@article{19628, abstract = {We consider the critical temperature for superconductivity, defined via the linear BCS equation. We prove that at weak coupling the critical temperature for a sample confined to a quadrant in two dimensions is strictly larger than the one for a half-space, which in turn is strictly larger than the one for R^2. Furthermore, we prove that the relative difference of the critical temperatures vanishes in the weak coupling limit.}, author = {Roos, Barbara and Seiringer, Robert}, issn = {2050-5094}, journal = {Forum of Mathematics, Sigma}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, title = {{Enhanced superconductivity at a corner for the linear BCS equation}}, doi = {10.1017/fms.2024.145}, volume = {13}, year = {2025}, } @article{19629, abstract = {The SiOx anode exhibits a high specific capacity and commendable durability for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, its practical application is hindered by significant volumetric fluctuations during lithiation/delithiation, alongside a metastable nature, which induces mechanical instability and irreversible lithium consumption, ultimately impairing long-term capacity retention in full-battery cell configurations. In this study, we present a phase-engineering approach designed to improve the structural stability of SiOx anodes for LIB applications. By incorporating lithium fluoride, amorphous SiOx undergoes partial transformation into a quartz-like phase, which enhances mechanical integrity and mitigates irreversible lithium loss. This modified anode demonstrates significantly improved stability and prolonged cycle lifespan. Through a combination of multiscale simulations and in situ characterizations, we elucidate the stabilization mechanisms conferred by the quartz phase, providing critical insights into the role of SiOx’s crystal structure in influencing degradation pathways. This work introduces an accessible and efficient method for controlling the crystallinity of SiOx, offering a practical solution to enhance the durability of high-energy-density LIBs.}, author = {Li, Jing and Zeng, Guifang and Horta, Sharona and Martínez-Alanis, Paulina R. and Jacas Biendicho, Jordi and Ibáñez, Maria and Xu, Bingang and Ci, Lijie and Cabot, Andreu and Sun, Qing}, issn = {1936-086X}, journal = {ACS Nano}, number = {16}, pages = {16096--16109}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Crystallographic engineering in micron-sized SiOx anode material toward stable high-energy-density Lithium-Ion batteries}}, doi = {10.1021/acsnano.5c03074}, volume = {19}, year = {2025}, } @article{19636, abstract = {This summary of the second Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry (TVLBAI) Workshop provides a comprehensive overview of our meeting held in London in April 2024 (Second Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry Workshop, Imperial College, April 2024), building on the initial discussions during the inaugural workshop held at CERN in March 2023 (First Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry Workshop, CERN, March 2023). Like the summary of the first workshop (Abend et al. in AVS Quantum Sci. 6:024701, 2024), this document records a critical milestone for the international atom interferometry community. It documents our concerted efforts to evaluate progress, address emerging challenges, and refine strategic directions for future large-scale atom interferometry projects. Our commitment to collaboration is manifested by the integration of diverse expertise and the coordination of international resources, all aimed at advancing the frontiers of atom interferometry physics and technology, as set out in a Memorandum of Understanding signed by over 50 institutions (Memorandum of Understanding for the Terrestrial Very Long Baseline Atom Interferometer Study).}, author = {Abdalla, Adam and Abe, Mahiro and Abend, Sven and Abidi, Mouine and Aidelsburger, Monika and Alibabaei, Ashkan and Allard, Baptiste and Antoniadis, John and Arduini, Gianluigi and Augst, Nadja and Balamatsias, Philippos and Balaž, Antun and Banks, Hannah and Barcklay, Rachel L. and Barone, Michele and Barsanti, Michele and Bason, Mark G. and Bassi, Angelo and Bayle, Jean Baptiste and Baynham, Charles F.A. and Beaufils, Quentin and Beldjoudi, Sélyan and Belić, Aleksandar and Bennetts, Shayne and Bernabeu, Jose and Bertoldi, Andrea and Bigard, Clara and Bigelow, N. P. and Bingham, Robert and Blas, Diego and Bobrick, Alexey and Boehringer, Samuel and Bogojević, Aleksandar and Bongs, Kai and Bortoletto, Daniela and Bouyer, Philippe and Brand, Christian and Buchmueller, Oliver and Buica, Gabriela and Calatroni, Sergio and Calmels, Léo and Canizares, Priscilla and Canuel, Benjamin and Caramete, Ana and Caramete, Laurentiu Ioan and Carlesso, Matteo and Carlton, John and Carman, Samuel P. and Carroll, Andrew and Casariego, Mateo and Chairetis, Minoas and Charmandaris, Vassilis and Chauhan, Upasna and Chen, Jiajun and Chiofalo, Maria