Search

We estimate the magnetic field in the jets of the recently discovered 7 Mpc long Porphyrion system. We use non-detection of the system in gamma-rays to derive a lower bound on the co-moving magnetic field strength at the level of ~10 nG. This value is consistent with recent estimates of magnetic fields in the filaments of the Large Scale Structure. We discuss the possibility that, instead of being the extreme case of a radio jet formation scenario, Porphyrion actually traces a very-high-energy gamma-ray beam emitted by an active galactic nucleus. In such a model, jets do not need to spread into the voids of the Large Scale Structure to appear straight on a very large distance range, and several anomalies of the standard radio jet scenarios can be solved at once., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Stellar-mass black-hole binaries are the most numerous gravitational-wave sources observed to date. Their properties make them suitable for observation both by ground- and space-based detectors. Starting from synthetic catalogues constructed based on observational constraints from ground-based detectors, we explore the detection rates and the characteristic parameters of the stellar-mass black-hole binaries observable by LISA during their inspiral, using signal-to-noise ratio thresholds as a detection criterion. We find that only a handful of these sources will be detectable with signal-to-noise ratio larger than 8: about 5 sources on average in 4 years of mission duration, among which only one or two are multiband ones (i.e. merging in less than 15 years). We find that detectable sources have chirp mass $10 M_\odot\lesssim \mathcal{M}_c\lesssim 100 M_\odot$, residual time-to-coalescence $4\mathrm{yr}\lesssim \tau_c\lesssim 100 \mathrm{yr}$, and redshift $z\lesssim 0.1$, much closer than those observed up to now by ground-based detectors. We also explore correlations between the number of LISA detectable sources and the parameters of the population, suggesting that a joint measurement with the stochastic signal might be informative of the population characteristics. By performing parameter estimation on a subset of sources from the catalogues, we conclude that, even if LISA measurements will not be directly informative on the population due to the low number of resolvable sources, it will characterise a few, low-redshift candidates with great precision. Furthermore, we construct for the first time the LISA waterfall plot for low chirp mass, and demonstrate that LISA will also be able to discriminate and characterize, through very precise parameter estimation, a population of binaries with higher masses, $\mathcal{M}_c\sim \mathcal{O}(10^3) M_\odot$, if it exists., Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables

Biological organisms often have elongated, flexible structures with some degree of chirality in their bodies or movements. In nature, these organisms frequently take advantage of self-encapsulation mechanisms that create folded configurations, changing their functionality, such as for defensive purposes. Here, we explore the role of chirality in polymeric structures composed of chiral active monomers exhibiting circular motion. Through a combination of experiments and numerical simulations, we demonstrate a spontaneous unfolding-folding transition uniquely induced by chirality, a phenomenon not observed in passive polymers. This transition is driven by a self-wrapping mechanism, resulting in dynamic polymer collapse even without attractive interactions. Our findings, based on chiral polymers made from chiral active granular particles, present new opportunities in robotic applications taking advantage of the interplay between chirality and deformability.

We study the generation of gravitational waves (GWs) during a first-order cosmological phase transition (PT) using the recently introduced Higgsless approach to numerically evaluate the fluid motion induced by the PT. We present for the first time spectra from strong first-order PTs ($\alpha = 0.5$), alongside weak ($\alpha = 0.0046$) and intermediate ($\alpha = 0.05$) transitions previously considered in the literature. We test the regime of applicability of the stationary source assumption, characteristic of the sound-shell model, and show that it agrees with our numerical results when the kinetic energy, sourcing GWs, does not decay with time. However, we find in general that for intermediate and strong PTs, the kinetic energy in our simulations decays following a power law in time, and provide a theoretical framework that extends the stationary assumption to one that allows to include the time evolution of the source. This decay of the kinetic energy, potentially determined by non-linear dynamics and hence, related to the production of vorticity, modifies the usually assumed linear growth with the source duration to an integral over time of the kinetic energy fraction, effectively reducing the growth rate. We validate the novel theoretical model with the results of our simulations covering a broad range of wall velocities. We provide templates for the GW amplitude and spectral shape for a broad range of PT parameters., Comment: 55 pages, 15 figures

