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Because of the mass gap, lattice QCD simulations exhibit stochastic locality: distant regions of the lattice fluctuate independently. There is a long history of exploiting this to increase statistics by obtaining multiple spatially-separated samples from each gauge field; in the extreme case, we arrive at the master-field approach in which a single gauge field is used. Here we develop techniques for studying hadronic observables using position-space correlators, which are more localized, and compare with the standard time-momentum representation. We also adapt methods for estimating the variance of an observable from autocorrelated Monte Carlo samples to the case of correlated spatially-separated samples., Comment: 45 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables

Machine learning algorithms are powerful tools for data driven tasks such as image classification and feature detection, however their vulnerability to adversarial examples - input samples manipulated to fool the algorithm - remains a serious challenge. The integration of machine learning with quantum computing has the potential to yield tools offering not only better accuracy and computational efficiency, but also superior robustness against adversarial attacks. Indeed, recent work has employed quantum mechanical phenomena to defend against adversarial attacks, spurring the rapid development of the field of quantum adversarial machine learning (QAML) and potentially yielding a new source of quantum advantage. Despite promising early results, there remain challenges towards building robust real-world QAML tools. In this review we discuss recent progress in QAML and identify key challenges. We also suggest future research directions which could determine the route to practicality for QAML approaches as quantum computing hardware scales up and noise levels are reduced., Comment: 10 Pages, 4 Figures

The recent physical realisation of quantum computers with dozens to hundreds of noisy qubits has given birth to an intense search for useful applications of their unique capabilities. One area that has received particular attention is quantum machine learning (QML), the study of machine learning algorithms running natively on quantum computers. Such algorithms have begun to be applied to data intensive problems in particle physics, driven by the expected increased capacity for pattern recognition of quantum computers. In this work we develop and apply QML methods to B meson flavour tagging, an important component of experiments in particle physics which probe heavy quark mixing and CP violation in order to obtain a better understanding of the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the universe. We simulate boosted ensembles of quantum support vector machines (QSVMs) based on both conventional qubit-based and continuous variable architectures, attaining effective tagging efficiencies of 28.0% and 29.2% respectively, comparable with the leading published result of 30.0% using classical machine learning algorithms. The ensemble nature of our classifier is of particular importance, doubling the effective tagging efficiency of a single QSVM, which we find to be highly prone to overfitting. These results are obtained despite the strong constraint of working with QSVM architectures that are classically simulable, and we find evidence that continuous variable QSVMs beyond the classically simulable regime may be able to realise even higher performance, surpassing the reported classical results, when sufficiently powerful quantum hardware is developed to execute them., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures

In their seminal work, Lellouch and L\"uscher derived a conversion factor relating a finite-volume matrix element, calculable using numerical lattice QCD, with the infinite-volume decay amplitude for $K \to \pi \pi$. The conversion factor depends on the $\pi \pi \to \pi \pi$ scattering amplitude with the same total isospin (either zero or two) as the $\pi \pi$ decay channel. Although an infinite tower of $\pi \pi \to \pi \pi$ partial-wave components affect the conversion factor, the $S$-wave ($\ell=0$) component is expected to dominate, and only this contribution is included in the well-known Lellouch-L\"uscher factor, with other $\pi \pi \to \pi \pi$ partial-wave amplitudes formally set to zero. However, as the precision of lattice calculations increases, it may become important to assess the systematic uncertainty arising from this approximation. With this motivation, we compare the $S$-wave-only results with those truncated at the next contaminating partial wave: the $G$-wave ($\ell=4$) for zero total momentum in the finite-volume frame and the $D$-wave ($\ell=2$) otherwise. Using the general framework for $1 \overset{\mathcal J}{\to} 2$ transitions, we quantify the effect of higher partial waves for systems with zero and non-zero total momentum as well as with anti-periodic boundary conditions, presenting both generic numerical examples and results for realistic $\pi \pi$ amplitudes taken from chiral perturbation theory and dispersive analysis. We also consider the accidental degeneracy occurring in the 8$^{\text {th}}$ excited state of the zero-momentum system. This exhibits qualitatively new features at $\ell=4$, not seen in the $\ell=0$ truncation., Comment: 31 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables

