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Pump-probe methods are a ubiquitous tool in the field of ultrafast dynamic measurements. In recent years, X-ray free-electron laser experiments have gained importance due to their ability to probe with high chemical selectivity and at atomic length scales. To obtain the complete dynamic information, measurements are typically repeated many thousands of times with varying delay and/or fluence settings. This generally necessitates that the sample fully recovers before the subsequent excitation and that probe pulses and the induced dynamic evolution are comparable to each other. These conditions present a significant challenge when the sample fluctuates between different initial states or when it is susceptible to damage. Also, source fluctuations are normally intrinsic to free-electron laser pulses. Here, we present a time-to-space mapping imaging scheme that enables us to record a delay range of several picoseconds as well as a laser fluence range of about one order of magnitude in every single shot of the x-ray probe. This approach can circumvent the aforementioned preconditions. We demonstrate the use of this scheme by mapping the femto- and picosecond dynamics of the optically induced insulator-to-metal Verwey transition in a magnetite thin film. We employ resonant diffraction at the free-electron laser FLASH for probing. The dynamics of the magnetite thin film are found to follow a biexponential decay in line with earlier studies on bulk crystals. By extrapolating our results towards the conditions found at X-ray free-electron lasers with higher energy, we demonstrate that the presented data could be recorded in a single shot., Comment: The following article has been submitted to Structural Dynamics. After it is published, it will be found at https://publishing.aip.org/resources/librarians/products/journals/

We examine a skyrmionium driven over a periodic anisotropy pattern, which consists of disorder free regions and disordered regions. For small defect densities, the skyrmionium flows for an extended range of currents, and there is a critical current above which it transforms into a skyrmion. For increased amounts of quenched disorder, the current needed for the skyrmionium to transform into a skyrmion decreases, and there is a critical disorder density above which a moving skyrmionium is not stable. In the moving state, the skyrmionium to skyrmion transformation leads to a drop in the velocity and the onset of a finite skyrmion Hall angle. We also find a reentrance effect in which the pinned skyrmionium transforms into a skyrmion just above depinning, restabilizes into skyrmionium at larger drives, and becomes unstable again at large currents. We also show that adding a transverse shaking drive can increase the lifetime of a moving skyrmionium by reducing the effect of the pinning in the direction of the drive., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

We consider the driven dynamics of a probe particle moving through an assembly of particles with competing long-range repulsive and short-range attractive interactions, which form crystal, stripe, labyrinth, and bubble states as the ratio of attraction to repulsion is varied. We show that the probe particle exhibits a depinning-like threshold from an elastic regime, where the probe particle is trapped by interactions with the other particles, to a plastic flow regime, where the probe particle can break bonds in the surrounding medium. For a fixed particle density, the depinning threshold and sliding velocity of the probe particle vary nonmonotonically as the attraction term is increased. A velocity minimum appears near the crystal to stripe crossover, and there is a significant increase in the depinning threshold in the bubble regime when the probe particle is strongly confined inside the bubbles. For fixed attractive interaction but increasing particle density, the behavior is also nonmonotonic and there are jumps and drops in the velocity and depinning threshold corresponding to points at which the system transitions between different structures. There are also several distinct flow states that can be characterized by the amount of plastic deformation induced by the probe particle in the surrounding medium. Each flow state generates a different amount of effective drag on the probe particle, and there can be jumps in the velocity-force curve at transitions between the states. We also find that when oriented stripes are present, the probe particle can move along the stripe in an edge transport state that has a finite Hall angle., Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures

Depinning dynamics of a two-dimensional (2D) solid dusty plasma modulated by a one-dimensional (1D) vibrational periodic substrate are investigated using Langevin dynamical simulations. As the uniform driving force increases gradually, from the overall drift velocity varying with the driving force, four significant Shapiro steps are discovered. The data analysis indicate that, when the ratio of the frequency from the drift motion over potential wells to the external frequency from the modulation substrate is close to integers, dynamic mode locking occurs, corresponding to the discovered Shapiro steps. Around both termini of the first and fourth Shapiro steps, the transitions are found to be always continuous, however, the transition between the second and third Shapiro steps is discontinuous, probably due to the different arrangements of particles., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures

The one-dimensional flat-band ferromagnetic Tasaki model exhibits spontaneous symmetry breaking from ${\rm SU}(2)$ to ${\rm U}(1)$ with one type-B Goldstone mode, featuring that the highest weight state is entangled at quarter filling, but there is always a choice to keep the highest weight state unentangled away from quarter filling. It is found that the ground-state degeneracies under both periodic and open boundary conditions constitute essentially the Fibonacci sequences, behaving asymptotically as the golden spiral - a self-similar geometric object. A set of orthonormal basis states are generated from the repeated action of the lowering operator of the symmetry group ${\rm SU}(2)$ on the highest weight state at a specific filling. In particular, it is possible to construct the orthonormal basis states reflecting an abstract fractal underlying the ground-state subspace, which are permutation-invariant away from quarter filling, but not at quarter filling. As a consequence, there exists a singularity that accounts for the emergence of the saturated flat-band ferromagnetism at quarter filling. We perform a systematic finite system-size scaling analysis of the entanglement entropy, thus confirming that it scales logarithmically with the block size in the thermodynamic limit, with the prefactor being half the number of type-B Goldstone modes, for the orthonormal basis states at and away from quarter filling., Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables

O-stars generally show clear signs of strong line-broadening (in addition to rotational broadening) in their photospheric absorption lines (typically referred to as 'macroturbulence'), believed to originate in a turbulent sub-surface zone associated with enhanced opacities due to recombination of iron-group elements (at T~ 150-200 kK). O-stars with detected global magnetic fields also display such macroturbulence; the sole exception to this is NGC 1624-2, which also has the strongest (by far) detected field of the known magnetic O-stars. It has been suggested that this lack of additional line-broadening is because NGC 1624-2's exceptionally strong magnetic field might be able able to suppress the turbulent velocity field generated in the iron opacity peak zone. For moderately strong magnetic cases (~1 kG) the simulated atmospheres are highly structured characterised by large root-mean-square velocities, and our results are qualitatively similar to those found in previous non-magnetic studies. By contrast, we find that a strong horizontal magnetic field in excess of 10 kG can indeed suppress the large velocity fluctuations and thus stabilise (and thereby also inflate) the atmosphere of a typical early O-star in the Galaxy. On the other hand, an equally strong radial field is only able to suppress horizontal motions, and as a consequence these models exhibit significant radial fluctuations. Our simulations provide an overall physical rationale as to why NGC 1624-2 with its strong ~20 kG dipolar field lacks the large macroturbulent line broadening that all other known slowly rotating early O-stars exhibit. However, they also highlight the importance of field geometry for controlling the atmospheric dynamics in massive and luminous stars that are strongly magnetic, tentatively suggesting latitudinal dependence of macroturbulence and basic photospheric parameters., Comment: Accepted for publication at A&A. Abstract has been shortened to comply with Arxiv's abstract character limit

Due to its peculiar and highly variable nature, the blazar 3C 454.3 has been extensively monitored by the WEBT team. Here, we present for the first time these long-term optical flux and color variability results using data acquired in B, V, R, and I bands over a time span of $\sim$ 2 decades. We include data from WEBT collaborators and public archives such as SMARTS, Steward Observatory, and ZTF. The data are binned and segmented to study the source over this long term when more regular sampling was available. During our study, the long-term spectral variability reveals a redder when brighter (RWB) trend, which, however, stabilizes at a particular brightness cutoff $\sim$ 14.5 mag in the I-band, after which it saturates and evolves into a complex state. This trend indicates increasing jet emission dominance over accretion disk emission until jet emission completely dominates. Plots of the spectral index variation (following $F_{\nu} \propto \nu^{-\alpha}$) reveal a bimodal distribution using a one-day binning. These correlate with two extreme phases of 3C 454.3, an outburst or high flux state and quiescent or low flux state, which are respectively jet and accretion disk dominated. We have also conducted intra-day variability studies of nine light curves and found that six of them are variable. Discrete Correlation Function (DCF) analysis between different optical waveband pairs peak at zero lags, indicating co-spatial emission in different optical bands., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables

We compare the driven dynamics of skyrmions, antiskyrmions, and skyrmionium interacting with random disorder, circular defects, and asymmetric potentials. When interacting with a line defect at a constant drive, skyrmions and antiskyrmions show an acceleration effect for motion along the wall and a drop in velocity when they can cross the barrier. In contrast, skyrmionium travels at a reduced velocity when moving along a wall, and exhibits an increase in velocity once it can cross the barrier. For point defects, skyrmionium can be pinned for a finite fixed period of time, while for skyrmions and antiskyrmions, the Magnus force creates a deflection from the defect and an acceleration effect. For a given drive, skyrmionium moves twice as fast as skyrmions; however, skyrmionium is more susceptible to pinning effects than skyrmions and antiskyrmions. Additionally, there is a critical threshold where the skyrmionium transforms to a skyrmion that is associated with a drop in the velocity of the texture. We show that all three textures exhibit diode and ratchet effects when interacting with an asymmetric substrate, but skyrmions and antiskyrmions show a stronger ratcheting effect than skyrmionium due to the Magnus force., Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures

Langevin dynamical simulations are performed to investigate the formation of clusters and voids of a two-dimensional-periodic-substrate (2DPS) modulated two-dimensional dusty plasma (2DDP) driven by an oscillatory force. It is discovered that, as the frequency of the oscillatory force decreases gradually, the substrate-modulated 2DDP undergoes the cyclic transition of the ordered cluster and void phases. Between the observed ordered cluster and void phases, the studied 2DDP exhibits a more uniform arrangement of particles. The discovered cyclic transition is attributed to the symmetry of the time-averaged potential landscape due to the 2DPS in the reference frame of the moving particle, as confirmed by superimposing the particle locations on the effective potential landscape under various conditions., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

We numerically examine a system of monodisperse self-propelled particles interacting with each other via simple steric forces and aligning torques moving through a periodic array of obstacles. Without obstacles, this system shows a transition to a polarized or aligned state for critical alignment parameters. In the presence of obstacles, there is still a polarization transition, but for dense enough arrays, the polarization is locked to the symmetry directions of the substrate. When the obstacle array is made anisotropic, at low densities the particles can form a quasi-isotropic state where the system can be polarized in any of the dominant symmetry directions. For intermediate anisotropy, the particles self-organize into a coherent lane state with one-dimensional polarization. In this phase, a small number of highly packed lanes are adjacent to less dense lanes that have the same polarization, but lanes further away can have the opposite polarization, so that global polarization is lost. For the highest anisotropy, hopping between lanes is suppressed, and the system forms uniformly dense uncoupled but polarized lanes., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

In this paper we use the collapse metric obtained by Carneiro and Fabris to calculate the power spectrum associated to gauge invariant fluctuations of the metric during the formation of a primordial scalar black hole at the end of inflation. We assume that local perturbations in the vacuum energy density can collapse by means of the collapse of the local inflaton field, generating a singularity as shown by Carneiro and Fabris. Employing a representative term of the series expansion of the scale factor we obtain a nearly scale invariant power spectrum for a second order approximation of the scale factor. Thus, the spectrum for scalar black holes obtained can be considered as a correction of the power spectrum of the primordial quantum fluctuations of the inflaton field., Comment: 9 pages, no figures

The advent of high-intensity, high-polarization electron beams led to significantly improved measurements of the ratio of the proton's charge to electric form factors, GEp/GMp. However, high-$Q^2$ measurements yielded significant disagreement with extractions based on unpolarized scattering, raising questions about the reliability of the measurements and consistency of the techniques. Jefferson Lab experiment E01-001 was designed to provide a high-precision extraction of GEp/GMp from unpolarized cross section measurements using a modified version of the Rosenbluth technique to allow for a more precise comparison with polarization data. Conventional Rosenbluth separations detect the scattered electron which requires comparisons of measurements with very different detected electron energy and rate for electrons at different angles. Our Super-Rosenbluth measurement detected the struck proton, rather than the scattered electron, to extract the cross section. This yielded a fixed momentum for the detected particle and dramatically reduced cross section variation, reducing rate- and momentum-dependent corrections and uncertainties. We measure the cross section vs angle with high relative precision, allowing for extremely precise extractions of GEp/GMp at $Q^2$ = 2.64, 3.20, and 4.10 GeV$^2$. Our results are consistent with traditional extractions but with much smaller corrections and systematic uncertainties, comparable to the uncertainties from polarization measurements. Our data confirm the discrepancy between Rosenbluth and polarization extractions of the proton form factor ratio using an improved Rosenbluth extraction that yields smaller and less-correlated uncertainties than typical of previous Rosenbluth extractions. We compare our results to calculations of two-photon exchange effects and find that the observed discrepancy can be relatively well explained by such effects., Comment: 32 pages, 21 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:nucl-ex/0610006

Measurements of the EMC effect in the tritium and helium-3 mirror nuclei are reported. The data were obtained by the MARATHON Jefferson Lab experiment, which performed deep inelastic electron scattering from deuterium and the three-body nuclei, using a cryogenic gas target system and the High Resolution Spectrometers of the Hall A Facility of the Lab. The data cover the Bjorken $x$ range from 0.20 to 0.83, corresponding to a squared four-momentum transfer $Q^2$ range from 2.7 to $11.9\gevsq$, and to an invariant mass $W$ of the final hadronic state greater than 1.84 GeV/${\it c}^2$. The tritium EMC effect measurement is the first of its kind. The MARATHON experimental results are compared to results from previous measurements by DESY-HERMES and JLab-Hall C experiments, as well as with few-body theoretical predictions., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2104.05850

We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate spinor gases driven by spin-flopping fields are excellent platforms for investigating ergodicity breaking and quantum scarring. We observe that specific initial states remain nonthermal at weak driving despite the majority of states thermalizing, which constitutes clear evidence of quantum many-body scars (QMBS). As the driving strength increases, the experimental system undergoes a smooth transition from integrable to weakly ergodicity breaking, which supports QMBS, and then to fully thermal. This is in agreement with the theoretical spectra, which predict towers of states dissolving with increasing driving strength. This work advances the study of QMBS and quantum scars with applications to, e.g., quantum information storage.

