We derive the full spacetime metric of a generalized uncertainty-inspired quantum black hole. We examine a previous model of the interior in this approach and show that extending its metric to the full spacetime leads to serious issues in the asymptotic region. To remedy this, we introduce an “improved scheme” mimicking a similar prescription used in loop quantum gravity, where the quantum parameters are made momentum dependent. Under this scheme, we rework the interior of the black hole and extend it to the full spacetime. We find that the resulting metric is asymptotically flat and its associated Kretschmann scalar is regular everywhere. We also show that the null expansion and Raychaudhuri equation are regular everywhere in this spacetime, implying that the classical singularity is resolved.

Baryon acoustic oscillation data from the first year of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) provide near percent-level precision of cosmic distances in seven bins over the redshift range $z=0.1–4.2$. This paper is the follow-up to the original DESI BAO cosmology paper [A. G. Adame et al. (DESI Collaboration), arXiv:2404.03002], which considered the conventional $w_0{w}_a$ cold dark matter (CDM) model. We use the novel DESI data, together with other cosmic probes, to constrain the background expansion history using some well-motivated physical classes of dark energy. In particular, we explore three physics-focused behaviors of dark energy from the equation of state and energy density perspectives: the thawing class (matching many simple quintessence potentials), emergent class (where dark energy comes into being recently, as in phase transition models), and mirage class [where phenomenologically the distance to cosmic microwave background (CMB) last scattering is close to that from a cosmological constant $\mathrm{\Lambda }$ despite dark energy dynamics]. All three classes fit the data at least as well as $\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}$, and indeed can improve on it by $\mathrm{\Delta }{\chi }^2\approx -5$ to $-17$ for the combination of DESI BAO with CMB and supernova data while having one more parameter. The mirage class does essentially as well as $w_0{w}_a\mathrm{CDM}$ and exhibits moderate to strong Bayesian evidence preference with respect to $\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}$. These classes of dynamical behaviors highlight worthwhile avenues for further exploration into the nature of dark energy.

The main aim of this work is to use a model-independent approach, along with late-time observational probes, to reconstruct the dark energy (DE) equation of state $w_{\mathrm{DE}}(z)$. Our analysis showed that, for a late time universe, $w_{\mathrm{DE}}$ deviates from being a constant but in contrast exhibits an oscillatory behavior, hence both quintessence ($w_{\mathrm{DE}}>-1$) and phantom ($w_{\mathrm{DE}}<-1$) regimes are equally allowed. In order to portray this oscillatory behavior, we explored various parametrizations for the equation of state and identified the closest approximation based on the goodness of fit with the data and the Bayesian evidence analysis. Our findings indicated that while all considered oscillating DE parametrizations provide a better fit to the data, when compared to the cosmological constant, they are penalized in the Bayesian evidence analysis due to the additional free parameters. Overall, the present article demonstrates that, in the low redshift regime, the equation of state of the DE prefers to be dynamical and oscillating. We anticipate that future cosmological probes will take a stand in this direction.

Interactions between dark matter (DM) and relativistic particles at early times suppress structure formation on small scales. In particular, the scattering process transfers heat and momentum from radiation to DM, ultimately reducing the abundance of low-mass DM halos and the dwarf galaxies they host. Herein, we derive limits on the DM-photon and DM-neutrino scattering cross section using the Milky Way satellite Galaxy population. We consider temperature-independent interactions parametrized by DM mass ($m_{\chi }$) and DM-radiation interaction cross section (${\sigma }_{\chi -i}$, where $i$ represents the target species). By requiring that the linear matter power spectra are strictly less suppressed than in the case of a thermal-relic warm DM cutoff, we derive the following 95% upper limits at $m_{\chi }=1\mathrm{MeV}$: ${\sigma }_{\chi -\gamma }<1.98\times {10}^{-38}{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ and ${\sigma }_{\chi -\nu }<3.16\times {10}^{-38}{\mathrm{cm}}^2$. Our bounds on ${\sigma }_{\chi -i}$ depend linearly on $m_{\chi }$ for $m_{\chi }\gtrsim 1\mathrm{MeV}$ and improve upon previous limits by 1 order of magnitude. The mass dependence of our limit approaches $m_{\chi }^3$ at lower masses due to the effects of DM sound speed; at $m_{\chi }=100\mathrm{keV}$, we arrive at an upper limit 3 orders of magnitude more stringent than achieved in previous explorations. Upcoming dwarf galaxy surveys will further improve the sensitivity of similar analyses, complementing laboratory and indirect detection searches for DM-radiation interactions.