We generalize the relativistic field-theoretic (RFT) three-particle finite-volume formalism to systems of three identical, massive, spin-$1/2$ fermions, such as three neutrons. This allows, in principle, for the determination of the three-neutron interaction from the finite-volume spectrum of three-neutron states, which can be obtained from lattice QCD calculations., Comment: 47 pages including references, 1 figure

Substantial progress has been made recently in the generation of master-field ensembles. This has to be paired with efficient techniques to compute observables on gauge field configurations with a large volume. Here we present the results of the computation of hadronic observables, including hadron masses and meson decay constants, on large-volume and master-field ensembles with physical volumes of up to $(18\,\mathrm{fm})^4$ and $m_\pi L$ up to $25$, simulated using $N_{\mathrm{f}}=2+1$ stabilized Wilson fermions. We obtain sub-percent determinations from single gauge configurations with the combined use of position-space techniques, volume averages and master-field error estimation., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, talk presented at The 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 8th-13th August, 2022, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universit\"at Bonn, Bonn, Germany

The L\"uscher scattering formalism, the standard approach for relating the discrete finite-volume energy spectrum to two-to-two scattering amplitudes, fails when analytically continued so far below the infinite-volume two-particle threshold that one encounters the $t$-channel cut. This is relevant, especially in baryon-baryon scattering applications, as finite-volume energies can be observed in this below-threshold regime, and it is not clear how to make use of them. In this talk, we present a generalization of the scattering formalism that resolves this issue, allowing one to also constrain scattering amplitudes on the $t$-channel cut., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, talk given at "The 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory", 08th-13th August 2022, Bonn, Germany, v2: shortened to match published version

Quantum machine learning (QML) has received increasing attention due to its potential to outperform classical machine learning methods in problems pertaining classification and identification tasks. A subclass of QML methods is quantum generative adversarial networks (QGANs) which have been studied as a quantum counterpart of classical GANs widely used in image manipulation and generation tasks. The existing work on QGANs is still limited to small-scale proof-of-concept examples based on images with significant downscaling. Here we integrate classical and quantum techniques to propose a new hybrid quantum-classical GAN framework. We demonstrate its superior learning capabilities by generating $28 \times 28$ pixels grey-scale images without dimensionality reduction or classical pre/post-processing on multiple classes of the standard MNIST and Fashion MNIST datasets, which achieves comparable results to classical frameworks with three orders of magnitude less trainable generator parameters. To gain further insight into the working of our hybrid approach, we systematically explore the impact of its parameter space by varying the number of qubits, the size of image patches, the number of layers in the generator, the shape of the patches and the choice of prior distribution. Our results show that increasing the quantum generator size generally improves the learning capability of the network. The developed framework provides a foundation for future design of QGANs with optimal parameter set tailored for complex image generation tasks.

We study two- and three-particle scattering in the O(3) non-linear sigma model in 1+1 dimensions, focusing on the isospin-1 and isospin-2 channels for two particles, and the isospin-3 channel for three. We perform numerical simulations for four values of the physical volume, each at three lattice spacings, using a three-cluster generalization of the cluster update algorithm, and directly extrapolate the determined finite-volume energies to the continuum at fixed physical volume. Lattice results for two particles are then compared against exact predictions, obtained by combining analytic results for the scattering phase shifts and the (1+1)-dimensional two-particle formalism that relates these to finite-volume energies. Analogous comparisons in the three-particle sector are underway, making use of the three-particle relativistic-field-theory finite-volume formalism., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, contribution to the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 8th-13th of August 2022, Bonn, Germany

