The cosmic large-scale structure (LSS) provides a unique testing ground for connecting fundamental physics to astronomical observations. Modeling the LSS requires numerical $N$-body simulations or perturbative techniques that both come with distinct shortcomings. Here we present the first unified numerical approach, enabled by new time integration and discreteness reduction schemes, and demonstrate its convergence at the field level. In particular, we show that our simulations (i) can be initialized directly at time zero, and (ii) can be made to agree with high-order Lagrangian perturbation theory in the fluid limit. This enables fast, self-consistent, and UV-complete forward modeling of LSS observables.

Neutron dark decays have been suggested as a solution to the discrepancy between bottle and beam experiments, providing a dark matter candidate that can be searched for in halo nuclei. The free neutron in the final state following the decay of ${}^6\mathrm{He}$ into ${}^4\mathrm{He}+n+\chi$ provides an exceptionally clean detection signature when combined with a high efficiency neutron detector. Using a high-intensity ${}^6{\mathrm{He}}^{+}$ beam at Grand Accélérateur National d’Ions Lourds, a search for a coincident neutron signal resulted in an upper limit on a dark decay branching ratio of ${\mathrm{Br}}_{\chi }\le 4.0\times {10}^{-10}$ (95% C.L.). Using the dark neutron decay model proposed originally by Fornal and Grinstein, we translate this into an upper bound on a dark neutron branching ratio of $\mathcal{O}({10}^{-5})$, improving over global constraints by one to several orders of magnitude depending on $m_{\chi }$.

Optically active spin defects in solids offer promising platforms to investigate nuclear spin clusters with high sensitivity and atomic-site resolution. To leverage near-surface defects for molecular structure analysis in chemical and biological contexts using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), further advances in spectroscopic characterization of nuclear environments are essential. Here, we report Fourier spectroscopy techniques to improve localization and mapping of the test bed ${}^{13}\mathrm{C}$ nuclear spin environment of individual, shallow nitrogen-vacancy centers at room temperature. We use multidimensional spectroscopy, well-known from classical NMR, in combination with weak measurements of single-nuclear-spin precession. We demonstrate two examples of multidimensional NMR: (i) improved nuclear spin localization by separate encoding of the two hyperfine components along spectral dimensions and (ii) spectral editing of nuclear-spin pairs, including measurement of internuclear coupling constants. Our work adds important tools for the spectroscopic analysis of molecular structures by single-spin probes.

We report experimental measurements of the second-order coherence function $g^{(2)}(\tau )$ of the light emitted by a laser-driven dense ensemble of ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms. We observe a clear departure from the Siegert relation valid for Gaussian chaotic light. Measuring intensity and first-order coherence, we conclude that the violation is not due to the emergence of a coherent field. This indicates that the light obeys non-Gaussian statistics, stemming from non-Gaussian correlations in the atomic medium. More specifically, the steady state of this driven-dissipative many-body system sustains high-order correlations in the absence of first-order coherence. These findings call for new theoretical and experimental explorations to uncover their origin, and they open new perspectives for the realization of non-Gaussian states of light.

The anomalous diffusion of particles and energy in magnetized plasma systems is a widespread phenomenon that can adversely impact their operation and preclude predictive models. In this Letter, this diffusion is characterized noninvasively in a low-temperature, Hall-type plasma. Laser-induced fluorescence and incoherent Thomson scattering measurements are combined with a 1D generalized Ohm’s law to infer the time-averaged inverse Hall parameter, a transport coefficient that governs cross-field diffusion. While the measured diffusion profile agrees with model-based estimates in magnitude, the measurements do not exhibit the steep “transport barrier” typically imposed in models. Instead, these results show that the electric field is primarily driven by a diamagnetic contribution due to the large peak electron temperature exceeding 75 eV. This finding motivates a reconsideration of nonclassical energy transport across field lines in low-temperature plasmas.

