Ultralight bosons with self-interactions, such as axion-like particles, can form astrophysical Bose--Einstein condensates around stars or compact objects, often referred to as gravitational atoms. In this work, we adopt a recently proposed dynamical formation mechanism for these halos and estimate their impact on extreme- and intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals when present around the primary black hole. We show that, for signal-to-noise ratios $\lesssim 100$, LISA can distinguish gravitational waveforms from binaries embedded in such halo overdensities. Our analysis indicates that LISA can probe boson masses $m_\mathrm{dm}\sim10^{-17}$--$10^{-15}\,\mathrm{eV}$ and decay constants $f_a\sim3 \times 10^{10}$--$6 \times 10^{12}\,\mathrm{GeV}$ using binaries with total masses $M\sim10^4$--$10^5\,M_\odot$, assuming conservative DM densities consistent with the central values of Navarro--Frenk--White profiles. Allowing for higher background densities and different extreme-mass-ratio configurations further extends the accessible parameter space. Moreover, we find that for a binary configuration with $M\sim10^4M_{\odot}$, $ρ_{\rm dm} = 10^4\,\mathrm{GeV/cm^3}$, and signal to noise ratio $\text{SNR} \sim 20$, a particle mass of $m_{dm} = 3.2 \cdot 10^{-15}$ eV and decay constant of $f_a = 1.6 \cdot 10^{11}$ GeV maximize the dephasing due to dynamical friction, enabling the recovery of the particle parameters at the percent level. These results demonstrate that LISA can place constraints on axion-like particle masses and self-interactions without requiring additional couplings to Standard Model fields.

The Probe for Luminosity Measurement detector is a novel luminometer designed to monitor the luminosity and beam conditions of the Large Hadron Collider at the interaction point of the LHCb experiment, starting from Run 3. The detector is based on a hodoscope composed of 48 Hamamatsu R760 photomultiplier tubes, which detect the Cherenkov light produced by charged particles originating from the interaction region. The accurate and stable operation of these sensors is essential to ensure reliable luminosity measurements throughout the full data-taking period. This paper presents a detailed characterisation of the photomultiplier tubes currently installed in the detector. In particular, their absolute gain, transit-time drift, linearity, dark current, and ageing behaviour are systematically studied under controlled laboratory conditions. The results provide a comprehensive assessment of the performance of the detection modules and establish the optimal operating conditions required to ensure stable and precise measurements throughout Run 3 and Run 4.

The cobalt-based honeycomb magnet BaCo$_2$(AsO$_4$)$_2$ (BCAO) has recently emerged as a promising platform for frustrated magnetism beyond conventional paradigms. Neutron-scattering experiments and first-principles calculations have revealed an unexpected double-zigzag (dZZ) magnetically ordered ground state, whose microscopic origin remains under active debate. Here, we revisit this problem within a ferro--antiferromagnetic $J_1$--$J_3$ Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice using a generalized Schwinger-boson mean-field theory (gSBMFT) that treats ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions on equal footing. This approach, combined with exact diagonalization (ED), allows us to demonstrate the emergence of the dZZ phase in a narrow parameter range, stabilized by quantum fluctuations through an order-by-disorder mechanism, in good agreement with recent density-matrix renormalization-group (DMRG) results. We further characterize the associated magnetic excitations and discuss their relevance to recent inelastic neutron-scattering (INS) measurements on BCAO.

Certain solar flares exhibit a distinctive candle-flame or cusp-shaped feature above the bright flare arcade visible in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and X-ray channels sensitive to high-temperature plasma. The presence of a cusp-like structure is generally regarded as a key piece of morphological evidence for magnetic reconnection to power explosive energy release in solar flares. In addition, downward-propagating plasma flows above the flare arcade have often been interpreted as outflows driven by magnetic reconnection. However, the relationship between the observed candle-flame-shaped morphology and the underlying magnetic field geometry for reconnection remains unclear. Likewise, the observed speed of the plasma downflows has been found to be too low compared to the upstream Alfvén speed predicted by reconnection theories. With the help of a recently developed three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model, we examine the locations where magnetic topology changes from antiparallel to closed (Y-points) in a candle-flame-shaped flare, compare the observational emission features with synthetic EUV images generated from the model, and analyze their time evolutions. We also investigate the role of projection effects and line-of-sight integration in the measurements of plasma downflow speeds. Our analysis reveals that the Y-points do not necessarily coincide with the apparent cusp tip. Also, the apparent speeds of the supra-arcade downflows, as derived from tracks in the time-distance plots, underestimate the true Alfvén speeds in the reconnection inflow region by at least a factor of 2 up to an order of magnitude.

