@article{19840, abstract = {We report the discovery of two new magnetic cataclysmic variables with brown dwarf companions and long orbital periods (P_{\rm orb}=95\pm1 and 104\pm2 min). This discovery increases the sample of candidate magnetic period bouncers with confirmed sub-stellar donors from four to six. We also find their X-ray luminosity from archival XMM–Newton observations to be in the range L_{\rm X}\approx10^{28}-10^{29} \mathrm{erg\,s^{-1}} in the 0.25–10 keV band. This low luminosity is comparable with the other candidates, and at least an order of magnitude lower than the X-ray luminosities typically measured in cataclysmic variables. The X-ray fluxes imply mass transfer rates that are much lower than predicted by evolutionary models, even if some of the discrepancy is due to the accretion energy being emitted in other bands, such as via cyclotron emission at infrared wavelengths. Although it is possible that some or all of these systems formed directly as binaries containing a brown dwarf, it is likely that the donor used to be a low-mass star and that the systems followed the evolutionary track for cataclysmic variables, evolving past the period bounce. The donor in long period systems is expected to be a low-mass, cold brown dwarf. This hypothesis is supported by near-infrared photometric observations that constrain the donors in the two systems to be brown dwarfs cooler than 1100 K (spectral types T5 or later), most likely losing mass via Roche Lobe overflow or winds. The serendipitous discovery of two magnetic period bouncers in the small footprint of the XMM–Newton catalogue implies a large space density of these type of systems, possibly compatible with the prediction of 40–70 per cent of magnetic cataclysmic variables to be period bouncers.}, author = {Cunningham, Tim and Caiazzo, Ilaria and Sienkiewicz, Gracjan and Wheatley, Peter J. and Gänsicke, Boris T. and El-Badry, Kareem and Arcodia, Riccardo and Charbonneau, David and Connor, Liam and De, Kishalay and Hakala, Pasi and Kenyon, Scott J. and Maheshwari, Sumit Kumar and Rodriguez, Antonio C. and Van Roestel, Jan and Tremblay, Pier Emmanuel}, issn = {1365-2966}, journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, number = {1}, pages = {633--649}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{Discovery of two new polars evolved past the period bounce}}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/staf561}, volume = {540}, year = {2025}, } @article{19841, abstract = {Context. The blue supergiant (BSG) domain contains a large variety of stars whose past and future evolutionary paths are still highly uncertain. Since binary interaction plays a crucial role in the fate of massive stars, investigating the multiplicity among BSGs helps shed light on the fate of such objects. Aims. We aim to estimate the binary fraction of a large sample of BSGs in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) within the Binarity at LOw Metallicity (BLOeM) survey. In total, we selected 262 targets with spectral types B0-B3 and luminosity classes I-II. Methods. This work is based on spectroscopic data collected by the FLAMES instrument, mounted on the Very Large Telescope, which gathered nine epochs over three months. Our spectroscopic analysis for each target includes the individual and peak-to-peak radial velocity measurements, an investigation of the line profile variability, and a periodogram analysis to search for possible short- and long-period binaries. Results. By applying a 20 km s−1 threshold on the peak-to-peak radial velocities above which we would consider the star to be binary, the resulting observed spectroscopic binary fraction for our BSG sample is 23 ± 3%. An independent analysis of line profile variability reveals 11 (plus 5 candidates) double-lined spectroscopic binaries and 32 (plus 41 candidates) single-lined spectroscopic binaries. Based on these results, we estimated the overall observed binary fraction in this sample to be 34 ± 3%, which is close to the computed intrinsic binary fraction of 40 ± 4%. In addition, we derived reliable orbital periods for 41 spectroscopic binaries and potential binary candidates, among which there are 17 eclipsing binaries, including 20 SB1 and SB2 systems with periods of less than 10 days. We reported a significant drop in the binary fraction of BSGs with spectral types later than B2 and effective temperatures less than 18 kK, which could indicate the end of the main sequence phase in this temperature regime. We found no metallicity dependence in the binary fraction of BSGs, compared to existing spectroscopic surveys of the Galaxy and Large Magellanic Cloud.}, author = {Britavskiy, N. and Mahy, L. and Lennon, D. J. and Patrick, L. R. and Sana, H. and Villaseñor, J. I. and Shenar, T. and Bodensteiner, J. and Bernini-Peron, M. and Berlanas, S. R. and Bowman, D. M. and Crowther, P. A. and De Mink, S. E. and Evans, C. J. and Götberg, Ylva Louise Linsdotter and Holgado, G. and Johnston, C. and Keszthelyi, Z. and Klencki, J. and Langer, N. and Mandel, I. and Menon, A. and Moe, M. and Oskinova, L. M. and Pauli, D. and Pawlak, M. and Ramachandran, V. and Renzo, M. and Sander, A. A.C. and Schneider, F. R.N. and Schootemeijer, A. and Sen, K. and Simón-Díaz, S. and Van Loon, J. T. and Vink, J. S.