not collapse. Furthermore, merger-induced heat transport drives two non-collapsing halos to central densities well below the predictions of the gravothermal fluid model. These findings suggest a novel mechanism for producing dark-matter-deficient galaxies and expanding the diversity of rotation curves beyond what halo concentration alone predicts. Merger histories are thus essential for understanding central density distributions of dwarf galaxy halos in SIDM.

Subwavelength atomic tweezer arrays, in which atoms can be positioned at distances smaller than their emission wavelength, have been proposed as a versatile platform to study collective emission phenomena, such as superradiance and subradiance. Experimentally, the realization of such arrays has been a challenge as typical emission wavelengths in the visible or near-infrared are short compared to typical tweezer spacings in the micrometer range. Here, we use $^{88}$Sr atoms in optical tweezer arrays to access a mid-infrared transition at 2,923 nm ($5s5p\:^{3}P_{2} \rightarrow\, 5s4d\:^{3}D_{3}$). We identify a magic trapping wavelength at 597.14(3) nm and demonstrate single-atom preparation and imaging with high fidelity. In addition, using 2,923 nm light, we demonstrate resolved-sideband cooling of tweezer-trapped strontium. Beyond enabling studies of collective emission phenomena in flexible arrangements of atoms, our platform opens novel opportunities for dipolar many-body physics and enhanced control over Rydberg dynamics and the strontium fine-structure qubit.

Muon tomography based on multiple Coulomb scattering provides a non-destructive method to image dense and shielded objects using naturally occurring cosmic-ray muons. In the context of nuclear waste characterization, we present the experimental imaging of a 205-L mock waste barrel using a dedicated 1m$^2$ muon scattering tomography test bench. The system employs multiplexed resistive Micromegas detectors, enabling stable and high-precision muon tracking. Monte Carlo simulations are first used to characterize material-dependent scattering signatures and to quantitatively assess identification performance using statistical reconstruction. These simulation-based results are then used to define objective discrimination thresholds, which are subsequently applied to experimental data for the localization and identification of internal anomalies. Using an Angle Statistics Reconstruction algorithm, we achieve a spatial resolution of 10 mm and demonstrate the three-dimensional imaging of an internal structure containing both low- and high-radiation length materials. Material discrimination performance is evaluated using receiver operating characteristic analysis, yielding high identification efficiency for dense metallic inclusions such as lead and steel (AUC $\geq$ 0.96) within acquisition times of a few days, while cavities also exhibit strong contrast. Experimental results show good agreement with detailed Monte Carlo simulations. By establishing a continuous workflow from simulation-based performance characterization to practical application on measured data, this work provides a quantitatively validated framework for muon scattering tomography applied to complex, shielded objects.

Irregular dust aggregates immersed in plasma sheaths experience several orientation-dependent torques that can modify their rotational dynamics and stability. Here, we investigate the rotational dynamics of charged irregular aggregates under conditions representative of a GEC rf plasma cell using self-consistent numerical simulations. The aggregates rotate freely in a unidirectional sheath electric field that drives an ion flow, allowing the torque contributions acting on the aggregate to be evaluated throughout the motion. The results show that the sheath electric field is the main driver of rotation and aligns the aggregate electric dipole moment with the sheath field direction. The ion wake modifies this alignment: its axial field component produces an opposing torque, while its transverse components introduce a destabilizing contribution that leads to small oscillations about the equilibrium orientation. The rotational equilibrium is described by an interaction energy well whose spring constant and depth increase with the sheath electric field magnitude, indicating stronger alignment and greater resilience to angular perturbations at higher fields. A second order multipole expansion of the aggregate ion interaction shows that the dipolar term governs the ion contribution to the aligning torque, supporting a dipole ion approximation across the examined conditions. These results identify the sheath electric field as the principal stabilizing mechanism for irregular aggregate rotation and clarify how ion wake fields perturb the equilibrium orientation.