Post-Quantum cryptography is about to substitute current cryptographic schemes as being resilient in attacks from quantum computers. McEleiece and Bit Flip Key Encapsulation (BIKE) are two delight representatives based on coding theory where classical structural attacks against these algorithms can be successfully phased out by selecting the appropriate key size. Using low cost equipment, the method of Simple Power Analysis (SPA) is used in this paper to evaluate whether or not there is significant information leakage during the decapsulation phase where the shared secret key is generated. Executing a related experiment it is shown that correlation between electromagnetic emissions and secret values exists. In the aftermath, with only 200 power traces collected, machine learning models can predict secret bits of the shared session key, produced during the decapsulation.

We propose two new diagnostics for the degree to which static correlation impacts the quality of a coupled cluster calculation. The first is the change in the Matito static correlation diagnostic $\overline{I_{ND}}$ between CCSD and CCSD(T), $ΔI_{ND}[\textrm{(T)}]=\overline{I_{ND}}[\textrm{CCSD(T)}]-\overline{I_{ND}}[\textrm{CCSD}]$. The second is the ratio of the same and of the corresponding change in the total correlation diagnostic $\overline{I_{T}}=\overline{I_{ND}}+\overline{I_{D}}$, i.e., $r_I[(T)]=ΔI_{ND}[\textrm{(T)}]/ΔI_{T}[\textrm{(T)}]$. The first diagnostic can be extended to higher-order improvements in the wave function, e.g., $ΔI_{ND}[\textrm{(Q)}]=\overline{I_{ND}}[\textrm{CCSDT(Q)}]-\overline{I_{ND}}[\textrm{CCSDT}]$. In general, a small $ΔI_{ND}$[\textrm{level$_1$}] value indicates that at this level$_1$ of theory, the density is converged and any further changes to the energy come from dynamical correlation, while larger $ΔI_{ND}$[\textrm{level$_2$}] indicates that the density is still not converged at level$_2$ and some static correlation remains. $r_I[(T)]$ is found to be a moderately good predictor for the importance of post-CCSD(T) correlation effects.

Nonlinear ordinary and partial differential equations are ubiquitous in science and engineering, yet finding their solutions is often computationally intractable for classical hardware. To determine if quantum computers can offer a practical advantage, one critical challenge that must be solved is determining how to efficiently load exponentially sized matrices onto quantum hardware. In this article, we introduce an alternative linear combination of unitaries (LCU) strategy which relies on an intermediate linear combination of non-unitaries (LCNU) and a systematic embedding procedure. One advantage of this LCU strategy is that it maintains the exact number of terms as in the LCNU. Therefore, this approach offers a data loading framework for matrices that lack an efficient decomposition using the standard LCU alone. Using this approach, we construct a generalized LCNU framework for any Carleman linearized autonomous dynamical system having a polynomial nonlinearity. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we construct an LCNU for the 3D Carleman linearized lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE). Here, we find that the number of terms in the decomposition scales like $N_s\sim\mathcal{O}(α^2Q^2)$, where $α$ is the Carleman truncation order and $Q$ is the number of discrete velocities. Importantly, $N_s$ is independent of the number of spatial and temporal discretization points. We then perform a resource estimation of our LCNU's T gate cost when combined with the (1) PREP and SELECT block encoding oracles, and (2) variational quantum linear solver. In the former, the T cost scales like $\mathcal{O}(α^3Q^2(\log_2n)^2)$, where $n$ is the total number of spatial grid points. The latter requires exactly $N_s^2(\log_2 (2n_tn^α)+1)$ circuits per iteration for $n_t$ time steps, with a worst case T gate cost of $\mathcal{O}(α(\log_2Qn)^2)$ among them.