Luisa Maria Luisa Marilù and Ciampini, Donatella and Cimbri, Alessia and Cladé, Pierre and Coleman, Jonathon and Constantin, Florin Lucian and Contaldi, Carlo R. and Corgier, Robin and Dash, Bineet and Davies, G. J. and De Rham, Claudia and De Roeck, Albert and Derr, Daniel and Dey, Soumyodeep and Di Pumpo, Fabio and Djordjevic, Goran S. and Döbrich, Babette and Dornan, Peter and Doser, Michael and Drougakis, Giannis and Dunningham, Jacob and Duspayev, Alisher and Easo, Sajan and Eby, Joshua and Efremov, Maxim and Elertas, Gedminas and Ellis, John and Entin, Nicholas and Fairhurst, Stephen and Fanì, Mattia and Fassi, Farida and Fayet, Pierre and Felea, Daniel and Feng, Jie and Flack, Robert and Foot, Chris and Freegarde, Tim and Fuchs, Elina and Gaaloul, Naceur and Gao, Dongfeng and Gardner, Susan and Garraway, Barry M. and Garrido Alzar, Carlos L. and Gauguet, Alexandre and Giese, Enno and Gill, Patrick and Giudice, Gian F. and Glasbrenner, Eric P. and Glick, Jonah and Graham, Peter W. and Granados, Eduardo and Griffin, Paul F. and Gué, Jordan and Guellati-Khelifa, Saïda and Gupta, Subhadeep and Gupta, Vishu and Hackermueller, Lucia and Haehnelt, Martin and Hakulinen, Timo and Hammerer, Klemens and Hanımeli, Ekim T. and Harte, Tiffany and Hartmann, Sabrina and Hawkins, Leonie and Hees, Aurelien and Herbst, Alexander and Hird, Thomas M. and Hobson, Richard and Hogan, Jason and Holst, Bodil and Holynski, Michael and Hosten, Onur and Hsu, Chung Chuan and Huang, Wayne Cheng Wei and Hughes, Kenneth M. and Hussain, Kamran and Hütsi, Gert and Iovino, Antonio and Isfan, Maria Catalina and Janson, Gregor and Jeglič, Peter and Jetzer, Philippe and Jiang, Yijun and Juzeliūnas, Gediminas and Kaenders, Wilhelm and Kalliokoski, Matti and Kehagias, Alex and Kilian, Eva and Klempt, Carsten and Knight, Peter and Koley, Soumen and Konrad, Bernd and Kovachy, Tim and Krutzik, Markus and Kumar, Mukesh and Kumar, Pradeep and Labiad, Hamza and Lan, Shau Yu and Landragin, Arnaud and Landsberg, Greg and Langlois, Mehdi and Lanigan, Bryony and Leone, Bruno and Le Poncin-Lafitte, Christophe and Lellouch, Samuel and Lewicki, Marek and Lien, Yu Hung and Lombriser, Lucas and Asamar, Elias Lopez and Lopez-Gonzalez, J. Luis and Lu, Chen and Luciano, Giuseppe Gaetano and Lundblad, Nathan and De J. López Monjaraz, Cristian and Lowe, Adam and Mackoit-Sinkevičienė, Mažena and Maggiore, Michele and Majumdar, Anirban and Makris, Konstantinos and Maleknejad, Azadeh and Marchant, Anna L. and Mariotti, Agnese and Markou, Christos and Matthews, Barnaby and Mazumdar, Anupam and Mccabe, Christopher and Meister, Matthias and Mentasti, Giorgio and Menu, Jonathan and Messineo, Giuseppe and Meyer-Hoppe, Bernd and Micalizio, Salvatore and Migliaccio, Federica and Millington, Peter and Milosevic, Milan and Mishra, Abhay and Mitchell, Jeremiah and Morley, Gavin W. and Mouelle, Noam and Müller, Jürgen and Newbold, David and Ni, Wei Tou and Niehof, Christian and Noller, Johannes and Odžak, Senad and Oi, Daniel K.L. and Oikonomou, Andreas and Omar, Yasser and Overstreet, Chris and Puthiya Veettil, Vishnupriya and Pahl, Julia and Paling, Sean and Pan, Zhongyin and Pappas, George and Pareek, Vinay and Pasatembou, Elizabeth and Paternostro, Mauro and Pathak, Vishal K. and Pelucchi, Emanuele and Pereira Dos Santos, Franck and Peters, Achim and Pichery, Annie and Pikovski, Igor and Pilaftsis, Apostolos and Pislan, Florentina Crenguta and Plunkett, Robert and Poggiani, Rosa and Prevedelli, Marco and Rafelski, Johann and Raidal, Juhan and Raidal, Martti and Rasel, Ernst Maria and Renaux-Petel, Sébastien and Richaud, Andrea and Rivero-Antunez, Pedro and Rodzinka, Tangui and Roura, Albert and Rudolph, Jan and Sabulsky, Dylan and Safronova, Marianna S. and Sakellariadou, Mairi and Salvi, Leonardo and Sameed, Muhammed and Sarkar, Sumit and Schach, Patrik and Schäffer, Stefan Alaric and Schelfhout, Jesse and Schilling, Manuel and Schkolnik, Vladimir and Schleich, Wolfgang P. and Schlippert, Dennis and Schneider, Ulrich and Schreck, Florian and Schwartzman, Ariel and Schwersenz, Nico and Sergijenko, Olga and Sfar, Haifa Rejeb and Shao, Lijing and Shipsey, Ian and Shu, Jing and Singh, Yeshpal and Sopuerta, Carlos F. and Sorba, Marianna and Sorrentino, Fiodor and Spallicci, Alessandro D.A.M. and Stefanescu, Petruta and Stergioulas, Nikolaos and Stoerk, Daniel and Thaivalappil Sunilkumar, Hrudya and Ströhle, Jannik and Tam, Zoie and Tandon, Dhruv and Tang, Yijun and Tell, Dorothee and Tempere, Jacques and Temples, Dylan J. and Thampy, Rohit P. and Tietje, Ingmari C. and Tino, Guglielmo M. and Tinsley, Jonathan N. and Tintareanu Mircea, Ovidiu and Tkalčec, Kimberly and Tolley, Andrew J. and Tornatore, Vincenza and Torres-Orjuela, Alejandro and Treutlein, Philipp and Trombettoni, Andrea and Ufrecht, Christian and Urrutia, Juan and Valenzuela, Tristan and Valerio, Linda R. and Van Der Grinten, Maurits and Vaskonen, Ville and Vázquez-Aceves, Verónica and Veermäe, Hardi and Vetrano, Flavio