A fundamental goal in climate attribution is to estimate how forced climate change contributes to observed extreme weather events. The storyline attribution method compares an observed weather event, conditional on its atmospheric dynamic state (i.e., atmospheric circulation), in the current, 'factual' climate to an event with very similar circulation conditions in a hypothetical, 'counterfactual' climate. However, physical climate models cannot directly transfer these storyline counterfactuals across different climate forcing states. Statistical and machine learning techniques may overcome this limitation; yet, emulating circulation-conditional extreme events under different climate states is challenging. Here, we demonstrate distributional autoencoders (DAEs) as a versatile method for generating climate counterfactuals. They model the full distribution of spatially resolved European temperature fields conditional on the atmospheric circulation state and the mean global warming level. These distributions allow for deriving meaningful conditional probability ratios, which is a particular advantage of the DAE-based storyline approach. We train DAEs on fully coupled climate model simulations and we evaluate the modelled distributions across different factual and storyline-based counterfactual climate model simulations. In an illustrative case study, we revisit the 2003 European heatwave and we generate counterfactuals for a hypothetical `2003-like European heatwave' using ERA5 circulation, which we hypothesize to occur a quarter century (2028) and a half century (2053) after 2003. The conditional intensity would increase from 29.3 °C in 2003, to 30.3 °C and 32.1 °C in 2028 and 2053, respectively and conditional probability ratios would be 2.1 and 3.2 when compared to 2003.

A diagrammatic Monte Carlo evaluation of the ladder series contributions to the correlation potential (self energy) of a positron in the field of a molecule is presented. The $GW$@TDHF, virtual-positronium ($T$-matrix), and positron-hole Goldstone ladder series contributions are stochastically sampled order-by-order within the Tamm-Dancoff approximation, which is exact for the latter two classes, with Ces{á}ro-Riesz resummation used to extrapolate to infinite order. Gaussian bases are employed and Coulomb matrix elements are represented via density fitting, with the three centre integrals the largest arrays required to be stored in memory. The stochastic approach thus realizes a reduction in memory of the largest arrays required on the order of the number of molecular orbitals in the basis $N\sim$10$^2$--10$^3$ compared to the exact deterministic solution of Bethe-Salpeter equations [J. Hofierka, B. Cunningham, C. M. Rawlins, C. H. Patterson and D. G. Green, Nature {\bf 606}, {688} (2022)]. Benchmark results for lithium hydride show quantitative agreement with exact diagonalisation, notably demonstrating the successful stochastic summation of the virtual-positronium infinite electron-positron ladder series.

In the presence of a magnetic field, hyperfine clock qubits can acquire a vector differential light shift that can be tuned via polarization to suppress the total differential light shift of high-power, off-resonant laser light. We experimentally measure this "magic" polarization condition, suppressing differential light shifts in both the ${}^2\mathrm{S}_{1/2}$ ground and ${}^2\mathrm{F}_{7/2}^o$ metastable clock qubits of $^{171}\mathrm{Yb}^+$. We present calculations of the minimum bias magnetic fields required to suppress differential light shifts in the ground state clock qubits of commonly trapped ion species, finding that they are below the strengths of fields already typically present in experiments. We further present methods for metastable clock-qubit control in $^{171}\mathrm{Yb}^+$, demonstrating a state preparation and measurement infidelity of $2.9^{+3.0}_{-1.5}\times10^{-4}$ ($-35 \pm 4 \, \mathrm{dB}$).

The ZX-calculus is a powerful graphical language for manipulating quantum circuits, which has recently found many applications in quantum error correction. We extend this language to handle Floquet and other dynamical stabilizer codes via the connection between measurement-based code switching and gauge fixing (arXiv:1810.10037). We combine gauge-fixing steps to implement a closed loop in the space of stabilizer codes, returning to the original codespace up to a logical Clifford gate. These measurement-based paths in the space of stabilizer codes can be viewed as shortcuts, or "chutes and ladders", relative to single-qubit Clifford operations and qubit permutations. This yields a machine-interpretable method for constructing dynamical automorphisms and facilitates the search for implementations of desired logical gates. As an example, we implement a logical phase gate via distance-preserving code switching for the seven-qubit code bare code (arXiv:1702.01155), which has no non-trivial logical Clifford gates based on single-qubit Clifford operations and qubit permutations (arXiv:2409.18175).

