Recently discovered quasar pairs at high redshifts ($z\gtrsim$5) are likely precursors to supermassive black hole mergers, providing a promising window to high redshift quasar growth mechanisms. However, the large uncertainties on their relative distances along the line-of-sight ($d_{\rm l.o.s.}$) limits our ability to characterize quasar pairs. In this study, we explore synthetic quasar proximity zone spectra as an alternative method to constrain the line-of-sight distance of quasar pairs. We find that for small sky-plane separations ($d_{\rm sky}\approx 10-100$ pkpc), a simple peak finding algorithm can easily distinguish between scenarios of $d_{\rm l.o.s.} \lesssim1$ pMpc and $\gtrsim1$ pMpc. For cases where the true $d_{\rm l.o.s.} \geq 3$ pMpc, the accuracy of $d_{\rm l.o.s.}$ estimation is $\approx 0.2$ pMpc. Large sky-plane separations of $d_{\rm sky}=1$ pMpc have larger absolute uncertainties in $d_{\rm l.o.s.}$ estimates, but the method can still easily distinguish between scenarios where $d_{\rm l.o.s.}\lesssim4$ pMpc and $\gtrsim4$ pMpc. $d_{\rm l.o.s.}$ estimates have an uncertainty of $\approx$0.5 pMpc when true $d_{\rm l.o.s.} \gtrsim4$ pMpc. Our proof-of-concept study illustrates the potential use of quasar proximity zones to constrain the 3-dimensional quasar pair configuration, providing an avenue to characterize quasar pairs.

Let $f$ be a $C^r$ ($r>1$) diffeomorphism on a compact surface $M$ with $h_{\rm top}(f)\geq\frac{λ^{+}(f)}{r}$ where $λ^{+}(f):=\lim_{n\to+\infty}\frac{1}{n}\max_{x\in M}\log \left\|Df^{n}_{x}\right\|$. We establish an equivalent formula for the topological entropy: $$h_{\rm top}(f)=\lim_{n\to+\infty}\frac{1}{n}\log\int_{M}\left\|Df^{n}_{x}\right\|\,dx.$$ We also characterize the topological entropy via the volume growth of curves and several applications are presented. Our approach builds on the key ideas developed in the works of Buzzi-Crovisier-Sarig (\emph{Invent. Math.}, 2022) and Burguet (\emph{Ann. Henri Poincaré}, 2024) concerning the continuity of the Lyapunov exponents.

The Born-Oppenheimer approximation is widely used to investigate the properties of hydrogen-like systems and doubly heavy hadrons. However, the extent to which this approximation captures the features of such systems within potential models remains an open question. In this work, we adopt the results obtained with the Gaussian expansion method as a benchmark to assess the validity of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation within potential models for hadronic systems. We also investigate the dependence of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation results on the choice of trial wave functions. A comprehensive study of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation is carried out by performing calculations using Slater-type functions and Gaussian-type functions as trial wave functions, and by comparing the resulting predictions with those obtained from the Gaussian expansion method. We find that the calculations performed within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation are close to those obtained with the Gaussian expansion method when the heavy-quark mass is relatively small. However, as the heavy-quark mass increases, calculations employing Slater-type functions yield larger values than those from the Gaussian expansion method, whereas those using Gaussian-type functions lead to smaller ones. The use of Slater-type functions generally leads to an enhanced binding energy. The underestimation observed in Born-Oppenheimer approximation calculations with Gaussian-type functions primarily stems from the neglect of non-adiabatic corrections. This comparative study provides deeper insight into the structure of doubly heavy hadrons and helps clarify the applicability and limitations of the Born-Oppenheimer treatment within potential models.

Based on very high-resolution resistive 2D and 3D magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of current sheets, our findings suggest that the answer to this question is likely no. In contrast, turbulence-mediated reconnection yields significantly faster reconnection rates - about an order of magnitude higher than the so-called universal rate for plasmoid-mediated reconnection in MHD flows ($V_\text{rec}/V_A \sim 0.01$). We conclude that turbulence-driven reconnection is the dominant mechanism responsible for fast reconnection and flares in systems such as accretion flows and relativistic jets in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). In these environments, turbulence is driven by instabilities such as the magneto-rotational instability (MRI), Parker-Rayleigh-Taylor instability (PRTI), and current-driven kink instability (CDKI). Finally, we present 3D General Relativistic MHD simulations of accretion flows that confirm the crucial role of turbulence-mediated reconnection in AGN systems. These findings have important implications for understanding the origin of flares, particle acceleration, and the production of polarized radiation in these extreme environments.

