@article{18170,
  abstract     = {This study presents a graphene field-effect transistor (gFET) biosensor with dual detection capabilities for SARS-CoV-2: one RNA detection assay to confirm viral positivity and the other for nucleocapsid (N-)protein detection as a proxy for infectiousness of the patient. This technology can be rapidly adapted to emerging infectious diseases, making an essential tool to contain future pandemics. To detect viral RNA, the highly conserved E-gene of the virus was targeted, allowing for the determination of SARS-CoV-2 presence or absence using nasopharyngeal swab samples. For N-protein detection, specific antibodies were used. Tested on 213 clinical nasopharyngeal samples, the gFET biosensor showed good correlation with RT-PCR cycle threshold values, proving its high sensitivity in detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Specificity was confirmed using 21 pre-pandemic samples positive for other respiratory viruses. The gFET biosensor had a limit of detection (LOD) for N-protein of 0.9 pM, establishing a foundation for the development of a sensitive tool for monitoring active viral infection. Results of gFET based N-protein detection corresponded to the results of virus culture in all 16 available clinical samples and thus it also proved its capability to serve as a proxy for infectivity. Overall, these findings support the potential of the gFET biosensor as a point-of-care device for rapid diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection and indirect assessment of infectiousness in patients, providing additional information for clinical and public health decision-making.},
  author       = {Herdina, Anna Nele and Bozdogan, Anil and Aspermair, Patrik and Dostalek, Jakub and Klausberger, Miriam and Lingg, Nico and Cserjan-Puschmann, Monika and Aguilar, Patricia Pereira and Auer, Simone and Demirtas, Halil and Andersson, Jakob and Lötsch, Felix and Holzer, Barbara and Steinrigl, Adi and Thalhammer, Florian and Schellnegger, Julia and Breuer, Monika and Knoll, Wolfgang and Strassl, Robert},
  issn         = {1873-4235},
  journal      = {Biosensors and Bioelectronics},
  publisher    = {Elsevier},
  title        = {{Bridging basic science and applied diagnostics: Comprehensive viral diagnostics enabled by graphene-based electronic biosensor technology advancements}},
  doi          = {10.1016/j.bios.2024.116807},
  volume       = {267},
  year         = {2025},
}

@article{22021,
  abstract     = {We establish global well-posedness for both the defocusing and
focusing complex-valued modified Korteweg–de Vries equations on the real line
in modulation spaces Ms,2p (R), for all 1  p < 1 and 0  s < 3/2 − 1/p. We
will also show that such solutions admit global-in-time bounds in these spaces
and that equicontinuous sets of initial data lead to equicontinuous ensembles
of orbits. Indeed, such information forms a crucial part of our well-posedness
argument.},
  author       = {Haque, Saikatul and Killip, Rowan and Visan, Monica and Zhang, Yunfeng},
  issn         = {2578-5885},
  journal      = {Pure and Applied Analysis},
  number       = {3},
  pages        = {615--637},
  publisher    = {Mathematical Sciences Publishers},
  title        = {{ Global well-posedness and equicontinuity for modified Korteweg–de Vries equations in modulation spaces}},
  doi          = {10.2140/paa.2025.7.615},
  volume       = {7},
  year         = {2025},
}

@article{22027,
  abstract     = {We demonstrate that in three space dimensions, the scattering behaviour of semilinear wave equations with quintic-type nonlinearities uniquely determines the nonlinearity. The nonlinearity is permitted to depend on both space and time.},
  author       = {Hu, Nicholas and Killip, Rowan and Visan, Monica},
  issn         = {2578-5885},
  journal      = {Pure and Applied Analysis},
  keywords     = {dispersive equations, nonlinear wave equation, semilinear wave equation, scattering, inverse scattering, deconvolution},
  number       = {1},
  pages        = {1--17},
  publisher    = {Mathematical Sciences Publishers},
  title        = {{Deconvolutional determination of the nonlinearity in a semilinear wave equation}},
  doi          = {10.2140/paa.2025.7.1},
  volume       = {7},
  year         = {2025},
}

