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At least 415 records · Page 23

On FIRE mode in KSTAR

We report on the status of Fast Ion Regulated Enhancement (FIRE) mode experiments in the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research. This regime is being developed for high-performance, steady-state operation which features a stationary ion internal transport barrier, enabling a central ion temperature approaching 10 keV to be sustained for up to 50 s, without the need for delicate profile control and with no significant impurity accumulation. As its key novelty lies in the significant contribution of fast ions that stabilize core turbulence, the regime has been named FIRE mode. To achieve this regime, neutral beam injection is applied at moderate power levels near the L–H power threshold, while maintaining low plasma density to avoid the L–H transition. The scenario is typically established in diverted magnetic configurations. The core features of FIRE mode were investigated through power balance analysis and fluctuation measurements, revealing a clear transport bifurcation in the ion channel. At the plasma edge, FIRE mode occasionally exhibits I-mode characteristics, particularly in unfavorable magnetic null configurations with q 95 ∼ 4, including the presence of weakly coherent modes. In terms of MHD activity, sawtooth oscillations are observed but appear to be stabilized during the high-performance phase. Fast ion-driven Alfvénic eigenmodes (AEs), indicated by strong frequency chirping near 200 kHz, are also observed. Additionally, lower-frequency MHD activities, distinct from the fast ion-driven AEs, are present and have some influence on plasma performance. The enhancement of core confinement is primarily attributed to fast ion effects, which were evaluated with respect to dilution, alpha stabilization, and resonant interactions with turbulence using gyrokinetic analyses. Among these, the dilution effect was found to be the most dominant. The characteristics of FIRE mode were compared with those of other hot ion plasma scenarios, such as supershot and hot ion mode. While they share many similarities, FIRE mode is distinguished by the accessibility to conditions with T i ≈ T e , presence of I-mode edge features, and its long-duration sustainment. Predictive simulations of FIRE mode were performed using integrated transport modeling with TRIASSIC, employing the TGLF anomalous transport model. These simulations confirmed the critical role of fast ions in achieving this regime. The future prospect of FIRE mode for application in fusion reactors is discussed, with an emphasis on possibly extending the regime to higher density operation.

FIRE mode↗

Overview of ST40 results and future: expanding the physics basis of high-field spherical tokamaks

The goal of the ST40 programme is to explore the physics of high-field spherical tokamaks (STs), to validate empirical and theoretical models and, hence, to build confidence in predictions required to support the design of future generations of STs. ST40 is a compact high-field ST that has achieved the following parameters: R 0 = 0.4–0.55 m, I p = 0.20–0.85 MA, B t (R= 0.4 m) = 0.7–2.1 T, κ ⩽ 1.9, and A = 1.6–1.9. Highlights of recent experimental results include (i) H-mode and confinement studies at B t ⩽ 2.1 T, (ii) observation of bifurcation of the scrape-off-layer power fall-off width, λ q , into a ‘wide’ branch that follows existing H-mode scalings and a ‘narrow’ branch that exhibits λ q values that are up to 10 times lower than the predictions of established scalings, (iii) development of high-performance scenarios with plasma current, I p , up to 0.85 MA, (iv) development of highly non-inductive scenarios with high β p , and (v) the first ST40 experiments utilising the newly commissioned impurity powder dropper. The work on all these topics has been supported by a number of advancements in ST40 hardware and software, from plasma control to data analysis and interpretation. At the end of 2025, ST40 embarked on a major upgrade to further expand its capabilities by introducing, among other improvements, all-metal plasma-facing components, 1 MW of electron cyclotron heating, a pellet injector, and a pair of lithium evaporators for wall conditioning.

confinement↗

3-regular three-XORSAT planted solutions benchmark of classical and quantum heuristic optimizers