}, issn = {1432-0746}, journal = {Astronomy & Astrophysics}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, title = {{Binarity at LOw Metallicity (BLOeM): Multiplicity of early B-type supergiants in the Small Magellanic Cloud}}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202452963}, volume = {698}, year = {2025}, } @article{19842, abstract = {Given the uncertain evolutionary status of blue supergiant stars, their multiplicity properties hold vital clues to better understand their origin and evolution. As part of The Binarity at LOw Metallicity (BLOeM) campaign in the Small Magellanic Cloud, we present a multi-epoch spectroscopic survey of 128 supergiant stars of spectral type B5–F5, which roughly correspond to initial masses in the 6–30 M⊙ range. The observed binary fraction for the B5–9 supergiants is 25 ± 6% (10 ± 4%) and 5 ± 2% (0%) for the A–F stars, which were found using a radial-velocity (RV) variability threshold of 5 km s−1 (10 km s−1) as a criterion for binarity. Accounting for observational biases, we find an intrinsic multiplicity fraction of less than 18% for the B5–9 stars and 8−7+9% for the AF stars, for the orbital periods up to 103.5 days and mass ratios (q) in the 0.1 < q < 1 range. The large stellar radii of these supergiant stars prevent short orbital periods, but we demonstrate that this effect alone cannot explain our results. We assessed the spectra and RV time series of the detected binary systems and find that only a small fraction display convincing solutions. We conclude that the multiplicity fractions are compromised by intrinsic stellar variability, such that the true multiplicity fraction may be significantly smaller. Our main conclusions from comparing the multiplicity properties of the B5–9- and AF-type supergiants to that of their less evolved counterparts is that such stars cannot be explained by a direct evolution from the main sequence. Furthermore, by comparing their multiplicity properties to red supergiant stars, we conclude that the AF supergiant stars are neither progenitors nor descendants of red supergiants.}, author = {Patrick, L. R. and Lennon, D. J. and Najarro, F. and Shenar, T. and Bodensteiner, J. and Sana, H. and Crowther, P. A. and Britavskiy, N. and Langer, N. and Schootemeijer, A. and Evans, C. J. and Mahy, L. and Götberg, Ylva Louise Linsdotter and De Mink, S. E. and Schneider, F. R.N. and O’Grady, A. J.G. and Villaseñor, J. I. and Bernini-Peron, M. and Bowman, D. M. and De Koter, A. and Deshmukh, K. and Gilkis, A. and González-Torà, G. and Kalari, V. M. and K̃Eszthelyi, Z. and Mandel, I. and Menon, A. and Moe, M. and Oskinova, L. M. and Pauli, D. and Renzo, M. and Sander, A. A.C. and Sen, K. and Stoop, M. and Van Loon, J. T. and Toonen, S. and Tramper, F. and Vink, J. S. and Wang, C.}, issn = {1432-0746}, journal = {Astronomy & Astrophysics}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, title = {{Binarity at LOw Metallicity (BLOeM): The multiplicity properties and evolution of BAF-type supergiants}}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202452949}, volume = {698}, year = {2025}, } @article{19845, abstract = {Context. The recently launched James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is opening new observing windows on the distant Universe. Among JWST’s instruments, the Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI) offers the unique capability of imaging observations at wavelengths of λ > 5 μm. This enables unique access to the rest frame near-infrared (NIR, λ ≥ 1 μm) emission from galaxies at redshifts of z > 4 and the visual (λ ≳ 5000 Å) rest frame for z > 9. We report here on the guaranteed time observations (GTO), from the MIRI European Consortium, of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), forming the MIRI Deep Imaging Survey (MIDIS), consisting of an on source integration time of ∼41 hours in the MIRI/F560W (5.6 μm) filter. The F560W filter was selected since it would produce the deepest data in terms of AB magnitudes in a given time. To our knowledge, this constitutes the longest single filter exposure obtained with JWST of an extragalactic field as of yet. Aims. The HUDF is one of the most observed extragalactic fields, with extensive multi-wavelength coverage, where (before JWST) galaxies up to z ∼ 7 have been confirmed, and at z > 10 suggested, from HST photometry. We aim to characterise the galaxy population in HUDF at 5.6 μm, enabling studies such as: the rest frame NIR morphologies for galaxies at z ≲ 4.6, probing mature stellar populations and emission lines in z > 6 sources, intrinsically red and dusty galaxies, and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and