@article{22044,
  abstract     = {We prove that the small-data scattering map uniquely determines the nonlinearity for a wide class of gauge-invariant, intercritical nonlinear Schrödinger equations. We use the Born approximation to reduce the analysis to a deconvolution problem involving the distribution function for linear Schrödinger solutions. We then solve this deconvolution problem using the Beurling–Lax Theorem.},
  author       = {Killip, Rowan and Murphy, Jason and Visan, Monica},
  issn         = {1361-6544},
  journal      = {Nonlinearity},
  number       = {1},
  publisher    = {IOP Publishing},
  title        = {{Determination of Schrödinger nonlinearities from the scattering map}},
  doi          = {10.1088/1361-6544/ada1bf},
  volume       = {38},
  year         = {2025},
}

@article{22069,
  abstract     = {For slowly-varying initial data, solutions to the Ablowitz–Ladik system have been proven to converge to solutions of the cubic Schrödinger equation. In this paper we show that in the continuum limit, solutions to the Ablowitz–Ladik system with H^1 initial data may also converge to solutions of the modified Korteweg–de Vries equation. To exhibit this new limiting behavior, it suffices that the initial data is supported near the inflection points of the dispersion relation associated with the Ablowitz–Ladik system.

Our arguments employ harmonic analysis tools, Strichartz estimates, and the conservation of mass and energy. Correspondingly, they are applicable beyond the completely integrable models of greatest interest to us.},
  author       = {Killip, Rowan and Ouyang, Zhimeng and Visan, Monica and Wu, Lei},
  issn         = {1553-5231},
  journal      = {Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems},
  number       = {3},
  pages        = {821--846},
  publisher    = {American Institute of Mathematical Sciences},
  title        = {{The modified Korteweg–de Vries limit of the Ablowitz–Ladik system}},
  doi          = {10.3934/dcds.2024114},
  volume       = {45},
  year         = {2025},
}

@article{22083,
  abstract     = {We prove global well-posedness for the cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation with nonlinearity concentrated on a homogeneous Poisson process.},
  author       = {Harrop-Griffiths, Benjamin and Killip, Rowan and Visan, Monica},
  issn         = {1361-6544},
  journal      = {Nonlinearity},
  number       = {9},
  publisher    = {IOP Publishing},
  title        = {{The nonlinear Schrödinger equation with sprinkled nonlinearity}},
  doi          = {10.1088/1361-6544/ae022e},
  volume       = {38},
  year         = {2025},
}

@inproceedings{22120,
  author       = {Muñoz Hermosilla, José M and Miles, Evan and McCarthy, Michael and Hardmeier, Florian and Melo Velasco, Juan Vicente and Jouvet, Guillaume and Pellicciotti, Francesca},
  booktitle    = {EGU General Assembly 2025},
  location     = {Vienna, Austria & Virtual},
  publisher    = {European Geosciences Union},
  title        = {{Towards reconstructing debris supply to reproduce the historic changes in debris extent at a Swiss glacier}},
  doi          = {10.5194/egusphere-egu25-17446},
  year         = {2025},
}

@article{21263,
  abstract     = {Two landmark results in combinatorial random matrix theory, due to Komlós and Costello–Tao–Vu, show that discrete random matrices and symmetric discrete random matrices are typically nonsingular. In particular, in the language of graph theory, when p is a fixed constant, the biadjacency matrix of a random Erdős–Rényi bipartite graph G(n,n,p) and the adjacency matrix of an Erdős–Rényi random graph G(n,p) are both nonsingular with high probability. However, very sparse random graphs (i.e., where p is allowed to decay rapidly with n) are typically singular, due to the presence of “local” dependencies such as isolated vertices and pairs of degree-1 vertices with the same neighbour. In this paper, we give a combinatorial description of the rank of a sparse random graph G(n,n,c/n) or G(n,c/n) in terms of such local dependencies, for all constants c=e (and we present some evidence that the situation is very different for c=e). This gives an essentially complete answer to a question raised by Vu (2014). As applications of our main theorem and its proof, we also determine the asymptotic singularity probability of the 2-core of a sparse random graph, we show that the rank of a sparse random graph is extremely well approximated by its matching number, and we deduce a central limit theorem for the rank of G(n,c/n).},
  author       = {Glasgow, Margalit and Kwan, Matthew Alan and Sah, Ashwin and Sawhney, Mehtaab},
  issn         = {1435-9863},
  journal      = {Journal of the European Mathematical Society},
  publisher    = {EMS Press},
  title        = {{The exact rank of sparse random graphs}},
  doi          = {10.4171/jems/1692},
  year         = {2025},
}