Recent studies have demonstrated that temporal filtering can successfully identify local-acoustic-source wavefronts in radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the solar photosphere. Extending this capability to observations promises new insight into the stochastic excitation of solar p-modes, the source depth distribution below the photosphere, and the dominant physical processes underlying acoustic wave excitation. Such measurements would also enable improved characterization of the complex wavefield in the lower chromosphere and open the possibility of ultra-local helioseismic diagnostics. In this work, we assess an observational strategy for the detection of local acoustic wavefronts on the Sun using the Visible Tunable Filter (VTF) instrument on the National Science Foundation's Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). Because wavefront identification requires high spatial and temporal resolution and is limited by the small amplitudes of the wave perturbations, we focus on identifying specific wavelength combinations within spectral lines that maximize the sensitivity to the wave signal. Under the cadence and spectral resolution constraints of DKIST/VTF observations and for the particular simulated wavefront we examine, this approach suggests two possible strategies: fast monochromatic imaging at 6302.425 A, or ordered interleaved observations in the blue wing of either the Fe I 6302.5 A or Fe I 5250.6 A line (between 6302.419 A and 6302.465 A, or between 5250.579 A and 5250.607 A respectively).

Two-magnon modes are terahertz-frequency magnetic excitations in antiferromagnets, governed by exchange interactions, involving magnons from the entire Brillouin zone and dominated by zone-edge magnons. The ability to couple to light promotes two-magnon modes as contenders for ultrafast optical manipulation of the magnetic state, beyond conventional zone-center magnonics. While magnon-magnon interactions are known to critically shape the two-magnon line in spontaneous Raman scattering spectra, their role in coherent time-domain excitations remains unexplored. We report a detailed experimental and theoretical study of the influence of magnon-magnon interactions on coherent two-magnon modes in a cubic antiferromagnet excited via Impulsive Stimulated Raman scattering. We reveal the nontrivial evolution of coherent magnetic dynamics in the time domain and the corresponding spectrum and compare it with the spontaneous Raman scattering spectrum. By extending the spin-correlations based theory for two-magnon modes, we derive a unified description of their spectra in Raman Scattering and Impulsive Stimulated Raman Scattering and highlight the role of magnon-magnon interactions.

Recent initiatives advocating responsible, transparent research assessment have intensified the call to use open research information rather than proprietary databases. This study evaluates the coverage and citation representation of publications recorded in the Current Research Information Systems (CRIS), all instances of the IRIS software platform, of six Italian universities within OpenCitations, a community-owned open infrastructure. Using persistent identifiers (DOIs, PMIDs, and ISBNs) specified in the IRIS installations involved, we matched the publications recorded in OpenCitations Meta and extracted the related citation links from the OpenCitations Index. Results show that OpenCitations covers, on average, over 40% of IRIS publications, which is quantitatively comparable to those reported by Scopus and Web of Science in another study. However, gaps persist, particularly for publication types prevalent in the Social Sciences and Humanities, such as monographs and critical editions. Overall, the findings demonstrate the growing maturity of OpenCitations and, more broadly, of Open Science infrastructures as viable alternatives as sources of research information, while highlighting areas where further metadata enrichment and interoperability efforts are needed.

We construct an example of a smooth ($C^\infty$) circle covering map topologically conjugate to the doubling map, such that it has a physical measure supported on a hyperbolic repelling fixed point. By relaxing the smooth condition at a single point, we also construct an example where the basin of the physical measure has full measure. A key technical step is a realization method of independent interest, which gives a canonical way to construct a full branch map given its induced map.

