Precise modeling of detector energy response is crucial for next-generation neutrino experiments which present computational challenges due to lack of analytical likelihoods. We propose a solution using neural likelihood estimation within the simulation-based inference framework. We develop two complementary neural density estimators that model likelihoods of calibration data: conditional normalizing flows and a transformer-based regressor. We adopt JUNO - a large neutrino experiment - as a case study. The energy response of JUNO depends on several parameters, all of which should be tuned, given their non-linear behavior and strong correlations in the calibration data. To this end, we integrate the modeled likelihoods with Bayesian nested sampling for parameter inference, achieving uncertainties limited only by statistics with near-zero systematic biases. The normalizing flows model enables unbinned likelihood analysis, while the transformer provides an efficient binned alternative. By providing both options, our framework offers flexibility to choose the most appropriate method for specific needs. Finally, our approach establishes a template for similar applications across experimental neutrino and broader particle physics.

Asymptotic Safety offers a conservative and predictive framework for quantum gravity, based on the existence of a renormalization group fixed point that ensures ultraviolet completeness without introducing new degrees of freedom. Black holes provide a natural arena in which to explore the implications of this scenario, as they probe the strongest gravitational fields and highlight the shortcomings of classical general relativity. In recent years, a variety of quantum-corrected black-hole solutions have been constructed within the Asymptotic Safety approach, either by renormalization-group improvement of classical metrics or through effective actions inspired by the flow of couplings. This review summarizes the current status of these developments. We discuss the structure and properties of the proposed solutions, their thermodynamics and evaporation, and their dynamical aspects such as quasinormal modes and shadows.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has unveiled a population of unexpectedly massive and luminous galaxies at redshifts $z \gtrsim 7$, posing a significant challenge to the standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmological paradigm. In this work, we address the tension between early JWST observations of luminous high-redshift galaxies and predictions of the standard $\Lambda$CDM model by revisiting the physics of dark matter halo formation. Employing refined halo mass functions derived by Del Popolo \textit{et al.} (DP1 and DP2) that incorporate angular momentum, dynamical friction, and redshift-dependent collapse barriers, we demonstrate a significant enhancement in the abundance of massive halos at $z \gtrsim 7$ compared to the conventional Sheth-Tormen (ST) formalism. Using a semi-empirical framework linking halo mass to UV luminosity, we show that the DP2 model reproduces the observed UV luminosity functions from $z = 7$ to $14$ with moderate star formation efficiencies, whereas the ST model requires implausibly high efficiencies. Our results suggest that the JWST overabundance problem stems not from new physics beyond $\Lambda$CDM, but from oversimplified treatments of gravitational collapse, highlighting the critical role of small-scale dissipative dynamics in early structure formation.

In this paper we present a multigrid approach to solve the Poisson equation in arbitrary domain (identified by a level set function) and mixed boundary conditions. The discretization is based on finite difference scheme and ghost-cell method. This multigrid strategy can be applied also to more general problems where a non-eliminated boundary condition approach is used. Arbitrary domain make the definition of the restriction operator for boundary conditions hard to find. A suitable restriction operator is provided in this work, together with a proper treatment of the boundary smoothing, in order to avoid degradation of the convergence factor of the multigrid due to boundary effects. Several numerical tests confirm the good convergence property of the new method.

A common feature of regular black hole spacetimes is the presence of an inner Cauchy horizon. The analogy to the Reissner-Nordström solution then suggests that these geometries suffer from a mass-inflation effect, rendering the Cauchy horizon unstable. Recently, it was shown that this analogy fails for certain classes of regular black holes, including the Hayward solution, where the late-time behavior of the mass function no longer grows exponentially but follows a power law. In this work, we extend these results in a two-fold way. First, we determine the basin-of-attraction for the power-law attractor, showing that the tamed growth of the mass function is generic. Second, we extend the systematic analysis to the Bardeen geometry, the Dymnikova black hole, and a spacetime arising from a non-singular collapse model newly proposed in the context of asymptotically safe quantum gravity. Remarkably, in the latter solution, the Misner-Sharp mass at the Cauchy horizon remains of the same order of magnitude of the mass of the black hole, since its growth is just logarithmic.