Supposing the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) gravitational wave (GW) detector, we exhibit the detectability of a hypothetical smooth crossover in the early Universe beyond the standard model of particle physics through the scalar-induced gravitational wave in terms of the Fisher forecast. A crossover at $\sim 100\mathrm{TeV}$ can leave a signal on the GW spectrum in the $\sim$ millihertz frequency range, the sweet spot of the LISA sensitivity. These possibilities are also interesting in the primordial black hole (PBH) context as the associated PBH mass $\sim {10}^{22}\mathrm{g}$ lies at the window to explain the whole dark matter. We found that the properties of the crossover can be well determined if the power spectrum of primordial scalar perturbations are as large as $\sim 5\times {10}^{-4}$ on the corresponding scale $\sim {10}^{12}{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-1}$.

The joint analysis of galaxy clustering and galaxy-shear cross-correlations (galaxy-galaxy lensing) in imaging surveys constitutes one of the main avenues to obtain cosmological information. Analyses from Stage III surveys have assumed constant galaxy bias and weak lensing magnification coefficients within redshift bins. We use simple models of bias and magnification evolution to show that plausible levels of evolution impact cosmological parameter inference significantly for Stage IV surveys and possibly for current datasets as well. The distance weighting factors in galaxy-galaxy lensing cause it to have a different effective mean redshift within a lens bin than galaxy clustering. If the evolution is not included carefully in the theory modeling, this produces an apparent decorrelation of clustering and lensing even on large scales and leads to biased cosmological constraints. The level of bias is sensitive to the redshift and the width of the lens redshift distributions: For magnitude-limited-like samples, it is comparable to the statistical precision even for the full DES survey and exceeds it for Rubin-LSST. Using the linear galaxy bias model, DES-like lens galaxy redshift distributions, and Gaussian covariances, we find that ignoring the evolution can lead to approximately $1\sigma$ biases in the cosmological constraints obtained from galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing data in future Rubin-LSST analyses. We describe how these effects can be mitigated from the modeling and data sides, in particular by using cross-correlations to constrain the evolution parameters. We also demonstrate that the combination of galaxy clustering and CMB lensing does not suffer from this problem due to the different distance weighting.

We perform a cosmological test of Cotton gravity, which describes gravity by cotton tensor. We assume in Cotton gravity the background evolution is the same as the flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker background. We derive the cosmological perturbation theory of the scalar mode at the linear level, where the difference from the $\mathrm{\Lambda }$ cold dark matter ($\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}$) model is characterized by the parameter $\beta$. We incorporate Cotton gravity with a neutrino model and perform a Monte Carlo Markov chain analysis using data from the cosmic microwave background and Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The analysis constrains parameter $\beta =-0.00008_{-0.00104}^{+0.00080}$ at the $1\text{−}\sigma$ confidence level. We conclude that currently, there is no obvious deviation between Cotton gravity and the $\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}$ model in the linear cosmological perturbation level for observations.

We present the characterization of cosmogenic muon backgrounds for the Colorado Underground Research Institute (CURIE), located in the Edgar Experimental Mine (EEM) in Idaho Springs, Colorado. The CURIE facility at the EEM offers a versatile shallow underground environment, with accessible horizontal tunnel access and stable rock formations ideal for low-background physics experiments. We have measured the total underground muon flux in two locations, site 0 and site 1, yielding values of $\varphi =0.246\pm {0.020}_{\mathrm{sys}}\pm {0.012}_{\mathrm{stat}}$ and $0.239\pm {0.025}_{\mathrm{sys}}\pm {0.010}_{\mathrm{stat}}\mu /{\mathrm{m}}^2/\mathrm{s}$, respectively. We have utilized geant4 and proposal Monte Carlo simulations with daemonflux and mute to model the muon flux at both sites, as well as an additional future location. We find good agreement between measurement and simulations, demonstrating the first instance of this computational framework being successfully used for depths $<1\mathrm{km}.\mathrm{w}.\mathrm{e}$. The measured underground flux corresponds to a factor of 700 reduction compared to the sea level flux. Additionally, we present a new depth-intensity relationship to normalize the mountain overburden to an equivalent flat depth, enabling direct comparison with other underground facilities. We report an average equivalent vertical depth of $0.415\pm 0.027\mathrm{km}.\mathrm{w}.\mathrm{e}$. Based on our measurements, this work highlights the facility’s capability for hosting low-background experiments, addressing the demand for shallow underground research spaces.