The rate of mixing between a neutral kaon and an anti-kaon ($K^0-\bar{K}^0$) is given, in part, by a long-range matrix element, defined with two insertions of the weak Hamiltonian separated by physical, Minkowski time evolution. For physical quark masses, the kaon mass lies above the two- and three-pion thresholds and, as a result, this long-range matrix element receives contributions from intermediate on-shell $2\pi$ and $3\pi$ states. These contributions cannot easily be captured in a finite Euclidean spacetime, meaning that such matrix elements are not directly accessible via lattice QCD. In this talk, we present a strategy for combining quantities that can be extracted in numerical lattice QCD calculations in order to reproduce the physical, infinite-volume long-range amplitude for $K^0-\bar{K}^0$. The key novelty relative to published work is that we fully include the effects of three-particle states that were previously neglected. The strategy is built on existing formalism for long-range matrix elements with two-particle intermediate states, together with the relativistic-field-theory finite-volume formalism for extracting three-hadron weak decays., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Contribution to the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field theory (LATTICE2022), 8th-13th August, 2022, Bonn, Germany

The rare Hyperon decay $\Sigma^+ \to p \ell^+ \ell^-$ is an $s \to d$ flavour changing neutral current process, which is highly suppressed within the Standard Model, and is therefore sensitive to new physics. Due to recent improvements in experimental measurements of this decay, the Standard Model theory prediction must also be improved in order to identify any new physics in this channel. We present updates on our progress towards the first exploratory lattice calculation of the long-distance part of the form factors of this decay. This pilot calculation is performed on a 340 MeV pion mass ensemble using domain-wall fermions as part of the RBC-UKQCD collaboration.

We report on the physical-point RBC/UKQCD calculation of the leading isospin-breaking corrections to light-meson leptonic decays. This is highly relevant for future precision tests in the flavour physics sector, in particular the first-row unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix containing the elements $V_{us}$ and $V_{ud}$. The simulations were performed using Domain-Wall fermions for $2+1$ flavours, and with isospin-breaking effects included perturbatively in the path integral through order $\alpha$ and $(m_u - m_d)/\Lambda _{\mathrm{QCD}}$. We use QED$_{\mathrm{L}}$ for the inclusion of electromagnetism, and discuss here the non-locality of this prescription which has significant impact on the infinite-volume extrapolation., Comment: Proceedings for The 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 8th-13th August, 2022, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universit\"at Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Machine learning is among the most widely anticipated use cases for near-term quantum computers, however there remain significant theoretical and implementation challenges impeding its scale up. In particular, there is an emerging body of work which suggests that generic, data agnostic quantum machine learning (QML) architectures may suffer from severe trainability issues, with the gradient of typical variational parameters vanishing exponentially in the number of qubits. Additionally, the high expressibility of QML models can lead to overfitting on training data and poor generalisation performance. A promising strategy to combat both of these difficulties is to construct models which explicitly respect the symmetries inherent in their data, so-called geometric quantum machine learning (GQML). In this work, we utilise the techniques of GQML for the task of image classification, building new QML models which are equivariant with respect to reflections of the images. We find that these networks are capable of consistently and significantly outperforming generic ansatze on complicated real-world image datasets, bringing high-resolution image classification via quantum computers closer to reality. Our work highlights a potential pathway for the future development and implementation of powerful QML models which directly exploit the symmetries of data., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

In these proceedings we present an exact distillation setup with stabilised Wilson fermions at the SU(3) flavour symmetric point utilising the flexibility of the Grid and Hadrons software libraries. This work is a stepping stone towards a non-perturbative investigation of hadronic D-decays, for which one needs to control the multi-hadron final states. As a first step we study two-to-two s-wave scattering of pseudoscalar mesons. In particular we examine the reliability of the extraction of finite-volume energies as a function of the number of eigenvectors of the gauge-covariant Laplacian entering our distillation setup., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, talk given at "The 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory", 08th-13th August 2022, Bonn, Germany