With current semiconductor technology reaching its physical limits, special-purpose hardware has emerged as an option to tackle specific computing-intensive challenges. Optimization in the form of solving quadratic unconstrained binary optimization problems, or equivalently Ising spin glasses, has been the focus of several new dedicated hardware platforms. These platforms come in many different flavors, from highly-efficient hardware implementations on digital-logic of established algorithms to proposals of analog hardware implementing new algorithms. In this work, we use a mapping of a specific class of linear equations whose solutions can be found efficiently, to a hard constraint satisfaction problem (three-regular three-XORSAT, or an Ising spin glass) with a 'golf-course' shaped energy landscape, to benchmark several of these different approaches. We perform a scaling and prefactor analysis of the performance of Fujitsu's digital annealer unit (DAU), the D-Wave advantage quantum annealer, a virtual MemComputing machine, Toshiba's simulated bifurcation machine (SBM), the SATonGPU algorithm from Bernaschi et al, and our implementation of parallel tempering. We identify the SATonGPU and DAU as currently having the smallest scaling exponent for this benchmark, with SATonGPU having a small scaling advantage and in addition having by far the smallest prefactor thanks to its use of massive parallelism. Furthermore, our work provides an objective assessment and a snapshot of the promise and limitations of dedicated optimization hardware relative to a particular class of optimization problems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Models of bars − II. Exponential profiles

ABSTRACT We present a new model for galactic bars with exponentially falling major axis luminosity profiles and Gaussian cross-sections. This is based on the linear superposition of Gaussian potential–density pairs with an exponential weight function, using an extension of the method originally introduced by Long & Murali. We compute the density, potential, and forces, using Gaussian quadrature. These quantities are given as explicit functions of position. There are three independent scaled bar parameters that can be varied continuously to produce bespoke bars of a given mass and shape. We categorize the effective potential by splitting a reduced parameter space into six regions. Unusually, we find bars with three stable Lagrange points on the major axis are possible. Our model reveals a variety of unexpected orbital structure, including a bifurcating x1 orbit coexisting with a stable x4 orbit. Propeller orbits are found to play a dominant role in the orbital structure, and we find striking similarities between our bar configuration and the model of Kaufmann & Contopoulos. We find a candidate orbital family, sired from the propeller orbits, that may be responsible for the observed high-velocity peaks in the Milky Way’s bar. As a cross-check, we inspect, for the first time, the proper motions of stars in the high-velocity peaks, which also match our suggested orbital family well. This work adds to the increasing body of evidence that real galactic bars may be supported at least partly by propeller orbits rather than solely by elliptical-like orbits of the x1 family.

McGough, D. P.↗

Shedding far-ultraviolet light on the donor star and evolutionary state of the neutron-star LMXB Swift J1858.6−0814

ABSTRACT The evolution of accreting X-ray binary systems is closely coupled to the properties of their donor stars. Consequently, we can constrain the evolutionary track a system is by establishing the nature of its donor. Here, we present far-ultraviolet (far-UV) spectroscopy of the transient neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary J1858 in different accretion states (low-hard, high-hard, and soft). All of these spectra exhibit anomalous N v, C iv, Si iv, and He ii lines, suggesting that its donor star has undergone CNO processing. We also determine the donor’s effective temperature, Td ≃ 5700 K, and radius, Rd ≃ 1.7 R⊙, based on photometric observations obtained during quiescence. Lastly, we leverage the transient nature of the system to set an upper limit of $\dot{M}_{\rm acc} \lesssim 10^{-8.5}~{\rm M}_{\odot }~\mathrm{ yr}^{-1}$ on the present-day mass-transfer rate. Combining these with the orbital period of the system, Porb = 21.3 h, we search for viable evolution paths. The initial donor masses in the allowed solutions span the range 1 M⊙ ≲ Md,i ≲ 3.5 M⊙. All but the lowest masses in this range are consistent with the strong CNO-processing signature in the UV line ratios. The present-day donor mass in the permitted tracks are 0.5 M⊙ ≲ Md,obs ≲ 1.3 M⊙, higher than suggested by eclipse modelling. Since Porb is close to the so-called bifurcation period, both converging and diverging binary tracks are permitted. If the former is confirmed, J1858 will end its life as an ultracompact system with a substellar donor.