The polar Kerr effect and the closely related anomalous charge Hall effect are among the most distinguishing signatures of the superconducting state in ${\mathrm{Sr}}_2{\mathrm{RuO}}_4$, as well as in several other compounds. These effects are often thought to be derived from chiral superconducting pairing, and different mechanisms have been invoked for the explanation. However, the intrinsic mechanisms proposed previously often involve unrealistically strong interband Cooper pairing. We show in this Letter that, even without interband pairing, nonunitary superconducting states can support the intrinsic anomalous charge Hall effect, thanks to the quantum geometric properties of the Bloch electrons. The key here is to have a normal-state spin Hall effect, for which a nonzero spin-orbit coupling is essential. A finite charge Hall effect then naturally arises at the onset of a spin-polarized nonunitary superconducting pairing. It depends on both the spin polarization and the normal-state electron Berry curvature, the latter of which is the imaginary part of the quantum geometric tensor of the Bloch states. Applying our results to the weakly paired ${\mathrm{Sr}}_2{\mathrm{RuO}}_4$ we conclude that, if the reported Kerr effect is of intrinsic origin, the superconducting state is most likely nonunitary and has odd parity. Our theory may be generalized to other superconductors that exhibit the polar Kerr effect.

Floquet insulators are periodically driven quantum systems that can host novel topological phases as a function of the drive parameters. These new phases exhibit features reminiscent of fermion doubling in discrete-time lattice fermion theories. We make this suggestion concrete by mapping the spectrum of a noninteracting $(1+1)\mathrm{D}$ Floquet insulator for certain drive parameters onto that of a discrete-time lattice fermion theory with a time-independent Hamiltonian. The resulting Hamiltonian is distinct from the Floquet Hamiltonian that generates stroboscopic dynamics. It can take the form of a discrete-time Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with half the number of spatial sites of the original model, or of a $(1+1)\mathrm{D}$ Wilson-Dirac theory with one quarter of the spatial sites.

It is widely accepted that local subsystems in isolated integrable quantum systems equilibrate to generalized Gibbs ensembles. Here, we identify a particular class of initial states in interacting integrable models that evade canonical generalized thermalization. Particularly, we demonstrate that in the easy-axis regime of the quantum XXZ chain, pure nonequilibrium initial states that lack magnetic fluctuations instead locally relax to squeezed generalized Gibbs ensembles governed by nonlocal equilibrium Hamiltonians, representing exotic equilibrium states with subextensive charge fluctuations that violate the self-affine scaling. At the isotropic point, we find exceptional behavior and explicit dependence on the initial state. Particularly, we find that relaxation from the Néel state is governed by extensive fluctuations and a superdiffusive dynamical exponent compatible with the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality. On the other hand, there are other nonfluctuating initial states that display diffusive scaling, e.g., a product state of spin singlets. Our predictions provide examples of anomalous quantum transport and fluctuations in strictly quantum states which can be directly tested in state-of-the-art cold atomic experimental settings.

Synthetic dimension is a potent tool in quantum simulation of topological phases of matter. Here we propose and demonstrate a scheme to simulate an anisotropic Harper-Hofstadter model with controllable magnetic flux on a two-leg ladder using the spin and motional states of a single trapped ion. We verify the successful simulation of this model by comparing the measured dynamics with theoretical predictions under various coupling strength and magnetic flux, and we observe the chiral motion of wave packets on the ladder as evidence of the topological chiral edge modes. We develop a quench path to adiabatically prepare the ground states for varying magnetic flux and coupling strength, and we measure the chiral current on the ladder for the prepared ground states, which allows us to probe the quantum phase transition between the Meissner phase and the vortex phase. Our work demonstrates the trapped ion as a powerful quantum simulation platform for topological quantum matter.

We searched for antideuterons ($\overline{d}$’s) in the $4.7\times {10}^9$ cosmic-ray events observed during the BESS-Polar II flight at solar minimum in 2007–2008 but found no candidates. The resulting 95% C.L. upper limit on the $\overline{d}$ flux is $6.7\times {10}^{-5}({\mathrm{m}}^2\mathrm{s}\mathrm{sr}\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{n}{)}^{-1}$ in an energy range from 0.163 to $1.100\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{n}$. The result has improved by more than a factor of 14 from the upper limit of BESS97, which had a potential comparable to that of BESS-Polar II in the search for cosmic-origin $\overline{d}$’s and was conducted during the former solar minimum. The upper limit of $\overline{d}$ flux from BESS-Polar II is the first result achieving the sensitivity to constrain the latest theoretical predictions.