The decreasing uncertainties in theoretical predictions and experimental measurements of several hadronic observables related to weak processes, which in many cases are now smaller than $\mathrm{O}(1\%)$, require theoretical calculations to include subleading corrections that were neglected so far. Precise determinations of leptonic and semi-leptonic decay rates, including QED and strong isospin-breaking effects, can play a central role in solving the current tensions in the first-row unitarity of the CKM matrix. In this work we present the first RBC/UKQCD lattice calculation of the isospin-breaking corrections to the ratio of leptonic decay rates of kaons and pions into muons and neutrinos. The calculation is performed with $N_\mathrm{f}=2+1$ dynamical quarks close to the physical point and domain wall fermions in the M\"obius formulation are employed. Long-distance QED interactions are included according to the $\mathrm{QED_L}$ prescription and the crucial role of finite-volume electromagnetic corrections in the determination of leptonic decay rates, which produce a large systematic uncertainty, is extensively discussed. Finally, we study the different sources of uncertainty on $|V_\mathrm{us}|/|V_\mathrm{ud}|$ and observe that, if finite-volume systematics can be reduced, the error from isospin-breaking corrections is potentially sub-dominant in the final precision of the ratio of the CKM matrix elements., Comment: 66 pages, 23 figures and 4 tables

Machine learning (ML) methods such as artificial neural networks are rapidly becoming ubiquitous in modern science, technology and industry. Despite their accuracy and sophistication, neural networks can be easily fooled by carefully designed malicious inputs known as adversarial attacks. While such vulnerabilities remain a serious challenge for classical neural networks, the extent of their existence is not fully understood in the quantum ML setting. In this work, we benchmark the robustness of quantum ML networks, such as quantum variational classifiers (QVC), at scale by performing rigorous training for both simple and complex image datasets and through a variety of high-end adversarial attacks. Our results show that QVCs offer a notably enhanced robustness against classical adversarial attacks by learning features which are not detected by the classical neural networks, indicating a possible quantum advantage for ML tasks. Contrarily, and remarkably, the converse is not true, with attacks on quantum networks also capable of deceiving classical neural networks. By combining quantum and classical network outcomes, we propose a novel adversarial attack detection technology. Traditionally quantum advantage in ML systems has been sought through increased accuracy or algorithmic speed-up, but our work has revealed the potential for a new kind of quantum advantage through superior robustness of ML models, whose practical realisation will address serious security concerns and reliability issues of ML algorithms employed in a myriad of applications including autonomous vehicles, cybersecurity, and surveillance robotic systems., Comment: 10 pages, 5 Figures

We present a strategy for calculating the rare decay of a $\Sigma^+ (uus)$ baryon to a proton $(uud)$ and di-lepton pair using lattice QCD. To determine this observable one needs to numerically evaluate baryonic two-, three-, and four-point correlation functions related to the target process. In particular, the four-point function arises from the insertion of incoming and outgoing baryons, together with a weak Hamiltonian mediating the $s \to d$ transition and an electromagnetic current creating the outgoing leptons. As is described in previous work in other contexts, this four-point function has a highly non-trivial relation to the physical observable, due to nucleon and nucleon-pion intermediate states. These lead to growing Euclidean time dependence and, in the case of the nucleon-pion states, to power-like volume effects. We discuss how to treat these issues in the context of the $\Sigma^+\rightarrow p\ell^+\ell^-$ decay and, in particular, detail the relation between the finite-volume estimator and the physical, complex-valued amplitude. In doing so, we also make connections between various approaches in the literature.