We are used to measure temperature with a thermometer and we know from everyday life that different types of thermometers measure the same temperature. This experience can be based on equilibrium thermodynamics, which explains the equivalence of different possibilities to define temperature. In contrast, for systems out of equilibrium such as active matter, measurements performed with different thermometers can generally lead to different temperature values. In the present work, we systematically compare different possibilities to define temperature for active systems. Based on simulations and theory for inertial active Brownian particles, we find that different temperatures generally lead to different temperature values, as expected. Remarkably, however, we find that different temperatures not only lead to the same values near equilibrium (low P\'eclet number or high particle mass), but even far from equilibrium and in cases where entropy production is large, several different temperatures approximately coincide. In particular, we find that the kinetic temperature, the configurational temperature, and temperatures based on higher moments of the velocity distribution constitute a class of temperatures that all assume very similar values over a wide parameter range. The effective temperature also leads to similar temperature values but only in a limited parameter regime. Notably, temperatures exploiting the virial theorem, the Stokes-Einstein relation, or a harmonic confinement form a second class of temperatures whose values approximately coincide with each other but which strongly differ from those of the first class. Finally, we identify advantages and disadvantages of the different possibilities to define temperature and discuss their relevance for measuring the temperature of an active system.

We study a repulsive thermal system governed by odd interactions. The interplay between oddness and inertia induces a non-equilibrium phase transition from a homogeneous to a non-homogeneous phase, characterized by bubbles induced by odd interactions. This phenomenon occurs in the absence of attractions and is generated by the competition between the standard pressure contribution due to particle repulsion and an effective surface tension generated by odd-induced centrifugal forces. As a signature of the phase transition, the system exhibits vortex structures and oscillating spatial velocity correlations, which emerge close to the analytically predicted transition point. Our findings can be verified in granular experiments governed by odd interactions, such as spinners and colloidal magnets, and could be key to characterizing the emerging properties of metamaterials.

Third generation ground-based gravitational wave (GW) detectors, such as Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, will operate in the $(\text{few}-10^4)$ Hz frequency band, with a boost in sensitivity providing an unprecedented reach into primordial cosmology. Working concurrently with pulsar timing arrays in the nHz band, and LISA in the mHz band, these 3G detectors will be powerful probes of beyond the standard model particle physics on scales $T\gtrsim 10^{7}$GeV. Here we focus on their ability to probe phase transitions (PTs) in the early universe. We first overview the landscape of detectors across frequencies, discuss the relevance of astrophysical foregrounds, and provide convenient and up-to-date power-law integrated sensitivity curves for these detectors. We then present the constraints expected from GW observations on first order PTs and on topological defects (strings and domain walls), which may be formed when a symmetry is broken irrespective of the order of the phase transition. These constraints can then be applied to specific models leading to first order PTs and/or topological defects. In particular we discuss the implications for axion models, which solve the strong CP problem by introducing a spontaneously broken Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry. For post-inflationary breaking, the PQ scale must lie in the $10^{8}-10^{11}$ GeV range, and so the signal from a first order PQ PT falls within reach of ground based 3G detectors. A scan in parameter space of signal-to-noise ratio in a representative model reveals their large potential to probe the nature of the PQ transition. Additionally, in heavy axion type models domain walls form, which can lead to a detectable GW background. We discuss their spectrum and summarise the expected constraints on these models from 3G detectors, together with SKA and LISA., Comment: Invited review for a CQG Focus Issue on the science case for next generation ground based GW detectors; 53 pages, 9 figures

Dynamical clustering represents a characteristic feature of active matter consisting of self-propelled agents that convert energy from the environment into mechanical motion. At the micron scale, typical of overdamped dynamics, particles with opposite motility block each other and show transient dynamical arrest that can induce cluster nucleation and motility-induced phase separation. However, for macroscopic agents, inertia plays a leading role, and clustering is strongly affected by bounce-back effects during collisions that could inhibit cluster growth. Here we present an experiment on the clustering of active granular particles, in which inertia can be systematically tuned. A plethora of new phenomena impacted severely by inertia is presented. Clusters display an inertia-induced transition from liquid-like to crystal-like inner structures that is accompanied by the suppression of cluster nucleation at system boundaries due to particle inertia. In contrast to microswimmers, where active particles wet the boundary by primarily forming clusters attached to the container walls, in an underdamped inertial active system, walls do not favor cluster formation and effectively annihilate motility-induced wetting phenomena.