Ferroelectric switching governs the functional properties of ferroelectric perovskites. It is widely accepted that this switching depends on domain nucleation and pinning and that these processes can be controlled by the defect structure. However, an atomistic picture of the influence of one important class of defects - dislocations on ferroelectric switching is missing. This is an important gap in knowledge as dislocations cannot be avoided at interfaces and can also be engineered by plastic deformation at high temperatures. Using atomistic simulations, we show how the cores of $\langle100\rangle$ edge dislocations in BaTiO$_3$ can either act as nucleation centers for ferroelectric switching or pin walls depending on the direction of the applied field. The coupling between electric field and polarization is strongest when the field is applied parallel to the Burgers vector of the dislocation.

We investigate thermal behaviour in quantum fields by analysing a hierarchy of null-shifted Rindler wedges in Minkowski spacetime. Starting from the Minkowski vacuum restricted to an initial Rindler wedge, we construct several inequivalent transformation paths, including direct Minkowski-Rindler mappings, spatial translations, and sequential null displacements, and analyse the resulting particle content using Bogoliubov transformations. In the standard Unruh effect, entanglement between left- and right-moving sectors across the Rindler horizon produces Gibbsian thermality, with both sectors described by mixed thermal states. In contrast, we show that null-shifted wedge constructions lead to a selective and non-Gibbsian form of thermality: only a single chiral sector develops Bose-Einstein-distributed occupation numbers, while the complementary sector remains in the vacuum. Along composite transformation paths, the global Minkowski state remains pure, and the induced states associated with null-shifted wedges are pure tensor-product states. The observed thermal behaviour arises from Bogoliubov mixing and modular time evolution rather than horizon-induced entanglement or Gibbsian mixedness. These results demonstrate the existence of inequivalent purifications of thermal spectra and clarify the distinct roles of horizon structure, observer dependence, Bogoliubov transformations, and entanglement in relativistic quantum field theory. The null-shifted construction may be viewed as a converse of the Unruh effect, in which thermal spectra arise without entanglement-induced mixedness, highlighting the operational independence of thermality and entanglement.

Strength-of-connection algorithms play a key role in algebraic multigrid (AMG). Specifically, they determine which matrix nonzeros are classified as weak and so ignored when coarsening matrix graphs and defining interpolation sparsity patterns. The general goal is to encourage coarsening only in directions where error can be smoothed and to avoid coarsening across sharp problem variations. Unfortunately, developing robust and inexpensive strength-of-connection schemes is challenging. The classification of matrix nonzeros involves four aspects: (a) choosing a strength-of-connection matrix, (b) scaling its values, (c) choosing a criterion to classify scaled values as strong or weak, and (d) dropping weak entries which includes adjusting matrix values to account for dropped terms. Typically, smoothed aggregation AMG uses the linear system being solved as a strength-of-connection matrix. It scales values symmetrically using square-roots of the matrix diagonal. It classifies based on whether scaled values are above or below a threshold. Finally, it adjusts matrix values by modifying the diagonal so that the sum of entries within each row of the dropped matrix matches that of the original. While these procedures can work well, we illustrate failure cases that motivate alternatives. The first alternative uses a distance Laplacian strength-of-connection matrix. The second centers on non-symmetric scaling. We then investigate alternative classification criteria based on identifying gaps in the values of the scaled entries. Finally, an alternative lumping procedure is proposed where row sums are preserved by modifying all retained matrix entries (as opposed to just diagonal entries). A series of numerical results illustrates trade-offs demonstrating in some cases notably more robust convergence on matrices coming from linear finite elements on stretched meshes.

Emerging safety-critical Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) applications require networks to proactively adapt to rapid environmental changes rather than merely reacting to them. While Network Digital Twins (NDTs) offer a pathway to such predictive capabilities, existing solutions typically struggle to reconcile high-fidelity physical modeling with strict real-time constraints. This paper presents a novel, end-to-end real-time V2X Digital Twin framework that integrates live mobility tracking with deterministic channel simulation. By coupling the Tokyo Mobility Digital Twin-which provides live sensing and trajectory forecasting-with VaN3Twin-a full-stack simulator with ray tracing-we enable the prediction of network performance before physical events occur. We validate this approach through an experimental proof-of-concept deployed in Tokyo, Japan, featuring connected vehicles operating on 60 GHz links. Our results demonstrate the system's ability to predict Received Signal Strength (RSSI) with a maximum average error of 1.01 dB and reliably forecast Line-of-Sight (LoS) transitions within a maximum average end-to-end system latency of 250 ms, depending on the ray tracing level of detail. Furthermore, we quantify the fundamental trade-offs between digital model fidelity, computational latency, and trajectory prediction horizons, proving that high-fidelity and predictive digital twins are feasible in real-world urban environments.

