We present a fully Bayesian, data-driven framework for identifying quasinormal modes in high-accuracy Cauchy characteristic evolution gravitational waveforms. Applying this to a public catalog, we identify quasinormal mode overtones, retrograde modes, and nonlinear modes up to cubic order in the ringdown. Multiple high-order overtones are found near the merger, confirming their physical significance for modeling the ringdown. The ringdown mode content is tabulated across a wide range of start times for all available simulations, providing a systematic reference for theoretical and observational studies. We also search for late-time power-law tails, which are, as expected, absent from the Cauchy characteristic evolution waveforms.

We demonstrate that the phase space of the soft sector of asymptotically flat gravity in four spacetime dimensions can be identified with that of a spherically symmetric finite casual diamond in Minkowski spacetime. The leading soft graviton mode is geometrically identified with the radial fluctuation of the causal diamond size, while the Goldstone mode involves both the radial fluctuation and its symplectic partner. This allows us to relate the radial fluctuations of the causal diamond with the asymptotic transverse fluctuations parametrized by the soft modes.

Conditional probability distributions describe the effect of learning an initially unknown classical state through Bayesian inference. Here we demonstrate the existence of a learning transition, having signatures in the long distance behavior of conditional correlation functions, in the two-dimensional classical Ising model. This transition, which arises when learning local energy densities, extends all the way from the infinite-temperature paramagnetic state down to the thermal critical state. The intersection of the line of learning transitions and the thermal Ising transition is a new tricritical point. Our model for learning also exactly describes the effects of weak measurements on ground states of frustration-free quantum Hamiltonians, which interpolate between the toric code and a paramagnet. Notably, the location of the above tricritical point implies that the quantum memory defined by the degenerate ground states in the topological phase is robust to weak measurement, even when the initial state is arbitrarily close to the quantum phase transition separating topological and trivial phases. Our analysis uses a replica field theory combined with the renormalization group, and we chart out the phase diagram using a combination of tensor network and Monte Carlo techniques. Our methods can be extended to study the more general effects of learning on both classical and quantum states. The learning induced critical states can be realized in classical or quantum devices.

We propose a single-shot conditional displacement gate between a trapped atom as the control qubit and a traveling light pulse as the target oscillator, mediated by an optical cavity. Classical driving of the atom synchronized with the light reflection off the cavity realizes the single-shot implementation of the crucial gate for the universal control of hybrid systems. We further derive a concise gate model incorporating cavity loss and atomic decay, facilitating the evaluation and optimization of the gate performance. This proposal establishes a key practical tool for coherently linking stationary atoms with itinerant light, a capability essential for realizing hybrid quantum information processing.

Discretely self-similar solutions govern critical collapse and have been known only numerically since Choptuik’s pioneering work. Using the large-$D$ expansion, where $D$ is the spacetime dimension, we construct an infinite family of analytic solutions of the Einstein-massless-Klein-Gordon equations. In this limit, the field equations simplify drastically, and the solutions are encoded in a single function of time. We characterize their structure and compare them with numerical critical solutions at finite $D$, identifying both universal features and effects specific to large $D$.

Light scalar particles arise naturally in many extensions of the standard model and are compelling dark-matter candidates. Gravitational interactions near black holes can trigger the growth of dense scalar configurations that, if sustained during inspiral, alter binary dynamics and imprint signatures on gravitational-wave signals. Detecting such effects would provide a novel probe of fundamental physics and dark matter. Here, we develop a semianalytic waveform model for binaries in scalar environments, validate it against numerical relativity simulations, and apply it in a Bayesian analysis of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA catalog. We obtain physically meaningful upper limits on scalar densities around most compact binaries. For GW190728 and GW190814, vacuum lies outside the 95% credible region. When including superradiance priors, GW190728 shows tentative evidence for a scalar environment with a Bayes factor of ln ${\mathcal{B}}_{\mathrm{vac}}^{\mathrm{env}}\approx 3.5$, consistent with a light scalar of mass $\sim {10}^{-12}\mathrm{eV}$.

We report on a microscopic theory of quantum friction. Our approach investigates the interplay between the dispersive response and the relative center-of-mass motion of two ground-state atoms. This coupling yields a quantum force, which can be expressed as a power series in the velocity. The significance of each contribution depends on its order parity: while even-order terms are reversible, odd-order terms are irreversible and survive only in the presence of an internal dissipation mechanism. In addition, we obtain general, model-independent properties for the work performed by these contributions for arbitrary scattering trajectories. These results enable an unambiguous identification of odd-parity terms with microscopic quantum friction. At room temperature, the dominant microscopic quantum friction is of first order in the velocity and presents a strong quantum character. Our microscopic theory reveals that several properties of quantum friction obtained in specific settings—such as the cubic dependence on velocity at zero temperature—are indeed universal features already present at the atomic scale.

We investigate the zero-temperature phase diagram of the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model with power-law hopping decaying with distance as $1/r^{\alpha }$ using exact large scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations. For all $1<\alpha \le 3$ the quantum phase transition from a superfluid and a Mott insulator at unit filling is found to be continuous and scale invariant, in marked contrast with the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) scenario that is recovered only for $\alpha >3$. By performing finite-size scaling collapses of the superfluid stiffness and extracting dynamical and correlation-length exponents from the low-energy spectrum, we establish that these transitions define a distinct universality class throughout the long-range regime $1<\alpha \le 3$. Analysis of the single-particle correlation functions and grand canonical phase diagram further reveals a sequence of ordering regimes within the superfluid phase: true long-range order for $\alpha \le 2$, anomalous quasi-long-range order for $2<\alpha \le 3$, and conventional algebraic decay for $\alpha >3$. Our exact numerical results provide a benchmark to compare theories of long-range quantum models and are relevant for experiments with cold neutral atom, molecules and ion chains.