@unpublished{21427,
  abstract     = {While tumor malignancy has been extensively studied under the prism of genetic and epigenetic heterogeneity, tumor cell states also critically depend on reciprocal interactions with the microenvironment. This raises the hitherto untested possibility that heterogeneity of the untransformed tumor stroma can actively fuel malignant progression. As biological heterogeneity is inherently difficult to control, we adopted a reductionist approach and let tumor cells invade micro-engineered environments harboring obstacles with precision-controlled geometry. We find that not only the presence of obstacles, but more surprisingly their spatial disorder, causes a drastic shift from a collective to a single-cell mode of invasion – comparable in strength to cadherin loss. Combining live-imaging and perturbation experiments with minimal biophysical modeling, we demonstrate that cell detachments result both from local geometrical constraints and a global integration of spatial disorder over time. We show that different types of microenvironments map onto different universality classes of invasion dynamics - homogeneous substrates follow Kardar–Parisi–Zhang (KPZ) scaling, while disordered ones exhibit exponents consistent with KPZ with quenched disorder (KPZq). Our findings highlight generic physical principles for how the mode of cancer cell invasion depends on environmental heterogeneity, with potential implications to understand tumor evolution in vivo.},
  author       = {Dunajova, Zuzana and Tasciyan, Saren and Majek, Juraj and Merrin, Jack and Sahai, Erik and Sixt, Michael K and Hannezo, Edouard B},
  booktitle    = {bioRxiv},
  title        = {{Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening}},
  doi          = {10.1101/2025.05.20.655037},
  year         = {2025},
}

@article{20656,
  abstract     = {Phytohormone auxin and its directional transport mediate much of the remarkably plastic development of higher plants. Positive feedback between auxin signaling and transport is a prerequisite for (1) self-organizing processes, including vascular tissue formation, and (2) directional growth responses such as gravitropism. Here, we identify a mechanism by which auxin signaling directly targets PIN auxin transporters. Via the cell-surface AUXIN-BINDING PROTEIN1 (ABP1)-TRANSMEMBRANE KINASE 1 (TMK1) receptor module, auxin rapidly induces phosphorylation and thus stabilization of PIN2. Following gravistimulation, initial auxin asymmetry activates autophosphorylation of the TMK1 kinase. This induces TMK1 interaction with and phosphorylation of PIN2, stabilizing PIN2 at the lower root side, thus reinforcing asymmetric auxin flow for root bending. Upstream of TMK1 in this regulation, ABP1 acts redundantly with the root-expressed ABP1-LIKE 3 (ABL3) auxin receptor. Such positive feedback between cell-surface auxin signaling and PIN-mediated polar auxin transport is fundamental for robust root gravitropism and presumably for other self-organizing developmental phenomena.},
  author       = {Rodriguez Solovey, Lesia and Fiedler, Lukas and Zou, Minxia and Giannini, Caterina and Monzer, Aline and Vladimirtsev, Dmitrii and Randuch, Marek and Yu, Yongfan and Gelová, Zuzana and Verstraeten, Inge and Hajny, Jakub and Chen, Meng and Tan, Shutang and Hörmayer, Lukas and Li, Lanxin and Marques-Bueno, Maria Mar and Quddoos, Zainab and Molnar, Gergely and Kulich, Ivan and Jaillais, Yvon and Friml, Jiří},
  issn         = {0092-8674},
  journal      = {Cell},
  number       = {22},
  pages        = {6138--6150.e17},
  publisher    = {Elsevier},
  title        = {{ABP1/ABL3-TMK1 cell-surface auxin signaling targets PIN2-mediated auxin fluxes for root gravitropism}},
  doi          = {10.1016/j.cell.2025.08.026},
  volume       = {188},
  year         = {2025},
}