Neural network (NN) emulators of the global 21 cm signal need emulation error much less than the observational noise in order to be used to perform unbiased Bayesian parameter inference. To this end, we introduce $\texttt{21cmLSTM}$ -- a long short-term memory (LSTM) NN emulator of the global 21 cm signal that leverages the intrinsic correlation between frequency channels to achieve exceptional accuracy compared to previous emulators, which are all feedforward, fully connected NNs. LSTM NNs are a type of recurrent NN designed to capture long-term dependencies in sequential data. When trained and tested on the same simulated set of global 21 cm signals as the best previous emulators, $\texttt{21cmLSTM}$ has average relative rms error of 0.22% -- equivalently 0.39 mK -- and comparably fast evaluation time. We perform seven-dimensional Bayesian parameter estimation analyses using $\texttt{21cmLSTM}$ to fit global 21 cm signal mock data with different adopted observational noise levels, $\sigma_{21}$. The posterior $1\sigma$ rms error is $\approx3\times$ less than $\sigma_{21}$ for each fit and consistently decreases for tighter noise levels, showing that $\texttt{21cmLSTM}$ can sufficiently exploit even very optimistic measurements of the global 21 cm signal. We made the emulator, code, and data sets publicly available so that $\texttt{21cmLSTM}$ can be independently tested and used to retrain and constrain other 21 cm models., Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables. Accepted by ApJ

Context. Sensitive radio continuum data could remove the difference between the number of known supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Galaxy compared to that expected, but due to confusion in the Galactic plane, faint SNRs can be challenging to distinguish from brighter HII regions and filamentary radio emission. Aims. We wish to exploit new SARAO MeerKAT 1.3 GHz Galactic Plane Survey (SMGPS) radio continuum data, which covers $251\deg \le l \le 358\deg$ and $2\deg \le l \le 61\deg$ at $|b|\le 1.5\deg$, to search for SNR candidates in the Milky Way disk. Methods. We also use MIR data from the Spitzer GLIMPSE, Spitzer MIPSGAL, and WISE surveys to help identify SNR candidates. The identified SNR candidate are sources of extended radio continuum emission that lack MIR counterparts, are not known as HII regions in the WISE Catalog of Galactic HII Regions, and are not known previously as SNRs Results. We locate 237 new Galactic SNR candidates in the SMGPS data. We also identify and confirm the expected radio morphology for 201 objects listed in the literature as being SNRs and 130 previously-identified SNR candidates. The known and candidate SNRs have similar spatial distributions and angular sizes. Conclusions. The SMGPS data allowed us to identify a large population of SNR candidates that can be confirmed as true SNRs using radio polarization measurements or by deriving radio spectral indices. If the 237 candidates are confirmed as true SNRs, it would approximately double the number of known Galactic SNRs in the survey area, alleviating much of the difference between the known and expected populations., Comment: Accepted by A&A. Images and FITS files of each source can be found here: https://doi.org/10.48479/0n8c-5q84

We elaborate on nonmetric geometric flow theory and metric-affine gravity with applications in modern cosmology. Two main motivations for our research follow from the facts that 1) cosmological models for $f(Q)$ modified gravity theories, MGTs, are efficient for describing recent observational data provided by the James Webb Space Telescope; and 2) the statistical thermodynamic properties of such nonmetric locally anisotropic cosmological models can be studied using generalizations of the concept of G. Perelman entropy. We derive nonmetric distorted R. Hamilton and Ricci soliton equations in such canonical nonholonomic variables when corresponding systems of nonlinear PDEs can be decoupled and integrated in general off-diagonal forms. This is possible if we develop and apply the anholonomic frame and connection deformation method involving corresponding types of generating functions and generating sources encoding nonmetric distortions. Using such generic off-diagonal solutions (when the coefficients of metrics and connections may depend generically on all spacetime coordinates), we model accelerating cosmological scenarios with quasi-periodic gravitational and (effective) matter fields; and study topological and nonlinear geometric properties of respective dark energy and dark matter, DE and DM, models. As explicit examples, we analyze some classes of nonlinear symmetries defining topological quasicrystal, QC, phases which can modified to generate other types of quasi-periodic and locally anisotropic structures. The conditions when such nonlinear systems possess a behaviour which is similar to that of the Lambda cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) scenario are stated. We conclude that nonmetric geometric and cosmological flows can be considered as an alternative to the $\Lambda$CDM concordance models and speculate on how such theories can be elaborated., Comment: latex2e, 11pt, 41 pages