As the increasing complexity of large-scale research requires the combined efforts of scientists with expertise in different fields, the advantages and costs of interdisciplinary scholarship have taken center stage in current debates on scientific production. Here we conduct a comparative assessment of the scientific success of specialized and interdisciplinary researchers in modern science. Drawing on comprehensive data sets on scientific production, we propose a two-pronged approach to interdisciplinarity. For each scientist, we distinguish between background interdisciplinarity, rooted in knowledge accumulated over time, and social interdisciplinarity, stemming from exposure to collaborators' knowledge. We find that, while abandoning specialization in favor of moderate degrees of background interdisciplinarity deteriorates performance, very interdisciplinary scientists outperform specialized ones, at all career stages. Moreover, successful scientists tend to intensify the heterogeneity of collaborators and to match the diversity of their network with the diversity of their background. Collaboration sustains performance by facilitating knowledge diffusion, acquisition and creation. Successful scientists tend to absorb a larger fraction of their collaborators' knowledge, and at a faster pace, than less successful ones. Collaboration also provides successful scientists with opportunities for the cross-fertilization of ideas and the synergistic creation of new knowledge. These results can inspire scientists to shape successful careers, research institutions to develop effective recruitment policies, and funding agencies to award grants of enhanced impact.

Regular black hole spacetimes are obtained from an effective Lagrangian for Quantum Einstein Gravity. The interior matter is modeled as a dust fluid, which interacts with the geometry through a multiplicative coupling function denoted as $\chi$. The specific functional form of $\chi$ is deduced from Asymptotically Safe gravity, under the key assumption that the Reuter fixed point remains minimally affected by the presence of matter. As a consequence the gravitational coupling vanishes at high energies. The static exterior geometry of the black hole is entirely determined by the junction conditions at the boundary surface. Consequently, the resulting global spacetime geometry remains devoid of singularities at all times. This result offers a novel perspective on regular black holes in Asymptotically Safe gravity.

We present optical and near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy of SN 2009ib, a Type II-P supernova in NGC 1559. This object has moderate brightness, similar to those of the intermediate-luminosity SNe 2008in and 2009N. Its plateau phase is unusually long, lasting for about 130 days after explosion. The spectra are similar to those of the subluminous SN 2002gd, with moderate expansion velocities. We estimate the $^{56}$Ni mass produced as $0.046 \pm 0.015\,{\rm M}_{\sun}$. We determine the distance to SN 2009ib using both the expanding photosphere method (EPM) and the standard candle method. We also apply EPM to SN 1986L, a type II-P SN that exploded in the same galaxy. Combining the results of different methods, we conclude the distance to NGC 1559 as $D=19.8 \pm 3.0$ Mpc. We examine archival, pre-explosion images of the field taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, and find a faint source at the position of the SN, which has a yellow colour ($(V-I)_0 = 0.85$ mag). Assuming it is a single star, we estimate its initial mass as $M_{\rm ZAMS}=20\,{\rm M}_{\sun}$. We also examine the possibility, that instead of the yellow source the progenitor of SN 2009ib is a red supergiant star too faint to be detected. In this case we estimate the upper limit for the initial zero-age main sequence mass of the progenitor to be $\sim 14-17\,{\rm M}_{\sun}$. In addition, we infer the physical properties of the progenitor at the explosion via hydrodynamical modelling of the observables, and estimate the total energy as $\sim 0.55 \times 10^{51}$~erg, the pre-explosion radius as $\sim 400\,{\rm R}_{\sun}$, and the ejected envelope mass as$\sim 15\,{\rm M}_{\sun}$, which implies that the mass of the progenitor before explosion was $\sim 16.5-17\,{\rm M}_{\sun}$.

Identifying patterns of relations among the units of a complex system from measurements of their activities in time is a fundamental problem with many practical applications. Here, we introduce a method that detects dependencies of any order in multivariate time series data. The method first transforms a multivariate time series into a symbolic sequence, and then extract statistically significant strings of symbols through a Bayesian approach. Such motifs are finally modelled as the hyperedges of a hypergraph, allowing us to use network theory to study higher-order interactions in the original data. When applied to neural and social systems, our method reveals meaningful higher-order dependencies, highlighting their importance in both brain function and social behaviour.

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a multi-purpose, large size, liquid scintillator experiment under construction in China. JUNO will perform leading measurements detecting neutrinos from different sources (reactor, terrestrial and astrophysical neutrinos) covering a wide energy range (from 200 keV to several GeV). This paper focuses on the design and development of a test protocol for the 20-inch PMT underwater readout electronics, performed in parallel to the mass production line. In a time period of about ten months, a total number of 6950 electronic boards were tested with an acceptance yield of 99.1%.