Correlated equilibria enable a coordinator to influence the self-interested agents by recommending actions that no player has an incentive to deviate from. However, the effectiveness of this mechanism relies on accurate knowledge of the agents' cost structures. When cost parameters are uncertain, the recommended actions may no longer be incentive compatible, allowing agents to benefit from deviating from them. We study a chance-constrained correlated equilibrium problem formulation that accounts for uncertainty in agents' costs and guarantees incentive compatibility with a prescribed confidence level. We derive sensitivity results that quantify how uncertainty in individual incentive constraints affects the expected coordination outcome. In particular, the analysis characterizes the value of information by relating the marginal benefit of reducing uncertainty to the dual sensitivities of the incentive constraints, providing guidance on which sources of uncertainty should be prioritized for information acquisition. The results further reveal that increasing the confidence level is not always beneficial and can introduce a tradeoff between robustness and system efficiency. Numerical experiments demonstrate this tradeoff: CC-CE reduces realized coordination cost by up to 35% at intermediate confidence levels, while the proposed information-gain metric consistently identifies effective uncertainty sources to reduce.

We study synchronization of two cardiomyocytes mediated by elastic interactions through the substrate. Modeling each cell as an oscillating force dipole governed by a Rayleigh-type equation, we derive an effective mechanical coupling from the elastic response of the surrounding medium. Using phase reduction theory, supported by direct numerical simulations, we obtain a dynamical phase description for two cardiomyocytes that predicts geometry-dependent selection of synchronized states. Depending on the mutual orientation, the cells robustly converge to either in-phase or anti-phase beating, yielding an orientation-dependent state map with a nontrivial state boundary. The synchronization time also depends strongly on the distance and mutual orientation of the cells. These results bridge earlier energetic two-body theory and dynamical single-cell theory, and provide a dynamical framework for elastic synchronization of cardiomyocytes.

We investigate the superhorizon behavior of scalar hair sourced by black holes in de Sitter spacetime in the linearly coupled shift-symmetric scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theory. Working in the test-field regime, we show that this hair exhibits both temporal and spatial growth on superhorizon scales. This growth is not a special consequence of the black hole, but instead follows from the dynamics of a minimally coupled massless scalar field in expanding de Sitter spacetime. Moreover, it is not even specific to black holes, but also arises for a point scalar charge in de Sitter, indicating that a scalarized black hole acts effectively as a localized subhorizon source of scalar perturbations. Backreaction, when important, first arises on subhorizon scales and does not by itself eliminate the superhorizon profile. The time-dependent scalar hair also carries a steady outward energy flux, which frames the test-field regime as a transient, and helps explain the difficulties encountered in attempts to construct self-consistent static solutions.

We investigate the linear photogalvanic effect (LPGE) on the surface of the magnetic Weyl semimetal Co3Sn2S2 using a Green's-function and diagrammatic formalism. While the LPGE vanishes in the centrosymmetric bulk, it is symmetry-allowed on the surface where inversion symmetry is broken. We show that unitary crystal symmetries on the surface produce characteristic sign reversals of the total photocurrent at certain polarization angles upon flipping the magnetization. We further find that the intrinsic contribution to the LPGE is strongly constrained by an antiunitary mirror symmetry, which forces several nonlinear response tensor elements to vanish. In contrast, the extrinsic contribution is not subject to these constraints and displays a large magnitude which, we argue, is due to the enhanced density of states associated with Fermi-arc surface states. The current exhibits an approximately linear temperature dependence and a low-frequency power-law scaling, |jy| proportional to omega^-2.2, with weak temperature dependence of the scaling exponent. Our results identify Co3Sn2S2 as a promising platform for experimentally accessing symmetry-controlled nonlinear transport in realistic systems and for applications in magnetically controlled optoelectronic devices.