We elaborate on a model of nonassociative and noncommutative Einstein--Dirac-Maxwell, EDM, theory determined by star product R-flux deformations in string theory. Solutions for nonassociative EDM systems and physical properties not studied in modern physics. For modifications of the four-dimensional, 4-d, Einstein gravity, we work on conventional nonassociative 8-d phase spaces modelled as star-deformed co-tangent Lorentz bundles. Generalizing the anholonomic frame and connection deformation method, the nonassociative EDM equations are decoupled and integrated in exact and parametric quasi-stationary forms. Corresponding generic off-diagonal metrics are described by nonlinear symmetries and encode nonassociative effective sources and generating functions depending on space and momentum-like coordinates. For respective nonholonomic parameterizations, such solutions describe nonassociative deformations of the Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black holes. A variant of nonassociative phase space wormhole solution with fermions possessing anisotropic polarized masses is also analyzed. We conclude that such phase space physical objects can't be characterized using the concept of Bekenstein-Hawking entropy and show how to compute another type (modified G. Perelman ones) nonassociative geometric and statistical thermodynamic variables., Comment: latex2e, 11 pt, 21 pages

We elaborate on a model of nonassociative and noncommutative gauge gravity for the de Sitter gauge group $SO(4,1)$ embedding extensions of the affine structure group $Af(4,1)$ and the Poincar\'{e} group $ISO(3,1)$. In string theory, such nonassociative gauge gravity theories are determined by star product R-flux deformations. They are new avenues to quantum gravity and geometric and quantum information theories. We analyze physically important and geometric thermodynamic properties of new classes of generic off-diagonal cosmological solitonic solutions encoding nonassociative effective sources. Particularly, we focus on modelling by such solutions of locally anisotropic and inhomogeneous dark matter and dark energy structures generated as nonassociative solitonic hierarchies. Such accelerating cosmological evolution scenarios can't be described in the framework of the Bekenstein-Hawking thermodynamic formalism. This motivates a change in the gravitational thermodynamic paradigm by considering nonassociative and relativistic generalizations of the concept of W-entropy in the theory of Ricci flows. Finally, we compute the corresponding modified G. Perelman's thermodynamic variables and analyze the temperature-like evolution of cosmological constants determined by nonassociative cosmological flows., Comment: latex2e, 11pt, 18pages

A measurement of the double-spin asymmetry from electron-$^{3}$He scattering in the threshold region of two- and three-body breakup of $^{3}$He was performed at Jefferson Lab, for Q$^{2}$ values of 0.1 and 0.2 (GeV/$c$)$^{2}$. The results of this measurement serve as a stringent test of our understanding of few-body systems. When compared with calculations from plane wave impulse approximation and Faddeev theory, we found that the Faddeev calculations, which use modern nuclear potentials and prescriptions for meson-exchange currents, demonstrate an overall good agreement with data.

We numerically study two-dimensional active nematics with periodic activity patterning. For stripes of activity, we observe a transition from two-dimensional to one-dimensional active turbulence as the maximum active force and distance between activity stripes increases, followed by a transition to stable vortices ordered antiferromagnetically along the stripes and ferromagnetically transverse to the stripes. If the stripes are replaced by columns of activity circles, the vortex ordering is lost. A triangular lattice of activity circles can induce the formation of two-dimensional active turbulence. Our results provide a mechanism for inducing non-equilibrium phase transitions in active nematics using activity inhomogeneity, which can be exploited to create activity patterned ordered phases., Comment: 6 + 9 pages, 5 + 3 figures

Future neuromorphic architectures will require millions of artificial synapses, making understanding the physical mechanisms behind their plasticity functionalities mandatory. In this work, we propose a simplified spin memristor, where the resistance can be controlled by magnetic field pulses, based on a Co/Pt multilayer with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy as a synapsis emulator. We demonstrate plasticity and spike time dependence plasticity (STDP) in this device and explored the underlying magnetic mechanisms using Kerr microscopy imaging and Hall magneto-transport measurements. A well-defined threshold for magnetization reversal and the continuous resistance states associated with the micromagnetic configuration are the basic properties allowing plasticity and STDP learning mechanisms in this device., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures research paper