There is currently a strong interest in the collective behavior of chiral active particles that can propel and rotate themselves. In the presence of alignment interactions for many chiral particles, chiral self-propulsion can induce vortex patterns in the velocity fields. However, these emerging patterns are non-permanent, and do not induce global vorticity. Here we combine theoretical arguments and computer simulations to predict a so-far unknown class of collective behavior. We show that, for chiral active particles, vortices with significant dynamical coherence emerge spontaneously. They originate from the interplay between attraction interactions and chirality in the absence of alignment interactions. Depending on parameters, the vortices can either feature a constant vorticity or a vorticity that oscillates periodically in time, resulting in self-reverting vortices. Our results may guide future experiments to realize customized collective phenomena such as spontaneously rotating gears and patterns with a self-reverting order., Comment: This paper is accepted in Communications Physics

Friction is central to the motion of active (self-propelled) objects, such as bacteria, animals or robots. While in a viscous fluid friction is typically described by Stokes' law, objects in contact with other solid bodies are often governed by more complex empirical friction laws. We study active dry particles subject to dry Coulomb friction force numerically and analytically. The interplay of friction and activity forces induces a rich behavior resulting in three distinct dynamical regimes. While for low activity levels, active Brownian motion is recovered, for large activity we observe a dynamical Stop & Go regime continuously switching from diffusion and accelerated motion. For further activity values, we observe a super-mobile dynamical regime characterized by a fully accelerated motion which is described by an anomalous scaling of the diffusion coefficient with the activity. These findings cannot be observed with Stokes viscous forces typical of active swimmers but are central in dry active objects., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures plus supplemental material with 6 pages

Modifications of the QCD perturbative expansions by the subtraction of the dominant infrared renormalon have been proposed recently as attempts to solve the long-standing discrepancy between fixed-order and contour-improved perturbation theory for the hadronic $\tau$ decays. In this approach, the modified perturbative series is supplemented by a modified gluon condensate in the operator product expansion of the Adler function. Motivated by these works, we revisited recently a formulation of the QCD perturbation theory, proposed some time ago, which takes into account the renormalons by means of the conformal mapping of the Borel plane. One expects that the modified perturbative series obtained in this framework should be accompanied by modified power-suppressed nonperturbative corrections. However, in the previous studies the focus was on the perturbative series and the question of the possible power corrections has not been considered. In the present paper, we investigate for the first time this problem. Using techniques from the mathematical resurgence theory, we derive the expression of the dominant power correction to the perturbative series obtained by conformal mapping of the Borel plane, and discuss its implications for phenomenological applications., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures

We develop a tool for the analysis of stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds from cosmological first-order phase transitions with LISA: we initiate a template databank for these signals, prototype their searches, and forecast their reconstruction. The templates encompass the gravitational wave signals sourced by bubble collisions, sound waves and turbulence. Accounting for Galactic and extra-Galactic foregrounds, we forecast the region of the parameter space that LISA will reconstruct with better than $\sim 10\,\%$ accuracy, if certain experimental and theoretical uncertainties are solved by the time LISA flies. We illustrate the accuracy with which LISA can reconstruct the parameters on a few benchmark signals, both in terms of the template parameters and the phase transition ones. To show the impact of the forecasts on physics beyond the Standard Model, we map the reconstructed benchmark measurements into the parameter spaces of the singlet extension of the Standard Model and of the classically conformal invariant $U(1)_{B-L}$ model., Comment: 54 pages, 18 figures; v2 matches version published in JCAP