and Vitanov, Nikolay V. and Von Klitzing, Wolf and Wald, Sebastian and Walker, Thomas and Walser, Reinhold and Wang, Jin and Wang, Yan and Weidner, C. A. and Wenzlawski, André and Werner, Michael and Wörner, Lisa and Yahia, Mohamed E. and Yazgan, Efe and Zambrini Cruzeiro, Emmanuel and Zarei, M. and Zhan, Mingsheng and Zhang, Shengnan and Zhou, Lin and Zupanič, Erik}, issn = {2196-0763}, journal = {EPJ Quantum Technology}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry: Summary of the second workshop}}, doi = {10.1140/epjqt/s40507-025-00344-3}, volume = {12}, year = {2025}, } @article{19638, abstract = {The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed low-luminosity active galactic nuclei at redshifts of z ≳ 4–7, many of which host accreting massive black holes (BHs) with BH-to-galaxy mass (MBH/M⋆) ratios exceeding the local values by more than an order of magnitude. The origin of these overmassive BHs remains unclear but requires potential contributions from heavy seeds and/or episodes of super-Eddington accretion. We present a growth model coupled with dark matter halo assembly to explore the evolution of the MBH/M⋆ ratio under different seeding and feedback scenarios. Given the gas inflow rates in protogalaxies, BHs grow episodically at moderate super-Eddington rates, and the mass ratio increases early on, despite significant mass loss through feedback. Regardless of seeding mechanisms, the mass ratio converges to a universal value ∼0.1–0.3, set by the balance between gas feeding and star formation efficiency in the nucleus. This behavior defines an attractor in the MBH–M⋆ diagram, where overmassive BHs grow more slowly than their hosts, while undermassive seeds experience rapid growth before aligning with the attractor. We derive an analytical expression for the universal mass ratio, linking it to feedback strength and halo growth. The convergence of evolutionary tracks erases seeding information from the mass ratio by z ∼ 4–6. Detecting BHs with ∼105−6 M⊙ at higher redshifts that deviate from the convergence trend would provide key diagnostics of their birth conditions.}, author = {Hu, Haojie and Inayoshi, Kohei and Haiman, Zoltán and Ho, Luis C. and Ohsuga, Ken}, issn = {2041-8213}, journal = {The Astrophysical Journal Letters}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publishing}, title = {{The convergence of heavy and light seeds to overmassive black holes at cosmic dawn}}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/adc680}, volume = {983}, year = {2025}, } @article{19639, abstract = {Magnetic interactions are thought to play a key role in the properties of many unconventional superconductors, including cuprates, iron pnictides, and square-planar nickelates. Superconductivity was also recently observed in the bilayer and trilayer Ruddlesden-Popper nickelates, the electronic structure of which is expected to differ from that of cuprates and square-planar nickelates. Here we study how electronic structure and magnetic interactions evolve with the number of layers, 𝑛, in thin film Ruddlesden-Popper nickelates Nd𝑛+1⁢Ni𝑛⁢O3⁢𝑛+1 with 𝑛=1,3, and 5 using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS). The RIXS spectra are consistent with a high-spin |3⁢𝑑8⁢ 𝐿̲⟩ electronic configuration, resembling that of La2−𝑥⁢Sr𝑥⁢NiO4 and the parent perovskite, NdNiO3. The magnetic excitations soften to lower energy in the structurally self-doped, higher-𝑛 films. Our observations confirm that structural tuning is an effective route for altering electronic properties, such as magnetic superexchange, in this prominent family of materials.}, author = {Tenhuisen, Sophia F.R. and Pan, Grace A. and Song, Qi and Baykusheva, Denitsa Rangelova and Ferenc Segedin, Dan and Goodge, Berit H. and Paik, Hanjong and Pelliciari, Jonathan and Bisogni, Valentina and Gu, Yanhong and Agrestini, Stefano and Nag, Abhishek and García-Fernández, Mirian and Zhou, Ke Jin and Kourkoutis, Lena F. and Brooks, Charles M. and Mundy, Julia A. and Dean, Mark P.M. and Mitrano, Matteo}, issn = {2469-9969}, journal = {Physical Review B}, number = {16}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Magnetic excitations in Ndn+1Nin O3n+1 Ruddlesden-Popper nickelates observed via resonant inelastic x-ray scattering}}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.111.165145}, volume = {111}, year = {2025}, } @article{19640, abstract = {Synaptic plasticity is a key player in the brain’s life-long learning abilities. However, due to experimental limitations, the mechanistic link between synaptic plasticity rules and the network-level computations they enable remain opaque. Here we use evolutionary strategies (ES) to meta learn local co-active plasticity rules in large recurrent spiking networks with excitatory (E) and inhibitory (I) neurons, using parameterizations of increasing complexity. We discover rules that robustly stabilize network dynamics for all four synapse types acting in isolation (E-to-E, E-to-I, I-to-E