Kavli Affiliate: Matthew Fisher | Summary:Recent vision-language model (VLM)-based approaches have achieved impressive results on image vectorization tasks. However, they are typically evaluated on synthetic benchmarks, where clean SVGs are rasterized at high resolution and then re-vectorized. As a result, these methods generalize poorly to real-world scenarios, such as images with unknown rasterization methods or […]

Kavli Affiliate: Leon Balents | Summary:We study an effective low-energy Kondo model on the triangular lattice in which itinerant electrons occupy a valence pocket at $Γ$ and three conduction pockets at the $M$ points of the Brillouin zone. This construction has a Fermi-surface nesting structure that favors triple-$Q$ magnetic order while only assuming the low-energy […]

Kavli Affiliate: Matthew Fisher | Summary:Symmetry-based classification of quantum phases of matter is one of the most foundational organizing principles in physics; however, an analogous framework for mixed, decohered quantum states has only begun to emerge. A central new concept is strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking (SW-SSB), a sharp transition in mixed quantum states that is […]

Kavli Affiliate: Leon Balents | Summary:We present a systematic classification and variational study of chiral quantum spin liquids on the pyrochlore lattice based on fermionic parton constructions. Focusing on chiral $mathrmU(1)$ and $mathbbZ_2$ spin-liquid Ansätze, we characterize their symmetry properties, flux structures, and low-energy spinon spectra within a projective symmetry group framework, and incorporate gauge […]

Kavli Affiliate: Leon Balents | Summary:In this work, we perform ultrafast time-resolved reflectivity measurements to track the evolution of charge density wave (CDW) correlations in Sn-doped Kagome superconductor CsV$_3$Sb$_5-x$Sn$_x$. By extracting the coherent phonon spectrum, we evidence robust signatures of CDW correlations at temperature and doping ranges far beyond the phase boundary of long-range CDW […]

Kavli Affiliate: Matthew Fisher | Summary:We explore the onset of spontaneous strong-to-weak symmetry breaking (SW-SSB) under U(1)-symmetric (i.e., charge-conserving) open-system dynamics. We define this phenomenon for quantum states and classical probability distributions, and explore it in three complementary models, one of which exhibits nontrivial quantum coherence at short times. Our main conclusions are as follows. […]

Kavli Affiliate: Boris I. Shraiman | Summary:Connecting cell behavior to tissue shape and mechanics is a key challenge in the physics of morphogenesis. Cytoskeletal turnover precludes a fixed reference state, and tensions are actively generated independently of strain; so conventional elasticity theory is not applicable. Here, we study epithelia governed by quasi-static force balance between […]

Kavli Affiliate: Boris I. Shraiman | Summary:In contrast to inert materials, living cells use molecular motors to generate forces independently of elastic strain. How do local active forces translate into large-scale shape, and what are the mechanical properties of the resulting "living matter"? Here, we address these questions within the active tension network (ATN) model […]

Kavli Affiliate: Boris I. Shraiman | Summary:Connecting cell behavior to tissue shape and mechanics is a fundamental challenge in the physics of morphogenesis. In epithelia, cell-cell interfaces are under internal active tension, and cytoskeletal turnover precludes a fixed "reference shape" that could anchor conventional elastic theory. This "tension-first" setting calls for a different approach. Here, […]

Kavli Affiliate: Leon Balents | Summary:We study Gutzwiller-projected wavefunctions for triangular-lattice U(1) Dirac spin liquids in a Zeeman field, where we allow the U(1) gauge field to develop a gauge flux, resulting in (spin-split) spinon Landau levels. We find that at a given magnetization, the optimal candidate state has a finite flux chosen such that […]