Contribution from the USQCD Collaboration to the Proceedings of the US Community Study on the Future of Particle Physics (Snowmass 2021)., Comment: 27 pp. main text, 4 pp. appendices, 29 pp. references, 1 p. index

Lattice quantum chromodynamics has proven to be an indispensable method to determine nonperturbative strong contributions to weak decay processes. In this white paper for the Snowmass community planning process we highlight achievements and future avenues of research for lattice calculations of weak $b$ and $c$ quark decays, and point out how these calculations will help to address the anomalies currently in the spotlight of the particle physics community. With future increases in computational resources and algorithmic improvements, percent level (and below) lattice determinations will play a central role in constraining the standard model or identifying new physics., Comment: contribution to Snowmass 2021; 19 pages; v2 corrected typo and added references

In recent years, lattice determinations of non-perturbative quantities such as $f_K$ and $f_\pi$, which are relevant for $V_{us}$ and $V_{ud}$, have reached an impressive precision of $\mathcal{O}(1\%)$ or better. To make further progress, electromagnetic and strong isospin breaking effects must be included in lattice QCD simulations. We present the status of the RBC/UKQCD lattice calculation of isospin-breaking corrections to light meson leptonic decays. This computation is performed in a (2+1)-flavor QCD simulation using Domain Wall Fermions with near-physical quark masses. The isospin-breaking effects are implemented via a perturbative expansion of the action in $\alpha$ and $(m_u-m_d)$. In this calculation, we work in the electro-quenched approximation and the photons are implemented in the Feynman gauge and $\text{QED}_\text{L}$ formulation., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; Updated Author(s) metadata

The last years have seen significant developments in methods relating two- and three-particle finite-volume energies to scattering observables. These relations hold for both weakly and strongly interacting systems, and studying their predictions in limiting cases can provide important cross checks as well as giving useful insights into the general formulae. In these proceedings, we present analytic results for finite-volume excited states, recovered by expanding the general relations in powers of the interaction strength. We highlight elegant patterns that emerge, especially for excited three-particle energies, and discuss various applications of the results. The two-particle results summarized here are described in more detail in the full manuscript, and the three-particle results are detailed in a manuscript to appear., Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures; talk presented at The 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE2021 26th-30th July, 2021, Zoom/Gather@Massachusetts Institute of Technology; CERN-TH-2021-228

Future quantum computers may serve as a tool to access non-perturbative real-time correlation functions. In this talk, we discuss the prospects of using these to study Compton scattering for arbitrary kinematics. The restriction to a finite-volume spacetime, unavoidable in foreseeable quantum-computer simulations, must be taken into account in the formalism for extracting scattering observables. One approach is to work with a non-zero $i \epsilon$-prescription in the Fourier transform to definite momentum and then to estimate an ordered double limit, in which the spacetime volume is sent to infinity before $\epsilon$ is sent to $0$. For the amplitudes and parameters considered here, we find that significant volume effects arise, making the required limit very challenging. We present a practical solution to this challenge that may allow for future determinations of deeply virtual Compton scattering amplitudes, as well as many other reactions that are presently outside the scope of standard lattice QCD calculations., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. Contribution to Lattice 2021, 315

Nitrogen doping of the carbon is an important method to improve the performance and durability of catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells by platinum-nitrogen and carbon-nitrogen bonds. This study shows that p-phenyl groups and graphitic N acting bridges linking platinum and the graphene/carbon black (the ratio graphene/carbon black=2/3) hybrid support materials achieved the average size of platinum nanoparticles with (4.88 +/- 1.79) nm. It improved the performance of the lower-temperature hydrogen fuel cell up to 0.934 W cm-2 at 0.60 V, which is 1.55 times greater than that of commercial Pt/C. Doping also enhanced the interaction between Pt and the support materials, and the resistance to corrosion, thus improving the durability of the low-temperature hydrogen fuel cell with a much lower decay of 10 mV at 0.80 A cm-2 after 30k cycles of an in-situ accelerated stress test of catalyst degradation than that of 92 mV in Pt/C, which achieves the target of Department of Energy (<30 mV). Meanwhile, Pt/NrEGO2-CB3 remains 78% of initial power density at 1.5 A cm-2 after 5k cycles of in-situ accelerated stress test of carbon corrosion, which is more stable than the power density of commercial Pt/C, keeping only 54% after accelerated stress test., Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures and supplementary information