their host galaxies at intermediate redshifts. Methods. We reduced the MIRI data using the official JWST pipeline, augmented by in-house custom scripts. We measured the noise characteristics of the resulting image. Galaxy photometry was obtained, and photometric redshifts were estimated for sources with available multi-wavelength photometry (and compared to spectroscopic redshifts when available). Results. Over the deepest part of our image, the 5σ point source limit is 28.65 mag AB (12.6 nJy), ∼0.35 mag better than predicted by the JWST exposure time calculator. We find ∼2500 sources, the overwhelming majority of which are distant galaxies, but we note that spurious sources likely remain at faint magnitudes due to imperfect cosmic ray rejection in the JWST pipeline. More than 500 galaxies with available spectroscopic redshifts, up to z ≈ 11, have been identified, the majority of which are at z < 6. More than 1000 galaxies have reliable photometric redshift estimates, of which ∼25 are at 6 < z < 12. The point spread function in the F560W filter has a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of ≈0.2″ (corresponding to 1.4 kpc at z = 4), allowing the NIR rest frame morphologies and stellar mass distributions to be resolved for z < 4.5. Moreover, > 100 objects with very red NIRCam vs MIRI (3.6–5.6 μm > 1 mag) colours have been found, suggestive of dusty or old stellar populations at high redshifts. Conclusions. We conclude that MIDIS surpasses preflight expectations and that deep MIRI imaging has great potential to characterise the galaxy population from cosmic noon to dawn.}, author = {Östlin, Göran and Pérez-González, Pablo G. and Melinder, Jens and Gillman, Steven and Iani, Edoardo and Costantin, Luca and Boogaard, Leindert A. and Rinaldi, Pierluigi and Colina, Luis and Nørgaard-Nielsen, Hans Ulrik and Dicken, Daniel and Greve, Thomas R. and Wright, Gillian and Alonso-Herrero, Almudena and Álvarez-Márquez, Javier and Annunziatella, Marianna and Bik, Arjan and Bosman, Sarah E.I. and Caputi, Karina I. and Gomez, Alejandro Crespo and Eckart, Andreas and Garcia-Marin, Macarena and Hjorth, Jens and Ilbert, Olivier and Jermann, Iris and Kendrew, Sarah and Labiano, Alvaro and Langeroodi, Danial and Le Fevre, Olivier and Libralato, Mattia and Meyer, Romain A. and Moutard, Thibaud and Peissker, Florian and Pye, John P. and Tikkanen, Tuomo V. and Topinka, Martin and Walter, Fabian and Ward, Martin and Van Der Werf, Paul and Van Dishoeck, Ewine F. and Güdel, Manuel and Henning, Thomas and Lagage, Pierre Olivier and Ray, Tom P. and Vandenbussche, Bart}, issn = {1432-0746}, journal = {Astronomy & Astrophysics}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, title = {{MIRI Deep Imaging Survey (MIDIS) of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Survey description and early results for the galaxy population detected at 5.6 µm}}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202451723}, volume = {696}, year = {2025}, } @article{19846, abstract = {The Ca2+-release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channel Orai1 is activated by interaction with the Ca2+ sensor Stromal Interaction Molecule 1 (STIM1). Owing to the lack of structurally resolved Orai1/STIM1 complexes, the impact of their coupling on individual Orai1 transmembrane domain (TM) movements is unclear. This study investigates STIM1-independent and STIM1-dependent Orai1-TM dynamics using photocrosslinking unnatural amino acids (UAAs) at each individual TM position. We primarily identify CRAC-channel-like currents directly after UAA incorporation or additional UV-light irradiation at TM3 sites that interface with non-pore-lining TMs. Using UAAs combined with conventional site-directed mutagenesis and molecular dynamics simulations, we discover that pore opening involves a widening of interfaces formed by TM3 with non-pore-lining TMs. Orai1 mutants with a UAA in TM3 exhibit weaker STIM1-induced activation after UV exposure, possibly caused by a restricted widening of non-pore-lining TM interfaces. We demonstrate that photocrosslinking UAAs are excellent tools for improving our understanding of key determinants and ion channel dynamics modulating pore opening.}, author = {Najjar, Hadil and Weiß, Sarah and Horvath, Ferdinand and Hopl, Valentina and Tiffner, Adéla and Höbarth, Lorenz and Söllner, Julia and Fröhlich, Maximilian and Prantl, Magdalena and Müller, Nora and Nazarenko, Yuliia and Harant, Selina and Weissenböck, Lukas and Grabmayr, Herwig and Sallinger, Matthias and Maltan, Lena and Echefu, Linda V. and Radiskovic, Tamara and Leopold, Melanie and Lindinger, Sonja and Humer, Christina and Höglinger, Carmen and Krobath, Heinrich and Renger, Thomas and Derler, Isabella}, issn = {2666-3864}, journal = {Cell Reports Physical Science}, number = {6}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{STIM1-induced widening of non-pore-lining TM interfaces is crucial for Orai1 pore opening}}, doi = {10.1016/j.xcrp.2025.102623}, volume = {6}, year = {2025}, } @article{19847, abstract = {Prussian blue (PB) and Prussian blue analogues (PBAs) are a class of porous materials composed of transition metal cations, cyanide ligands, and alkali metal cations. Their ability to intercalate and deintercalate ions within their framework pores, coupled with the adaptability of their crystal structure to electrochemical changes, underpins their success in battery applications. PBAs with Fe or Co as the active site exhibit high redox potentials (vs SHE) and have been extensively explored as cathode materials, with well-documented chemistry, crystal structures, and electrochemical properties. In contrast, PBAs with Cr or Mn as the active site display lower redox potentials and remain significantly underexplored as anode materials. This gap has led to fewer reported compounds and a less comprehensive understanding of their structural and electrochemical behavior, leaving the field relatively opaque. In this perspective, we comprehensively analyze the challenges involved in producing and employing PBAs with low redox potentials as active battery materials. Conversely, we propose numerous horizons and ask fundamental questions that should pave the way for future research to advance the field.}, author = {Palacios Corella, Mario and Echevarría, Igor and Santana Santos, Carla and Schuhmann, Wolfgang and Ventosa, Edgar and Ibáñez, Maria}, issn = {1520-5002}, journal = {Chemistry of Materials}, number = {12}, pages = {4203--4226}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Prussian blue analogues as anode materials for battery applications: Complexities and horizons}}, doi = {10.1021/acs.chemmater.5c00213}, volume = {37}, year = {2025}, } @article{19848, abstract = {Binding precedents (súmulas vinculantes) constitute a juridical instrument unique to the Brazilian legal system and whose objectives include the protection of the Federal Supreme Court against repetitive demands. Studies of the effectiveness of these instruments in decreasing the Court’s exposure to similar cases, however, indicate that they tend to fail in such a direction, with some of the binding precedents seemingly creating new demands. We empirically assess the legal impact of five binding precedents, 11, 14, 17, 26, and 37, at the highest Court level through their effects on the legal subjects they address. This analysis is only possible through the comparison of the Court’s ruling about the precedents’ themes before they are created, which means that these decisions should be detected through techniques of Similar Case Retrieval, which we tackle from the angle of Case Classification. The contributions of this article are therefore twofold: on the mathematical side, we compare the use of different methods of Natural Language Processing — TF-IDF, LSTM, Longformer, and regex — for Case Classification, whereas on the legal side, we contrast the inefficiency of these binding precedents with a set of hypotheses that may justify their repeated usage. We observe that the TF-IDF models performed slightly better than LSTM and Longformer when compared through common metrics; however, the deep learning models were able to detect certain important legal events that TF-IDF missed. On the legal side, we argue that the reasons for binding precedents to fail in responding to repetitive demand are heterogeneous and case-dependent, making it impossible to single out a specific cause. We identify five main hypotheses, which are found in different combinations in each of the precedents studied.}, author = {Tinarrage, Raphaël and Ennes, Henrique and Resck, Lucas and Gomes, Lucas T. and Ponciano, Jean R. and Poco, Jorge}, issn = {1572-8382}, journal = {Artificial Intelligence and Law}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Empirical analysis of binding precedent efficiency in Brazilian Supreme Court via case classification}}, doi = {10.1007/s10506-025-09458-6}, year = {2025}, } @article{19852, abstract = {Technology involving hybrid superconductor–semiconductor materials is a promising avenue for engineering quantum devices for information storage, manipulation, and transmission. Proximity-induced superconducting correlations are an essential part of such devices. While the proximity effect in the conduction band of common semiconductors is well understood, its manifestation in confined hole gases, realized for instance in germanium, is an active area of research. Lower-dimensional hole-based systems, particularly in germanium, are emerging as an attractive platform for a variety of solid-state quantum devices, due to their combination of efficient spin and charge control and long coherence times. The recent experimental realization of the proximity effect in germanium thus calls for a theoretical description that is tailored to hole gases. In this work, we propose a simple model to describe proximity-induced superconductivity in two-dimensional hole gases, incorporating both the heavy-hole (HH) and light-hole (LH) bands. We start from the Luttinger–Kohn model, introduce three parameters that characterize hopping across the superconductor–semiconductor interface, and derive explicit intraband and interband effective pairing terms for the HH and LH bands. Unlike previous approaches, our theory provides a quantitative relationship between induced pairings and interface properties. Restricting our general model to an experimentally relevant case where only the HH band crosses the chemical potential, we predict the coexistence of 𝑠-wave and 𝑑-wave singlet pairings, along with triplet-type pairings, and modified Zeeman and Rashba spin–orbit couplings. Our results thus present a starting point for theoretical modeling of quantum devices based on proximitized hole gases, fueling further progress in quantum technology.}, author = {Babkin, Serafim and Joecker, Benjamin and Flensberg, Karsten and Serbyn, Maksym and Danon, Jeroen}, issn = {2469-9969}, journal = {Physical Review B}, number = {21}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Superconducting proximity effect in two-dimensional hole gases}}, doi = {10.1103/k4jh-pnxy}, volume = {111}, year = {2025}, } @article{19854, abstract = {Asynchronous Boolean networks are a type of discrete dynamical system in which each variable can take one of two states, and a single variable state is updated in each time step according to pre-selected rules. Boolean networks are popular in systems biology due to their ability to model long-term biological phenotypes within a qualitative, predictive framework. Boolean networks model phenotypes as attractors, which are closely linked to minimal trap spaces (inescapable hypercubes in the system’s state space). In biological applications, attractors and minimal trap spaces are typically in one-to-one correspondence. However, this correspondence is not guaranteed: motif-avoidant attractors (MAAs) that lie outside minimal trap spaces are possible. MAAs are rare and poorly understood, despite recent efforts. In this contribution to the BMB & JMB Special Collection “Problems, Progress and Perspectives in Mathematical and Computational Biology”, we summarize the current state of knowledge regarding MAAs and present several novel observations regarding their response to node deletion reductions and linear extensions of edges. We conduct large-scale computational studies on an ensemble of 14 000 models derived from published Boolean models of biological systems, and more than 100 million Random Boolean Networks. Our findings quantify the rarity of MAAs; in particular, we only observed MAAs in biological models after applying standard simplification methods, highlighting the role of network reduction in introducing MAAs into the dynamics. We also show that MAAs are fragile to linear extensions: in sparse networks, even a single linear node can disrupt virtually all MAAs. Motivated by this observation, we improve the upper bound on the number of delays needed to disrupt a motif-avoidant attractor.}, author = {Pastva, Samuel and Park, Kyu Hyong and Huvar, Ondřej and Rozum, Jordan C. and Albert, Réka}, issn = {1432-1416}, journal = {Journal of Mathematical Biology}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{An open problem: Why are motif-avoidant attractors so rare in asynchronous Boolean networks?}}, doi = {10.1007/s00285-025-02235-8}, volume = {91}, year = {2025}, } @article{19855, abstract = {We present indirect constraints on the absolute escape fraction of ionizing photons (f_{\rm esc}^{\rm LyC}) of the system GN 42912 which comprises two luminous galaxies (M_{\rm UV} magnitudes of -20.89 and -20.37) at z\sim7.5, GN 42912-NE and GN 42912-SW, to determine their contribution to the ionizing photon budget of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). The high-resolution James Webb Space Telescope NIRSpec and NIRCam observations reveal the two galaxies are separated by only ~0.1" (0.5 kpc) on the sky and have a 358 km s^{-1} velocity separation. GN 42912-NE and GN 42912-SW are relatively massive for this redshift (log(M_\ast/M_\odot) \sim 8.4 and 8.9, respectively), with gas-phase metallicities of 18 per cent and 23 per cent solar, O_{32} ratios of 5.3 and >5.8, and \beta slopes of -1.92 and -1.51, respectively. We use the Mg II\lambda\lambda2796,2803 doublet to constrain f_{\rm esc}^{\rm LyC}. Mg II has an ionization potential close to that of neutral hydrogen and, in the optically thin regime, can be used as an indirect tracer of the LyC leakage. We establish realistic conservative upper limits on f_{\rm esc}^{\rm LyC} of 8.5 per cent for GN 42912-NE and 14 per cent for GN 42912-SW. These estimates align with f_{\rm esc}^{\rm LyC} trends observed with \beta, O_{32}, and the H\beta equivalent width at z<4. The small inferred ionized region sizes (<0.3 pMpc) around both galaxies indicate they have not ionized a significant fraction of the surrounding neutral gas. While these z>7 f_{\rm esc}^{\rm LyC} constraints do not decisively determine a specific reionization model, they support a minor contribution from these two relatively luminous galaxies to the EoR.