and I-to-I). More complex functions such as familiarity detection can also be included in the search constraints. However, our meta learning strategy begins to fail for co-active rules of increasing complexity, as it is challenging to devise loss functions that effectively constrain network dynamics to plausible solutions a priori. Moreover, in line with previous work, we can find multiple degenerate solutions with identical network behaviour. As a local optimization strategy, ES provides one solution at a time and makes exploration of this degeneracy cumbersome. Regardless, we can glean the interdependecies of various plasticity parameters by considering the covariance matrix learned alongside the optimal rule with ES. Our work provides a proof of principle for the success of machine-learning-guided discovery of plasticity rules in large spiking networks, and points at the necessity of more elaborate search strategies going forward.}, author = {Confavreux, Basile J and Agnes, Everton J. and Zenke, Friedemann and Sprekeler, Henning and Vogels, Tim P}, issn = {1553-7358}, journal = {PLoS Computational Biology}, number = {4}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {{Balancing complexity, performance and plausibility to meta learn plasticity rules in recurrent spiking networks}}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012910}, volume = {21}, year = {2025}, } @article{19641, abstract = {Mycorrhizal and saprotrophic macromycetes contribute strongly to the carbon and nitrogen cycles of forest ecosystems, often studied by tracing stable isotope composition of carbon and nitrogen. The phenomenon of the saprotrophic-mycorrhizal divide highlights the difference in the stable isotope composition of fruiting bodies of mycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi. Much less is known about the isotopic composition of the mycelium, which plays an important role in the formation of the soil organic matter and fuels the fungal trophic channel in soil food webs. In this study, we assessed whether the saprotrophic-mycorrhizal divide in the natural δ13С and δ15N values can be traced throughout entire fungal organisms. This hypothesis was tested using 16 species of ectomycorrhizal and six species of saprotrophic basidiomycetous fungi. We showed that not only fruiting bodies, but also the mycelium of ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi differs in the δ13C and δ15N values. In both ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi, the δ13C and δ15N values increased from mycelium to hymenophores and correlated positively with the total N content in the corresponding tissues. The differences between ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic mycelium can be used to reconstruct the fungal-driven belowground carbon and nitrogen allocation, and the contribution of saprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi to soil food webs.}, author = {Zuev, A. G. and Alexandrova, A. V. and Litvinskiy, V. A. and Pravdolyubova, Evgeniya and Tiunov, A. V.}, issn = {1432-1890}, journal = {Mycorrhiza}, number = {2}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Saprotrophic-mycorrhizal divide in stable isotope composition throughout the whole fungus: From mycelium to hymenophore}}, doi = {10.1007/s00572-025-01203-w}, volume = {35}, year = {2025}, } @article{19642, abstract = {We study the criticality and subcriticality of powers (−Δ) α with α>0 of the discrete Laplacian −Δ acting on ℓ 2 (N). We prove that these positive powers of the Laplacian are critical if and only if α≥3/2. We complement our analysis with Hardy-type inequalities for (−Δ) α in the subcritical regimes α∈(0,3/2). As an illustration of the critical case α≥3/2, we analyze asymptotic properties of discrete eigenvalues emerging by coupling (−Δ) α with a localized potential.}, author = {Gerhát, Borbála M and Krejčiřík, David and Štampach, František}, issn = {2235-0616}, journal = {Revista Matematica Iberoamericana}, number = {3}, pages = {1173--1200}, publisher = {EMS Press}, title = {{Criticality transition for positive powers of the discrete Laplacian on the half line}}, doi = {10.4171/RMI/1523}, volume = {41}, year = {2025}, } @misc{19658, abstract = {We consider a family of totally asymmetric simple exclusion processes (TASEPs), consisting of particles on a lattice that require binding by a "token" in various physical configurations to advance over the lattice. Using a combination of theory and simulations, we address the following questions: (i) How token binding kinetics affects the current-density relation on the lattice; (ii) How this current-density relation depends on the scarcity of tokens; (iii) How tokens propagate the effects of the locally-imposed disorder (such as a slow site) over the entire lattice; (iv) How a shared pool of tokens couples concurrent TASEPs running on multiple lattices; (v) How our results translate to TASEPs with open boundaries that exchange particles with the reservoir. Since real particle motion (including in biological systems that inspired the standard TASEP model, e.g., protein synthesis or movement of molecular motors) is often catalyzed, regulated, actuated, or otherwise mediated, the token-driven TASEP dynamics analyzed in this paper should allow for a better understanding of real systems and enable a closer match between TASEP theory and experimental observations.