We present results from the Jefferson Lab E08-014 experiment, investigating short-range correlations (SRC) through measurements of absolute inclusive quasi-elastic cross sections and their ratios. This study utilized 3.356 GeV electrons scattered off targets including $^2$H, $^3$He, $^4$He, $^{12}$C, $^{40}$Ca, and $^{48}$Ca, at modest momentum transfers (1.3 < Q^2 \leq 2 GeV$^2$). Kinematics were selected to enhance the cross-section contribution from high-momentum nucleons originating from the strongly interacting, short-distance components of two-nucleon SRCs (2N-SRCs), known to exhibit a universal structure across both light and heavy nuclei.We analyzed the A/$^2$H ratio within the region dominated by 2N-SRCs to characterize the nuclear dependence of SRC contributions across various nuclei. Additionally, the A/$^3$He ratio was examined at kinematics sensitive to nucleons with even higher momentum, aiming to identify signals indicative of three-nucleon SRCs (3N-SRCs). The traditional analysis method in the expected 3N-SRC region ($x > 2$) did not yield a clear plateau; instead, the data diverged from the predicted 3N-SRC behavior as momentum transfer increased. However, when analyzed in terms of the struck nucleon's light-cone momentum, the data exhibited the opposite trend, progressively approaching the predicted 3N-SRC plateau. These observations suggest that future measurements at higher energies may facilitate a definitive isolation and identification of 3N-SRCs.

We investigate the perturbative structure of the proper time renormalization group flow in scalar and Yang-Mills theories. Although the PT flow does not belong to the class of exact functional renormalization group equations, we show that it correctly reproduces the universal coefficients of the $\beta$-functions at one and two loops. For the ${\rm O(N)}$ scalar theory, we derive the one- and two-loop contributions to the running quartic coupling and also confirm the expected anomalous dimension. For the ${\rm SU(N)}$ Yang-Mills theory, using the background field method, we compute the gauge coupling renormalization recovering the correct two-loop $\beta$-function without generating any gauge-symmetry-violating term. These results highlight that, despite its limitations for reconstructing the full effective action, the PT flow retains the essential universal content of renormalization, accounting for its reliability in diverse applications ranging from statistical models to quantum gravity.

Ultrastrong coupling may allow faster operations for the development of quantum technologies at the expenses of increased sensitivity to new kind of intrinsic errors. We study state transfer in superconducting circuit QED architectures in the ultrastrong coupling regime. Using optimal control methods we find a protocol resilient to the main source of errors, coming from the interplay of the dynamical Casimir effect with cavity losses.

We investigate Josephson transport in a fully closed, two-dimensional superfluid circuit formed by a ring-shaped 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate that contains two optical barriers acting as movable weak links. Translating these barriers at controlled speeds imposes a steady bias current, enabling direct mapping of the current-chemical-potential (I-{\Delta}{\mu}) characteristics. For narrow junctions (w \approx 1{\mu}m) the circuit exhibits a pronounced dc branch that terminates at a critical current I_c = 9(1) x 10^3 s^{-1}; above this threshold the system switches to an ac, resistive regime. Classical-field simulations that include the moving barriers quantitatively reproduce both the nonlinear I-{\Delta}{\mu} curve and the measured I_c, validating the underlying microscopic picture. Analysis of the ensuing phase dynamics shows that dissipation is mediated by the nucleation and traversal of vortex-antivortex pairs through the junctions, while the bulk condensate remains globally phase-locked \textemdash direct evidence of the ring's topological constraint enforcing quantized circulation. These results establish a cold-atom analogue of a SQUID in which Josephson dynamics can be resolved at the single-vortex level, providing a versatile platform for atomtronic circuit elements, non-reciprocal Josephson devices, and on-chip Sagnac interferometers for multi-axis rotation sensing.

We introduce and validate a machine-learning assisted quantum sensing protocol to classify spatial and temporal correlations of classical noise affecting two ultrastrongly coupled qubits. We consider six distinct classes of Markovian and non-Markovian noise. Leveraging the sensitivity of a coherent population transfer protocol under three distinct driving conditions, the various forms of noise are discriminated by only measuring the final transfer efficiencies. Our approach achieves $\gtrsim 86\%$ accuracy in classification providing a near-perfect discrimination between Markovian and non-Markovian noise. The method requires minimal experimental resources, relying on a simple driving scheme providing three inputs to a shallow neural network with no need of measuring time-series data or real-time monitoring. The machine-learning data analysis acquires information from non-idealities of the coherent protocol highlighting how combining these techniques may significantly improve the characterization of quantum-hardware.