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is the first scientific endeavour to detect and study gravitational waves from space. LISA will survey the sky for Gravitational Waves in the 0.1 mHz to 1 Hz frequency band which will enable the study of a vast number of objects ranging from Galactic binaries and stellar mass black holes in the Milky Way, to distant massive black-hole mergers and the expansion of the Universe. This definition study report, or Red Book, presents a summary of the very large body of work that has been undertaken on the LISA mission over the LISA definition phase., Comment: 155 pages, with executive summary and table of contents

The difference between fixed-order (FO) and contour-improved (CI) formulations of QCD perturbation theory limits the precision of the strong coupling determined from the hadronic decay of the $\tau$ lepton. Recently, several attempts to understand the mathematical origin of the difference and to solve it by subtracting the dominant infrared renormalon divergence have been made. Motivated by these studies, we review in this paper an improved perturbative QCD expansion, defined some time ago, which also exploits the renormalons by means of a suitable conformal mapping of the Borel plane. In particular, we revisit the convergence of the new expansion, by completing the proof presented in a previous paper and showing that the domain of convergence is larger than stated before. We also check the validity of the convergence conditions for the Adler function and the CI and FO expansions of the $\tau$ hadronic spectral function moments, and compare the approach based on conformal mapping with recent solutions to the CIPT-FOPT discrepancy proposed in the literature., Comment: Accepted for publication at Physical Review D

One of the scientific objectives of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is to probe the expansion of the Universe using gravitational wave observations. Indeed, as gravitational waves from the coalescence of a massive black hole binary (MBHB) carry direct information of its luminosity distance, an accompanying electromagnetic (EM) counterpart can be used to determine its redshift. This method of $bright$ $sirens$, when applied to LISA, enables one to build a gravitational Hubble diagram to high redshift. In this work, we forecast the ability of LISA-detected MBHB bright sirens to constrain cosmological models. The expected EM emission from MBHBs can be detected up to redshift $z\sim 7$ with future astronomical facilities, and the distribution of MBHBs with detectable counterpart peaks at $z\sim 2-3$. Therefore, we propose several methods to leverage the ability of LISA to constrain the expansion of the Universe at $z\sim 2-3$, a poorly charted epoch in cosmography. We find that the most promising method consists in using a model-independent approach based on a spline interpolation of the luminosity distance-redshift relation: in this case, LISA can constrain the Hubble parameter at $z\sim2-3$ with a relative precision of at least $10\%$., Comment: 33 pages, 21 figures. Submitted to PRD. Improved text quality and added clarifications

In an equilibrium thermal environment, random elastic collisions between background particles and a tracer establish the picture of Brownian motion fulfilling the celebrated Einstein relation between diffusivity and mobility. In nature, environments often comprise collections of autonomously moving objects that exhibit fascinating non-equilibrium phenomena and are nowadays termed active matter. We investigate experimentally the impact of an active background on a passive tracer using vibrationally excited active particles. They produce multiple correlated tapping collisions with the tracer, for which a persistent memory emerges in the dynamics. The system is described by a generalized active Einstein relation that constrains fluctuations, dissipation, and effective activity, by taking the emerging tracer memory into account. Since the resulting persistence can largely be tuned by the environmental density and motility, our findings can be useful to engineer properties of various active systems in biomedical applications, microfluidics, chemical engineering, or swarm robotics.

This document presents a summary of the 2023 Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry Workshop hosted by CERN. The workshop brought together experts from around the world to discuss the exciting developments in large-scale atom interferometer (AI) prototypes and their potential for detecting ultralight dark matter and gravitational waves. The primary objective of the workshop was to lay the groundwork for an international TVLBAI proto-collaboration. This collaboration aims to unite researchers from different institutions to strategize and secure funding for terrestrial large-scale AI projects. The ultimate goal is to create a roadmap detailing the design and technology choices for one or more km-scale detectors, which will be operational in the mid-2030s. The key sections of this report present the physics case and technical challenges, together with a comprehensive overview of the discussions at the workshop together with the main conclusions., Comment: Summary of the Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry Workshop held at CERN: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1208783/

