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Supernova explosions are among the most extreme events in the Universe, making them a promising environment in which to search for the effects of light, weakly coupled new particles. As significant sources of energy, they are known to have an important effect on the dynamics of ordinary matter in their host galaxies but their potential impact on the dark matter (DM) halo remains less explored. In this work, we investigate the possibility that some fraction of the supernova energy is released via the form of dark radiation into the DM halo. Based on evaluation of energetics, we find that even a small fraction of the total SN energy is sufficient to change the overall shape of the DM halo and transform a cuspy halo into a cored one. This may help to explain the cores that are observed in some dwarf galaxies. Alternatively, one can interpret the upper limit on the size of a possible DM core as an upper limit on the energy that can go into light particles beyond the SM. These arguments are largely independent of a concrete model for the new physics. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that the conditions we need, i.e.~significant supernova emissivity of dark radiation and the opacity of DM halo to the dark radiation, can be met in actual models. To demonstrate this, we study four simple benchmark models: the dark photon, dark Higgs, and gauged $B-L$ and $L_\mu - L_\tau$ models -- all provide light weakly coupled particles serving as the dark radiation. Assuming a sizable coupling of the dark radiation to DM, we find that all of the benchmark models have a significant part of the parameter space that meets the conditions. Interestingly, the couplings allowed by observations of SN1987A can have a significant effect on the halo of dwarf spheroidal galaxies., Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures; comments are welcome

The ongoing discrepancy in the Hubble constant ($H_0$) estimates obtained through local distance ladder methods and early universe observations poses a significant challenge to the $\Lambda$CDM model, suggesting potential new physics. Type II supernovae (SNe II) offer a promising technique for determining $H_0$ in the local universe independently of the traditional distance ladder approach, opening up a complimentary path for testing this discrepancy. We aim to provide the first $H_0$ estimate using the tailored expanding photosphere method (EPM) applied to SNe II, made possible by recent advancements in spectral modelling that enhance its precision and efficiency. Our tailored EPM measurement utilizes a spectral emulator to interpolate between radiative transfer models calculated with TARDIS, allowing us to fit supernova spectra efficiently and derive self-consistent values for luminosity-related parameters. We apply the method on public data for ten SNe II at redshifts between 0.01 and 0.04. Our analysis demonstrates that the tailored EPM allows for $H_0$ measurements with precision comparable to the most competitive established techniques, even when applied to literature data not designed for cosmological applications. We find an independent $H_0$ value of $74.9\pm1.9$ (stat) km/s/Mpc, which is consistent with most current local measurements. Considering dominant sources of systematic effects, we conclude that our systematic uncertainty is comparable to or less than the current statistical uncertainty. This proof-of-principle study highlights the potential of the tailored EPM as a robust and precise tool for investigating the Hubble tension independently of the local distance ladder. Observations of SNe II tailored to $H_0$ estimation can make this an even more powerful tool by improving the precision and by allowing us to better understand and control systematic uncertainties., Comment: 40 pages, 57 figures, 4 tables; submitted to A&A

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has emerged as a compelling platform for both classical and quantum technologies. In particular, the past decade has witnessed a surge of novel ideas and developments, which may be overwhelming for newcomers to the field. This review provides an overview of the fundamental concepts and key applications of hBN, including quantum sensing, quantum key distribution, quantum computing, and quantum memory. Additionally, we highlight critical experimental and theoretical advances that have expanded the capabilities of hBN, in a cohesive and accessible manner. The objective is to equip readers with a comprehensive understanding of the diverse applications of hBN, and provide insights into ongoing research efforts., Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, 1 table