We show that a variety of non-monotonic ratchet effects can arise when mesophase pattern-forming systems, which exhibit anisotropic crystal, stripe, and bubble reigmes, are coupled to one-dimensional asymmetric substrates under ac driving. The ratchet efficiency and direction of motion are determined by how well the mesophase morphology matches the periodicity and shape of the substrate. Stripe states that are aligned with the substrate show the strongest ratchet effect, large bubbles show a weak ratchet effect, and small bubbles show a strong ratchet effect with an efficiency that oscillates as a function of ac drive amplitude. We map out the different rectification phases as a function of the pattern morphology, substrate strength, and ac drive amplitude. The pronounced ratchet effects that we observe in some regimes can be exploited for pattern sorting in hard and soft matter systems., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 2 supplemental pages

We compare the dynamical behavior of magnetic skyrmions interacting with square and triangular defect arrays just above commensuration using both an atomistic model and a particle-based model. Under an applied drive, the initial motion is a kink traveling through the pinned skyrmion lattice. For the square defect array, both models agree well and show a regime in which the soliton motion is locked along 45$^\circ$. The atomistic model also produces locking of a soliton along 30$^\circ$, while the particle-based model does not. For the triangular defect array, the atomistic model exhibits soliton motion locked to 30$^\circ$ over a wide region of external driving force values. In contrast, the particle-based model gives soliton motion locked to 45$^\circ$ over only a small range of external driving force values. The difference arises because the nondeforming particle model facilitates meandering skyrmion orbits while the deformable atomistic model enables stronger skyrmion-skyrmion interactions that reduce the meandering. Our results indicate that soliton motion through pinned skyrmion lattices on a periodic substrate is a robust effect and could open the possibility of using solitons as information carriers. Our results also provide a better understanding of the regimes for which particle-based models of skyrmions are best suited., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

We have measured the flavor dependence of multiplicities for pi^+ and pi^- production in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (SIDIS) on proton and deuteron targets to explore a possible charge symmetry violation in fragmentation functions. The experiment used an electron beam with energies of 10.2 and 10.6 GeV at Jefferson Lab and the Hall-C spectrometers. The electron kinematics spanned the range 0.3

MICADO is a first light instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), set to start operating later this decade. It will provide diffraction limited imaging, astrometry, high contrast imaging, and long slit spectroscopy at near-infrared wavelengths. During the initial phase operations, adaptive optics (AO) correction will be provided by its own natural guide star wavefront sensor. In its final configuration, that AO system will be retained and complemented by the laser guide star multi-conjugate adaptive optics module MORFEO (formerly known as MAORY). Among many other things, MICADO will study exoplanets, distant galaxies and stars, and investigate black holes, such as Sagittarius A* at the centre of the Milky Way. After their final design phase, most components of MICADO have moved on to the manufacturing and assembly phase. Here we summarize the final design of the instrument and provide an overview about its current manufacturing status and the timeline. Some lessons learned from the final design review process will be presented in order to help future instrumentation projects to cope with the challenges arising from the substantial differences between projects for 8-10m class telescopes (e.g. ESO-VLT) and the next generation Extremely Large Telescopes (e.g. ESO-ELT). Finally, the expected performance will be discussed in the context of the current landscape of astronomical observatories and instruments. For instance, MICADO will have similar sensitivity as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), but with six times the spatial resolution., Comment: Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 13096, id. 1309611 11 pp. (2024)

Using atomistic simulations, we investigate the dynamical behavior of magnetic skyrmions in dimer and trimer molecular crystal arrangements, as well as bipartite lattices at 3/2 and 5/2 fillings, under ac driving over a square array of anisotropy defects. For low ac amplitudes, at all fillings we find reversible motion where the skyrmions return to their original positions at the end of each ac drive cycle and the diffusion is zero. We also identify two distinct irreversible regimes. The first is a translating regime in which the skyrmions form channels of flow in opposing directions and translate by one substrate lattice constant per ac drive cycle. The translating state appears in the dimer and trimer states, and produces pronounced peaks in the diffusivity in the direction perpendicular to the external drive. For larger ac amplitudes, we find chaotic irreversible motion in which the skyrmions can randomly exchange places with each other over time, producing long-time diffusive behavior both parallel and perpendicular to the ac driving direction., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures

We develop an approximate, analytical model for the velocity of defects in active nematics by combining recent results for the velocity of topological defects in nematic liquid crystals with the flow field generated from individual defects in active nematics. Importantly, our model takes into account the long-range interactions between defects that result from the flows they produce as well as the orientational coupling between defects inherent in nematics. Our work complements previous studies of active nematic defect motion by introducing a linear approximation that allows us to treat defect interactions as two-body interactions and incorporates the hydrodynamic screening length as a tuning parameter. We show that the model can analytically predict bound states between two $+1/2$ winding number defects, effective attraction between two $-1/2$ defects, and the scaling of a critical unbinding length between $\pm 1/2$ defects with activity. The model also gives predictions for the trajectories of defects, such as the scattering of $+1/2$ defects by $-1/2$ defects at a critical impact parameter that depends on activity. In the presence of circular confinement, the model predicts a braiding motion for three $+1/2$ defects that was recently seen in experiments, as well as stable and ergodic trajectories for four or more defects., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures

Using atomistic simulations, we show that new types of skyrmion states called skyrmion molecular crystals and skyrmion superlattices can be realized on triangular substrates when there are two or three skyrmions per substrate minimum. We find that as a function of the magnetic field and substrate periodicity, a remarkably wide variety of ordered phases appear similar to those found in colloidal or Wigner molecular crystals, including ferromagnetic and herringbone states. The ability of the skyrmions to annihilate, deform, and change size gives rise to a variety of superlattice states in which a mixture of different skyrmion sizes and shapes produces bipartate or more complex lattice structures. Our results are relevant for skyrmions on structured triangular substrates, in magnetic arrays, or skyrmions in moire materials., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

We constrain wind parameters of a sample of 18 O-type stars in the LMC, through analysis with stellar atmosphere and wind models including the effects of optically thick clumping. This allows us to determine the most accurate spectroscopic mass-loss and wind structure properties of massive stars at sub-solar metallicity to date and gain insight into the impact of metallicity on massive stellar winds. Combining high signal to noise (S/N) ratio spectroscopy in the UV and optical gives us access to diagnostics of multiple different physical processes in the stellar wind. We produce synthetic spectra using the stellar atmosphere modelling code FASTWIND, and reproduce the observed spectra using a genetic algorithm based fitting technique. We empirically constrain 15 physical parameters associated with the stellar and wind properties, including temperature, surface gravity, surface abundances, rotation, macroturbulence and wind parameters. We find, on average, mass-loss rates a factor of 4-5 lower than those predicted by Vink et al. 2001, in good agreement with predictions from Bjorklund et al. 2021, and the best agreement with those from Krticka et al. 2018. In the 'weak-wind' regime we find mass-loss rates orders of magnitude below any theoretical predictions. We find a positive correlation of clumping factors (fcl) with effective temperature with an average fcl = 14 +- 8 for the full sample. Above 38 kK an average 46 +- 24% of the wind velocity span is covered by clumps and the interclump density is 10-30% of the mean wind. Below an effective temperature of roughly 38 kK there must be additional light leakage for supergiants. For dwarf stars at low temperatures there is a statistical preference for very low clump velocity spans, however it is unclear if this can be physically motivated as there are no clearly observable wind signatures in UV diagnostics., Comment: 12 pages with 6 figures, plus 16 pages and 18 figures in appendix. Accepted for publication in A&A

We numerically examine the depinning, sliding, and melting of commensurate and incommensurate Wigner crystals on two-dimensional hexagonal periodic substrates near fillings of 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3 to model the dynamics of generalized Wigner crystals in moire heterostructures. At low temperatures where thermal fluctuations are irrelevant, for commensurate fillings we find a strongly pinned state that depins into a sliding crystal, while at incommensurate fillings, the depinning threshold is strongly reduced. For fillings below 1/2, the depinning occurs in a two-step process. Above the first depinning threshold, there is an extended range of drives where the conduction occurs via the sliding of anti-kinks along the charge stripes, followed by a second threshold where all of the charges begin to slide. At finite temperatures, the external driving reduces the effective melting temperature at commensurate fillings and enhances creep at incommensurate fillings. We show that depinning into different sliding states, such as moving fluids or moving crystals, produces nonlinear features in the transport curves. We also show that transport is asymmetric on either side of a commensurate filling due to the different dynamics for interstitials versus holes in the commensurate structure. A variety of sliding states should be accessible for generalized Wigner crystals at finite temperatures even for low drives. If experiments can realize sliding dynamics in moire systems, it would open a new class of commensurate and incommensurate phases for study. Additionally, the sliding dynamics and anti-kink flow could provide new functionalities for charge transport in moire heterostructures., Comment: 14 pages, 22 figures