We present a new inference framework for neutron star astrophysics based on conditional variational autoencoders. Once trained, the generator block of the model reconstructs the neutron star equation of state from a given set of mass-radius observations. While the pressure of dense matter is the focus of the present study, the proposed model is flexible enough to accommodate the reconstructing of any other quantity related to dense matter equation of state. Our results show robust reconstructing performance of the model, allowing us to make instantaneous inference from any given observation set.

Theoretical models of self-interacting dark matter offer a promising solution to several unresolved issues within the collisionless cold dark matter framework. For asymmetric dark matter, these self-interactions may encourage gravitational collapse, potentially leading to the creation of compact objects primarily composed of dark matter. By considering both fermionic and bosonic equations of state, we analyze the equilibrium structure of nonrotating dark stars, examining their bulk properties and comparing them with baryonic neutron stars. We show that the frequency and damping rate of $f$-mode oscillations of dark compact stars can be expressed in terms of universal functions of stellar mass, radius, and moment of inertia. Finally, by employing the universality in the $f$-mode, we propose a scheme to infer accurate values of the physical parameters of dark compact stars from their $f$-mode gravitational wave signal.

Numerical simulations suggest that dark matter halos surrounding galaxies host numerous small subhalos, which might be detectable by the Fermi LAT. In this work, we revisit the search for gamma-ray subhalo candidates using the latest Fermi-LAT 4FGL-DR4 catalog. The search is performed by fitting the spectral data of unassociated point sources in the catalog through an unbinned maximum likelihood method. We consider two models in the fitting. One is an empirical function provided by the catalog, and another is a dark matter (DM) model in which DM particles within nearby subhalos annihilate into gamma rays and other Standard Model particles. Based on the fitting results, we identify 32 candidates for which the maximum likelihood value of the DM model fit exceeds that of the empirical function fit. The estimated $J$-factors of these candidates range from 0.2 to $5.8\times {10}^{20}{\mathrm{GeV}}^2{\mathrm{cm}}^{-5}$, the DM particle masses vary from 30 to 500 GeV, and 12 of them are within the range of $[30,80]\mathrm{GeV}$. Candidate 4FGL $\mathrm{J}2124.2+1531$ is an exception, with a $J$-factor of $4.52\times {10}^{21}{\mathrm{GeV}}^2{\mathrm{cm}}^{-5}$ and a particle mass of 3108.44 GeV. Interestingly, the identified candidates do not overlap with those reported in previous works, and we discuss the possible reasons for the discrepancy. At the current stage, we cannot rule out the possibility that these candidates are gamma-ray pulsars, and further confirmation through multiband observations is required.

In view of the renewing experimental interest for searching strangeness $+1$ baryons at J-PARC, we study the existence of light baryon resonances with strangeness $+1$ generated in the $K-(N^{*}/{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{*})$ system, where $N^{*}$ represents either $N^{*}(1535)/N^{*}(1650)/N^{*}(1700)$, and ${\mathrm{\Delta }}^{*}$ corresponds to $\mathrm{\Delta }(1620)$. The description of the properties of the aforementioned states requires considering the dynamics involved in the coupled pseudoscalar-baryon (PB) and vector-baryon (VB) systems with strangeness $S=0$ in the $s$ wave. For the purpose of our current study, we consider the PB and VB channels to which the mentioned $N^{*}$ and ${\mathrm{\Delta }}^{*}$ resonances couple and solve the Faddeev equations for the coupled channel system $K$-PB, $K$-VB, with all interactions being in the $s$ wave. Despite some strong attraction present in two of the subsystems, we do not find clear evidence supporting the formation of strangeness $+1$ states, with spin-parity $J^P=1/2^{+}$, in the energy region 2000–2200 MeV. However, the case of spin-parity $J^P=3/2^{+}$ seems more promising, showing the formation of a resonance with a mass around 2167 MeV, with a width of 90–100 MeV. We suggest that a signal of such a state could be found in processes with final states like $KN$, $K^{*}(892)N$.