We study a spacetime obtained from the semi-classical backreaction computed via the Thermofield dynamics approach in the Poincare patch of de Sitter spacetime. The resulting bulk equation takes the Whittaker form and we examine two distinct applications. At leading order, the co-moving curvature perturbations are shown to match a constant-roll model in the frozen attractor regime, corresponding to a UV enhancement of the spectrum with $n_S \sim 2$. This blue tilt arises only for modes exiting the horizon during a transient late-time phase of inflation and therefore does not affect perturbations in the CMB scale. In the holographic context, we compute the CFT two-point function at the future boundary, and away from it we construct the flow-equation of the dual QFT that matches the beta-function of the Sp(N ) model in three dimensions.

Carbon capture and storage or utilization (CCUS) will play an important role to achieve climate neutrality in many economies. Pipelines are widely regarded as the most efficient means of CO2 transport; however, they are currently non-existent. Policy-makers and companies need to develop large-scale infrastructure under substantial uncertainty. Methods and analyses are needed to support pipeline planning and strategy development. This paper presents an integrated method for designing CO2 pipeline networks by combining energy system scenarios with physical network simulation. Using Germany as a case study in a projection to the year 2045, we derive spatially highly resolved CO2 balances to develop a dense-phase CO2 pipeline topology that follows existing gas pipeline corridors. The analyzed system includes existing sites for cement and lime production, waste incineration, carbon users, four coastal CO2 hubs, and border crossing points. We then apply the multiphysical network simulator MYNTS to assess the technical feasibility of this network. We determine pipeline diameters, pump locations, and operating conditions that ensure stable dense-phase transport. The method explicitly accounts for elevation and possible impurities.The results indicate that a system of about 7000 km pipeline length and a mixed normed diameter of DN700 on main corridors and of DN500/DN400 on branches presents a feasible solution to connect most sites. Investment costs for the optimized pipeline system are calculated to be about 17 billion Euros. The method provides a reproducible framework and is transferable to other countries and to European scope.

All-dielectric effective-medium-clad waveguides have been widely exploited in terahertz communications owing to their extremely low loss, low dispersion, and broad bandwidth. In this work, we propose a substrateless effective-medium-slot waveguide. Additionally, we introduce a taper-free interface that allows terahertz waves to directly couple from a metallic hollow waveguide without requiring dielectric insertion. By engineering slot couplers with an effectivemedium channel for impedance and modal matching, the waveguide achieves a fractional 3-dB bandwidth of 40% with a maximum coupling efficiency of 90% in the WR-2.2 band (330-500 GHz). By employing a broadband uni-traveling-carrier photodiode transmitter and sub-harmonic mixer receivers, we achieve an aggregated data rate of 0.8 Tbit/s with quadrature amplitude modulation schemes across 14 channels from 330-600 GHz. The effective-medium-slot waveguide platform yields robust broadband coupling with enhanced mechanical protection, offering reliable interconnects for ultra-high-speed terahertz integrated systems.

High-dimensional dynamical systems of interacting degrees of freedom are ubiquitous in the study of complex systems. When the directed interactions are totally uncorrelated, sufficiently strong and non-linear, many of these systems exhibit a chaotic attractor characterized by a positive maximal Lyapunov exponent (MLE). On the contrary, when the interactions are completely symmetric, the dynamics takes the form of a gradient descent on a carefully defined cost function, and it exhibits slow dynamics and aging. In this work, we consider the intermediate case in which the interactions are partially symmetric, with a parameter α tuning the degree of non-reciprocity. We show that for any value of α for which the corresponding system has non-reciprocal interactions, the dynamics lands on a chaotic attractor. Correspondingly, the MLE is a non-monotonous function of the degree of non-reciprocity. This implies that conservative forcing deriving from the gradient field of a rough energy landscape can make the system more chaotic.

