We report on a multiparticle coincidence experiment performed at the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser at the Small Quantum Systems instrument using a COLTRIMS reaction microscope. By measuring two ions and two electrons in coincidence, we investigate double core-hole generation in ${\mathrm{O}}_2$ molecules in the gas phase. Single-site and two-site double core holes have been identified and their molecular-frame electron angular distributions have been obtained for a breakup of the oxygen molecule into two doubly charged ions. The measured distributions are compared to results of calculations performed within the frozen- and relaxed-core Hartree-Fock approximations.

Recently, an anomalous excess was found in the electronic recoil data collected at the XENON1T experiment. The excess may be explained by an axionlike particle (ALP) with a mass of a few keV and a coupling to electron of $g_{ae}\sim {10}^{-13}$, if the ALP constitutes all or some fraction of local dark matter (DM). In order to satisfy the x-ray constraint, the ALP coupling to photons must be significantly suppressed compared to that to electrons. This strongly suggests that the ALP has no anomalous couplings to photons; i.e., there is no $\mathrm{U}(1{)}_{\mathrm{PQ}}\text{−}\mathrm{U}(1{)}_{\mathrm{em}}\text{−}\mathrm{U}(1{)}_{\mathrm{em}}$ anomaly. We show that such anomaly-free ALP DM predicts an x-ray line signal with a definite strength through the operator arising from threshold corrections, and compare it with the projected sensitivity of the ATHENA x-ray observatory. The abundance of ALP DM can be explained by the misalignment mechanism, or by thermal production if it constitutes a part of DM. In particular, we find that the anomalous excess reported by the XENON1T experiment as well as the stellar cooling anomalies from white dwarfs and red giants can be explained simultaneously better when the ALP constitutes about 10% of DM. As concrete models, we revisit the leptophilic anomaly-free ALP DM considered in K. Nakayama, F. Takahashi, and T. T. Yanagida [Phys. Lett. B 734, 178 (2014)] as well as an ALP model based on a two Higgs doublet model in the Supplemental Material.

The XENON1T collaboration recently reported an excess in electron recoil events in the energy range between 1–7 keV. This excess could be understood to originate from the known solar neutrino flux if neutrinos couple to a light vector mediator with strength $g_{\nu N}$ that kinetically mixes with the photon with strength $\chi$ and $g_{\nu N}\chi \sim {10}^{-13}$. Here, we show that such coupling values can naturally arise in a renormalizable model of long-range vector-mediated neutrino self-interactions. The model could be distinguished from other explanations of the XENON1T excess by the characteristic $1/T^2$ energy dependence of the neutrino-electron scattering cross section. Other signatures include invisible Higgs and $Z$ decays and leptophilic charged Higgses at a few 100 GeV. ALPS II will probe part of the viable parameter space.

We show that the excess in electron recoil events seen by the XENON1T experiment can be explained by a relatively low-mass luminous dark matter candidate. The dark matter scatters inelastically in the detector (or the surrounding rock) to produce a heavier dark state with a $\sim 2–3\mathrm{keV}$ mass splitting. This heavier state then decays within the detector, producing a peak in the electron recoil spectrum that is a good fit to the observed excess. We comment on the ability of future direct detection experiments to differentiate this model from other “beyond the standard model” scenarios and from possible tritium backgrounds, including the use of diurnal modulation, multichannel signals, etc., as possible distinguishing features of this scenario.

We propose boosted dark matter (BDM) as a possible explanation for the excess of keV electron recoil events observed by XENON1T. BDM particles have velocities much larger than those typical of virialized dark matter, and, as such, BDM-electron scattering can naturally produce keV electron recoils. We show that the required BDM-electron scattering cross sections can be easily realized in a simple model with a heavy vector mediator. Though these cross sections are too large for BDM to escape from the Sun, the BDM flux can originate from the Galactic Center or from halo dark matter annihilations. Furthermore, a daily modulation of the BDM signal will be present, which could not only be used to differentiate it from various backgrounds but would also provide important directional information for the BDM flux.

The identity of dark matter is being sought with increasingly sensitive and voluminous underground detectors. Recently the XENON1T Collaboration reported excess electronic recoil events, with most of these having recoil energies around 1–30 keV. We show that a straightforward model of inelastic dark matter produced via early Universe thermal freeze-out annihilation can account for the XENON1T excess. Remarkably, this dark matter model consists of a few simple elements: sub-GeV mass Dirac fermion dark matter coupled to a lighter dark photon kinetically mixed with the standard model photon. A scalar field charged under the dark U(1) gauge symmetry can provide a mass for the dark photon and splits the Dirac fermion component state masses by a few keV, which survive in equal abundance and interact inelastically with electrons and nuclei.