}, author = {Tkačik, Gašper}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Token-driven totally asymmetric simple exclusion processes}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:19658}, year = {2025}, } @article{19660, abstract = {We analyze the ground state energy of N fermions in a two-dimensional box interacting with an impurity particle via two-body point interactions. We show that for weak coupling, the ground state energy is asymptotically described by the polaron energy, as proposed by F. Chevy in the physics literature. The polaron energy is the solution of a nonlinear equation involving the Green’s function of the free Fermi gas and the binding energy of the two-body point interaction. We provide quantitative error estimates that are uniform in the thermodynamic limit.}, author = {Mitrouskas, David Johannes}, issn = {1432-0673}, journal = {Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis}, number = {3}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{The weakly coupled two-dimensional Fermi polaron}}, doi = {10.1007/s00205-025-02098-9}, volume = {249}, year = {2025}, } @article{19661, abstract = {The Nelson model describes non-relativistic particles coupled to a relativistic Bose scalar field. In this article, we study the renormalized version of the Nelson model with massless bosons in Davies' weak coupling limit. Our main result states that the two-body Coulomb potential emerges as an effective pair interaction between the particles, which arises from the exchange of virtual excitations of the quantum field.}, author = {Cárdenas, Esteban and Mitrouskas, David Johannes}, issn = {1751-8121}, journal = {Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical}, number = {17}, publisher = {IOP Publishing}, title = {{The renormalized Nelson model in the weak coupling limit}}, doi = {10.1088/1751-8121/adcdd9}, volume = {58}, year = {2025}, } @article{19662, abstract = {We investigate the effect of changes in the Coriolis force caused by changes in the rotation rate on the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiant energy budget of an aquaplanet general circulation model with prescribed sea surface temperatures. We analyse the effective radiative forcing caused by changes from Earth-like rotation to values between 1/32 and 8 times the Earth's rotation rate. The forcing differs by about 60 W m−2 between the fastest and slowest rotation cases, with a monotonically increasing positive forcing for faster-than-Earth-like rotations and a non-monotonically increasing negative forcing for slower rotations. The largest contributions to the forcing are due to changes in, in this order, the shortwave cloud radiative effect (SWCRE) and the clear-sky outgoing longwave radiation (OLR). From the fastest to the slowest rotation, the Hadley cell expands and the troposphere becomes drier, increasing the OLR. This contributes to negative forcing at slower-than-Earth-like rotations and to positive forcing at faster-than-Earth-like rotations. The SWCRE is influenced by changes in the low-level cloudiness within the Hadley cell and the baroclinic regime. With the expansion of the Hadley cell, the area of enhanced tropospheric stability increases, resulting in more low-level clouds, a higher SWCRE, and increased negative forcing. The non-monotonicity results from an intermediate decrease in the SWCRE caused by the disappearance of baroclinic eddies as the Hadley cell reaches global extension. At rotations faster than Earth-like, the decrease in the SWCRE, mainly due to the weakening of baroclinic eddies and storm systems, leads to an increase in positive forcing. In summary, changes in the SWCRE, driven by different circulation responses at slower-than-Earth-like and faster-than-Earth-like rotations, strongly influence the TOA radiant energy budget. These effects, along with a substantial contribution from the clear-sky OLR, could impact the habitability of Earth-like rotating planets.