The interplay of topology, disorder, and non-Hermiticity gives rise to phenomena beyond the conventional classification of quantum phases. We propose a one-dimensional non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with quasiperiodically modulated nonreciprocal intracell hopping. We show that quasiperiodic modulation can substantially enhance the topological regime and, remarkably, induce a non-Hermitian topological Anderson insulator (TAI) phase. Beyond the topological transition, increasing nonreciprocity drives a cascade of localization transitions in which all bulk eigenstates evolve from extended to multifractal critical and ultimately to localized states. Strikingly, the extended-to-critical transition coincides exactly with a real-complex spectral transition. We establish complete phase diagrams and derive exact analytical boundaries for both topological and localization transitions, uncovering an unanticipated coexistence of TAI and multifractal critical phases. Finally, we propose a feasible implementation in topolectrical circuits. Our results reveal a new paradigm for studying the cooperative effects of topology, quasiperiodicity, and non-Hermiticity.

The layered van der Waals Fe$_5$GeTe$_2$ (F5GT) compound exhibits room-temperature ferromagnetism, making it a promising candidate for technological applications. In our study, combined temperature, wavelength, and polarization-dependent Raman measurements, along with {\it ab initio} calculations reveal important aspects of lattice dynamics and electron-phonon interactions. The angle-resolved Raman intensity under linear polarization configurations exhibits a strong tilt in the laboratory coordinate system, indicating the existence of anisotropic electron-phonon coupling. The temperature evolution of this anisotropy is discussed by extracting the phase factor of the Raman tensor elements from the angle-resolved intensity measured at different temperatures, also uncovering a spin-orbit coupling-mediated electron-phonon response in F5GT. The thermal evolution of electron-phonon coupling is also examined by measuring the temperature dependence of the Fano parameter of the asymmetric peak in the Raman spectra, while wavelength-dependent measurements establish the role of optical resonance in enhancing the anisotropic interaction. Finally, the threefold rotational symmetry guarantees the existence of chiral phonons. We present direct spectroscopic evidence for these chiral vibrational modes through cross-circularly polarized Raman measurements, complemented by theoretical calculations of phonon circular polarization. Together, these results identify F5GT as an ideal platform for investigating emergent couplings among lattice, electronic, and magnetic degrees of freedom and for advancing the understanding of chiral phonons in magnetic van der Waals materials.

We revisit the $α$--regression framework for compositional data. We formulate $α$--regression as a non--linear least squares problem, study its asymptotic properties, and provide efficient estimation via the Levenberg--Marquardt algorithm. We then propose a permutation--based hypothesis testing procedure, derive marginal effects for interpretation, and provide a visual inspection of the effect of each predictor. We further discuss robustified versions, the inclusion of natural splines, and the incorporation of compositional predictors, which further facilitate the formulation of a simple time series model. The framework is extended to spatial settings through four models. (a) The $α$--spatially--lagged X regression model, which incorporates spatial spillover effects via spatially--lagged covariates, with decomposition into direct and indirect effects. (b) The $α$--spatial autoregressive model that allows for spatial autocorrelation. (c) The geographically--weighted $α$--regression, which allows coefficients to vary spatially for capturing local relationships. (d) The $α$--eigenvector spatial filtering that is computationally efficient and captures spatial dependence via the eigenvectors of the kernelized distance matrix. Applications to four real datasets illustrate that the models perform on par with or outperform existing models in the literature. The examples showcase that $α$--regression can outperform various competing regression models under different scenarios and its spatial extensions capture the dependence and improve the predictive performance. Overall, the examples provide evidence that the log--ratio methodology does not always lead to the optimal results.