Intensity squeezing—i.e., photon number fluctuations below the shot-noise limit—is a fundamental aspect of quantum optics and has wide applications in quantum metrology. It was predicted in 1979 that intensity squeezing could be observed in resonance fluorescence from a two-level quantum system. However, its experimental observation in solid states was hindered by inefficiencies in generating, collecting, and detecting resonance fluorescence. Here, we report the intensity squeezing in a single-mode fiber-coupled resonance fluorescence single-photon source based on a quantum dot–micropillar system. We detect pulsed single-photon streams with 22.6% system efficiency, which show sub-shot-noise intensity fluctuation with an intensity squeezing of 0.59 dB. We estimate a corrected squeezing of 3.29 dB at the first lens. The observed intensity squeezing provides the last piece of the fundamental picture of resonance fluorescence, which can be used as a new standard for optical radiation and in scalable quantum metrology with indistinguishable single photons.

Elasto-inertial turbulence (EIT) is a new, two-dimensional chaotic flow state observed in polymer solutions with possible connections to inertialess elastic turbulence and drag-reduced Newtonian turbulence. In this Letter, we argue that the origins of EIT are fundamentally different from Newtonian turbulence by finding a dynamical connection between EIT and an elasto-inertial linear instability recently found at high Weissenberg numbers [Garg et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 024502 (2018)]. This link is established by isolating the first known exact coherent structures in viscoelastic parallel flows—nonlinear elasto-inertial traveling waves (TWs)—borne at the linear instability and tracking them down to substantially lower Weissenberg numbers where EIT exists. These TWs have a distinctive “arrowhead" structure in the polymer stretch field and can be clearly recognized albeit transiently in EIT as well as being attractors for EIT dynamics if the Weissenberg number is sufficiently large. Our findings suggest that the dynamical systems picture in which Newtonian turbulence is built around the coexistence of many (unstable) simple invariant solutions populating phase space carries over to EIT, though these solutions rely on elasticity to exist.

Channel formation and branching is widely seen in physical systems where movement of fluid through a porous structure causes the spatiotemporal evolution of the medium. We provide a simple theoretical framework that embodies this feedback mechanism in a multiphase model for flow through a frangible porous medium with a dynamic permeability. Numerical simulations of the model show the emergence of branched networks whose topology is determined by the geometry of external flow forcing. This allows us to delineate the conditions under which splitting and/or coalescing branched network formation is favored, with potential implications for both understanding and controlling branching in soft frangible media.

The first observation is reported of the combined production of three massive gauge bosons ($VVV$ with $V=W$, $Z$) in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The analysis is based on a data sample recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $137{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. The searches for individual $WWW$, $WWZ$, $WZZ$, and $ZZZ$ production are performed in final states with three, four, five, and six leptons (electrons or muons), or with two same-sign leptons plus one or two jets. The observed (expected) significance of the combined $VVV$ production signal is 5.7 (5.9) standard deviations and the corresponding measured cross section relative to the standard model prediction is ${1.02}_{-0.23}^{+0.26}$. The significances of the individual $WWW$ and $WWZ$ production are 3.3 and 3.4 standard deviations, respectively. Measured production cross sections for the individual triboson processes are also reported.

The 2017 Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations of the central source in M87 have led to the first measurement of the size of a black-hole shadow. This observation offers a new and clean gravitational test of the black-hole metric in the strong-field regime. We show analytically that spacetimes that deviate from the Kerr metric but satisfy weak-field tests can lead to large deviations in the predicted black-hole shadows that are inconsistent with even the current EHT measurements. We use numerical calculations of regular, parametric, non-Kerr metrics to identify the common characteristic among these different parametrizations that control the predicted shadow size. We show that the shadow-size measurements place significant constraints on deviation parameters that control the second post-Newtonian and higher orders of each metric and are, therefore, inaccessible to weak-field tests. The new constraints are complementary to those imposed by observations of gravitational waves from stellar-mass sources.

We demonstrate the first compact photonic flywheel with sub-fs time jitter (averaging times up to $10\mu \mathrm{s}$) at the quantum-noise limit of a monolithic fiber resonator. Such quantum-limited performance is accessed through novel two-step pumping scheme for dissipative Kerr soliton generation. Controllable interaction between stimulated Brillouin lasing and Kerr nonlinearity enhances the DKS coherence and mitigates the thermal instability challenge, achieving a remarkable 22-Hz intrinsic comb linewidth and an unprecedented phase noise of $-180\mathrm{dBc}/\mathrm{Hz}$ at 945-MHz carrier at free running. The scheme can be generalized to various device platforms for field-deployable precision metrology.

Biological microfilaments exhibit a variety of synchronization modes. Recent experiments observed that a pair of isolated eukaryotic flagella, coupled solely via the fluid medium, display synchrony at nontrivial phase lags in addition to in-phase and antiphase synchrony. Using an elastohydrodynamic filament model in conjunction with numerical simulations and a Floquet-type theoretical analysis, we demonstrate that it is possible to reach multiple synchronization states by varying the intrinsic activity of the filament and the strength of hydrodynamic coupling between the two filaments. Then, we derive an evolution equation for the phase difference between the two filaments at weak coupling, and use a Kuramoto-style phase sensitivity analysis to reveal the nature of the bifurcations underlying the transitions between these different synchronized states.