Castro Segura, N. (ORCID:0000000258700443)↗

Mutation-driven RRE stem-loop II conformational change induces HIV-1 nuclear export dysfunction

Abstract The Rev response element (RRE) forms an oligomeric complex with the viral protein Rev to facilitate the nuclear export of intron-retaining viral RNAs during the late phase of HIV-1 (human immunodeficiency virus type 1) infection. However, the structures and mechanisms underlying this process remain largely unknown. Here, we determined the crystal structure of the HIV-1 RRE stem-loop II (SLII), revealing a unique three-way junction architecture in which the base stem (IIa) bifurcates into the stem-loops (IIb and IIc) to compose Rev binding sites. The crystal structures of various SLII mutants demonstrated that while some mutants retain the same “compact” fold as the wild type, other single-nucleotide mutants induce drastic conformational changes, forming an “extended” SLII structure. Through in vitro Rev binding assays and Rev activity measurements in HIV-1-infected cells using structure-guided SLII mutants designed to favor specific conformers, we showed that while the compact fold represents a functional SLII, the alternative extended conformation inhibits Rev binding and oligomerization and consequently stimulates HIV-1 RNA nuclear export dysfunction. The propensity of SLII to adopt multiple conformations as captured in crystal structures and their influence on Rev oligomerization illuminate emerging perspectives on RRE structural plasticity-based regulation of HIV-1 nuclear export and provide opportunities for developing anti-HIV drugs targeting specific RRE conformations.

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology↗

Ancient Rapid Radiation Explains Most Conflicts Among Gene Trees and Well-Supported Phylogenomic Trees of Nostocalean Cyanobacteria

Prokaryotic genomes are often considered to be mosaics of genes that do not necessarily share the same evolutionary history due to widespread horizontal gene transfers (HGTs). Consequently, representing evolutionary relationships of prokaryotes as bifurcating trees has long been controversial. However, studies reporting conflicts among gene trees derived from phylogenomic data sets have shown that these conflicts can be the result of artifacts or evolutionary processes other than HGT, such as incomplete lineage sorting, low phylogenetic signal, and systematic errors due to substitution model misspecification. Here, we present the results of an extensive exploration of phylogenetic conflicts in the cyanobacterial order Nostocales, for which previous studies have inferred strongly supported conflicting relationships when using different concatenated phylogenomic data sets. We found that most of these conflicts are concentrated in deep clusters of short internodes of the Nostocales phylogeny, where the great majority of individual genes have low resolving power. We then inferred phylogenetic networks to detect HGT events while also accounting for incomplete lineage sorting. Our results indicate that most conflicts among gene trees are likely due to incomplete lineage sorting linked to an ancient rapid radiation, rather than to HGTs. Moreover, the short internodes of this radiation fit the expectations of the anomaly zone, i.e., a region of the tree parameter space where a species tree is discordant with its most likely gene tree. In this work, we demonstrated that concatenation of different sets of loci can recover up to 17 distinct and well-supported relationships within the putative anomaly zone of Nostocales, corresponding to the observed conflicts among well-supported trees based on concatenated data sets from previous studies. Our findings highlight the important role of rapid radiations as a potential cause of strongly conflicting phylogenetic relationships when using phylogenomic data sets of bacteria. We propose that polytomies may be the most appropriate phylogenetic representation of these rapid radiations that are part of anomaly zones, especially when all possible genomic markers have been considered to infer these phylogenies.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Applying Crystallography and 19 F NMR to investigate dynamics and partner protein interactions in a long chain Flavodoxin