High-temperature superconductivity in ${\mathrm{La}}_3{\mathrm{Ni}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$-derived films with critical temperatures ($T_{\mathrm{c}}$) of 40–50 K has so far been realized only under substrate-induced compressive strain. Here we use first-principles calculations to predict that such ${\mathrm{La}}_3{\mathrm{Ni}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$ films can be stably grown on designer substrates ${\mathrm{Ba}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Sr}}_x\mathrm{O}$ ($x=1–0$) and SrO-terminated ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3$ ($\mathrm{SrO}\text{−}{\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3$) with improved film quality and continuously tunable epitaxial strain, offering physically realistic materials platforms to achieve enhanced superconductivity. In particular, under the optimal tensile strain of $\sim 2\%$ imposed by ${\mathrm{Ba}}_{0.75}{\mathrm{S}}_{0.25}\mathrm{O}$ or $\mathrm{SrO}\text{−}{\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3$, the ${\mathrm{La}}_3{\mathrm{Ni}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$ films are energetically stable within a desirable thickness range, and more resilient against oxygen vacancy formation. Concomitantly, the lattice constant normal to the films is effectively reduced, and the Ni $d_{z^2}$ orbital is peaked near the Fermi level and hybridizes with the Ni $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital, features that closely resemble their bulk counterparts at high pressure and strongly point to superconductivity with higher $T_{\mathrm{c}}$. These findings establish innovative routes toward realizing enhanced superconductivity in tensile-strained ${\mathrm{La}}_3{\mathrm{Ni}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$ films, and allow to critically assess the role of the Ni $d_{z^2}$ orbital in superconducting pairing.

We report the first observation of controlled, strain-induced square moiré patterns in stacked graphene. By selectively displacing native wrinkles, we drive a reversible transition from the usual trigonal to square moiré order. Scanning tunneling microscopy reveals elliptically shaped AA domains, while spectroscopy shows strong electronic correlation in the form of narrow bands with split Van Hove singularities near the Fermi level. A continuum model with electrostatic interactions reproduces these features under the specific twist-strain combination that minimizes elastic energy. This Letter demonstrates that the combination of twist and strain, or twistraintronics, enables the realization of highly correlated electronic states in moiré heterostructures with geometries that were previously inaccessible.

The interplay between electronic correlations and topology is a central topic in the study of quantum materials. In this Letter, we investigate the impact of the orbital-selective Mott phase (OSMP) on the topological properties of ${\mathrm{FeTe}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Se}}_x$ (FTS), an iron chalcogenide superconductor known to host both nontrivial ${\mathrm{Z}}_2$ topology and strong electronic correlations. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we track the evolution of topological surface states across various doping levels and temperatures. We identify a topological phase transition between trivial and nontrivial topology as a function of selenium content, with critical behavior observed between $x=0.04$ and $x=0.09$. Additionally, we find that at elevated temperatures, the coherence of the topological surface state deteriorates due to the emergence of OSMP, despite the topological invariant remaining intact. Our results demonstrate that the nontrivial topology in iron chalcogenide is fragile under strong electronic correlations.

During brittle crack propagation, a smooth crack front curve frequently becomes disjoint, generating a stepped crack and a material ligament that unites the newly formed crack fronts. These universal features fundamentally alter the singular field structure and stability of propagating cracks; however, a quantitative analysis of their mechanics is lacking. Here, we perform in situ 3D measurements to resolve the deformation field around stepped cracks, and crucially, within the ligament feature. The 3D kinematic data are obtained by scanning a thin laser sheet through the brittle hydrogel samples, while recording the scattered intensity from the embedded tracer particles. We find that the ligament concentrates the strain energy density. We introduce the “Ligament Equivalent Energy” and demonstrate that the macroscopic fracture energy increases linearly with this volumetric quantity when normalized by the ligament rupture area. Furthermore, by extracting an effective traction-separation law from the local stress fields, we reveal that the ligament functions as an effective cohesive zone.

According to the mean-field glass theory, the (free) energy landscape of disordered systems is hierarchical and ultrametric if they belong to the full-replica-symmetry-breaking universality class. However, examining this theoretical picture in three-dimensional systems remains challenging, where the energy barriers become finite. Here, we numerically explore the energy landscape of granular models near the jamming transition using a saddle dynamics algorithm to locate both local energy minima and saddles. The multiscale distances and energy barriers between minima are characterized by two metrics, both of which exhibit signatures of an ultrametric space. The scale-free distributions of energy barriers confirm the landscape’s hierarchical organization and align with the distribution of elastic avalanches under athermal quasistatic shear.

The intuition that the precision of observables is constrained by thermodynamic costs has recently been formalized through thermodynamic and kinetic uncertainty relations. While such trade-offs have been extensively studied in Markovian systems, corresponding constraints in the non-Markovian regime remain largely unexplored. In this Letter, we derive universal bounds on the precision of generic observables in open quantum systems that interact with their environments at arbitrary coupling strengths and are subjected to two-point measurements. By introducing an asymmetry term that quantifies the disparity between forward and backward processes, we show that the relative fluctuation of any time-antisymmetric current is constrained not only by entropy production but also by this asymmetry. For general observables, we further prove that their relative fluctuation is always bounded from below by a generalized activity term that characterizes environmental changes. These results establish a comprehensive framework for understanding the fundamental limits of precision in a broad class of open quantum systems, beyond the traditional Markovian setting.