The nature of the ``Little Red Dots'' (LRDs) is one of the most profound mysteries posed by the JWST data. One promising class of models that can reproduce the observed LRDs spectra and morphology are quasi-stars: massive envelopes surrounding accreting black holes formed via the collapse of supermassive stars (SMSs). However, the canonical SMS pathway relies on a highly restricted set of environmental and structural conditions: strong Lyman--Werner (LW) backgrounds to suppress H$_2$ cooling, high and sustained gas inflow rates to enforce entropy stratified envelopes, and assume non-zero rotational support in order to prevent GR instability collapse before $\sim 10^6 M_{\odot}$. Here we show that supermassive dark stars (SMDSs), powered by dark matter (DM) annihilation rather than nuclear burning, naturally satisfy the key structural and energetic requirements for quasi-star (QS) formation while relaxing {\it all} of those restrictive conditions listed above. Moreover, quasi-stars formed through the SMDS pathway are born with prompt BH masses ($\gtrsim 10\%$) of the progenitor mass. They therefore enter directly into a late-stage quasi-star regime; subsequently the envelope expands and cools until its photosphere reaches the zero-metallicity opacity limit $(T_{\rm eff}\sim3000$-$6000\,{\rm K}$). Those cool, optically thick, unresolved photospheres can reproduce key features of many JWST LRDs.

Recently, a fit to $B \to PP$ decays ($P \in \{π, K, η, η'\}$) was performed (arXiv:2604.19612, "QCD-factorization amplitudes from flavour symmetries: beyond the $SU(3)$ symmetric case''}) using a formalism that combines topological diagrams with QCD factorization, and a good fit was found. We also recently performed such a fit, under the assumption that the $B \to PP$ amplitudes are related by flavour SU(3) symmetry, but we found a very poor fit. The two results therefore disagree with one another. The source of this disagreement is that we applied EWP-tree relations (ETRs). These were derived $\sim 30$ years ago, and relate different topological diagrams or reduced matrix elements, thus reducing the number of unknown parameters in the fit. In their paper, it is asserted that ETRs are invalid, so that analyses that use them are unreliable. We are writing this Comment to explain why this assertion is incorrect. The key point is that ETRs are mathematically rigorous, group theoretically. If SU(3) is unbroken, and the small Wilson coefficients $c_{7,8}$ in the weak effective Hamiltonian are neglected, ETRs follow automatically and are exact. That is, this is a group theory result -- no hadronic calculations are involved. In this Comment, we also point out several weaknesses of their formalism.

Homophily, the overrepresentation of interactions among similar individuals, and heterophily, the elevated prevalence of interactions among dissimilar ones, are frequently observed mixing patterns in social networks. As hypergraphs are increasingly used to represent social systems, a higher-order perspective on homophily and heterophily becomes ever more relevant. Here, we provide two complementary perspectives on this problem: First, we survey measures that can be used to quantify homophily (or heterophily) in hypergraphs -- emphasizing conceptual differences to existing pairwise measures -- and explain each measure through in-depth examples. Second, we provide an overview of hypergraph models for higher-order mixing patterns, distinguishing several model families with distinct use cases. By providing a guide to existing methods and synthesizing the current body of knowledge on higher-order homophily and heterophily, we lay the basis for informed methodological choices and future developments.

Clifford codes are a natural generalization of quantum stabilizer codes based primarily on representation theory. This class of codes has previously been extended to the setting of quantum subsystem codes. We formulate a two-fold generalization of Clifford codes, for both the hybrid classical and quantum information and projective representation theory settings. This leads to new classes of hybrid subspace and subsystem Clifford codes. We extend the fundamental representation theoretic quantum error correction theorem to include these codes, based on the operator algebra quantum error correction framework. We also discuss several examples throughout the presentation, of both stabilizer and non-stabilizer type.

Recent experiments have demonstrated the successful generation and detection of moderately squeezed vacuum states with integrated photonics. However, in order to benefit from the reduced noise of highly squeezed light, many different noise sources must be mitigated. Here, we quantify the fundamental limits these noise sources impose on squeezing measurements and find surprising generality across different platforms and designs. We combine these different limitations into a simple model that provides practical guidance for the design and benchmarking of next-generation integrated squeezed-light systems.

Subduction zones on the surface of the Earth, where abrupt sliding leads to earthquakes, are generally curved and localized. How does the geometry of these zones influence the occurrence of megathrust earthquakes? Here we use a combination of simple scaling arguments and data analysis using the differential geometry of surfaces to examine the relationship between the earthquake productivity of subduction zones and their shape. A scaling argument suggests how interface curvature changes both the accumulation and release of stress relative to planar interfaces; conformable sliding along relatively flat subduction zones should lead to rare but large events, while curved subduction zones should lead to frequent smaller events. To test this, we leverage global geometry datasets and analyze the correlation between the surface curvatures of the subduction zones and the frequency and magnitude of earthquakes therein. Our analysis shows that weakly curved slab geometries are associated with rarer larger magnitude events, while slab geometries with a larger relative dispersion in curvature are associated with frequent but smaller magnitude events. Using different scale-dependent shape metrics of the subduction zones, we show that the earthquake productivity is influenced by the conformability of the overriding and downgoing plates. More broadly, our results suggest the need to incorporate the large-scale geometry of subduction zones in computational models and predictive frameworks for earthquake risk.