@unpublished{19399,
  abstract     = {Phytohormone auxin and its directional transport mediate much of the remarkably plastic development of higher plants. Positive feedback between auxin signaling and transport is a key prerequisite for (i) self-organizing processes including vascular tissue formation and (ii) directional growth responses such as gravitropism. Here we identify a mechanism, by which auxin signaling directly targets PIN auxin transporters. Via the cell-surface ABP1-TMK1 receptor module, auxin rapidly induces phosphorylation and thus stabilization of PIN2. Following gravistimulation, initial auxin asymmetry activates autophosphorylation of the TMK1 kinase. This induces TMK1 interaction with and phosphorylation of PIN2, stabilizing PIN2 at the lower root side, thus reinforcing asymmetric auxin flow for root bending. Upstream of TMK1 in this regulation, ABP1 acts redundantly with the root-expressed ABP1-LIKE auxin receptor ABL3. Such positive feedback between cell-surface auxin signaling and PIN-mediated polar auxin transport is fundamental for robust root gravitropism and presumably also for other self-organizing developmental phenomena.},
  author       = {Rodriguez Solovey, Lesia and Fiedler, Lukas and Zou, Minxia and Giannini, Caterina and Monzer, Aline and Vladimirtsev, Dmitrii and Randuch, Marek and Yu, Yongfan and Gelová, Zuzana and Verstraeten, Inge and Hajny, Jakub and Chen, Meng and Tan, Shutang and Hörmayer, Lukas and Li, Lanxin and Marques-Bueno, Maria Mar and Quddoos, Zainab and Molnar, Gergely and Xu, Tongda and Kulich, Ivan and Jaillais, Yvon and Friml, Jiří},
  booktitle    = {bioRxiv},
  title        = {{ABP1/ABL3-TMK1 cell-surface auxin signaling directly targets PIN2-mediated auxin fluxes for root gravitropism}},
  doi          = {10.1101/2022.11.30.518503},
  year         = {2025},
}

@phdthesis{20364,
  author       = {Giannini, Caterina},
  issn         = {2663-337X},
  keywords     = {Auxin Signaling, Plant Development},
  pages        = {151},
  publisher    = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria},
  title        = {{Nuclear and cell surface auxin signaling in A. thaliana developmental transitions}},
  doi          = {10.15479/AT-ISTA-20364},
  year         = {2025},
}

@phdthesis{20441,
  abstract     = {Epithelial spreading plays a pivotal role in the development of organisms especially those
such as zebrafish which require the epithelial enveloping layer (EVL) to spread to cover the
substantial yolk surface during gastrulation. Epiboly requires the transition of the epithelium
with cuboidal cells to form a thin, flat squamous epithelial sheet. During this transition, the
cells show tissue-scale mechanosensation with mechanisms such as direct mechanical control
over the axis of cell division.
Cytoskeletal intermediate filaments play a crucial role in vertebrate cells, not only facilitating
mechanical stability but also helping facilitate the mechanosensitive response of the cell.
Mechanosenstivity displayed by intermediate filaments is due not just to their interesting
physical properties but also to their interactions with other cytoskeletal elements such as actin
and microtubules. Keratin is the predominant intermediate filament expressed in the EVL.
It expresses concomitantly with the gastrulation movements of the developing embryo. Our
work focuses on understanding the role and dynamics of the keratin cytoskeletal network in
modulating the physical aspects of EVL spreading. We demonstrated with the combination of
physical characterisation and manipulations of the EVL, utilising a variety of biophysical tools
and microscopy, the mechanistic role of keratin in tissue spreading.
Generating novel genetic morphants and mutants, we probe the effect that the loss of the
keratin network has on the physiology of the epithelium and the developing embryo. We
show that the changing organisation of the keratin network is important for changing EVL
physical properties as the stress imposed on the EVL increases during epiboly. By modelling
the epithelium, we study how the mechanical heterogeneity in an epithelium can feed back into
a mechanical loop to the maturation of the keratin network and hence affect the mechanics
of the epithelium. However, unlike what would be predicted by the effect of intermediate
filaments in acting as a security belt and increasing the resistance of the epithelium, we observe
that loss of keratin leads to a delay in the EVL movement. Using both local aspirations of the
YSL and EVL ablations, we demonstrate the mechanistic facilitation of actin mechanosensation
in a keratin-dependent manner.
Furthermore, using chemical inhibitors of microtubule polymerisation, we provide insight into
the mechanisms underlying the organisation and distribution of keratin. Interestingly, the
phenotype observed upon this loss of microtubules shows that keratins interact with the nucleus
through microtubular interactions. Together with these diverse observations, we describe
the mechanosensory feedback between resilience and that is critical for uniform and robust
spreading of the epithelium.},
  author       = {Naik, Suyash},
  isbn         = {978-3-99078-069-5},
  issn         = {2663-337X},
  pages        = {105},
  publisher    = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria},
  title        = {{Keratins act as global coordinators of tissue spreading through mechanosensitive feedback}},
  doi          = {10.15479/AT-ISTA-20441},
  year         = {2025},
}