Motivated by recent studies on topologically nontrivial moir\'{e} bands in twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), we study twisted MoTe$_2$ bilayer systems subject to pressure, which is applied perpendicular to the material surface. We start our investigation by first considering untwisted bilayer systems with an arbitrary relative shift between layers; a symmetry analysis for this case permits us to obtain a simple, effective, low-energy Hamiltonian. Ab initio density functional theory (DFT) was then employed to obtain relaxed geometric structures for pressures within the range of 0.0 - 3.5 GPa and corresponding band structures. The DFT data was then fitted to the low-energy Hamiltonian to obtain a pressure-dependent Hamiltonian. We then could model a twisted system by treating the twist as a position-dependent shift between layers. In summary, this approach allowed us to obtain the explicit analytical expressions for a Hamiltonian that describes a twisted MoTe$_2$ bilayer under pressure. Our Hamiltonian then permitted us to study the impact of pressure on the band topology of the twisted system. As a result, we identified many pressure-induced topological phase transitions as indicated by changes in valley Chern numbers. Moreover, we found that pressure could be employed to flatten bands in some of the cases we considered., Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are highly appealing for gas sensors, lab-on-a-chip devices and bio-sensing applications because of their strong light-matter interaction and high surface-to-volume ratio. The ability to grow these van der Waals materials on different substrates and waveguide geometries opens a horizon toward scalable on-chip photonic nanodevices. Here, we report on a versatile technique for real time remote optical gas sensing using two-dimensional TMDs. The adsorption of the gas molecules on the monolayer surface provides a gateway for gas sensing based on charge-transfer-induced photoluminescence variation. For gases that are weakly adsorbed on the surface of monolayer TMDs, purging the monolayers' surface by an inert gas like N2 can desorb gases from the monolayers at room temperature. We demonstrate CO, NO and NO2 detection by monitoring photoluminescence from semiconducting MoS2 monolayers grown on SiO2/Si chips at a level of 10 ppm with fast response time. Observations are supported by our density functional theory calculations, which predict a significant interaction between these gases and MoS2 monolayers. These findings may lead to advances in remote sensing, surface-sensitive bioanalytics and lab-on-a-chip sensors.

The Hubble tension is one of the most relevant unsolved problems in cosmology today. Strongly gravitationally lensed transient objects, such as strongly lensed supernovae, are an independent and competitive probe that can be used to determine the Hubble constant. In this context, the time delay between different images of lensed supernovae is a key ingredient. We present a method, to retrieve time delays and the amount of differential dust extinction between multiple images of lensed type IIP supernovae through their color curves, which display a kink in the time evolution. With multiple realistic mock color curves based on an observed unlensed supernova from the Carnegie Supernova Project, we demonstrate that we can retrieve the time delay with uncertainties of $\pm$1.0 days for light curves with 2-day cadence and 35% missing data due to weather losses. The differential dust extinction is more susceptible to uncertainties, because it depends on imposing the correct extinction law. Further we also investigate the kink structure in the color curves for different rest-frame wavelength bands, particularly rest-frame UV light curves from SWIFT, finding sufficiently strong kinks for our method to work for typical lensed SN redshifts that would redshift the kink feature to optical wavelengths. With the upcoming Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time, hundreds of strongly lensed supernovae will be detected and our new method for lensed SN IIP is readily applicable to provide delays., Comment: 16 pages, 19 figures; submitted to A&A

Neural networks have recently been employed as material discretizations within adjoint optimization frameworks for inverse problems and topology optimization. While advantageous regularization effects and better optima have been found for some inverse problems, the benefit for topology optimization has been limited -- where the focus of investigations has been the compliance problem. We demonstrate how neural network material discretizations can, under certain conditions, find better local optima in more challenging optimization problems, where we here specifically consider acoustic topology optimization. The chances of identifying a better optimum can significantly be improved by running multiple partial optimizations with different neural network initializations. Furthermore, we show that the neural network material discretization's advantage comes from the interplay with the Adam optimizer and emphasize its current limitations when competing with constrained and higher-order optimization techniques. At the moment, this discretization has only been shown to be beneficial for unconstrained first-order optimization.