We propose a discrete transport equation on graphs which connects distributions on both vertices and edges. We then derive a discrete analogue of the Benamou-Brenier formulation for Wasserstein-$1$ distance on a graph and as a result classify all $W_1$ geodesics on graphs.

We study the impact of background electric fields on a hot plasma of charged particles -- a setting relevant for the early stages of heavy-ion collisions as well as laser pulse experiments. Historically, the electric susceptibility -- encoding the behavior of the hot medium for weak fields -- has been defined within two different formalisms, leading to two distinct results at nonzero temperature. With the help of an exact fermion propagator in a homogeneous electric background field at nonzero temperature and finite volume on the one hand, and an improved perturbative result on the other, we identify the origin of this disagreement. The equilibrium conditions for the system are discussed and the role of the thermodynamic ensemble used to describe the system is highlighted. Finally, we construct the electric susceptibility in a simplified hadron resonance gas model, relevant for the strongly interacting medium in the low-temperature regime.

Assembly theory (AT) introduces causation as a material property and establishes a metrology for objects produced by evolution and selection. The physical scale of causation is quantified by the assembly index, defined as the minimum number of recursive steps necessary to make an object. Observing countable copies of high assembly index objects indicates a mechanism producing them is persistent, such that the object's environment constructs a memory that traps causation within a contingent chain. Copy number and assembly index together underlie a standardized metrology for detecting causation (assembly index) and contingency (copy number). These allow a precise definition of an assembly threshold that demarcates life (and its derivative agential, intelligent, and technological forms and artifacts) as structures with persistent copies in regimes of deep causal possibility. In introducing a fundamental concept of material causation to quantify and measure life, AT represents a departure from prior theories of causation, such as interventional ones, which have so far proven incompatible with fundamental physics. We discuss how AT's concept of causation provides the foundation for a theory of physics that allows precise and testable concept of "life", and in which novelty, contingency and the potential for open-endedness are fundamental, and determinism is emergent from selection along assembled lineages.

Given a polygon $H$ in the plane, the art gallery problem calls for fining the smallest set of points in $H$ from which every other point in $H$ is seen. We give a deterministic algorithm that, given any polygon $H$ with $h$ holes, $n$ rational veritces of maximum bit-length $L$, and a parameter $δ\in(0,1)$, is guaranteed to find a set of points in $H$ of size $O\big(\OPT\cdot\log(h+2)\cdot\log (\OPT\cdot\log(h+2)))$ that sees at least a $(1-δ)$-fraction of the area of the polygon. The running time of the algorithm is polynomial in $h$, $n$, $L$ and $\log(\frac{1}δ)$, where $\OPT$ is the size of an optimum solution.

In this study, we introduce an analytics framework, the Bank Risk Interlinkage with Dynamic Graph and Event Simulations (BRIDGES), to capture the systemic risks associated with the growing economic influence of the BRICS nations. This framework includes a Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) method to construct a dynamic network of 551 BRICS banks with their annual balance sheet data from 2008 to 2024; a trend analysis in risk ratios to detect shifts in banks' behavior; a Temporal Graph Neural Network (TGNN) to detect anomalous changes in the bank network's structural relationships; and Agent-Based Model (ABM) simulations to measure the impact of anomalous changes on network stability and assess the banking system's resilience to internal financial failure and external geopolitical shocks at the individual country level and across BRICS nations. Our simulation results highlight several important insights. The failure of the largest BRICS banks can cause more systemic damage than that of financially vulnerable or anomalous banks due to the panic effects. Moreover, compared to the failure of the largest BRICS banks, a geopolitical shock with correlated country-wide propagation can cause more systemic damage, resulting in a near-total systemic collapse. Our findings suggest that the panic over the failure of the largest BRICS banks and large-scale geopolitical shocks are the primary threats to the financial stability of the BRICS nations, which traditional bank risk analysis models might not detect.

In superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), the superconducting diode effect may be generated by interference of multiple harmonic components in the current-phase relationships (CPRs) of different branches forming SQUID loops. Through the inclusion of two gate-tunable Josephson junctions in series in each interference branch of a double-loop SQUID, we demonstrate independent control over both the harmonic content and the amplitude of three interfering CPRs, facilitating significant improvement in the maximum diode efficiency. Through optimized gate-controlled tuning of individual Josephson energies, diode efficiency exceeding 50% is demonstrated. Flux-dependent oscillations show quantitative agreement with a simple model of SQUID operation.

Dynamical control of quantum matter is a challenging, yet promising direction for probing strongly correlated states. Motivated by recent experiments in twisted MoTe$_2$ that demonstrated optical control of magnetization, we propose a protocol for probing magnetization dynamics in flat-band ferromagnets. We investigate the nucleation and dynamical growth of magnetic bubbles prepared on top of a false vaccum in both itinerant ferromagnets and spin-polarized Chern insulators. For ferromagnetic metals, we emphasize the crucial role of a non-trivial quantum geometry in the magnetization dynamics, which in turn also provides a probe for the quantum metric. Furthermore, for quantum Hall ferromagnets, we show how properties of chiral edge modes localized at domain-wall boundaries can be dynamically accessed. Our work demonstrates the potential for nonequilibrium protocols to control and probe strongly correlated phases, with particular relevance for twisted MoTe$_2$ and graphene-based flat-band ferromagnets.

We study superconductivity and superfluid weight of the two-dimensional $α$-$\mathcal{T}_3$ lattice with on-site asymmetries, hosting an isolated quasi-flat band with tunable bandwidth via a parameter $α$. Within a mean-field approximation of the attractive Hubbard model, we obtain the superconducting order parameters on the three inequivalent sublattices and show their strong dependence on $α$, interaction strength, and electron filling. At quasi-flat band filling, a superconducting gap opens and grows power-law fast with interaction strength, instead of the usual slow exponential growth, due to diverging density of states. We calculate the superfluid weight from linear response theory and study its band dispersion and geometric contributions. While the conventional part proportional to band derivatives is suppressed in the quasi-flat band regime, the contribution dominated by the quantum metric grows linearly for small interaction strength. We further demonstrate how tuning $α$ enhances the quantum metric and thus the geometric superfluid weight especially near half-filling, while increasing on-site asymmetries increases the conventional contribution by broadening the quasi-flat band. We obtain the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature and demonstrate its strong dependence and enhancement with the parameter $α$. Our results establish a tunable flat band system, the $α$-$\mathcal{T}_3$ lattice model, as a candidate for tunable quantum geometry and superfluid weight and as a prototype of related behavior in tunable quantum materials.

Entanglement does not always require one particle per party. It was predicted some thirty years ago that a single photon traversing a beam splitter could violate a Bell inequality. Although initially debated, single-photon nonlocality was eventually demonstrated via homodyne measurements. Here, we present an alternate realisation that avoids the complexity of homodyne measurements and potential loopholes in their implementation. We violate a Bell inequality by performing joint measurements on two copies of the same single-photon entangled state, where one photon acts as a phase reference for the other, making it self-referential. We observe CHSH parameters of $2.71\pm 0.09$ and $2.23\pm 0.07$, depending on the joint measurements implemented. This offers a new perspective on single-photon nonlocality and a more accessible experimental route, potentially applicable to general mode-entangled states in diverse platforms.

In this article, we performed Simpson-Visser (SV)-regularization scheme to Anti-de Sitter (AdS) black holes and then studied thermal properties of the resulting spacetime geometry. We considered the validity of the first law of black hole thermodynamics in this case and derived an entropy formula consistent with this new regular geometry. Next, we carried out the free energy analysis and studied the phase structure of these black holes. We discovered non-trivial phase transition properties dependent on the SV-regularization parameter. We also considered the validity of the second law of black hole thermodynamics and analyzed a merger scenario of two equal mass SV-regular black holes. In particular, we investigated the impact of the SV-regularization parameter on the constraints on post-merger black hole mass. Intrestingly, we found that the bounds initially increase and then fall sharply with increasing the SV-regularization parameter. All results are compared with standard black holes for vanishing SV-regularization parameter.