This work employs the spectral reconstruction approach of Ref. [1] to determine an inclusive rate in the $1+1$ dimensional O(3) non-linear $\sigma$-model, analogous to the QCD part of ${e}^+{e}^- \rightarrow \rm {hadrons}$. The Euclidean two-point correlation function of the conserved current $j$ is computed using Monte Carlo lattice field theory simulations for a variety of spacetime volumes and lattice spacings. The spectral density of this correlator is related to the inclusive rate for $j \rightarrow {\rm X}$ in which all final states produced by the external current are summed. The ill-posed inverse problem of determining the spectral density from the correlation function is made tractable through the determination of smeared spectral densities in which the desired density is convolved with a set of known smearing kernels of finite width $\epsilon$. The smooth energy dependence of the underlying spectral density enables a controlled $\epsilon \to 0$ extrapolation in the inelastic region, yielding the real-time inclusive rate without reference to individual finite-volume energies or matrix elements. Systematic uncertainties due cutoff effects and residual finite-volume effects are estimated and taken into account in the final error budget. After taking the continuum limit, the results are consistent with the known analytic rate to within the combined statistical and systematic errors. Above energies where 20-particle states contribute, the overall precision is sufficient to discern the four-particle contribution to the spectral density., Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures

It is common practice to truncate the finite-volume formula for $K\to\pi\pi$, and other one-to-two transitions, to only include the lowest partial wave, as in the original derivation by Lellouch and L\"uscher. However, as the precision of lattice calculations increases, it may become important to asses the systematic effect of this approximation. With this motivation, we compare the $S$-wave-only ($\ell=0$) results with those truncated at the next lowest value of angular momentum., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings for The 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE2021, 26th-30th July, 2021

We present a model-independent and relativistic approach to analytically derive electromagnetic finite-size effects beyond the point-like approximation. The key element is the use of electromagnetic Ward identities to constrain vertex functions, and structure-dependence appears via physical form-factors and their derivatives. We apply our general method to study the leading finite-size structure-dependence in the pseudoscalar mass (at order $1/L^3$) as well as in the leptonic decay amplitudes of pions and kaons (at order $1/L^2$). Knowledge of the latter is essential for Standard Model precision tests in the flavour physics sector from lattice simulations., Comment: Proceedings for talks presented at "The 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE2021, July 26-30 2021", "A Virtual Tribute to Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum 2021, August 2-6 2021" and "Particles and Nuclei International Conference 2021, PANIC2021, September 5-10 2021"

The master-field approach to lattice QCD envisions performing calculations on a small number of large-volume gauge-field configurations. Substantial progress has been made recently in the generation of such fields, and this must be joined with measurement strategies that take advantage of the large volume. In these proceedings, we describe how to compute simple hadronic quantities efficiently and estimate their errors in the master-field approach, i.e. by studying cross-correlations of observables on a single configuration. We discuss the scaling of the uncertainty with the volume and compare extractions based on momentum-projected and position-space two-point functions. The latter show promising results, already at intermediate volumes, but come with additional technical complexities such as a more complicated manifestation of boundary effects, which we also address., Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, talk presented at The 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE2021 26th-30th July, 2021, Zoom/Gather@Massachusetts Institute of Technology

We derive analytic expansions for the finite-volume energies of weakly-interacting two-particle systems, using the general relations between scattering amplitudes and energies derived by L\"uscher and others. The relations hold for ground and excited states with both zero and non-zero total momentum in the finite-volume frame. A number of instructive aspects arise in the derivation, including the role of accidental degeneracies and the importance of defining a power-counting scheme in the expansions. The results give intuition concerning the imprint of weakly-interacting systems on the energy spectrum, while also providing a useful basis for the analogous results concerning three-particle excited states, to appear., Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures, 9 tables, CERN-TH-2021-133