We consider the Hankel determinant and orthogonal polynomials with respect to the deformed Laguerre weight $w(x; t) = {x^α}{\mathrm e^{ - x}}{(x + t)^λ},\; x\in \mathbb{R}^{+} $ with parameters $α> -1,\; t > 0$ and $λ\in \mathbb{R}$. This problem originates from the information theory of single-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems studied by Chen and McKay [{\em IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory} {\bf 58} ({2012}) {4594--4634}]. By using the ladder operators for orthogonal polynomials with general Laguerre-type weights, we obtain a system of difference equations and a system of differential-difference equations for the recurrence coefficients $α_n(t)$ and $β_n(t)$. We also show that the orthogonal polynomials satisfy a second-order ordinary differential equation. By using Dyson's Coulomb fluid approach, we obtain the large $n$ asymptotic expansions of the recurrence coefficients $α_n(t)$ and $β_n(t)$, the sub-leading coefficient $\mathrm p(n, t)$ of the monic orthogonal polynomials, the Hankel determinant $D_n(t)$ and the normalized constant $h_n(t)$ for fixed $t\in\mathbb{R}^{+}$. We also discuss the long-time asymptotics of these quantities as $t\rightarrow\infty$ for fixed $n\in\mathbb{N}$. The large $n$ and large $t$ asymptotics of the above quantities are very important for the study of the asymptotics of the mutual information distribution and two fundamental quantities (the outage capacity and the error probability) for single-user MIMO systems.

The quantum expectation value and the stationary noise spectral density for a Fabry-P'erot gravitational-wave detector with a DC readout scheme are discussed in detail only through the quantum electrodynamics of lasers and the Heisenberg equations of mirrors' motion. We demonstrate that the initial conditions of the mirrors' motion concentrate around the fundamental frequency of the pendulum and are not related to the frequency range of our interest. Although, in the ideal case, there is consensus that the shot-noise contribution from the laser to the high-frequency range of the signal-referred noise spectral density decreases as the injected laser power increases, our derived noise spectral density shows that the shot-noise contribution does not decrease. This is due to leakage of classical radiation pressure forces from the carrier field to the output port, and the carrier field is used as the reference in the DC readout scheme. Since classical radiation pressure acts as a constant force, it shifts the pendulum's equilibrium point of the mirrors' motion. To recover the ideal case, we must consider adjusting the interferometer's tuning point to place the mirrors at their equilibrium positions. We investigate the case where the equilibrium tuning is incomplete and show that the behavior of the above shot noise is due to this incompleteness. We also discuss the maximum deviation of the mirror displacements from the equilibrium point during incomplete tuning to recover a near-ideal case.

We propose a numerical method based on the master field for large-$N$ reduced matrix models. While the master field is originally an infinite-dimensional matrix, in this method it is regularized to a finite dimension, with the requirement that it satisfies the loop equations as much as possible. This formulation can be directly implemented for numerical computation, and since there is no sign problem at the fundamental level, the method can be applied regardless of whether the model is of Euclidean or Minkowski type. In numerical calculations for one- and two-matrix models, the exact solution is well reproduced in the Euclidean case, while perturbative results are well reproduced in the Minkowski case. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the method and supports the idea that the matrix models studied in this paper admit a regularized master-field description.

We introduce an R package for Bayesian modeling and uncertainty quantification for problems involving count ratios. The modeling relies on the assumption that the quantity of interest is the ratio of Poisson means rather than the ratio of counts. We provide multiple different options for retrieval of this quantity for problems with and without spatial information included. Some added capability for uncertainty quantification for problems of the form $Z=(mT+z_0)^{p}$, where $Z$ is the intensity ratio and $T$ the quantity of interest, is included.

Researchers use interference models based on exposure mappings to facilitate estimation of causal effects in randomized experiments with interference. To test the veracity of such models, researchers can use specification tests that aim to detect departures from the stipulated model. However, existing tests suffer from poor power and are often unable to detect important model violations. The main result in this paper is to show that the specification testing problem for exposure mapping models is inherently difficult, and the poor power of existing tests is inescapable. In particular, the worst-case Type I and Type II error rates must sum to one for any specification test of such models, ruling out the existence of a uniformly consistent test. This is the worst-case overall error rate achieved by a naive test that discards all data and arbitrarily rejects the null at random; the testing problem is in this sense impossible. This negative result holds true for all exposure mappings, all sample sizes, for uniformly bounded outcomes, and for alternatives that are maximally separated from the null. While some tests can detect some type of departures from the null model, there will always be relevant departures from the null that are undetectable. Informative specification tests must therefore restrict the alternative model against which they seek to attain power for, beyond the restrictions imposed by the exposure mappings alone. We illustrate this by providing a uniformly consistent test for differentiating no-interference from a network-linear-in-means model.