Although coveted in applications, few materials expand when subject to compression or contract under decompression, i.e., exhibit the negative compressibility phenomenon. A key step to achieve such counterintuitive behaviour is the destabilisations of (meta)stable equilibria of the constituents. Here, we propose a simple strategy to obtain negative compressibility exploiting capillary forces both to precompress the elastic material and to release such precompression by a threshold phenomenon -- the reversible formation of a bubble in a lyophobic flexible cavity. We demonstrate that the solid part of such metastable elastocapillary systems displays negative compressibility across different scales: hydrophobic microporous materials, proteins, and millimetre-sized laminae. This concept is applicable to fields such as porous materials, biomolecules, sensors and may be easily extended to create unexpected material susceptibilities.

We compute the gravitational wave (GW) spectrum sourced by sound waves produced during a first-order phase transition in the radiation-dominated epoch. The correlator of the velocity field is evaluated in accordance with the sound shell model. In our derivation we include the effects of the expansion of the Universe, which are relevant in particular for sourcing processes whose time duration is comparable with the Hubble time. Our results show a causal growth at small frequencies, $\Omega_{\rm GW} \sim k^3$, possibly followed by a linear regime $\Omega_{\rm GW} \sim k$ at intermediate $k$, depending on the phase transition parameters. Around the peak, we find a steep growth that approaches the $k^9$ scaling found within the sound shell model. The resulting bump around the peak of the GW spectrum may represent a distinctive feature of GWs produced from acoustic motion. Nothing similar has been observed for vortical (magneto)hydrodynamic turbulence. Nevertheless, we find that the $k^9$ scaling is less extended than expected in the literature, and it does not necessarily appear. The dependence on the duration of the source, $\delta \tau_{\rm fin}$, is quadratic at small frequencies $k$, and proportional to $\ln^2 (1 + \delta \tau_{\rm fin} H_*)$ for an expanding Universe. At frequencies around the peak, the growth is suppressed by a factor $\Upsilon = 1 - 1/(1 + \delta \tau_{\rm fin} {H}_*)$ that becomes linear when the GW source is short. We discuss in which cases the dependence on the source duration is linear or quadratic for stationary processes. This affects the amplitude of the GW spectrum, both in the causality tail and at the peak, showing that the assumption of stationarity is a very relevant one, as far as the GW spectral shape is concerned. Finally, we present a general semi-analytical template of the resulting GW spectrum, as a function of the parameters of the phase transition., Comment: 32 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, accepted in Phys. Rev. D

We study the collective vibrational excitations of crystals under out-of-equilibrium steady conditions that give rise to entropy production. Their excitation spectrum comprises equilibrium-like phonons of thermal origin and additional collective excitations called entropons because each of them represents a mode of spectral entropy production. Entropons coexist with phonons and dominate over them when the system is far from equilibrium while they are negligible in near-equilibrium regimes. The concept of entropons has been recently introduced and verified in a special case of crystals formed by self-propelled particles. Here, we show that entropons exist in a broader class of active cyrstals that are intrinsically out of equilibrium and characterized by the lack of detailed balance. After a general derivation, several explicit examples are discussed, including crystals consisting of particles with alignment interactions and frictional contact forces.