@phdthesis{19395,
  abstract     = {Plant growth and development rely significantly on phytohormones, with auxin serving as a master regulator, orchestrating processes from embryogenesis to organogenesis, vascular patterning, and environmental adaptation. Since its conceptual proposition by Charles Darwin in 1880 as an endogenous chemical signal influencing phototropism in grass, auxin has captivated scientists seeking to understand how such a small molecule exerts a profound influence on plant development.
One particularly fascinating aspect of auxin function is its ability to self-organize its transport. Through a feedback mechanism between auxin perception and directional transport—primarily mediated by PIN auxin transporters—auxin establishes narrow transport channels. This phenomenon, known as auxin canalization, is fundamental to vascular formation, regeneration, and other key developmental processes. Despite advances in our understanding, driven by experimental studies and computational models, auxin canalization remains an enigma, with many unanswered questions.
Like other hormones, auxin functions through intricate signaling pathways. It operates through at least two distinct signaling mechanisms: the well-characterized canonical pathway and the less understood non-canonical pathway. While significant progress has been made in elucidating the canonical pathway, the non-canonical mechanisms remain less defined and require further investigation.
In this study, we revisit the non-canonical auxin signaling pathway mediated by the cell-surface complex Auxin Binding Protein 1-Transmembrane Kinase 1 (ABP1-TMK1), with a particular focus on its downstream phosphorylation events. We reveal that this auxin-mediated phosphorylation is conserved across the green lineage, underscoring its fundamental role in plant development. We explore key phosphorylation targets, particularly PIN2, which is essential for root gravitropism. To further understand TMK1’s role in diverse developmental processes, we identified and investigated its interactors as potential co-receptors or regulatory components within its signaling network.
Given the previously established role of ABP1-TMK1 in auxin canalization, we sought to further investigate this process and identified several TMK1 interactors also involved in this intricate mechanism.
These findings provide new insights into the complex regulation of auxin canalization, highlighting a broader and more interconnected signaling framework than previously understood.},
  author       = {Monzer, Aline},
  issn         = {2663-337X},
  pages        = {160},
  publisher    = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria},
  title        = {{Cell-Surface Auxin Signaling: Linking molecular pathways to plant development}},
  doi          = {10.15479/AT-ISTA-19395},
  year         = {2025},
}

@unpublished{19398,
  abstract     = {Receptor-like kinases (RLKs), particularly the Transmembrane Kinase (TMK) family, play essential roles in signaling and development, with TMKs being key components of auxin perception and downstream phosphorylation events. While TMKs’ involvement in auxin canalization, a process essential for vasculature formation and regeneration, has been established, nonetheless, the additional signaling and regulatory partners remain poorly understood. In this study, we identify and characterize seven leucine-rich repeat RLKs (TINT1–TINT7) as novel interactors of TMK1, revealing their diverse evolutionary, structural, and functional characteristics. Our results show that TINTs interact with TMK1 and highlight their roles in regulating various developmental processes. Majority of TINTs contributes, together with TMK1, to auxin canalization, with TINT5 linking TMK1 to other canalization component CAMEL. Beyond canalization, we also establish the role of TINT-TMK1 interactions in processes such as stomatal movement and the hypocotyl’s gravitropic response. These findings suggest that TINTs, through their interaction with TMK1, are integral components of various signaling networks, contributing to both auxin canalization and broader plant development.},
  author       = {Monzer, Aline and Mazur, Ewa and Rodriguez Solovey, Lesia and Gallei, Michelle C and Zou, Minxia and Smejkal, Michael and Cervenova, Ema and Friml, Jiří},
  booktitle    = {bioRxiv},
  title        = {{TMK interacting network of receptor like kinases for auxin canalization and beyond}},
  doi          = {10.1101/2025.02.28.640727},
  year         = {2025},
}

@phdthesis{19478,
  author       = {Chen, Huihuang},
  issn         = {2663-337X},
  pages        = {118},
  publisher    = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria},
  title        = {{The cAMP second messenger in auxin signalling}},
  doi          = {10.15479/AT-ISTA-19478},
  year         = {2025},
}

@phdthesis{20920,
  abstract     = {Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) introduced by Boneh et al. (CRYPTO'18) are functions that require a prescribed number of sequential steps T to evaluate, yet their output can be verified in time much faster than T. Since their introduction, VDFs have gained a lot of attention due to their applications in blockchain protocols, randomness beacons, timestamping and deniability. This thesis explores the theory and applications of VDFs, focusing on enhancing their soundness, efficiency and practicality.