In future energy systems characterized by significant shares of fluctuating renewable energy sources, there is a need for a fundamental change in electricity consumption. The energy system requires the ability to adapt to the intermittent electricity generation of renewable energy sources. This can be achieved by integrating flexible electrical loads, such as electric heating devices and electric vehicles, in combination with efficient control methods. In this paper, we introduce the Pareto local search method PALSS with heuristic search operations to solve the multi-objective optimization problem of a residential area with different types of flexible loads. PALSS shifts the flexible electricity load with the objective of minimizing the electricity cost and peak load while maintaining the inhabitants' comfort in favorable ranges. Further, we include reinforcement learning into the heuristic search operations in the approach RELAPALSS and use the dichotomous method for obtaining all Pareto-optimal solutions of the multi-objective optimization problem with conflicting goals. The methods are evaluated in simulations with different configurations of the residential area. The results show that PALSS and RELAPALSS strongly outperform the two multi-objective evolutionary algorithms NSGA-II and SPEA-II from the literature and the conventional control approach. The inclusion of reinforcement learning in RELAPALSS leads to additional improvements. Our study reveals the need for multi-objective optimization methods to utilize renewable energy sources in residential areas.

Color centers in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have become an intensively researched system due to their potential applications in quantum technologies. There has been a large variety of defects being fabricated, yet, for many of them, the atomic origin remains unclear. The direct imaging of the defect is technically very challenging, in particular since, in a diffraction-limited spot, there are many defects and then one has to identify the one that is optically active. Another approach is to compare the photophysical properties with theoretical simulations and identify which defect has a matching signature. It has been shown that a single property for this is insufficient and causes misassignments. Here, we publish a density functional theory (DFT)-based searchable online database covering the electronic structure of hBN defects (257 triplet and 211 singlet configurations), as well as their photophysical fingerprint (excited state lifetime, quantum efficiency, transition dipole moment and orientation, polarization visibility, and many more). All data is open-source and publicly accessible at https://h-bn.info and can be downloaded. It is possible to enter the experimentally observed defect signature and the database will output possible candidates which can be narrowed down by entering as many observed properties as possible. The database will be continuously updated with more defects and new photophysical properties (which can also be specifically requested by any users). The database therefore allows one to reliably identify defects but also investigate which defects might be promising for magnetic field sensing or quantum memory applications., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

We study an anisotropic cubic Dirac semi-metal subjected to a constant magnetic field. In the case of an isotropic dispersion in the $x$-$y$ plane, with parameters $v_{x}=v_{y}$, it is possible to find exact Landau levels, indexed by the quantum number $n$, using the typical ladder operator approach. Interestingly, we find that the lowest energy level (the zero energy state in the case $k_z=0$) has a degeneracy that is three times that of other states. This degeneracy manifests in the Hall conductivity as a step at zero chemical potential that is 3/2 the size of other steps. Moreover, as $n\to\infty$ we find energies $E_n\propto n^{3/2}$, which means the $n$-th step as a function of chemical potential roughly occurs at a value $\mu\propto n^{3/2}$. We propose that these exciting features could be used to identify cubic Dirac semi-metals experimentally. Subsequently, we analyze the anisotropic case $v_{y}=\lambda v_{x}$ with $\lambda\neq 1$. First, we consider a perturbative treatment around $\lambda\approx 1$ and find that energies $E_n\propto n^{3/2}$ still holds as $n\to\infty$. To gain further insight into the Landau level structure for a maximum anisotropy, we turn to a semi-classical treatment that reveals interesting star-shaped orbits in phase space that close at infinity. This property is a manifestation of weakly localized states. Despite being infinite in length, these orbits enclose a finite phase space volume and permit finding a simple semi-classical formula for the energy, which again has the form as above. Our findings suggest that both isotropic and anisotropic cubic Dirac semi-metals should leave similar experimental imprints., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures

In the classic Correlation Clustering problem introduced by Bansal, Blum, and Chawla~(FOCS 2002), the input is a complete graph where edges are labeled either $+$ or $-$, and the goal is to find a partition of the vertices that minimizes the sum of the +edges across parts plus the sum of the -edges within parts. In recent years, Chawla, Makarychev, Schramm and Yaroslavtsev~(STOC 2015) gave a 2.06-approximation by providing a near-optimal rounding of the standard LP, and Cohen-Addad, Lee, Li, and Newman~(FOCS 2022, 2023) finally bypassed the integrality gap of 2 for this LP giving a $1.73$-approximation for the problem. In order to create a simple and unified framework for Correlation Clustering similar to those for {\em typical} approximate optimization tasks, we propose the {\em cluster LP} as a strong linear program that might tightly capture the approximability of Correlation Clustering. It unifies all the previous relaxations for the problem. We demonstrate the power of the cluster LP by presenting a simple rounding algorithm, and providing two analyses, one analytically proving a 1.49-approximation and the other solving a factor-revealing SDP to show a 1.437-approximation. Both proofs introduce principled methods by which to analyze the performance of the algorithm, resulting in a significantly improved approximation guarantee. Finally, we prove an integrality gap of $4/3$ for the cluster LP, showing our 1.437-upper bound cannot be drastically improved. Our gap instance directly inspires an improved NP-hardness of approximation with a ratio $24/23 \approx 1.042$; no explicit hardness ratio was known before.

The Loschmidt echo is a popular quantity that allows making predictions about the stability of quantum states under time evolution. In our work, we present an approach that allows us to find a differential equation that can be used to compute the Loschmidt echo. This approach, while in essence perturbative, has the advantage that it converges at finite order. We demonstrate that the approach for generically chosen matrix Hamiltonians often offers advantages over Taylor and cumulant expansions even when we truncate at finite order. We then apply the approach to two ordinary band Hamiltonians (multi-Weyl semimetals and AB bilayer graphene) to obtain the Loschmidt echo after a quench for an arbitrary starting state and find that the results readily generalize to find transmission amplitudes and specific contributions to the partition function, too. We then test our methods on many body spin and fermionic Hamiltonians and find that while the approach still offers advantages, more care has to be taken than in a generic case.

Single photon emitters (SPEs) are a key component for their use as pure photon source in quantum technologies. In this study, we investigate the generation of SPEs from drop-casted hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nanoflakes, examining the influence of the immersion solution and the source of hBN. We show that, depending on the utilized supplier and solution the number and quality of the emitters changes. We perform a comprehensive optical characterization of the deposited nanoflakes to assess the quality of the generated SPEs. We show quantitative data on SPE yields, highlighting significant variations among solvents and different sources of hBN. This holds particular significance for employing drop-casted nanoflakes as SPE sources in quantum communication, sensing, and imaging. Our method is easily expandable to all kinds of surfaces and can be done without requiring complex fabrication steps and equipment, thus providing the necessary scalability required for industrial quantum applications., Comment: 29 pages, 15 figures

Quantum light sources are crucial foundational components for various quantum technology applications. With the rapid development of quantum technology, there has been a growing demand for materials with the capability of hosting quantum emitters. One such material platform uses fluorescent defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) that can host deep sublevels within the bandgap. The localized electron irradiation has shown its effectiveness in generating deep sublevels to induce single emitters in hBN. The question is whether localized (electron beam) irradiation is a reliable tool for creating emitters in other wide bandgap materials and its uniqueness to hBN. Here, we investigate and compare the fabrication of quantum emitters in hBN and exfoliated muscovite mica flakes along with other 3D crystals, such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride, which are known to host quantum emitters. We used our primary fabrication technique of localized electron irradiation using a standard scanning electron microscope. To complement our experimental work, we employed density functional theory simulations to study the atomic structures of defects in mica. While our fabrication technique allows one to create hBN quantum emitters with a high yield and high single photon purity, it is unable to fabricate single emitters in the other solid-state crystals under investigation. This allows us to draw conclusions on the emitter fabrication mechanism in hBN, which could rely on activating pre-existing defects by charge state manipulation. Therefore, we provide an essential step toward the identification of hBN emitters and their formation process.