Flavodoxin (Fld) is a small FMN containing protein that is involved in single electron transfer. The long‐chain flavodoxin in Rhodopseudomonas palustris bacteria replaces ferredoxin as a low‐potential electron carrier when iron is scarce. Thus it is proposed to interact with the bifurcating electron transfer flavoprotein (ETF) that yields low‐potential electrons. A surface loop on Fld interacts with another of Fld's partner proteins, so we hypothesize that it also mediates Fld's interaction with ETF. To monitor interactions with ETF directly and investigate dynamics in this loop, we are using 19 F NMR in solution. 19 F is hyperresponsive to changes in its chemical environment with a chemical shift range of >300 ppm. To provide a static reference point and assess structural heterogeneity, we are also exploiting X‐ray crystallography. In this study we selectively fluorinated the five tyrosine residues in Fld. We obtained resonance assignments from 19 F spectra of Fld variants in which individual tyrosine residues have been replaced. We obtain well resolved signals for each residue, but the resonances' linewidths indicate dynamics that affects some resonances more than others. Y90 residue displays two resonances demonstrating two different conformations that interconvert slowly on an NMR time scale. Meanwhile the crystal structure solved at 2.1Å resolution reveals two molecules per asymmetric unit providing two perspectives on the details of the structure. The crystal symmetry is monoclinic in contrast to most of the other Flds, which are orthorhombic. Interestingly, the long loop bearing Y121 and Y123 is not well resolved in chain B of the crystal structure, and the NMR line of Y123 is exceptionally broad, both indicating that the loop is dynamic and capable of altering its conformation to accomodate binding to a partner protein. Future directions include monitoring the changes in the 19 F NMR of the Fld when titrated with the partner protein, temperature dependence of the NMR spectrum and relaxation studies to evaluate time scales of motions.

Khan, Sharique↗

Disorder-induced spin excitation continuum and spin-glass ground state in the inverse spinel CuGa 2 O 4

Spinel-structured compounds serve as prototypical examples of highly frustrated systems and are promising candidates for realizing the long-sought quantum spin liquid (QSL) state. However, structural disorder is inevitable in many real QSL candidates and its impact remains a topic of intense debate. In this work, we conduct comprehensive investigations on CuGa 2 ⁢ O 4 , a spinel compound with significant structural disorder, focusing on its thermodynamic properties and spectroscopic behaviors. No long-range magnetic order is observed down to ∼80 mK, as evidenced by magnetic susceptibility, specific-heat, and elastic neutron scattering measurements. More intriguingly, inelastic neutron scattering experiments reveal a broad gapless continuum of magnetic excitations around the Brillouin zone boundary, resembling the magnetic excitation spectra expected for a QSL. Nevertheless, a spin-freezing transition at 𝑇 f ≈ 0.88 K is identified from the cusp in the dc susceptibility curves, where a bifurcation between zero-field-cooling and field-cooling curves occurs. Furthermore, ac susceptibility measurements show a peak close to 𝑇 f at low frequency, which shifts to higher temperature with increasing frequency. These results show that CuGa 2 ⁢ O 4 has a spin-glass ground state, consistent with the establishment of short-range order inferred from the specific-heat measurements. Collectively, these results illustrate the crucial role of disorder in defining the excitation spectrum out of the disordered ground state. Furthermore, our findings shed light onto the broader class of 𝐴⁢𝐵 2 ⁢O 4 spinels and advance our understanding of the spin dynamics in magnetically disordered systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Phase-field approach to cellular blebbing

Bulges in the plasma membrane of cells known as blebs can form spontaneously in a wide range of biological processes, but what controls their shape and stability remains incompletely understood. Here, to address this we introduce a dual phase-field model with coupled order parameters representing the cell cortex and plasma membrane that can quantitatively model blebbing in three dimensions. Simulations and sharp-interface analyses reveal that, depending on whether blebbing occurs by detachment of the plasma membrane or rupture of the actin cortex, blebs can form discontinuously through a saddle-node bifurcation or continuously with increasing cortical tension. The model predictions are in good quantitative agreement with existing experimental data for laser-induced cortex rupture.