This paper develops a deformation-field geometry for spaces whose local frames may undergo internal dilation, compression, and shear. The basic datum is an admissible dilation-shear field $P$ over a selected metric-compatible reference geometry $(M,\bar g,\bar\nabla)$. It represents the induced metric by $g=P^T\bar gP$ and compares tangent data through the reference representative $\bar V=PV$. The covariant derivative associated with the natural connection is defined by \[ \nabla_XV=P^{-1}\bar\nabla_X(PV), \] with local connection coefficients \[ Γ=Λ=P^{-1}\barΓP+P^{-1}dP . \] Thus the total dilation-shear compensation is represented by the natural connection coefficients $Γ=Λ$. If $\bar\nabla\bar g=0$, then $\nabla g=0$; hence the covariant derivative associated with the natural connection has zero nonmetricity. The general distinction from Levi-Civita geometry lies instead in torsion and in the deformation origin of the comparison. The Levi-Civita connection coefficients $\mathringΓ[g]$ are retained as the torsion-free metric connection of the induced metric layer; they appear naturally in fully isometric realizations, but they are not an additional term to be added to the natural connection. The same pullback rule covers composite references that already contain both an isometric realization and an internal dilation-shear natural connection. Examples involving one-dimensional dilation, conformal deformation, anisotropic dilation, shear, and spherical geometries distinguish metric representation, natural dilation-shear comparison, Levi-Civita comparison, and embedded realization.

We investigate how non-local gravitational couplings from double trace deformation between two asymptotic boundaries of an AdS$_5$ black brane can lead to the violation of the Averaged Null Energy Condition (ANEC). The first-order gravitational perturbations backreact with the background metric at second-order, creating a wormhole opening in the context of Gao-Jafferis-Wall traversable wormhole protocol. The wormhole becomes traversable in both the gravitational shear and sound channels within the hydrodynamic approximation. This shows that dynamical metric perturbations can facilitate information transfer in a purely gravitational setting, with the emergence of $G_{\text{N}}$ indicating the gravitational origin. For the shear channel, we consider three different coupling configurations, whereas for the sound channel, we vary both the speed of sound and the attenuation constant, as these parameters control the wormhole traversability. Furthermore, we obtain late-time power-law factor in the ANEC using fitting function and present a generalization that applies to both shear and sound channels. Due to its propagating nature, the sound channel exhibits late-time power-law remnants at low sound speed similar to the vector diffusive probes, but it prefers an exponential decay at higher sound speed similar to the scalar non-diffusive probes, as the power-law exponent weakened with increasing sound speed. For superluminal sound channels, the wormhole opens for an extremely brief duration at late insertion times, rendering it non-

We propose a non-parametric approach to construct the statistical equation of state (EOS) continuously from the nuclear crust to the asymptotic-freedom regime. The combined requirement of supporting two-solar-mass neutron stars (NSs) with relatively small radii at low masses and of reaching the asymptotically soft pQCD boundary forces a squared-sound-speed ($c_s^2$) peak followed by extended softening, with $c_s^2$ returning toward $1/3$ near $\sim\!30\,n_{\rm sat}$. Correspondingly, the trace anomaly $Δ\equiv 1/3 - p/ε$ becomes positive beyond NS densities and approaches the pQCD limit from above. By quantifying the degree of this softening in the posterior, we find evidence for a hadron-quark transition in the cores of the most massive neutron stars. More importantly, this shows that the thermodynamic structure of a complete crust-to-pQCD statistical EOS naturally realizes a generalized quark-hadron crossover. The quark EOS above NS densities is therefore soft and non-perturbative, in contrast to the stiff quark EOS underlying the quark-star picture.