The results of a $3+1$ sterile neutrino search using eight years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory are presented. A total of 305 735 muon neutrino events are analyzed in reconstructed energy-zenith space to test for signatures of a matter-enhanced oscillation that would occur given a sterile neutrino state with a mass-squared differences between 0.01 and $100{\mathrm{eV}}^2$. The best-fit point is found to be at ${\sin }^2(2{\theta }_{24})=0.10$ and $\mathrm{\Delta }{m}_{41}^2=4.5{\mathrm{eV}}^2$, which is consistent with the no sterile neutrino hypothesis with a $p$ value of 8.0%.

We report on strain engineering of superconductivity in ${\mathrm{RuO}}_2$ single-crystal films, which are epitaxially grown on rutile ${\mathrm{TiO}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{MgF}}_2$ substrates with various crystal orientations. Systematic mappings between the superconducting transition temperature and the lattice parameters reveal that shortening of specific ruthenium–oxygen bonds is a common feature among the superconducting ${\mathrm{RuO}}_2$ films. Ab initio calculations of electronic and phononic structures for the strained ${\mathrm{RuO}}_2$ films suggest the importance of soft phonon modes for emergence of the superconductivity. The findings indicate that simple transition metal oxides such as those with a rutile structure may be suitable for further exploring superconductivity by controlling phonon modes through the epitaxial strain.

We present a measurement of the low-energy (0–60 keV) $\gamma$-ray spectrum produced in the $\alpha$ decay of ${}^{233}\mathrm{U}$ using a dedicated cryogenic magnetic microcalorimeter. The energy resolution of $\sim 10\mathrm{eV}$, together with exceptional gain linearity, allows us to determine the energy of the low-lying isomeric state in ${}^{229}\mathrm{Th}$ using four complementary evaluation schemes. The most precise scheme determines the ${}^{229}\mathrm{Th}$ isomer energy to be 8.10(17) eV, corresponding to 153.1(32) nm, superseding in precision previous values based on $\gamma$ spectroscopy, and agreeing with a recent measurement based on internal conversion electrons. We also measure branching ratios of the relevant excited states to be $b_{29}=9.3(6)\%$ and $b_{42}<0.7\%$.

Unconventional Weyl points (WPs), carrying topological charge 2 or higher, possess interesting properties different from ordinary charge-1 WPs, including multiple Fermi arcs that stretch over a large portion of the Brillouin zone. Thus far, such WPs have been observed in chiral materials and acoustic metamaterials, but there has been no clean demonstration in photonics in which the unconventional photonic WPs are separated from trivial bands. We experimentally realize an ideal symmetry-protected photonic charge-2 WP in a three-dimensional topological chiral microwave metamaterial. We use field mapping to directly observe the projected bulk dispersion, as well as the two long surface arcs that form a noncontractible loop wrapping around the surface Brillouin zone. The surface states span a record-wide frequency window of around 22.7% relative bandwidth. We demonstrate that the surface states exhibit a novel topological self-collimation property and are robust against disorder. This work provides an ideal photonic platform for exploring fundamental physics and applications of unconventional WPs.

A novel plasma equilibrium in the high-$\beta$, Hall regime that produces centrally peaked, high Mach number Couette flow is described. Flow is driven using a weak, uniform magnetic field and large, cross field currents. Large magnetic field amplification (factor 20) due to the Hall effect is observed when electrons are flowing radially inward, and near perfect field expulsion is observed when the flow is reversed. A dynamic equilibrium is reached between the amplified (removed) field and extended density gradients.

We argue that the interpretation in terms of solar axions of the recent XENON1T excess is not tenable when confronted with astrophysical observations of stellar evolution. We discuss the reasons why the emission of a flux of solar axions sufficiently intense to explain the anomalous data would radically alter the distribution of certain type of stars in the color-magnitude diagram in the first place and would also clash with a certain number of other astrophysical observables. Quantitatively, the significance of the discrepancy ranges from $3.3\sigma$ for the rate of period change of pulsating white dwarfs and exceeds $19\sigma$ for the $R$ parameter and for $M_{I,\mathrm{TRGB}}$.

Recent studies have revealed the counterintuitive possibility that increasing disorder can turn a topologically trivial insulator into a nontrivial insulator, called a topological Anderson insulator (TAI). Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a photonic TAI in a two-dimensional disordered gyromagnetic photonic crystal in the microwave regime. We directly observe the disorder-induced topological phase transition from a trivial insulator to a TAI with robust chiral edge states. We also demonstrate topological heterostructures that host edge states at interfaces between domains with different disorder parameters.