}, author = {Gnanaraj, Abisha Mary and Bao, Jiawei and Schmidt, Hauke}, issn = {2698-4016}, journal = {Weather and Climate Dynamics}, number = {2}, pages = {489--503}, publisher = {Copernicus Publications}, title = {{The impact of the rotation rate on an aquaplanet's radiant energy budget: Insights from experiments varying the Coriolis parameter}}, doi = {10.5194/wcd-6-489-2025}, volume = {6}, year = {2025}, } @article{19663, abstract = {The centrosome is a microtubule orchestrator, nucleating and anchoring microtubules that grow radially and exert forces on cargos. At the same time, mechanical stresses from the microenvironment and cellular shape changes compress and bend microtubules. Yet, centrosomes are membraneless organelles, raising the question of how centrosomes withstand mechanical forces. Here, we discover that centrosomes can deform and even fracture. We reveal that centrosomes experience deformations during navigational pathfinding within motile cells. Coherence of the centrosome is maintained by Dyrk3 and cNAP1, preventing fracturing by forces. While cells can compensate for the depletion of centriolar-based centrosomes, the fracturing of centrosomes impedes cellular function by generating coexisting microtubule organizing centers that compete during path navigation and thereby cause cellular entanglement in the microenvironment. Our findings show that cells actively maintain the integrity of the centrosome to withstand mechanical forces. These results suggest that centrosome stability preservation is fundamental, given that almost all cells in multicellular organisms experience forces.}, author = {Schmitt, Madeleine T. and Kroll, Janina and Ruiz-Fernandez, Mauricio J.A. and Hauschild, Robert and Ghosh, Shaunak and Kameritsch, Petra and Merrin, Jack and Schmid, Johanna and Stefanowski, Kasia and Thomae, Andreas W. and Cheng, Jingyuan and Öztan, Gamze Naz and Konopka, Peter and Ortega, Germán Camargo and Penz, Thomas and Bach, Luisa and Baumjohann, Dirk and Bock, Christoph and Straub, Tobias and Meissner, Felix and Kiermaier, Eva and Renkawitz, Jörg}, issn = {2375-2548}, journal = {Science Advances}, number = {17}, publisher = {AAAS}, title = {{Protecting centrosomes from fracturing enables efficient cell navigation}}, doi = {10.1126/sciadv.adx4047}, volume = {11}, year = {2025}, } @inproceedings{19665, abstract = {As AI-based decision-makers increasingly influence human lives, it is a growing concern that their decisions may be unfair or biased with respect to people's protected attributes, such as gender and race. Most existing bias prevention measures provide probabilistic fairness guarantees in the long run, and it is possible that the decisions are biased on any decision sequence of fixed length. We introduce *fairness shielding*, where a symbolic decision-maker---the fairness shield---continuously monitors the sequence of decisions of another deployed black-box decision-maker, and makes interventions so that a given fairness criterion is met while the total intervention costs are minimized. We present four different algorithms for computing fairness shields, among which one guarantees fairness over fixed horizons, and three guarantee fairness periodically after fixed intervals. Given a distribution over future decisions and their intervention costs, our algorithms solve different instances of bounded-horizon optimal control problems with different levels of computational costs and optimality guarantees. Our empirical evaluation demonstrates the effectiveness of these shields in ensuring fairness while maintaining cost efficiency across various scenarios.}, author = {Cano Cordoba, Filip and Henzinger, Thomas A and Könighofer, Bettina and Kueffner, Konstantin and Mallik, Kaushik}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 39th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence}, issn = {2374-3468}, location = {Philadelphia, PA, United States}, number = {15}, pages = {15659--15668}, publisher = {Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence}, title = {{Fairness shields: Safeguarding against biased decision makers}}, doi = {10.1609/aaai.v39i15.33719}, volume = {39}, year = {2025}, } @inproceedings{19666, abstract = {Markov decision processes (MDP) are a well-established model for sequential decision-making in the presence of probabilities. In *robust* MDP (RMDP), every action is associated with an *uncertainty set* of probability distributions, modelling that transition probabilities are not known precisely. Based on the known theoretical connection to stochastic games, we provide a framework for solving RMDPs that is generic, reliable, and efficient. It is *generic* both with respect to the model, allowing for a wide range of uncertainty sets, including but not limited to intervals, L1- or L2-balls, and polytopes; and with respect to the objective, including long-run average reward, undiscounted total reward, and stochastic shortest path. It is *reliable*, as our approach not only converges in the limit, but provides precision guarantees at any time during the computation. It is *efficient* because -- in contrast to state-of-the-art approaches -- it avoids explicitly constructing the underlying stochastic game. Consequently, our prototype implementation outperforms existing tools by several orders of magnitude and can solve RMDPs with a million states in under a minute.