Spicules and propagating coronal disturbances (PCDs) are ubiquitous dynamic features of the solar atmosphere, yet their physical connection remains an open question of paramount importance to the mass and energy transport in the solar atmosphere. Using concurrent multiwavelength high-resolution observations from the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope and the Solar Dynamics Observatory, supported with two-dimensional radiative magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, we find that i) shock waves in the chromosphere generated from non-linear wave steepening drive some spicules, ii) in the corona, these shock waves may transition into large amplitude non-linear compressive MHD waves depending on the magnetic field strength and the ambient coronal conditions. In either case, the shocks or the large-amplitude compressive waves in the corona, also transport upward mass flux and produce intensity variations in the form of PCDs in coronal passbands. Further a multi-height wavelet analysis shows dominant $\sim$5 minute periods in the lower chromosphere that evolve into longer periods ($\ge$10 minutes) at higher atmospheric layers, consistent with dispersive propagation in a stratified medium. The observational characteristics together with the numerical simulations, demonstrate that a shock-driven MHD mechanism links spicule formation to coronal disturbances. Finally, mass flux estimates from both the observations and the simulations indicate that these PCDs can also aid in supplying mass to the solar wind.

Geometrical frustration, a central paradigm in condensed matter physics, provides a unifying language for systems in which locally preferred interactions cannot be made globally compatible. Here, we use this language to formulate a minimal theory of frustrated neural timing, mapping repulsively coupled rhythmic units onto antiferromagnetic XY models. Within this framework, the condensed-matter concepts of local constraints, degenerate ground-state manifolds, metastability, and quench dynamics become a concrete diagnostic framework for structured neural phase dynamics. We analyze a hierarchy of geometries: a triangle as the minimal frustrated motif with two chiral 120° timing states, a tetrahedron whose reduced ground-state manifold consists of intersecting continuous branches associated with antipodal pairings, and a kagome lattice on which local constraints define a constrained three-coloring manifold. The kagome lattice reveals the central dynamical result: zero-temperature relaxation suppresses global synchrony but typically selects low-energy metastable torque-balanced states rather than exact ground states. Finally, we show how the phase theory can be carried back towards biophysical neural models by treating it as an effective-interaction target, where geometrical timing frustration is realized through preferred phase lags that become incompatible around closed motifs. This perspective suggests that weak global coherence in neural systems does not necessarily signal disordered activity, but can reflect structured local timing order shaped by a frustrated dynamical landscape.

In this paper we consider quark star solutions to Liu et al.'s \cite{Liu_2019} quasi-topological electromagnetism (QTEM), a recently proposed form of dark energy. Since the QTEM contribution is trivial for pure electric/magnetic charge, we consider the dyonic case in pure QTEM which does induce (dark) non-trivial dynamics from the non-linear theory. Besides the introduction of a dyonic charge distribution generally pushing the characteristic quark star `hook' shape to larger masses and radii, it also induces a second branch at very large mass and radius for stars with a small dyonic charge ratio. This second set of solutions have a negative pressure envelope surrounding a positive pressure core. As we explore the parameter space these features interact and evolve in interesting ways, with the two branches eventually merging in $M/R$ space before settling into a characteristic `paperclip' shape as the dyonic charge ratio becomes large.

Inverse materials design is shifting materials discovery from forward prediction to targeted proposal of candidates that satisfy objectives under physical constraints. Here, we review recent advances in generative crystal structure modeling, multimodal learning, and closed-loop design pipelines for crystalline solids. We survey how modern generators learn chemical-structural priors from large databases to enable controllable sampling of periodic structures, and compare leading model classes including variational autoencoders, normalizing flows, autoregressive formulations, and diffusion models. Particular attention is given to how feasibility constraints and physical priors are enforced across the workflow, through representation choices, training objectives, sampling-time guidance, and post-generation screening and relaxation. We also discuss how multimodal learning fuses diverse materials modalities, including crystal structures, thermodynamic, electronic information, microscopy, spectroscopy, processing context, and scientific text, to construct a more universal, transferable representation of chemical space. In addition, diverse inverse-design strategies are examined, particularly those that integrate conditional generation with latent optimization, Bayesian optimization, reinforcement learning, and active learning. Finally, we highlight recurring failure modes, such as surrogate exploitation, diversity collapse, distribution shift, and the stability-synthesizability gap, and outline discovery-grade evaluation practices based on staged reporting of validity, novelty, uniqueness, stability, and cost.