Machine learning, particularly deep neural networks, has been widely used in high-energy physics, demonstrating remarkable results in various applications. Furthermore, the extension of machine learning to quantum computers has given rise to the emerging field of quantum machine learning. In this paper, we propose the quantum complete graph neural network (QCGNN), which is a variational quantum algorithm-based model designed for learning on complete graphs. The QCGNN with deep parametrized operators offers a polynomial speedup over its classical and quantum counterparts, leveraging the property of quantum parallelism. We investigate the application of the QCGNN with the challenging task of jet discrimination, where the jets are represented as complete graphs. Additionally, we conduct a comparative analysis with classical models to establish a performance benchmark.

In this paper we found the multiplicity distribution of the produced dipoles in the final state for dipole-dipole scattering in the zero dimension toy models. This distribution shows the great differences from the distributions of partons in the wave function of the projectile. However, in spite of this difference the entropy of the produced dipoles turns out to be the same as the entropy of the dipoles in the wave function. This fact is not surprising since in the parton approach only dipoles in the hadron wave function which can be produced at $t=+\infty$ and measured by the detectors. We can also confirm the result of Kharzeev and Levin that this entropy is equal to $S_E=\ln (xG(x))$, where we denote by $xG$ the mean multiplicity of the dipoles in the deep inelastic scattering. The evolution equations for ${\sigma }_n$ are derived.

Energy-angle differential and total probabilities of positron creation in slow supercritical collisions of two identical heavy nuclei are calculated beyond the monopole approximation. The time-dependent Dirac equation (TDDE) for positrons is solved using the generalized pseudospectral method in modified prolate spheroidal coordinates, which are well suited for description of close collisions in two-center quantum systems. In the frame of reference where the quasimolecular axis is fixed, the rotational coupling term is added to the Hamiltonian. Unlike our previous calculations, we do not discard this term and retain it when solving the TDDE. Both three-dimensional angle-resolved and angle-integrated energy distributions of outgoing positrons are obtained. Three-dimensional angle-resolved distributions exhibit a high degree of isotropy. For the collision energies in the interval 6 to $8\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{u}$, the influence of the rotational coupling on the distributions and total positron creation probabilities is quite small.

Terrestrial experiments that use electrons in Earth as a spin-polarized source have been demonstrated to provide strong bounds on exotic long-range spin-spin and spin-velocity interactions. These bounds constrain the coupling strength of many proposed ultralight bosonic dark-matter candidates. Recently, it was pointed out that a monopole-dipole coupling between the Sun and the spin-polarized electrons of Earth would result in a modification of the precession of the perihelion of Earth. Using an estimate for the net spin polarization of Earth and experimental bounds on Earth’s perihelion precession, interesting constraints were placed on the magnitude of this monopole-dipole coupling. Here we investigate the spin associated with Earth’s electrons. We find that there are about $6\times {10}^{41}$ spin-polarized electrons in the mantle and crust of Earth oriented antiparallel to their local magnetic field. However, when integrated over any spherically symmetric Earth model, we find that the vector sum of these spins is zero. In order to establish a lower bound on the magnitude of the net spin along Earth’s rotation axis we have investigated three of the largest breakdowns of Earth’s spherical symmetry: the large low shear-velocity provinces of the mantle, the crustal composition, and the oblate spheroid of Earth. From these investigations we conclude that there are at least $5\times {10}^{38}$ spin-polarized electrons aligned antiparallel to Earth’s rotation axis. This analysis suggests that the bounds on the monopole-dipole coupling that were extracted from Earth’s perihelion precession need to be relaxed by a factor of about 2000.