}, author = {Gazagnes, S. and Chisholm, J. and Endsley, R. and Berg, D. A. and Leclercq, F. and Jurlin, N. and Saldana-Lopez, A. and Finkelstein, S. L. and Flury, S. R. and Guseva, N. G. and Henry, A. and Izotov, Y. I. and Jung, I. and Matthee, Jorryt J and Schaerer, D.}, issn = {1365-2966}, journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, number = {3}, pages = {2331--2348}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{A negligible contribution of two luminous z ∼7.5 galaxies to the ionizing photon budget of reionization}}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/staf768}, volume = {540}, year = {2025}, } @article{19857, abstract = {Bacteria have evolved a wide range of defence strategies to protect themselves against bacterial viruses (phages). Most known bacterial antiphage defence systems target phages with DNA genomes, which raises the question of how bacteria defend against phages with RNA genomes. Bacterial toxin–antitoxin systems that cleave intracellular RNA could potentially protect bacteria against RNA phages, but this has not been explored experimentally. In this study, we investigated the role of a model toxin–antitoxin system, MazEF, in protecting Escherichia coli against two RNA phage species. When challenged with these phages, the native presence of mazEF moderately reduced population susceptibility and increased the survival of individual E. coli cells. Genomic analysis further revealed an underrepresentation of the MazF cleavage site in genomes of RNA phages infecting E. coli, indicating selection against cleavage. These results show that, in addition to other physiological roles, RNA-degrading toxin–antitoxin systems may also help defend against RNA phages.}, author = {Nikolic, Nela and Pleska, Maros and Bergmiller, Tobias and Guet, Calin C}, issn = {1744-957X}, journal = {Biology Letters}, number = {6}, publisher = {The Royal Society}, title = {{A bacterial toxin-antitoxin system as a native defence element against RNA phages}}, doi = {10.1098/rsbl.2025.0080}, volume = {21}, year = {2025}, } @inproceedings{19858, abstract = {Given a graph G that undergoes a sequence of edge insertions and deletions, we study the Maximum k-Edge Coloring problem (MkEC): Having access to k different colors, color as many edges of G as possible such that no two adjacent edges share the same color. While this problem is different from simply maintaining a b-matching with b = k, the two problems are related. However, maximum b-matching can be solved efficiently in the static setting, whereas MkEC is NP-hard and even APX-hard for k ≥ 2. We present new results on both problems: For b-matching, we show a new integrality gap result and we adapt Wajc’s matching sparsification scheme [David Wajc, 2020] for the case where b is a constant. Using these as basis, we give three new algorithms for the dynamic MkEC problem: Our MatchO algorithm builds on the dynamic (2+ε)-approximation algorithm of Bhattacharya, Gupta, and Mohan [Sayan Bhattacharya et al., 2017] for b-matching and achieves a (2+ε)(k+1)/k-approximation in O(poly(log n, ε^-1)) update time against an oblivious adversary. Our MatchA algorithm builds on the dynamic (7+ε)-approximation algorithm by Bhattacharya, Henzinger, and Italiano [Sayan Bhattacharya et al., 2015] for fractional b-matching and achieves a (7+ε)(3k+3)/(3k-1)-approximation in O(poly(log n, ε^-1)) update time against an adaptive adversary. Moreover, our reductions use the dynamic b-matching algorithm as a black box, so any future improvement in the approximation ratio for dynamic b-matching will automatically translate into a better approximation ratio for our algorithms. Finally, we present a greedy algorithm with O(Δ+k) update time, which guarantees a 2.16 approximation factor.}, author = {El-Hayek, Antoine and Hanauer, Kathrin and Henzinger, Monika H}, booktitle = {4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks}, isbn = {9783959773683}, issn = {1868-8969}, location = {Liverpool, United Kingdom}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik}, title = {{On b-matching and fully-dynamic maximum k-edge coloring}}, doi = {10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.4}, volume = {330}, year = {2025}, } @article{19859, abstract = {We consider a recently introduced model of color-avoiding percolation (abbreviated CA-percolation) defined as follows. Every edge in a graph G is colored in some of k>=2 colors. Two vertices u and v in G are said to be CA-connected if u and v may be connected using any subset of k-1 colors. CA-connectivity defines an equivalence relation on the vertex set of G whose classes are called CA-components. We study the component structure of a randomly colored Erdős–Rényi random graph of constant average degree. We distinguish three regimes for the size of the largest component: a supercritical regime, a so-called intermediate regime, and a subcritical regime, in which the largest CA-component has respectively linear, logarithmic, and bounded size. Interestingly, in the subcritical regime, the bound is deterministic and given by the number of colors.