We present cross sections for the reaction $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to K_S^0{K}_L^0$ at center-of-mass energies ranging from 3.51 to 4.95 GeV using data samples collected in the BESIII experiment, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of $26.5{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. The ratio of neutral-to-charged kaon form factors at large momentum transfers ($12<Q^2<25{\mathrm{GeV}}^2$) is determined to be $0.21\pm 0.01$, which indicates a small but significant effect of flavor-SU(3) breaking in the kaon wave function, and, consequently, excludes the possibility that flavor-SU(3) breaking is the primary reason for the strong experimental violation of the pQCD prediction $|F({\pi }^{\pm })|/|F(K^{\pm })|=f_{\pi }^2/f_K^2$, where $F({\pi }^{\pm })$ and $F(K^{\pm })$ are the form factors, and $f_{\pi }$ and $f_K$ are the decay constants of charged pions and kaons, respectively. We also observe a significant signal for the charmless decay $\psi (3770)\to K_S^0{K}_L^0$ for the first time. Within a $1\sigma$ contour of the likelihood value, the branching fraction for $\psi (3770)\to K_S^0{K}_L^0$ is determined to be $\mathcal{B}=(2.63_{-1.59}^{+1.40})\times {10}^{-5}$, and the relative phase between the continuum and $\psi (3770)$ amplitudes is $\varphi =(-0.39_{-0.10}^{+0.05})\pi$. The branching fraction is in good agreement with the $\mathcal{S}$- and $\mathcal{D}$-wave charmonia mixing scheme proposed in the interpretation of the “$\rho \pi$ puzzle” between $J/\psi$ and $\psi (3686)$ decays.

Exciton-polaritons confined in plasmonic cavities are hybridized light-matter quasiparticles, with distinct optical characteristics compared to plasmons and excitons alone. Here, we demonstrate the electric tunability of a single polaritonic quantum dot operating at room temperature in electric-field tip-enhanced strong coupling spectroscopy. For a single quantum dot in the nanoplasmonic tip cavity with variable dc local electric field, we dynamically control the Rabi frequency with the corresponding polariton emission, crossing weak to strong coupling. We model the observed behaviors based on the quantum confined Stark effect in the strong coupling regime.

We investigate the dynamics of a one-dimensional spin system with facilitation constraint that can be studied using Rydberg atoms in arrays of optical tweezer traps. The elementary degrees of freedom of the system are domains of Rydberg excitations that expand ballistically through the lattice. Because of mechanical forces, Rydberg excited atoms are coupled to vibrations within their traps. At zero temperature and large trap depth, it is known that virtually excited lattice vibrations only renormalize the timescale of the ballistic propagation. However, when vibrational excitations are initially present—i.e., when the external motion of the atoms is prepared in an excited Fock state, coherent state or thermal state—resonant scattering between spin domain walls and phonons takes place. This coherent and deterministic process, which is free from disorder, leads to a reduction of the power-law exponent characterizing the expansion of spin domains. Furthermore, the spin domain dynamics is sensitive to the coherence properties of the atoms’ vibrational state, such as the relative phase of coherently superimposed Fock states. Even for a translationally invariant initial state the latter manifests macroscopically in a phase-sensitive asymmetric expansion.

We demonstrate that the time-integrated light intensity transmitted by a coherently driven resonator obeys Lévy’s arcsine laws—a cornerstone of extreme value statistics. We show that convergence to the arcsine distribution is algebraic, universal, and independent of nonequilibrium behavior due to nonconservative forces or nonadiabatic driving. We furthermore verify, numerically, that the arcsine laws hold in the presence of frequency noise and in Kerr-nonlinear resonators supporting non-Gaussian states. The arcsine laws imply a weak ergodicity breaking which can be leveraged to enhance the precision of resonant optical sensors with zero energy cost, as shown in our companion manuscript [V. G. Ramesh et al., companion paper, Phys. Rev. Res. (2024).]. Finally, we discuss perspectives for probing the possible breakdown of the arcsine laws in systems with memory.