Biological and medical sciences↗

Unconventional domain-wall pairs and interacting Bloch lines in a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya multilayer thin film

Bloch-lines (BLs) play a key role in determining the static and dynamic behavior of chiral domain walls and skyrmions in multilayer films with a significant Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). Here, using in-situ Lorentz phase microscopy, we reveal a new type of spin texture, termed a type-II domain wall pair (DWP), stabilized in DMI multilayer thin films with BLs. For a type-II DWP, the Bloch components of each complementary domain wall are parallel, implying opposite chirality. Additionally, we find that type-II DWPs preferentially form through bifurcation of a type-I DWP and require the formation of at least two BLs. We demonstrate a distinct phase jump associated with type-II DWPs, and further reveal the role they play in the formation of mixed-character skyrmions where the Bloch component that can be of either left- or right-handed chirality.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Prediction of spin polarized Fermi arcs in quasiparticle interference in CeBi

We predict that CeBi in the ferromagnetic state is a Weyl semimetal. Our calculations within density functional theory show the existence of two pairs of Weyl nodes on the momentum path (0,0,k z ) at 15meV above and 100meV below the Fermi level. Two corresponding Fermi arcs are obtained on surfaces of mirror-symmetric (010)-oriented slabs at E=15meV and both arcs are interrupted into three segments due to hybridization with a set of trivial surface bands. By studying the spin texture of surface states, we find the two Fermi arcs are strongly spin polarized but in opposite directions, which can be detected by spin-polarized ARPES measurements. Here, our theoretical study of quasiparticle interference (QPI) for a nonmagnetic impurity at the Bi site also reveals several features related to the Fermi arcs. Specifically, we predict that the spin polarization of the Fermi arcs leads to a bifurcation-shaped feature only in the spin-dependent QPI spectrum, serving as a fingerprint of the Weyl nodes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Gapless to gapless phase transitions in quantum spin chains

We investigate spin chains with bilinear-biquadratic (BLBQ) spin interactions as a function of an applied magnetic field h. At the Uimin-Lai-Sutherland (ULS) critical point we find a gapless to gapless transition revealed by the dynamical structure factor S(q,ω) as a function of h. At h=0, the envelope of the lowest-energy excitations goes soft at two points, q 1 =2π/3 and q 2 =4π/3, dubbed the phase A. With increasing field, the spectral peaks at each of the gapless points bifurcate, making in total four soft modes, and combine to form a new set of excitations that soften at a single point q=π at h c1 ≈0.94. Beyond h c1 the system enters another gapless B phase until the transition at h c2 =4 to the fully polarized phase. We compare the ULS model results with those for the Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki model as a representative of the gapped Haldane phase. We explain the mechanism of the gapless to gapless transition in the ULS model using its conserved charges and a spinon band picture. We also discuss the universality of central charges of the BLBQ family of models subjected to a magnetic field.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Variation of carrier density in semimetals via short-range correlation: A case study with nickelate NdNiO 2

Carrier density is one of the key controlling factors of material properties, particularly in controlling the essential correlations in strongly correlated materials. Typically, carrier density is externally tuned by doping or gating and remains fixed below room temperature. Strangely, the carrier density in correlated semimetals is often found to vary sensitively against weak external controls such as temperature, magnetic field, and pressure. Here, we develop a realistic simulation scheme that incorporates interatomic noncollinear magnetic correlation without a long-range order. Using the recently discovered nickelate superconductor as an example, we demonstrate a rather generic low-energy mechanism that in semimetals short-range correlation can reversely modulate the carrier density as well. Such a mutual influence between correlation and carrier density provides an extra ingredient for sensitive bifurcating behavior. This special feature of correlated semimetals explains their versatile carrier density at low energy and opens up new possibilities of functionalizing these materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Energy dependence of $\textit{p}$ + 232 Th fission mass distributions: Mass-asymmetric standard I and standard II modes, and multichance fission