The only practical VDFs known to date are based on repeated squaring in hidden order groups. Consider the function VDF(x,T)=x^(2^T).
The iterated squaring assumption states that, for a random group element x, the result of VDF cannot be computed significantly faster than performing T sequential squarings if the group order is unknown. To make the result verifiable a prover can compute a proof of exponentiation (PoE) \pi. Given \pi, the output of VDF can be verified in time much less than T.

We first present new constructions of statistically sound proofs of exponentiation, which are an important building block in the construction of SNARKs (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge). Statistical soundness means that the proofs remain secure against computationally unbounded adversaries, in particular, it remains secure even when the group order is known. We thereby address limitations in previous PoE protocols which either required (non-standard) hardness assumptions or a lot of parallel repetitions. Our construction significantly reduces the proof size of statistically sound PoEs that allow for a structured exponent, which leads to better efficiency of SNARKs and other applications.

Secondly, we introduce improved batching techniques for PoEs, which allow multiple proofs to be aggregated and verified with minimal overhead. These protocols optimize communication and computation complexity in large-scale blockchain environments and enable scalable remote benchmarking of parallel computation resources.

We then construct VDFs with enhanced properties such as zero-knowledge and watermarkability. It was shown by Arun, Bonneau and Clark (ASIACRYPT'22) that these features enable new cryptographic primitives called short-lived proofs and signatures. The validity of such proofs and signatures expires after a predefined amount of time T, i.e., they are deniable after time T. Our constructions improve upon the constructions by Arun, Bonneau and Clark in several dimensions (faster forging times, arguably weaker assumptions).

Finally, we apply PoEs in the realm of primality testing, providing cryptographically sound proofs of non-primality for large Proth numbers. This work gives a surprising application of VDFs in the area of computational number theory.

Together, our contributions advance both the theoretical foundations and the real-world usability of VDFs in general and in particular of PoEs, making them more adaptable and secure for current and emerging cryptographic applications.},
  author       = {Hoffmann, Charlotte},
  issn         = {2663-337X},
  pages        = {116},
  publisher    = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria},
  title        = {{Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions}},
  doi          = {10.15479/AT-ISTA-20920},
  year         = {2025},
}

@phdthesis{20556,
  abstract     = {Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) introduced by Boneh et al. (CRYPTO'18) are functions that require a prescribed number of sequential steps T to evaluate, yet their output can be verified in time much faster than T. Since their introduction, VDFs have gained a lot of attention due to their applications in blockchain protocols, randomness beacons, timestamping and deniability. This thesis explores the theory and applications of VDFs, focusing on enhancing their soundness, efficiency and practicality.

The only practical VDFs known to date are based on repeated squaring in hidden order groups. Consider the function VDF(x,T)=x^(2^T).
The iterated squaring assumption states that, for a random group element x, the result of VDF cannot be computed significantly faster than performing T sequential squarings if the group order is unknown. To make the result verifiable a prover can compute a proof of exponentiation (PoE) \pi. Given \pi, the output of VDF can be verified in time much less than T.

We first present new constructions of statistically sound proofs of exponentiation, which are an important building block in the construction of SNARKs (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge). Statistical soundness means that the proofs remain secure against computationally unbounded adversaries, in particular, it remains secure even when the group order is known. We thereby address limitations in previous PoE protocols which either required (non-standard) hardness assumptions or a lot of parallel repetitions. Our construction significantly reduces the proof size of statistically sound PoEs that allow for a structured exponent, which leads to better efficiency of SNARKs and other applications.

Secondly, we introduce improved batching techniques for PoEs, which allow multiple proofs to be aggregated and verified with minimal overhead. These protocols optimize communication and computation complexity in large-scale blockchain environments and enable scalable remote benchmarking of parallel computation resources.