We formulate and quantify the spin-orbit torque (SOT) in intrinsic antiferromagnetic topological insulator ${\mathrm{MnBi}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_4$ of a few septuple-layer thick in charge-neutral condition, which exhibits pronounced layer-resolved characteristics and even-odd contrast. Contrary to traditional current-induced torques, our SOT is not accompanied by Ohm’s currents, thus being devoid of Joule heating. We study the SOT-induced magnetic resonances, where in the tri-septuple-layer case we identify a peculiar exchange mode that is blind to microwaves but can be exclusively driven by the predicted SOT. As an inverse effect, the dynamical magnetic moments generate a pure adiabatic current, which occurs concomitantly with the SOT and gives rise to an overall reactance for the ${\mathrm{MnBi}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_4$, enabling a lossless conversion of electric power into magnetic dynamics.

Recent works on electric bubbles (including the experimental demonstration of electric skyrmions) constitute a breakthrough akin to the discovery of magnetic skyrmions some 15 years ago. So far research has focused on obtaining and visualizing these objects, which often appear to be immobile (pinned) in experiments. Thus, critical aspects of magnetic skyrmions—e.g., their quasiparticle nature, Brownian motion—remain unexplored (unproven) for electric bubbles. Here we use predictive atomistic simulations to investigate the basic dynamical properties of these objects in pinning-free model systems. We show that it is possible to find regimes where the electric bubbles can present long lifetimes ($\sim \mathrm{ns}$) despite being relatively small (diameter $<2\mathrm{nm}$). Additionally, we find that they can display stochastic dynamics with large and highly tunable diffusion constants. We thus establish the quasiparticle nature of electric bubbles and put them forward for the physical effects and applications (e.g., in token-based probabilistic computing) considered for magnetic skyrmions.

Identifying hidden states in nonlinear physical systems that evade direct experimental detection is important as disturbances and noises can place the system in a hidden state with detrimental consequences. We study a cavity magnonic system whose main physics is photon and magnon Kerr effects. Sweeping a bifurcation parameter in numerical experiments (as would be done in actual experiments) leads to a hysteresis loop with two distinct stable steady states, but analytic calculation gives a third folded steady state “hidden” in the loop, which gives rise to the phenomenon of hidden multistability. We propose an experimentally feasible control method to drive the system into the folded hidden state. We demonstrate, through a ternary cavity magnonic system and a gene regulatory network, that such hidden multistability is in fact quite common. Our findings shed light on hidden dynamical states in nonlinear physical systems which are not directly observable but can present challenges and opportunities in applications.

Adaptive transport networks are known to contain loops when subject to hydrodynamic fluctuations. However, fluctuations are no guarantee that a loop will form, as shown by loop-free networks driven by oscillating flows. We provide a complete stability analysis of the dynamical behavior of any loop formed by fluctuating flows. We find a threshold for loop stability that involves an interplay of geometric constraints and hydrodynamic forcing mapped to constant and fluctuating components. Loops require fluctuation in the relative size of the flux between nodes, not just a temporal variation in the flux at a given node. Hence, there is both a minimum and a maximum amount of fluctuation relative to the constant-flux component where loops are supported.

Chirality is an essential nature of biological systems. However, it remains obscure how the handedness at the microscale is translated into chiral morphogenesis at the tissue level. Here, we investigate three-dimensional (3D) tissue morphogenesis using an active fluid theory invoking chirality. We show that the coordination of achiral and chiral stresses, arising from microscopic interactions and energy input of individual cells, can engender the self-organization of 3D papillary and helical structures. The achiral active stress drives the nucleation of asterlike topological defects, which initiate 3D out-of-plane budding, followed by rodlike elongation. The chiral active stress excites vortexlike topological defects, which favor the tip spheroidization and twisting of the elongated rod. These results unravel the chiral morphogenesis observed in our experiments of 3D organoids generated by human embryonic stem cells.

We study the nonequilibrium dynamics of the Floquet quantum East model (a Trotterized version of the kinetically constrained quantum East spin chain) at its “deterministic point,” where evolution is defined in terms of CNOT permutation gates. We solve exactly the thermalization dynamics for a broad class of initial product states by means of “space evolution.” We prove: (i) the entanglement of a block of spins grows at most at one-half the maximal speed allowed by locality (i.e., half the speed of dual-unitary circuits); (ii) if the block of spins is initially prepared in a classical configuration, speed of entanglement is a quarter of the maximum; (iii) thermalization to the infinite temperature state is reached exactly in a time that scales with the size of the block.