Noble gas and liquid detectors rely on high chemical purity for successful operation. While gaseous purification has emerged as a reliable method of producing high-purity noble fluids, the requirement for large mass flows drives the development of liquid-phase purification. We constructed a medium-scale liquid argon (LAr) purification system based on a copper catalyst and 4 A molecular sieve capable of purifying 1 t of commercial LAr 5.0 to a long effective triplet lifetime of $\tau_3 \sim 1.3 \mu$s. We further demonstrate that a quenched effective triplet lifetime of $\tau_3 \sim 1 \mu$s, due to contamination by air, can be recovered in loop-mode purification to $\tau_3 \sim 1.3 \mu$s after > 20 volume exchanges., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, contribution to LIDINE2023 v2: Added discussion of N2-trapping capability of purifier. Fixed typos, improved text/figure style, and added a reference

We prove a set of sum rules needed for KK-graviton pair production from matter in orbifolded extra-dimensional models. The sum rules can be found in full generality by considering the properties of solutions to the Sturm-Liouville problem, which describes the wave functions and the masses of the KK-gravitons in four dimensions. They ensure cancellations in the amplitudes of the processes mentioned above which considerably reduce their growth with $s$ in the high-energy limit. This protects extra-dimensional theories from the low-scale unitarity problems that plague other theories with massive spin-2 particles. We argue that such relations are valid for a broader category of models thus generalizing our previous results that were limited to the large $\mu$ limit of the Randall-Sundrum model., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables

We investigate quantum walks which play an important role in the modelling of many phenomena. The detailed and thorough description is given to the discrete quantum walks on a line, where the total quantum state consists of quantum states of the walker and the coin. In addition to the standard walker probability distribution, we introduce the coin probability distribution which gives more complete quantum walk description and novel visualization in terms of the so called polyanders (analogs of trianders in DNA visualization). The methods of final states computation and the Fourier transform are presented for the Hadamard quantum walk., Comment: 12 pages, amslatex

A quantum memory is a crucial keystone for enabling large-scale quantum networks. Applicable to the practical implementation, specific properties, i.e., long storage time, selective efficient coupling with other systems, and a high memory efficiency are desirable. Though many quantum memory systems are developed thus far, none of them can perfectly meet all requirements. This work herein proposes a quantum memory based on color centers in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), where its performance is evaluated based on a simple theoretical model of suitable defects in a cavity. Employing density functional theory calculations, 257 triplet and 211 singlet spin electronic transitions are investigated. Among these defects, it is found that some defects inherit the $\Lambda$ electronic structures desirable for a Raman-type quantum memory and optical transitions can couple with other quantum systems. Further, the required quality factor and bandwidth are examined for each defect to achieve a 95% writing efficiency. Both parameters are influenced by the radiative transition rate in the defect state. In addition, inheriting triplet-singlet spin multiplicity indicates the possibility of being a quantum sensing, in particular, optically detected magnetic resonance. This work therefore demonstrates the potential usage of hBN defects as a quantum memory in future quantum networks., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures

The extremely high pseudo-magnetic field emerging in strained graphene suggests that an oscillating nano-deformation will induce a very high current even without electric bias. In this paper, we demonstrate the sub-terahertz (THz) dynamics of a valley-current and the corresponding charge pumping with a periodically excited nano-bubble. We discuss the amplitude of the pseudo-electric field and investigate the dependence of the pumped valley current on the different parameters of the system. Finally, we report the signature of extra-harmonics generation in the valley current that might lead to potential modern devices development operating in the nonlinear regime, Comment: 7 pages

We first reconsider the mathematical background of superqubit theory and describe important peculiarities of superspaces and supermatrices which are usually out of attention. Then we study states in super Hilbert spaces using super-bra/super-ket formalism in details. The qubit (qudit) and superqubit (superqudit) are defined as linear spans in the corresponding Hilbert subspaces. A new kind of superqubit carring the odd parity is introduced. The multi-superqubit states are studied, and the superconcurrence which distinguishes separable states is proposed.