Log-based detection rules remain central to modern security operations, encoding domain expertise that analysts iteratively refine to balance detection coverage against alert volume. Yet while prior work has examined the evolution of network intrusion detection signatures, the longitudinal behavior of log-based detection rules has received little empirical study. We present the first longitudinal analysis of detection rule evolution across two widely used repositories: the community-driven Sigma project and the curated Splunk Security Content (SSC). To compare rule versions based on detection logic rather than surface syntax, we introduce a predicate graph intermediate representation that canonicalizes the logical structure of a rule, together with a tree alignment procedure for analyzing changes across revisions. We apply this method to 6,859 rule histories from Sigma and SSC and find that roughly 56% of rules undergo at least one revision on detection logic. Across rule lifetimes, evolution is predominantly non-monotonic, with over half of rules both adding and removing clauses over time. We further observe recurring reversions, indicating that changes are often revisited rather than strictly accumulated. Combining structural analysis with LLM-based inference and human validation of operational intent shows that roughly a quarter to a third of rules alternate between expanding coverage and reducing false positives, rather than converging toward a stable form. Together, these results reveal that detection rule evolution in public repositories reflects ongoing operational trade-offs rather than steady convergence. Our study raises questions about why rules change the way they do and supports research towards better processes for devising and deploying security rules.

Fragmentation of drops and bubbles in turbulence controls interfacial area generation, mixing, and transport in environmental and engineering flows. The nonlinear coupling between interfacial and hydrodynamic stresses has long prevented predictive modeling, a challenge we here overcome by decomposing the flow into outer and inner regions. We show that breakup is driven by isolated events of extreme interfacial stretching caused by the non-local action of the outer field. For breakup to occur, extreme events must inject energy faster than the interface can dissipate it through the formation of inner eddies. Leveraging the separation between inner and outer processes, we derive an analytical model that quantitatively predicts breakup statistics. Our results establish a direct, causal link between turbulent intermittency and the memoryless nature of breakup, providing a first-principles framework for turbulent fragmentation that can be generalized to complex fluids.

Extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs), with their long-lived and highly relativistic orbital evolution, can probe strong-field spacetime geometry and provide an important means to test general relativity. In this work, we investigate EMRI waveforms in a Schwarzschild-like black hole spacetime arising in bumblebee gravity, where Lorentz symmetry breaking (LSB) is characterized by a dimensionless parameter $\ell$. We construct EMRI waveforms within the Augmented Analytic Kludge (AAK) framework using the modified orbital frequencies and fluxes. We find that $\ell$ significantly affects the orbital evolution and thereby modifies the waveform. These modifications grow with increasing $\ell$ and are further enhanced for more eccentric orbits. Furthermore, using Bayesian analysis, we obtain the posterior distributions of EMRI with the parameter $\ell$ included. Our results show that all injected source parameters are recovered within their $1\,σ$ credible intervals. We find that the bumblebee parameter $\ell$ can be constrained with an uncertainty of order $\mathcal{O}(10^{-4})$ by LISA.

We study the asymptotic behavior of ``true" self-avoiding random walks on general infinite locally finite trees. In this model, the walk starts at the root and, at each step, from its current vertex chooses a neighboring edge to traverse with probability proportional to the current weight of that edge, where the weight of each edge after being traversed $n$ times is given by $w(n)=\exp(-βn)$. We show that the process exhibits a sharp phase transition between recurrence and transience. The critical value is determined by the branching-ruin number of the tree, which coincides with the Hausdorff dimension of the boundary of the tree under a suitable metric. We prove that the walk is almost surely transient when the branching-ruin number is greater than $1/2$, and recurrent when it is less than $1/2$. This resolves an open question posed by Kosygina.