We study two possible cosmological consequences of a first-order phase transition in the temperature range of $1$ GeV to $10^3$ TeV: the generation of a stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) within the sensitivity of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and, simultaneously, primordial magnetic fields that would evolve through the Universe's history and could be compatible with the lower bound from $\gamma$-ray telescopes on intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMF) at present time. We find that, if even a small fraction of the kinetic energy in sound waves is converted into MHD turbulence, a first order phase transition occurring at temperature between $1$ and $10^6$ GeV can give rise to an observable SGWB signal in LISA and, at the same time, an IGMF compatible with the lower bound from the $\gamma$-ray telescope MAGIC, for all proposed evolutionary paths of the magnetic fields throughout the radiation dominated era. For two values of the fraction of energy density converted into turbulence, $\varepsilon_{\rm turb}=0.1$ and $1$, we provide the range of first-order phase transition parameters (strength $\alpha$, duration $\beta^{-1}$, bubbles wall speed $v_w$, and temperature $T_*$), together with the corresponding range of magnetic field strength $B$ and correlation length $\lambda$, that would lead to the SGWB and IGMF observable with LISA and MAGIC. The resulting magnetic field strength at recombination can also correspond to the one that has been proposed to induce baryon clumping, previously suggested as a possible way to ease the Hubble tension. In the limiting case $\varepsilon_{\rm turb} \ll 1$, the SGWB is only sourced by sound waves, however, an IGMF is still generated. We find that values as small as $\varepsilon_{\rm turb} \sim O(10^{-13})$ (helical) and $O (10^{-9})$ (non-helical) can provide IGMF compatible with MAGIC's lower bound., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

The European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) and Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA) collaborations have measured a low-frequency common signal in the combination of their second and first data releases respectively, with the correlation properties of a gravitational wave background (GWB). Such signal may have its origin in a number of physical processes including a cosmic population of inspiralling supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs); inflation, phase transitions, cosmic strings and tensor mode generation by non-linear evolution of scalar perturbations in the early Universe; oscillations of the Galactic potential in the presence of ultra-light dark matter (ULDM). At the current stage of emerging evidence, it is impossible to discriminate among the different origins. Therefore, in this paper, we consider each process separately, and investigate the implications of the signal under the hypothesis that it is generated by that specific process. We find that the signal is consistent with a cosmic population of inspiralling SMBHBs, and its relatively high amplitude can be used to place constraints on binary merger timescales and the SMBH-host galaxy scaling relations. If this origin is confirmed, this is the first direct evidence that SMBHBs merge in nature, adding an important observational piece to the puzzle of structure formation and galaxy evolution. As for early Universe processes, the measurement would place tight constraints on the cosmic string tension and on the level of turbulence developed by first-order phase transitions. Other processes would require non-standard scenarios, such as a blue-tilted inflationary spectrum or an excess in the primordial spectrum of scalar perturbations at large wavenumbers. Finally, a ULDM origin of the detected signal is disfavoured, which leads to direct constraints on the abundance of ULDM in our Galaxy., Comment: 30 pages, 23 figures, replaced to match the version published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, note the change in the numbering order in the series (now paper IV)

We investigate the interplay between chirality and confinement induced by the presence of an external potential. For potentials having radial symmetry, the circular character of the trajectories induced by the chiral motion reduces the spatial fluctuations of the particle, thus providing an extra effective confining mechanism, that can be interpreted as a lowering of the effective temperature. In the case of non-radial potentials, for instance, with an elliptic shape, chirality displays a richer scenario. Indeed, the chirality can break the parity symmetry of the potential that is always fullfilled in the non-chiral system. The probability distribution displays a strong non-Maxwell-Boltzmann shape that emerges in cross-correlations between the two Cartesian components of the position, that vanishes in the absence of chirality or when radial symmetry of the potential is restored. These results are obtained by considering two popular models in active matter, i.e. chiral Active Brownian particles and chiral active Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particles.

The presence of defects in solids formed by active particles breaks their discrete translational symmetry. As a consequence, many of their properties become space-dependent and different from those characterizing perfectly ordered structures. Motivated by recent numerical investigations concerning the nonuniform distribution of entropy production and its relation to the configurational properties of active systems, we study theoretically and numerically the spatial profile of the entropy production rate when an active solid contains an isotopic mass defect. The theoretical study of such an imperfect active crystal is conducted by employing a perturbative analysis that considers the perfectly ordered harmonic solid as a reference system. The perturbation theory predicts a nonuniform profile of the entropy production extending over large distances from the position of the impurity. The entropy production rate decays exponentially to its bulk value with a typical healing length that coincides with the correlation length of the spatial velocity correlations characterizing the perfect active solids in the absence of impurities. The theory is validated against numerical simulations of an active Brownian particle crystal in two dimensions with Weeks-Chandler-Andersen repulsive interparticle potential.