We present entanglement measures between spatially separated regions and between two distinguishable or indistinguishable particles in one-dimensional two-particle continuous-time quantum walks governed by the Hubbard Hamiltonian. The left-right entanglement checks the entropy of coarse-grained states counting the numbers of particles on the left and right halves of the lattice while the particle-particle entanglement is based on the entropy of the singular values of the time-evolved Fock state. With separable, entangled, and doubly occupied initial states, we examine initial entanglement and the following growth in different entanglement measures. While the entanglement measures of the indistinguishable cases resemble those of the distinguishable cases when the initial states are comparable, the long-time limits of the entanglement measures are typically non-monotonic as the onsite repulsion increases. We also discuss possible implications for future research of entanglement in multi-particle quantum dynamics.

In previous work (Rave, 2008) it was proposed that closed loops should be treated as fundamental quantum entities, and such loops were presented in a quasi-probability framework. We demonstrate that the closed-loop decomposition of quantum probabilities is a direct consequence of unitarity, and that Bargmann invariants arise naturally as the phase-invariant quantities associated with these loops, rather than being introduced independently. This identifies interference not as mysterious cross terms, but as contributions from distinct classes of closed loops weighted by their associated Bargmann phases. Additionally, the Born rule is seen to reflect the fundamental quadratic structure arising from the product of forward and reverse amplitudes, which together define such loops.

Fractionalized excitations are among the most striking signatures of emergence in quantum matter. While widely sought in frustrated magnets, their detection and characterization remain challenging, motivating the exploration of new probes. Meanwhile, Spintronics offers versatile tools for probing spin-related phenomena. In particular, the spin Seebeck effect (SSE) converts thermally driven magnetic excitations into a voltage in an adjacent metal, providing electrical access to the underlying dynamics and transport properties. Here we employ the SSE to probe emergent magnetic monopoles in the non-collinear Ising magnet Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$, a rare instance of a three-dimensional fractionalized magnet. We observe an SSE signal featuring a pronounced peak at monopole proliferation, accompanied by characteristic frequency and angular dependence. Our results broaden the scope of spintronic methods for detecting exotic excitations, provide new insights into magnetic insulators generally and monopole physics specifically, and suggest the potential of quantum materials as functional interfaces.

Polar molecules are a promising platform for quantum-enhanced sensing and precision tests of fundamental physics, owing to their strong long-range dipolar interactions, broad sensitivity to electromagnetic fields, and sensitivity to potential physics beyond the Standard Model. However, the creation of metrologically useful entangled states in molecular systems has remained elusive. Here, we report the first observation of a class of metrologically useful entangled states - spin-squeezed states - in polar CaF molecules trapped in an optical tweezer array. The spin degree of freedom is encoded in rotational levels which are directly coupled by dipolar exchange interactions. By harnessing appropriate dynamical decoupling schemes we observe up to 3.0(3)dB of metrological gain, (2.2(3)dB without measurement correction) from direct exchange interactions. Using Floquet engineering, we further realize richer Hamiltonians that preserve spin squeezing while enabling the development of longer-range quantum correlations. Using site- and spin-resolved measurements we demonstrate that these entangled states enhance sensitivity to both homogeneous and spatially varying fields, and reveal strong non-classical correlations, including bipartite entanglement and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering. Finally, we transfer the spin-squeezed states into long-lived and non-interacting hyperfine states, where the metrological enhancement persists for up to 100ms. Our results establish molecular optical tweezer arrays as a scalable platform for generating, controlling, characterizing, and storing entangled states of molecules, opening new opportunities for quantum-enhanced sensing and precision tests of fundamental physics.