The neutrinoless double-beta decay process $nn\to ppee$ within the light Majorana-exchange scenario is studied using the relativistic pionless effective field theory (EFT) in finite-volume cubic boxes with the periodic boundary conditions. Using the low-energy two-nucleon scattering observables from lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) available at $m_{\pi }=300$, 450, 510, and 806 MeV, the leading-order $nn\to ppee$ transition matrix elements are predicted and their volume dependence is investigated. The predictions for the $nn\to ppee$ transition matrix elements can be directly compared to the lattice QCD calculations of the $nn\to ppee$ process at the same pion masses. In particular for the matrix element at $m_{\pi }=806\mathrm{MeV}$, the predictions with relativistic pionless EFT are confronted to the recent first lattice QCD evaluation. Therefore, the present results are expected to play a crucial role in the benchmark between the nuclear EFTs and the upcoming lattice QCD calculations of the $nn\to ppee$ process, which would provide a nontrivial test on the predictive power of nuclear EFTs on neutrinoless double-beta decay.

The crossover from hadronic to quark matter is understood to be both a deconfinement as well as a chiral symmetry–restoring transition. The precise definition of these aspects may be ambiguous. Here we use the static quark free energy and its temperature derivative as proxies for deconfinement and the chiral condensate and its mass derivatives for the chiral transition. At zero baryochemical potential, and infinite volume, the chiral and deconfinement crossover temperatures almost agree. However, as we vary the spatial volume of the simulation, we observe that chiral and deconfinement-related observables have a qualitatively different chemical potential and volume dependence. In general, deconfinement-related observables have a milder volume dependence. Furthermore, while the deconfinement transition appears to get broader with increasing ${\mu }_B$, the width as well as the strength of the chiral transition is approximately constant. Our results are based on simulations at zero and imaginary chemical potentials using 4-stout-improved staggered fermions with $N_{\tau }=12$ time slices and physical quark masses.

We study the compatibility between the $K^{-}\mathrm{\Lambda }$ correlation function, recently measured by the ALICE collaboration, and the LHCb $K^{-}\mathrm{\Lambda }$ invariant mass distribution obtained in the ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{-}\to J/\psi \mathrm{\Lambda }{K}^{-}$ decay. The $K^{-}\mathrm{\Lambda }$ invariant mass distribution associated with the ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{-}$ decay has been calculated within the framework of unitary effective field theories using two models, one of them constrained by the $K^{-}\mathrm{\Lambda }$ correlation function. We consider two degenerate pentaquark $P_{cs}$ states in the $J/\psi \mathrm{\Lambda }$ scattering amplitude which allows us to investigate their impact on both the $K^{-}\mathrm{\Lambda }$ and $J/\psi \mathrm{\Lambda }$ mass distributions assuming different spin-parity quantum numbers and multiplicity. Without any fitting procedure, the $K^{-}\mathrm{\Lambda }$ model is able to better reproduce the experimental $K^{-}\mathrm{\Lambda }$ mass spectrum in the energy region above 1680 MeV as compared to previous unitarized scattering amplitudes constrained to a large amount of experimental data in the neutral $S=-1$ meson-baryon sector. We observe a tension between our model and the LHCb $K^{-}\mathrm{\Lambda }$ distribution in the region close to threshold, largely dominated by the presence of the still poorly known $\mathrm{\Xi }(1620)$ state. We discuss in detail the different production mechanisms probed via femtoscopy and spectroscopy that could provide valid explanations for such disagreement, indicating the necessity to employ future correlation data in other $S=-2$ channels such as $\pi \mathrm{\Xi }$ and $\overline{K}\mathrm{\Sigma }$.

In this paper, the symmetry properties of the phase diagram of dense quark matter composed of $u$ and $d$ quarks with two or three colors has been investigated in the framework of massless ($3+1$)-dimensional Nambu–Jona-Lasinio (NJL) and QCD models. It turns out that in the presence of baryon ${\mu }_B$, isospin ${\mu }_I$, chiral ${\mu }_5$, and chiral isospin ${\mu }_{I5}$ chemical potentials the Lagrangians of these models are invariant under the so-called dual transformations. Consequently, the entire NJL model (or QCD) thermodynamic potentials are dually symmetric. In particular, it means that in the total $({\mu }_B,{\mu }_I,{\mu }_5,{\mu }_{I5})$-phase portraits of these models the chiral symmetry-breaking (CSB) and charged pion condensation (PC) phases are arranged dually conjugated (or symmetrical) to each other (in the case of three-color models), whereas in the case of two-color quark matter, these models predict the entire phase structure in which there are dual symmetries between CSB, charged PC, and baryon superfluid phases.