We use the latest constraints on the population of stellar origin binary black holes (SOBBH) from LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK) observations, to estimate the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) they generate in the frequency band of LISA. We account for the faint and distant binaries, which contribute the most to the SGWB, by extending the merger rate at high redshift assuming it tracks the star formation rate. We adopt different methods to compute the SGWB signal: an analytical evaluation, Monte Carlo sums over SOBBH population realisations, and a method that accounts for the role of the detector by simulating LISA data and iteratively removing resolvable signals until only the confusion noise is left, allowing for the extraction of both the expected SGWB and the number of resolvable SOBBHs. Since the latter are few for SNR thresholds larger than five, we confirm that the spectral shape of the SGWB in the LISA band follows the analytical prediction of a power law. We infer the probability distribution of the SGWB amplitude from the LVK GWTC-3 posterior of the binary population model; its interquartile range of $h^2\Omega_\mathrm{GW}(f=3\times10^{-3}\,\mathrm{Hz}) \in [5.65,\,11.5]\times10^{-13}$ is in agreement with most previous estimates. We perform a MC analysis to assess LISA's capability to detect and characterise this signal. Accounting for both the instrumental noise and the galactic binaries foreground, with four years of data, LISA will be able to detect the SOBBH SGWB with percent accuracy, narrowing down the uncertainty on the amplitude by one order of magnitude with respect to the range of possible amplitudes inferred from the population model. A measurement of this signal by LISA will help to break the degeneracy among some of the population parameters, and provide interesting constraints, in particular on the redshift evolution of the SOBBH merger rate., Comment: 39 pages, 15 figures. Prepared for submission to JCAP

Using a full resummation of the Adler function in the large-$\beta_0$ approximation of QCD and a mathematical framework of resurgence suitable for the specific properties of the Borel transform in this particular case, we derive a compact resurgent representation of the QCD Adler function, valid in the whole complex momentum plane. The representation is expressed in terms of the inverse Mellin transform of the Borel function and is analytic in the complex momentum plane, except for cuts along the timelike axis and the Landau region of the spacelike axis. It contains a purely nonperturbative term singular at the origin of the coupling plane, depending on a single real arbitrary constant. We compare the resurgent Adler function derived in this work with a previous determination in a similar framework and use its values in the complex plane for a calculation of the hadronic width of the $\tau$ lepton in the Standard Model., Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D

Within a simple model of attractive active Brownian particles, we predict flocking behavior and challenge the widespread idea that alignment interactions are necessary to observe this collective phenomenon. Here, we show that even non-aligning attractive interactions can lead to a flocking state. Monitoring the velocity polarization as the order parameter, we reveal the onset of a first-order transition from a disordered phase, characterized by several small clusters, to a flocking phase, where a single flocking cluster is emerging. The scenario is confirmed by studying the spatial connected correlation function of particle velocities, which reveals scale-free behavior in flocking states and exponential-like decay for non-flocking configurations. Our predictions can be tested in microscopic and macroscopic experiments showing flocking, such as animals, migrating cells, and active colloids.

Smartphones enable understanding human behavior with activity recognition to support people's daily lives. Prior studies focused on using inertial sensors to detect simple activities (sitting, walking, running, etc.) and were mostly conducted in homogeneous populations within a country. However, people are more sedentary in the post-pandemic world with the prevalence of remote/hybrid work/study settings, making detecting simple activities less meaningful for context-aware applications. Hence, the understanding of (i) how multimodal smartphone sensors and machine learning models could be used to detect complex daily activities that can better inform about people's daily lives and (ii) how models generalize to unseen countries, is limited. We analyzed in-the-wild smartphone data and over 216K self-reports from 637 college students in five countries (Italy, Mongolia, UK, Denmark, Paraguay). Then, we defined a 12-class complex daily activity recognition task and evaluated the performance with different approaches. We found that even though the generic multi-country approach provided an AUROC of 0.70, the country-specific approach performed better with AUROC scores in [0.79-0.89]. We believe that research along the lines of diversity awareness is fundamental for advancing human behavior understanding through smartphones and machine learning, for more real-world utility across countries., Comment: ACM CHI 2023