18 HST parallaxes for Galactic classical Cepheids are unified to establish a Gaia-independent IC1613 distance and evaluate metallicity effect determinations, since the Gaia zeropoint is debated. Recently proposed classical Cepheid metallicity corrections of $γ(W_{VI}) \simeq 0, -0.25, -0.50$ mag dex$^{-1}$ are benchmarked, and yield $μ_{0,{W_{VI}}} \simeq 24.39, 24.16, 23.93$ ($\pm0.07$). Larger corrections are disfavored relative to a weighted mean of IC1613 TRGB and TRGB/JAGB distances of $24.39^{+0.07}_{-0.04}$ (EDD) and $24.36\pm0.06$/$24.45\pm0.11$ (CCHP). A more expansive metallicity baseline is desirable to scrutinize smaller corrections (e.g., $γ(W_{VI}) \lesssim -0.1$ mag dex$^{-1}$), while concurrently acquiring additional non-Gaia parallaxes since published concerns exist regarding DR3 (e.g., critical long-period Cepheids S Vul, SV Vul).

We introduce the notion of timelike ideal boundary of a Lorentzian length space as the set of asymptotic classes of future or past-directed timelike geodesic rays, a construction complementary to the causal boundary in the sense of Geroch-Kronheimer-Penrose and akin to the concept of ideal boundary of a metric space. We endow such a timelike ideal boundary with a natural cone topology and an angular metric, and establish upper curvature bounds for the resulting metric space. Finally, we consider generalized cones as a model and study the relation between the timelike ideal boundary and both the metric ideal boundary of the fiber and the asymptotic behaviour of the warping function.

Chern numbers are central to correlated and topological phenomena, yet most topological systems are associated with Chern numbers of order unity. Here we propose a scheme to achieve large Chern numbers in an optical Floquet quasicrystal with cold atoms, which can be directly measured via Thouless pumping. We study the quasienergy spectrum of Floquet quasicrystals and characterize the emergent Chern numbers using gap labeling theorem. We further investigate the Thouless pumping in the Floquet quasicrystal at different driving frequencies and amplitudes, revealing the connection between transport features and the quasienergy spectrum. Our findings open new avenues for exploring rich topological dynamics in Floquet quasicrystals and realizing fractional Chern insulating states.

The spanning cuts method is a powerful approach to reduce the cost of IBP reduction while computing Feynman integrals. However, its usage is limited due to the so-called consistency problem. It was unclear why the IBP reduction coefficients can be inconsistent with each other between different cuts. In this paper, we report a mechanism behind this inconsistency. We found that the IBP relations can be violated under the cuts, if we blindly erase the hidden terms that are proportional to the ``vanishing'' Feynman prescription parameters in the relations. In some cases, the cut introduces pinch singularities, which cancel the vanishing Feynman prescription parameters, making the hidden terms finite. In various cases, the error comes from omitting such finite hidden terms. We also claimed that the pinch singularity under the cuts are related to some hidden relations between the propagators. In this paper, we provide an algorithm and its implementation to find the linear hidden relations.

On-site disorder can be leveraged to induce a transition from a trivial to a topological insulator. However it is unclear if structural disorder in the absence of on-site disorder can aid a similar transition and, if so, which kind of structural disorder is more favourable. We numerically show that structural disorder can enhance and sustain a topological phase up to strong disorder in two dimensions provided that one penalises atomic sites from being close to one another. However, we find this effect is absent in three dimensions, where structural disorder appears generically detrimental to the phase. In our calculations we include disorder that can scramble the global spin-reference frame, an overlooked type of disorder expected to exist in strongly disordered solids. This disorder fatally scrambles the information necessary for the spin-Bott and the spin-Chern marker to correctly diagnose a topological phase. By using the spectral localizer, a local marker directly defined using the time-reversal symmetry operator rather than a spin-projection, we show how one can circumvent this limitation, providing a basis-indifferent theory for calculating Z2 invariants. Our work showcases that not all structural disorders are equally beneficial to topology, and highlights guiding principles to enhance and detect topological phases in both solid-state and metamaterial realisations.

We explore a reorganized framework for the Hartree Fock equations that allows varying patterns of locality to be imposed on the molecular orbitals while maintaining a highly efficient self-consistent field optimization algorithm. Rather than limiting orbitals' spread and then variationally minimizing the energy within those limits, our reorganization neatly pairs each local degree of freedom with a specific solution condition that itself has a naturally local interpretation. These pairs can each be turned on or off, and, regardless of the sparsity pattern used to make such choices, the overall method maintains a fast self-consistent field optimization. We use this structure to test reaction-matched schemes for imposing orbital locality and, through Fock builds that exploit this locality, achieve competitive timings even in modestly sized molecules. Our initial tests also suggest that this approach to imposed orbital locality can be arranged so as to do minimal damage to both Hartree Fock and MP2 reaction energy predictions.