We use a recently-developed machine-learned Moment Tensor Potential (MTP) trained on data generated with the density functional theory (DFT) and tailored to amorphous silicon coupled with the Activation-Relaxation Technique nouveau (ARTn) to identify and classify two-level systems (TLS). The samples generated using MTP recover experimental results and provide average structural and dissipative properties similar to those obtained with a modified Stillinger-Weber potential, including radial distribution function, defect concentration and internal friction. Atomistic details, however, are significantly different, including the density and type of TLS. In particular, we find that while the density of TLS involving a bond-hopping mechanism is similar for the two potentials, more complex TLSs, such as those involving a Wooten-Winer-Weaire bond exchange, are about twice as common. Analysis also shows that TLSs, for MTP-based models, are mostly isolated and oscillate independently from each other.

Private BitTorrent trackers enforce upload-to-download ratios to prevent free-riding, but suffer from three critical weaknesses: reputation cannot move between trackers, centralized servers create single points of failure, and upload statistics are self-reported and unverifiable. When a tracker shuts down, users lose their contribution history and cannot prove their standing to new communities. We address these problems by storing reputation in smart contracts and replacing self-reports with cryptographic attestations. Peers sign receipts for received pieces; the tracker aggregates them via BLS signatures and updates reputation. If a tracker is unavailable, peers fall back to an authenticated distributed hash table (DHT): stored reputation acts as a public key infrastructure (PKI), preserving access control without the tracker. Reputation is portable across tracker failures through single-hop migration in factory-deployed contracts. We also address the privacy implications of publishing public keys and reputations tied to private trackers on a public ledger: we propose ephemeral session keys to prevent linking peer identities, zero-knowledge membership proofs for anonymous DHT participation, and confidential reputation using homomorphic commitments. We formalize the security requirements, prove four security properties under standard cryptographic assumptions, and evaluate a prototype. Measurements show that transfer receipts add less than 5\% end-to-end overhead with typical piece sizes. To minimize signing overhead, we adopt a hybrid signature scheme: ECDSA signs individual piece receipts at transfer time for low per-operation latency, while BLS serves as the overarching scheme, enabling compact aggregation of many receipts into a single proof at report time. This design reduces client-side signing cost by an order of magnitude compared to using BLS throughout.

A new family of $D=4$ $\mathcal{N}=8$ gauged supergravities is introduced, consisting in a mixture of Scherk-Schwarz and dyonic CSO gaugings that involves the trombone scaling symmetry. A specific theory in this class is shown to admit supersymmetric anti-de Sitter vacua, argued to be related to various wrapped M5-brane configurations. The mass spectrum of these vacua within our maximal theory is computed, extending previous results in smaller gauged supergravity models, and shown to exhibit some exotic features due to the trombone gauging. These vacua are obtained as solutions of certain subsectors of our $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravity. Such subsectors in turn arise by consistent truncation of the parent maximal supergravity to the invariant fields under specific groups that are not contained in the $\mathcal{N}=8$ gauge group. Prompted by these and other similar subtruncations recently considered, we formalise sufficient conditions that allow any maximal supergravity to be truncated consistently to invariant subsectors thereof when the invariance group is not necessarily contained in the $\mathcal{N}=8$ gauge group.

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS$_2$), a layered van der Waals material, has attracted considerable attention as a promising alternative to graphene for applications in field-effect transistors and nanophotonic devices because of its sizable band gap, high carrier mobility, large on/off ratio, and strong photoluminescence efficiency. A particularly intriguing property of MoS$_2$ is the transition of its band gap character with layer thickness: while the monolayer exhibits a direct gap, the band gap becomes indirect in multilayer and bulk forms.In this study, we clarify the microscopic mechanism underlying this transition. Focusing on the roles of atomic orbitals and interlayer interactions, we perform an analysis combining first-principles calculations with a Wannier-based model. Although interlayer $p_z$--$p_z$ coupling between neighboring sulfur atoms has been recognized as a key factor in this transition, we find that a complete quantitative description additionally requires interlayer $p_z$--$p_x$ and $p_z$--$p_y$ couplings between neighboring sulfur atoms. These findings highlight the importance of both out-of-plane and in-plane orbital contributions in governing the electronic structure of layered MoS$_2$, providing deeper insight into its band gap engineering for future device applications.