Theoretical understanding of scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) measurements involve electronic structure details of the STM tip and the sample being measured. Conventionally, the focus has been on the accuracy of the electronic state simulations of the sample, whereas the STM tip electronic state is typically approximated as a simple spherically symmetric $ s $ orbital. This widely used $ s $ orbital approximation has failed in recent STM studies where the measured STM images of subsurface impurity wave functions in silicon required a detailed description of the STM tip electronic state. In this work, we show that the failure of the $ s $ orbital approximation is due to the indirect band-gap of the sample material silicon (Si), which gives rise to complex valley interferences in the momentum space of impurity wave functions. Based on direct comparison of STM images computed from multi-million-atom electronic structure calculations of impurity wave functions in direct (GaAs) and indirect (Si) band-gap materials, our results establish that whilst the selection of STM tip orbital only plays a minor qualitative role for the direct band gap GaAs material, the STM measurements are dramatically modified by the momentum space features of the indirect band gap Si material, thereby requiring a quantitative representation of the STM tip orbital configuration. Our work provides new insights to understand future STM studies of semiconductor materials based on their momentum space features, which will be important for the design and implementation of emerging technologies in the areas of quantum computing, photonics, spintronics and valleytronics., Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures

Chemically stable quantum-confined 2D metals are of interest in next-generation nanoscale quantum devices. Bottom-up design and synthesis of such metals could enable the creation of materials with tailored, on-demand, electronic and optical properties for applications that utilize tunable plasmonic coupling, optical non-linearity, epsilon-near-zero behavior, or wavelength-specific light trapping. In this work, we demonstrate that the electronic, superconducting and optical properties of air-stable two-dimensional metals can be controllably tuned by the formation of alloys. Environmentally robust large-area two-dimensional InxGa1-x alloys are synthesized by Confinement Heteroepitaxy (CHet). Near-complete solid solubility is achieved with no evidence of phase segregation, and the composition is tunable over the full range of x by changing the relative elemental composition of the precursor. The optical and electronic properties directly correlate with alloy composition, wherein the dielectric function, band structure, superconductivity, and charge transfer from the metal to graphene are all controlled by the indium/gallium ratio in the 2D metal layer.

The possibility of suddenly ionized molecules undergoing extremely fast electron hole dynamics prior to significant structural change was first recognized more than 20 years ago and termed charge migration. The accurate probing of ultrafast electron hole dynamics requires measurements that have both sufficient temporal resolution and can detect the localization of a specific hole within the molecule. We report an investigation of the dynamics of inner valence hole states in isopropanol where we use an x-ray pump/x-ray probe experiment, with site and state-specific probing of a transient hole state localized near the oxygen atom in the molecule, together with an ab initio theoretical treatment. We record the signature of transient hole dynamics and make the first observation of dynamics driven by frustrated Auger-Meitner transitions. We verify that the hole lifetime is consistent with our theoretical prediction. This state-specific measurement paves the way to widespread application for observations of transient hole dynamics localized in space and time in molecules and thus to charge transfer phenomena that are fundamental in chemical and material physics.

We derive relations between finite-volume matrix elements and infinite-volume decay amplitudes, for processes with three spinless, degenerate and either identical or non-identical particles in the final state. This generalizes the Lellouch-L\"uscher relation for two-particle decays and provides a strategy for extracting three-hadron decay amplitudes using lattice QCD. Unlike for two particles, even in the simplest approximation, one must solve integral equations to obtain the physical decay amplitude, a consequence of the nontrivial finite-state interactions. We first derive the result in a simplified theory with three identical particles, and then present the generalizations needed to study phenomenologically relevant three-pion decays. The specific processes we discuss are the CP-violating $K \to 3\pi$ weak decay, the isospin-breaking $\eta \to 3\pi$ QCD transition, and the electromagnetic $\gamma^*\to 3\pi$ amplitudes that enter the calculation of the hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to muonic $g-2$., Comment: 43 pages, 2 figures. Updated to match published version