Background: The predominant mass-asymmetric fission of actinide nuclides occurs mainly through the so-called standard I and standard II modes. Though understood to be caused by shape-dependent shell structures encountered between the fission barrier deformation and scission, the most relevant shell gaps are still not firmly established. The standard I mode had been associated with the spherical doubly magic 132 Sn, and thus the $\textit{Z}$ = 50 proton shell, but recently it has been proposed that standard I and standard II are associated with quadrupole and octupole deformed gaps at $\textit{Z}$ = 52 and 56, respectively. Purpose: In this work, we investigate how the relative probabilities of the standard I and standard II modes vary with excitation energy near threshold, probing where the two modes bifurcate. Methods: The Australian National University Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility and CUBE fission spectrometer have been used to measure fission mass distributions for the $\textit{p}$ + 232 Th reaction (forming 233 Pa) at closely spaced bombarding energy intervals from 6.5 to 28 MeV. Results: A model-independent analysis of the energy dependence of the shape of the mass-asymmetric peak shows a strong dependence of the standard I and standard II relative probability on excitation energy near threshold. Conclusions: The results are consistent with the standard II mode having a lower fission barrier than standard I in 233 Pa, with the latter increasing continually in relative probability above its barrier energy. It is concluded that multichance fission, in particular last chance fission, plays a strong role in determining the observed energy dependence of all fission modes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Machine learning for the identification of phase transitions in interacting agent-based systems: A Desai-Zwanzig example

Deriving closed-form analytical expressions for reduced-order models, and judiciously choosing the closures leading to them, has long been the strategy of choice for studying phase- and noise-induced transitions for agent-based models (ABMs). In this paper, we propose a data-driven framework that pinpoints phase transitions for an ABM—the Desai-Zwanzig model—in its mean-field limit, using a smaller number of variables than traditional closed-form models. To this end, we use the manifold learning algorithm Diffusion Maps to identify a parsimonious set of data-driven latent variables, and we show that they are in one-to-one correspondence with the expected theoretical order parameter of the ABM. We then utilize a deep learning framework to obtain a conformal reparametrization of the data-driven coordinates that facilitates, in our example, the identification of a single parameter-dependent ordinary differential equation (ODE) in these coordinates. Additionally, we identify this ODE through a residual neural network inspired by a numerical integration scheme (forward Euler). We then use the identified ODE—enabled through an odd symmetry transformation—to construct the bifurcation diagram exhibiting the phase transition.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Absolute vs Convective Instabilities and Front Propagation in Lipid Membrane Tubes

Here we analyze the stability of biological membrane tubes, with and without a base flow of lipids. Membrane dynamics are completely specified by two dimensionless numbers: the well-known Föppl-von Kármán number Γ and the recently introduced Scriven-Love number SL, respectively quantifying the base tension and base flow speed. For unstable tubes, the growth rate of a local perturbation depends only on Γ, whereas SL governs the absolute versus convective nature of the instability. Furthermore, nonlinear simulations of unstable tubes reveal an initially localized disturbance result in propagating fronts, which leave a thin atrophied tube in their wake. Depending on the value of Γ, the thin tube is connected to the unperturbed regions via oscillatory or monotonic shape transitions-reminiscent of recent experimental observations on the retraction and atrophy of axons. We elucidate our findings through a weakly nonlinear analysis, which shows membrane dynamics may be approximated by a model of the class of extended Fisher-Kolmogorov equations. Our study sheds light on the pattern selection mechanism in axonal shapes by recognizing the existence of two Lifshitz points, at which the front dynamics undergo steady-to-oscillatory bifurcations.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Quantum Mechanics of a Spherically Symmetric Causal Diamond in Minkowski Spacetime

We construct the phase space of a spherically symmetric causal diamond in ( d + 2 )-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Utilizing the covariant phase space formalism, we identify the relevant degrees of freedom that localize to the d -dimensional bifurcate horizon and, upon canonical quantization, determine their commutators. On this phase space, we find two Iyer-Wald charges. The first of these charges, proportional to the area of the causal diamond, is responsible for shifting the null time along the horizon and has been well documented in the literature. The second charge is much less understood, being integrable for d ≥ 2 only if we allow for field-dependent diffeomorphisms and is responsible for changing the size of the causal diamond. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