The ultrafast control of materials has opened the possibility to investigate non-equilibrium states of matter with striking properties, such as transient superconductivity and ferroelectricity, ultrafast magnetization and demagnetization, as well as Floquet engineering. The characterization of the ultrafast thermodynamic properties within the material is key for their control and design. Here, we develop the ultrafast stochastic thermodynamics for laser-excited phonons. We calculate the entropy production and heat absorbed from experimental data for single phonon modes of driven materials from time-resolved X-ray scattering experiments where the crystal is excited by a laser pulse. The spectral entropy production is calculated for SrTiO$_3$ and KTaO$_3$ for different temperatures and reveals a striking relation with the power spectrum of the displacement-displacement correlation function by inducing a broad peak beside the eigenmode-resonance., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

Inertial effects affecting both the translational and rotational dynamics are inherent to a broad range of active systems at the macroscopic scale. Thus, there is a pivotal need for proper models in the framework of active matter to correctly reproduce experimental results, hopefully achieving theoretical insights. For this purpose, we propose an inertial version of the active Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particle (AOUP) model accounting for particle mass (translational inertia) as well as its moment of inertia (rotational inertia) and derive the full expression for its steady-state properties. The inertial AOUP dynamics introduced in this paper is designed to capture the basic features of the well-established inertial active Brownian particle (ABP) model, i.e., the persistence time of the active motion and the long-time diffusion coefficient. For a small or moderate rotational inertia, these two models predict similar dynamics at all timescales and, in general, our inertial AOUP model consistently yields the same trend upon changing the moment of inertia for various dynamical correlation functions.

In this paper, we offer to the reader an essential review of the theory of Fluctuation-Dissipation Relations (FDR), from the first formulations due to Einstein and Onsager, to the recent developments in the framework of stochastic thermodynamics of non-equilibrium system. We focus on two general approaches, somehow complementary, where out-of-equilibrium contributions to the FDR are expressed in terms of different quantities, related either to the stationary distribution or to the transition rates of the system. In particular, we discuss applications of the FDR in the general field of causation and inference, and in the contexts of non-equilibrium systems, such as spin models, granular media and active matter., Comment: 29 pages, 3 figures, chapter in the book "Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics and Fluctuation Kinetics" (editors L\'eon Brenig, Nikolai Brilliantov, Mustapha Tlidi) Springer 2022

Mood inference with mobile sensing data has been studied in ubicomp literature over the last decade. This inference enables context-aware and personalized user experiences in general mobile apps and valuable feedback and interventions in mobile health apps. However, even though model generalization issues have been highlighted in many studies, the focus has always been on improving the accuracies of models using different sensing modalities and machine learning techniques, with datasets collected in homogeneous populations. In contrast, less attention has been given to studying the performance of mood inference models to assess whether models generalize to new countries. In this study, we collected a mobile sensing dataset with 329K self-reports from 678 participants in eight countries (China, Denmark, India, Italy, Mexico, Mongolia, Paraguay, UK) to assess the effect of geographical diversity on mood inference models. We define and evaluate country-specific (trained and tested within a country), continent-specific (trained and tested within a continent), country-agnostic (tested on a country not seen on training data), and multi-country (trained and tested with multiple countries) approaches trained on sensor data for two mood inference tasks with population-level (non-personalized) and hybrid (partially personalized) models. We show that partially personalized country-specific models perform the best yielding area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) scores of the range 0.78-0.98 for two-class (negative vs. positive valence) and 0.76-0.94 for three-class (negative vs. neutral vs. positive valence) inference. Overall, we uncover generalization issues of mood inference models to new countries and how the geographical similarity of countries might impact mood inference., Comment: ACM IMWUT 2022, To be presented at ACM Ubicomp 2023