}, author = {Meggendorfer, Tobias and Weininger, Maximilian and Wienhöft, Patrick}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 39th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence}, issn = {2374-3468}, location = {Philadelphia, PA, United States}, number = {25}, pages = {26631--26641}, publisher = {Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence}, title = {{Solving robust Markov decision processes: Generic, reliable, efficient}}, doi = {10.1609/aaai.v39i25.34865}, volume = {39}, year = {2025}, } @inproceedings{19667, abstract = {The problem of checking satisfiability of linear real arithmetic (LRA) and non-linear real arithmetic (NRA) formulas has broad applications, in particular, they are at the heart of logic-related applications such as logic for artificial intelligence, program analysis, etc. While there has been much work on checking satisfiability of unquantified LRA and NRA formulas, the problem of checking satisfiability of quantified LRA and NRA formulas remains a significant challenge. The main bottleneck in the existing methods is a computationally expensive quantifier elimination step. In this work, we propose a novel method for efficient quantifier elimination in quantified LRA and NRA formulas. We propose a template-based Skolemization approach, where we automatically synthesize linear/polynomial Skolem functions in order to eliminate quantifiers in the formula. The key technical ingredient in our approach are Positivstellensätze theorems from algebraic geometry, which allow for an efficient manipulation of polynomial inequalities. Our method offers a range of appealing theoretical properties combined with a strong practical performance. On the theory side, our method is sound, semi-complete, and runs in subexponential time and polynomial space, as opposed to existing sound and complete quantifier elimination methods that run in doubly-exponential time and at least exponential space. On the practical side, our experiments show superior performance compared to state of the art SMT solvers in terms of the number of solved instances and runtime, both on LRA and on NRA benchmarks.}, author = {Chatterjee, Krishnendu and Kafshdar Goharshadi, Ehsan and Karrabi, Mehrdad and Motwani, Harshit J. and Seeliger, Maximilian and Zikelic, Dorde}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 39th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence}, issn = {2374-3468}, location = {Philadelphia, PA, United States}, number = {11}, pages = {11158--11166}, publisher = {Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence}, title = {{Quantified linear and polynomial arithmetic satisfiability via template-based skolemization}}, doi = {10.1609/aaai.v39i11.33213}, volume = {39}, year = {2025}, } @inproceedings{19668, abstract = {Learning-based methods provide a promising approach to solving highly non-linear control tasks that are often challenging for classical control methods. To ensure the satisfaction of a safety property, learning-based methods jointly learn a control policy together with a certificate function for the property. Popular examples include barrier functions for safety and Lyapunov functions for asymptotic stability. While there has been significant progress on learning-based control with certificate functions in the white-box setting, where the correctness of the certificate function can be formally verified, there has been little work on ensuring their reliability in the black-box setting where the system dynamics are unknown. In this work, we consider the problems of certifying and repairing neural network control policies and certificate functions in the black-box setting. We propose a novel framework that utilizes runtime monitoring to detect system behaviors that violate the property of interest under some initially trained neural network policy and certificate. These violating behaviors are used to extract new training data, that is used to re-train the neural network policy and the certificate function and to ultimately repair them. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach empirically by using it to repair and to boost the safety rate of neural network policies learned by a state-of-the-art method for learning-based control on two autonomous system control tasks.}, author = {Yu, Zhengqi and Zikelic, Dorde and Henzinger, Thomas A}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 39th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence}, issn = {2374-3468}, location = {Philadelphia, PA, United States}, number = {25}, pages = {26409--26417}, publisher = {Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence}, title = {{Neural control and certificate repair via runtime monitoring}}, doi = {10.1609/aaai.v39i25.34840}, volume = {39}, year = {2025}, } @inproceedings{19669, abstract = {We consider a class of optimization problems defined by a system of linear equations with min and max operators. This class of optimization problems has been studied under restrictive conditions, such as, (C1) the halting or stability condition; (C2) the non-negative coefficients condition; (C3) the sum upto 1 condition; and (C4) the only min or only max operator condition. Several seminal results in the literature focus on special cases. For example, turn-based stochastic games correspond to conditions C2 and C3; and Markov decision process to conditions C2, C3, and C4. However, the systematic computational complexity study of all the cases has not been explored, which we address in this work. Some highlights of our results are: with conditions C2 and C4, and with conditions C3 and C4, the problem is NP-complete, whereas with condition C1 only, the problem is in UP intersects coUP. Finally, we establish the computational complexity of the decision problem of checking the respective conditions.