Deeply virtual meson production (DVMP) is among the most prominent channels to extract the nucleon's generalized parton distributions (GPDs) at $ep$ scattering facilities such as {\tt JLab} and the upcoming {\tt EIC/EicC} experiments, which plays a vital role in unravelling the three-dimensional internal structure of nucleon. In this work we calculate for the first time the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD radiative corrections to the DV$π$P processes $γ_L^* p\to π^+ n$ and $γ_L^* p\to π^0 p$ in the generalized Bjorken limit $Q^2\gg \vert t\vert, Λ_{\text{QCD}}^2$, accurate at the leading twist within collinear factorization framework. The impact of the two-loop QCD corrections appears to be positive and substantial, including which considerably improves the agreement between the perturbative QCD prediction and the available {\tt JLab} data. In addition to the differential longitudinal DV$π$P cross section, we also study the impact of the two-loop QCD corrections on the transverse single-spin asymmetries (TSSA) in some benchmark kinematics at {\tt JLab}, {\tt EIC} and {\tt EicC}.

Challenging indoor and urban environments with severe multipath propagation and obstructed line-of-sight degrade classical radio positioning. Multipath-based simultaneous localization and mapping (MP-SLAM) addresses this by building and exploiting propagation maps for robust localization. Emerging distributed multiple-input multiple-output (D-MIMO)/extremely large-scale MIMO (XL-MIMO) infrastructures provide large spatial apertures and high-resolution sensing, especially when phase coherence is maintained across base stations, subarrays, or distributed arrays. We propose a scalable Bayesian direct MP-SLAM method for coherent data fusion in D-MIMO/XL-MIMO systems that jointly infers the environment while performing robust, high-accuracy localization directly from raw radio signals. While commonly used zero-mean Type-II likelihood functions inherently lead to noncoherent processing across distributed arrays and thus to aperture loss, the proposed phase-preserving nonzero-mean Type-II likelihood shares a complex mean across distributed arrays. This enables coherent fusion and preserves the distributed aperture gain, while the variance captures noncoherent signal power. The method is combined with a surface model that enables map-feature fusion across the distributed infrastructure and supports near-field propagation and visibility effects. Bayesian inference is performed using belief propagation by means of the sum-product algorithm on a factor graph with particle-based messages. Parallelizing over particles and arrays, the GPU-accelerated implementation achieves millisecond-level runtimes even in large or distributed infrastructures. Simulation results show that the proposed method achieves performance gains over existing noncoherent methods and approaches the corresponding posterior CRLB, highlighting the potential of coherent processing for high-resolution sensing and localization.

We present a unified description of heavy hybrid hadrons based on a constituent-gluon picture embedded in the Born-Oppenheimer (BO) framework. In this approach, the gluonic excitation is treated as a dynamical quasiparticle with a mass generated by instanton-induced interactions. We propose a simple variational derivation of the BO potentials. The main focus of the paper is the derivation of light-front wave functions for hybrid systems, specifically for the $ccg$ and $qqqg$ cases. We employ both variational methods and numerical solutions of the Schrödinger equation in momentum representation. Using the resulting wave functions, we compute the gluon PDFs for these systems.

Let $F$ be a number field, and $π$ a regular algebraic cuspidal automorphic representation of $\mathrm{GL}_N(\mathbb{A}_F)$ of symplectic type. When $π$ is spherical at all primes $\mathfrak{p}|p$, we construct a $p$-adic $L$-function attached to any regular non-critical spin $p$-refinement $\tildeπ$ of $π$ to $Q$-parahoric level, where $Q$ is the $(n,n)$-parabolic. More precisely, we construct a distribution $L_p(\tildeπ)$ on the Galois group $\mathrm{Gal}_p$ of the maximal abelian extension of $F$ unramified outside $p\infty$, and show that it interpolates all the standard critical $L$-values of $π$ at $p$ (including, for example, cyclotomic and anticyclotomic variation when $F$ is imaginary quadratic). We show that $L_p(\tildeπ)$ satisfies a natural growth condition; in particular, when $\tildeπ$ is ordinary, $L_p(\tildeπ)$ is a (bounded) measure on $\mathrm{Gal}_p$. As a corollary, when $π$ is unitary, has very regular weight, and is $Q$-ordinary at all $\mathfrak{p}|p$, we deduce non-vanishing $L(π\times(χ\circ N_{F/\mathbb{Q}}),1/2) \neq 0$ of the twisted central value for all but finitely many Dirichlet characters $χ$ of $p$-power conductor.