We then construct VDFs with enhanced properties such as zero-knowledge and watermarkability. It was shown by Arun, Bonneau and Clark (ASIACRYPT'22) that these features enable new cryptographic primitives called short-lived proofs and signatures. The validity of such proofs and signatures expires after a predefined amount of time T, i.e., they are deniable after time T. Our constructions improve upon the constructions by Arun, Bonneau and Clark in several dimensions (faster forging times, arguably weaker assumptions).

Finally, we apply PoEs in the realm of primality testing, providing cryptographically sound proofs of non-primality for large Proth numbers. This work gives a surprising application of VDFs in the area of computational number theory.

Together, our contributions advance both the theoretical foundations and the real-world usability of VDFs in general and in particular of PoEs, making them more adaptable and secure for current and emerging cryptographic applications.},
  author       = {Hoffmann, Charlotte},
  issn         = {2663-337X},
  pages        = {116},
  publisher    = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria},
  title        = {{Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions}},
  doi          = {10.15479/AT-ISTA-20556},
  year         = {2025},
}

@article{10011,
  abstract     = {We propose a new weak solution concept for (two-phase) mean curvature flow which enjoys both (unconditional) existence and (weak-strong) uniqueness properties. These solutions are evolving varifolds, just as in Brakke's formulation, but are coupled to the phase volumes by a simple transport equation. First, we show that, in the exact same setup as in Ilmanen's proof [J. Differential Geom. 38, 417-461, (1993)], any limit point of solutions to the Allen-Cahn equation is a varifold solution in our sense. Second, we prove that any calibrated flow in the sense of Fischer et al. [arXiv:2003.05478] - and hence any classical solution to mean curvature flow-is unique in the class of our new varifold solutions. This is in sharp contrast to the case of Brakke flows, which a priori may disappear at any given time and are therefore fatally non-unique. Finally, we propose an extension of the solution concept to the multi-phase case which is at least guaranteed to satisfy a weak-strong uniqueness principle.},
  author       = {Hensel, Sebastian and Laux, Tim},
  issn         = {1945-743X},
  journal      = {Journal of Differential Geometry},
  keywords     = {Mean curvature flow, gradient flows, varifolds, weak solutions, weak-strong uniqueness, calibrated geometry, gradient-flow calibrations},
  pages        = {209--268},
  publisher    = {International Press of Boston},
  title        = {{A new varifold solution concept for mean curvature flow: Convergence of  the Allen-Cahn equation and weak-strong uniqueness}},
  doi          = {10.4310/jdg/1747065796},
  volume       = {130},
  year         = {2025},
}

@inproceedings{20668,
  abstract     = {The Message Layer Security (MLS) protocol has recently been standardized by the IETF. MLS is a scalable secure group messaging protocol expected to run more efficiently compared to the Signal protocol at scale, while offering a similar level of strong security. Even though MLS has undergone extensive examination by researchers, the majority of the works have focused on confidentiality.

In this work, we focus on the authenticity of the application messages exchanged in MLS. Currently, MLS authenticates every application message with an EdDSA signature and while manageable, the overhead is greatly amplified in the post-quantum setting as the NIST-recommended Dilithium signature results in a 40x increase in size. We view this as an invitation to explore new authentication modes that can be used instead. We start by taking a systematic view on how application messages are authenticated in MLS and categorize authenticity into four different security notions. We then propose several authentication modes, offering a range of different efficiency and security profiles. For instance, in one of our modes, COSMOS++, we replace signatures with one-time tokens and a MAC tag, offering roughly a 75x savings in the post-quantum communication overhead. While this comes at the cost of weakening security compared to the authentication mode used by MLS, the lower communication overhead seems to make it a worthwhile trade-off with security.},
  author       = {Hashimoto, Keitaro and Katsumata, Shuichi and Pascual Perez, Guillermo},
  booktitle    = {34th Usenix Security Symposium},
  isbn         = {9781939133526},
  location     = {Seattle, WA, USA},
  pages        = {6699--6716},
  publisher    = {Usenix Association},
  title        = {{Exploring how to authenticate application messages in MLS: More efficient, post-quantum, and anonymous blocklistable}},
  year         = {2025},
}