}, author = {Chatterjee, Krishnendu and Luo, Ruichen and Saona Urmeneta, Raimundo J and Svoboda, Jakub}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 39th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence}, issn = {2374-3468}, location = {Philadelphia, PA, United States}, number = {11}, pages = {11150--11157}, publisher = {Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence}, title = {{Linear equations with min and max operators: Computational complexity}}, doi = {10.1609/aaai.v39i11.33212}, volume = {39}, year = {2025}, } @article{19671, abstract = {Silvopastoral use in native forests could impact population dynamics of key tree species, with contrasting effects at different life cycle stages. Prior studies in South American temperate forests have mainly focused on initial stages, lacking a comprehensive understanding of the entire life cycle within productive systems. We assessed the population dynamics of two key species of mixed forests in northern Patagonia (Austrocedrus chilensis and Nothofagus dombeyi) under two silvopastoral use intensities (high vs. low), using demographic techniques and population projection models. Over 3 years, we quantified vital rates (survival, fertility, growth, reversion and stasis) and used matrix models to calculate deterministic population growth rates (λ). High-intensity silvopastoral use had predominantly negative effects on the elements of the projection matrices of A. chilensis, whereas N. dombeyi exhibited mostly positive or no changes. As a result, projections indicated slight population decreases for A. chilensis (mostly λ < 1) at high silvopastoral use levels compared to low levels, while N. dombeyi showed similar projections (λ ≅ 1) between use levels. Decreased λ for A. chilensis resulted mainly from lower adult tree survival, while early life stages had limited influence on λ for these long-lived species. In summary, silvopastoral use affects population dynamics of key tree species of these mixed forests of northern Patagonia, with implications for sustainable management. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the entire life cycle and suggest targeted practices to enhance A. chilensis populations.}, author = {Arpigiani, Daniela and Aschero, Valeria and Soler Schaller, Rosina Matilde and Amoroso, Mariano M.}, issn = {1442-9993}, journal = {Austral Ecology}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{A life-cycle approach to understand consequences of silvopastoral use on two native tree species of Northern Patagonia}}, doi = {10.1111/aec.70058}, volume = {50}, year = {2025}, } @article{19672, abstract = {Some of the classical models of tropical cyclone intensification predict tropical cyclones to intensify up to a steady intensity, which depends on surface fluxes only, without any relevant role played by convective motions in the troposphere, typically assumed to have a moist adiabatic lapse rate. Simulations performed using the non-hydrostatic, high-resolution model System for Atmosphere Modeling in idealized settings (rotating radiative-convective equilibrium on a doubly periodic domain) show early intensification consistent with these theoretical expectations, but different intensity evolution, with the cyclone undergoing an oscillation in wind speed. This oscillation can be linked to feedbacks between the cyclone intensity and air buoyancy: convective heating, radiative heating, and mixing with warm low stratospheric air warm the mid and upper troposphere of the cyclone stabilizing the air column and thus reducing its intensity. After the intensity decay phase, mid and upper tropospheric cooling, mostly through cold advection from the surroundings, cooled by radiation, rebuilds Convective Available Potential Energy, that peaks just before a new intensification phase. These idealized simulations thus highlight the potentially important interactions between a tropical cyclone, its environment and radiation.}, author = {Polesello, Andrea and Charinti, Giousef Alexandros and Meroni, Agostino Niyonkuru and Muller, Caroline J and Pasquero, Claudia}, issn = {1942-2466}, journal = {Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{Intensity oscillations of tropical cyclones: Surface versus mid and upper tropospheric processes}}, doi = {10.1029/2024MS004613}, volume = {17}, year = {2025}, }