}, author = {Lichev, Lyuben and Schapira, Bruno}, issn = {2644-9463}, journal = {Annales Henri Lebesgue}, pages = {35--65}, publisher = {École normale supérieure de Rennes}, title = {{Color-avoiding percolation on the Erdős–Rényi random graph}}, doi = {10.5802/ahl.228}, volume = {8}, year = {2025}, } @article{19876, abstract = {Assortative mating and sexual selection are widespread in nature and can play an important role in speciation by facilitating the buildup and maintenance of reproductive isolation (RI). However, their contribution to genome-wide suppression of gene flow during RI is rarely quantified. Here, we consider a polygenic “magic” trait that is divergently selected across two populations connected by migration, while also serving as the basis of assortative mating, thus generating sexual selection on one or both sexes. We obtain theoretical predictions for divergence at individual trait loci by assuming that the effect of all other loci on any locus can be encapsulated via an effective migration rate, which bears a simple relationship to measurable fitness components of migrants and various early-generation hybrids. Our analysis clarifies how “tipping points” (characterized by an abrupt collapse of adaptive divergence) arise, and when assortative mating can shift the critical level of migration beyond which divergence collapses. We quantify the relative contributions of viability and sexual selection to genome-wide barriers to gene flow and discuss how these depend on existing divergence levels. Our results suggest that effective migration rates provide a useful way of understanding genomic divergence, even in scenarios involving multiple, interacting mechanisms of RI. }, author = {Surendranadh, Parvathy and Sachdeva, Himani}, issn = {1558-5646}, journal = {Evolution}, number = {7}, pages = {1185--1198}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{Effect of assortative mating and sexual selection on polygenic barriers to gene flow}}, doi = {10.1093/evolut/qpaf047}, volume = {79}, year = {2025}, } @inproceedings{19877, abstract = {As inference on Large Language Models (LLMs) emerges as an important workload in machine learning applications, model weight quantization has become a standard technique for efficient GPU deployment. Quantization not only reduces model size, but has also been shown to yield substantial speedups for single-user inference, due to reduced memory movement, with low accuracy impact. Yet, it remains a key open question whether speedups are achievable also in batched settings with multiple parallel clients, which are highly relevant for practical serving. It is unclear whether GPU kernels can be designed to remain practically memory-bound, while supporting the substantially increased compute requirements of batched workloads. In this paper, we resolve this question positively by introducing a new design for Mixed-precision Auto-Regressive LINear kernels, called MARLIN. Concretely, given a model whose weights are compressed via quantization to, e.g., 4 bits per element, MARLIN shows that batchsizes up to 16-32 can be practically supported with close to maximum (4×) quantization speedup, and larger batchsizes up to 64-128 with gradually decreasing, but still significant, acceleration. MARLIN accomplishes this via a combination of techniques, such as asynchronous memory access, complex task scheduling and pipelining, and bespoke quantization support. Our experiments show that MARLIN's near-optimal performance on individual LLM layers across different scenarios can also lead to significant end-to-end LLM inference speedups (of up to 2.8×) when integrated with the popular vLLM open-source serving engine. Finally, we show that MARLIN is extensible to further compression techniques, like NVIDIA 2:4 sparsity, leading to additional speedups.}, author = {Frantar, Elias and Castro, Roberto L. and Chen, Jiale and Hoefler, Torsten and Alistarh, Dan-Adrian}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 30th ACM SIGPLAN Annual Symposium on Principles and Practice of Parallel Programming}, isbn = {9798400714436}, location = {Las Vegas, NV, United States}, pages = {239--251}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, title = {{MARLIN: Mixed-precision auto-regressive parallel inference on Large Language Models}}, doi = {10.1145/3710848.3710871}, year = {2025}, } @article{19878, abstract = {Rock debris partially covers glaciers worldwide, with varying extents and distributions, and controls sub‐debris melt rates by modifying energy transfer from the atmosphere to the ice. Two key physical properties controlling this energy exchange are thermal conductivity (k) and aerodynamic roughness length (z0). Accurate