We investigate the transition from weak-link transport to the tunneling Josephson regime in a three-dimensional (3D) Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a cylindrical, tube-like trap. By varying the height of a localized barrier, we map out the smooth crossover between these regimes through measurements of the critical current and Josephson oscillations. In the weak-link regime of the Josephson junction, dissipative transport is mediated by solitonic excitations in the form of vortex rings, which drive phase slips and generate a finite chemical potential difference across the junction. Increasing the barrier height suppresses these hydrodynamics excitations, yielding a tunneling-dominated Josephson regime characterized by phononic excitations. These findings elucidate the interplay between geometry, excitations, and dissipation in atomtronic weak links, and provide a quantitative framework for engineering coherent matter-wave circuits. Our results show excellent agreement with numerical simulations and analytical models.

The measurement of the flux of muons produced in cosmic ray air showers is essential for the study of primary cosmic rays. Such measurements are important in extensive air shower detectors to assess the energy spectrum and the chemical composition of the cosmic ray flux, complementary to the information provided by fluorescence detectors. Detailed simulations of the cosmic ray air showers are carried out, using codes such as CORSIKA, to estimate the muon flux at sea level. These simulations are based on the choice of hadronic interaction models, for which improvements have been implemented in the post-LHC era. In this work, a deficit in simulations that use state-of-the-art QCD models with respect to the measurement deep underwater with the KM3NeT neutrino detectors is reported. The KM3NeT/ARCA and KM3NeT/ORCA neutrino telescopes are sensitive to TeV muons originating mostly from primary cosmic rays with energies around 10 TeV. The predictions of state-of-the-art QCD models show that the deficit with respect to the data is constant in zenith angle; no dependency on the water overburden is observed. The observed deficit at a depth of several kilometres is compatible with the deficit seen in the comparison of the simulations and measurements at sea level.

Many real-world complex systems consist of a set of elementary units connected by relationships of different kinds. All such systems are better described in terms of multiplex networks, where the links at each layer represent a different type of interaction between the same set of nodes, rather than in terms of (single-layer) networks. In this paper we present a general framework to describe and study multiplex networks, whose links are either unweighted or weighted. In particular we propose a series of measures to characterize the multiplexicity of the systems in terms of: i) basic node and link properties such as the node degree, and the edge overlap and reinforcement, ii) local properties such as the clustering coefficient and the transitivity, iii) global properties related to the navigability of the multiplex across the different layers. The measures we introduce are validated on a genuine multiplex data set of Indonesian terrorists, where information among 78 individuals are recorded with respect to mutual trust, common operations, exchanged communications and business relationships.

We discuss two models of opinion dynamics. First wepresent a brief review of the Hegselmann and Krause (HK) compromise model in two dimensions, showing that it is possible to simulate the dynamics in the limit of an infinite number of agents by solving numerically a rate equation for a continuum distribution of opinions. Then, we discuss the Opinion Changing Rate (OCR) model, which allows to study under which conditions a group of agents with a different natural tendency (rate) to change opinion can find the agreement. In the context of the this model, consensus is viewed as a synchronization process.

We study the effect of the nucleon-nucleon-lambda (NN$\Lambda$) three-body force on neutron stars. In particular, we consider the NN$\Lambda$ force recently derived by the Jülich--Bonn--Munich group within the framework of chiral effective field theory at next-to-next-to-leading order. This force, together with realistic nucleon-nucleon, nucleon-nucleon-nucleon and nucleon-hyperon interactions, is used to calculate the equation of state and the structure of neutron stars within the many-body non-relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach. Our results show that the inclusion of the NN$\Lambda$ force leads to an equation of state stiff enough such that the resulting neutron star maximum mass is compatible with the largest currently measured ($\sim 2\ M_\odot$) neutron star masses. Using a perturbative many-body approach we calculate also the separation energy of the $\Lambda$ in some hypernuclei finding that the agreement with the experimental data improves for the heavier ones when the effect of the NN$\Lambda$ force is taken into account.