The Carbon monOxide Mapping Array Project (COMAP) Pathfinder survey continues to demonstrate the feasibility of line-intensity mapping using high-redshift carbon monoxide (CO) line emission traced at cosmological scales. The latest COMAP Pathfinder power spectrum analysis is based on observations through the end of Season 2, covering the first three years of Pathfinder operations. We use our latest constraints on the CO(1-0) line-intensity power spectrum at $z\sim3$ to update corresponding constraints on the cosmological clustering of CO line emission and thus the cosmic molecular gas content at a key epoch of galaxy assembly. We first mirror the COMAP Early Science interpretation, considering how Season 2 results translate to limits on the shot noise power of CO fluctuations and the bias of CO emission as a tracer of the underlying dark matter distribution. The COMAP Season 2 results place the most stringent limits on the CO tracer bias to date, at $\langle{Tb}\rangle<4.8$ $\mu$K. These limits narrow the model space significantly compared to previous CO line-intensity mapping results while maintaining consistency with small-volume interferometric surveys of resolved line candidates. The results also express a weak preference for CO emission models used to guide fiducial forecasts from COMAP Early Science, including our data-driven priors. We also consider directly constraining a model of the halo-CO connection, and show qualitative hints of capturing the total contribution of faint CO emitters through the improved sensitivity of COMAP data. With continued observations and matching improvements in analysis, the COMAP Pathfinder remains on track for a detection of cosmological clustering of CO emission., Comment: 9 pages + bibliography and appendices (13 pages total); 9 figures, 1 table; v2 reflects minor changes made for version submitted to A&A, with no changes to top-line results

We present updated constraints on the cosmological 3D power spectrum of carbon monoxide CO(1-0) emission in the redshift range $2.4$-$3.4$. The constraints are derived from the two first seasons of Carbon monOxide Mapping Array Project (COMAP) Pathfinder line-intensity mapping observations aiming to trace star-formation during the Epoch of Galaxy Assembly. These results improve on the previous Early Science (ES) results through both increased data volume and improved data processing methodology. On the methodological side, we now perform cross-correlations between groups of detectors (''feed-groups''), as opposed to cross-correlations between single feeds, and this new feed-group pseudo power spectrum (FGPXS) is constructed to be more robust against systematic effects. In terms of data volume, the effective mapping speed is significantly increased due to an improved observational strategy as well as better data selection methodology. The updated spherically- and field-averaged FGPXS, $\tilde{C}(k)$, is consistent with zero, at a probability-to-exceed of around $34\,\%$, with an excess of $2.7\,\sigma$ in the most sensitive bin. Our power spectrum estimate is about an order of magnitude more sensitive in our six deepest bins across ${0.09\,\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1} < k < 0.73\,\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}}$, as compared to the feed-feed pseudo power spectrum (FPXS) of COMAP ES. Each of these bins individually constrains the CO power spectrum to ${kP_\mathrm{CO}(k)< 2400-4900\,\mathrm{\mu K^2 Mpc^{2}}}$ at $95\,\%$ confidence. To monitor potential contamination from residual systematic effects, we analyze a set of 312 difference-map null tests and find that these are consistent with the instrumental noise prediction. In sum, these results provide the strongest direct constraints on the cosmological 3D CO(1-0) power spectrum published to date., Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, v3 reflects changes made for version accepted and published by Astronomy and Astrophysics, no change to final results

The CO Mapping Array Project (COMAP) Pathfinder is performing line intensity mapping of CO emission to trace the distribution of unresolved galaxies at redshift $z \sim 3$. We present an improved version of the COMAP data processing pipeline and apply this to the first two seasons of observations. This analysis improves on the COMAP Early Science (ES) results in several key aspects. On the observational side, all second season scans were made in constant-elevation mode, after noting that the previous Lissajous scans were associated with increased systematic errors; those scans accounted for 50% of the total Season 1 data volume. Secondly, all new observations were restricted to an elevation range of 35-65 degrees, to minimize sidelobe ground pickup. On the data processing side, more effective data cleaning in both the time- and map-domain has allowed us to eliminate all data-driven power spectrum-based cuts. This increases the overall data retention and reduces the risk of signal subtraction bias. On the other hand, due to the increased sensitivity, two new pointing-correlated systematic errors have emerged, and we introduce a new map-domain PCA filter to suppress these. Subtracting only 5 out of 256 PCA modes, we find that the standard deviation of the cleaned maps decreases by 67% on large angular scales, and after applying this filter, the maps appear consistent with instrumental noise. Combining all these improvements, we find that each hour of raw Season 2 observations yields on average 3.2 times more cleaned data compared to ES analysis. Combining this with the increase in raw observational hours, the effective amount of data available for high-level analysis is a factor of 8 higher than in ES. The resulting maps have reached an uncertainty of $25$-$50\,\mu K$ per voxel, providing by far the strongest constraints on cosmological CO line emission published to date., Comment: 22 pages, 22 figures, 2 tables, v3 reflects changes made for version accepted and published by Astronomy and Astrophysics, no change to final results