representation of these properties in energy‐balance models is critical for understanding climate‐glacier interactions and predicting the behavior of debris‐covered glaciers. However, k and z0 have been derived at very few sites from limited local measurements, using different approaches, and most model applications rely on values reported from these few sites and studies. We derive k and z0 using established and modified approaches from data at three locations on Pirámide Glacier in the central Chilean Andes. By comparing methods and evaluating melt simulated with an energy‐balance model, we reveal substantial differences between approaches. These lead to discrepancies between ice melt from energy‐balance simulations and observed data, and highlight the impact of method choice on calculated ice melt. Optimizing k against measured melt appears a viable approach to constrain melt simulations. Determining z0 seems less critical, as it has a smaller impact on total melt. Profile aerodynamic method measurements for estimating z0, despite higher costs, are independent of ice melt calculations. The large, unexpected differences between methods indicate a substantial knowledge gap. The fact that field‐derived k and z0 fail to work well in energy‐balance models, suggests that model values represent bulk properties distinct from theoretical field measurements. Addressing this gap is essential for improving glacier melt predictions.}, author = {Melo Velasco, Juan Vicente and Miles, Evan and McCarthy, Michael and Shaw, Thomas and Fyffe, Catriona Louise and Fontrodona-Bach, Adrià and Pellicciotti, Francesca}, issn = {2169-9011}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface}, number = {6}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{Method dependence in thermal conductivity and aerodynamic roughness length estimates on a debris‐covered glacier}}, doi = {10.1029/2025jf008360}, volume = {130}, year = {2025}, } @article{19879, abstract = {We consider the 4-precoloring extension problem in planar near-Eulerian- triangulations, i.e., plane graphs where all faces except possibly for the outer one have length three, all vertices not incident with the outer face have even degree, and exactly the vertices incident with the outer face are precolored. We give a necessary topological condition for the precoloring to extend, and give a complete characterization when the outer face has length at most five and when all vertices of the outer face have odd degree and are colored using only three colors.}, author = {Dvořák, Zdeněk and Moore, Benjamin and Seifrtová, Michaela and Šámal, Robert}, issn = {0195-6698}, journal = {European Journal of Combinatorics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Precoloring extension in planar near-Eulerian-triangulations}}, doi = {10.1016/j.ejc.2025.104138}, volume = {127}, year = {2025}, } @article{19880, abstract = {We investigate quantum transport in a two-dimensional electron system coupled to a chiral molecular potential, demonstrating how molecular chirality and orientation affect charge and spin transport properties. We propose a minimal model for realizing true chiral symmetry breaking on a magnetized surface, with a crucial role played by the tilt angle of the molecular dipole with respect to the surface. For non-zero tilting, we show that the Hall response exhibits clear signatures of chirality-induced effects, in both charge- and spin-resolved observables. Concerning the former, tilted enantiomers produce asymmetric Hall conductances and, even more remarkably, the persistence of this feature in the absence of spin–orbit coupling (SOC) signals how the enantiospecific charge response results from electron scattering off the molecular potential. Concerning spin-resolved observables where SOC plays a relevant role, we reveal that chiral symmetry breaking is crucial in enabling spin-flipping processes.}, author = {Al Hyder, Ragheed and Lemeshko, Mikhail and Cappellaro, Alberto}, issn = {1089-7690}, journal = {The Journal of Chemical Physics}, number = {23}, publisher = {AIP Publishing}, title = {{Quantum transport in the presence of a chiral molecular potential}}, doi = {10.1063/5.0271155}, volume = {162}, year = {2025}, } @misc{19885, abstract = {This .zip file contains the data to reproduce the figures and supplementary figures of "Automated All-RF Tuning for Spin Qubit Readout and Control" by Cornelius Carlsson and Jaime Saez-Mollejo et al.}, author = {Saez Mollejo, Jaime}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Automated All-RF Tuning for Spin Qubit Readout and Control}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:19885}, year = {2025}, } @misc{19915, author = {Springstein, Benjamin L}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Files for "Evolutionary repurposing of a DNA segregation machinery into a cytoskeletal system controlling cyanobacterial cell shape"}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:19915}, year = {2025}, }