We respond to the critique by Watters et al. (2026) of the statistical analyses in Villarroel et al. (2025) and Bruehl & Villarroel (2025). We argue that the critique conflates object-level validation with ensemble-level statistical inference and relies on a reduced, heterogeneously filtered subset originally constructed for a different scientific purpose. We further question whether the aggressively filtered subset used in Watters et al. (2026) demonstrates a meaningful improvement in sample purity, given the twenty-fold reduction in sample size. Our simple, visual check does not suggest that it does. The subset further lacks complete temporal information and is seriously statistically underpowered for testing the reported Earth-shadow deficit. We emphasise that the horizontal separation metric used for plate assignment and time reconstruction as in Watters et al. (2026) depends on the inclusion of the cos(Dec) factor to ensure geometric consistency. Any omission would alter plate assignment and inferred observation times. Moreover, the analyses presented in Watters et al. (2026) do not include uncertainty estimates or error propagation, limiting the interpretability of the cl
We investigate whether black holes can persist through the bounce with a minimal scale factor in a non-singular cosmology, whereby black holes from a previous contracting phase survive into the current expanding one. We do so by studying a generalized McVittie spacetime which embeds a spherically symmetric black hole in a positive spatial curvature bouncing FLRW cosmological background within the modified theory of teleparallel new general relativity. There are no further assumptions on the spacetime (e.g., on the form of the scale factor) initially, and the local evolution is derived from the field equations of the theory, utilizing a perturbative scheme which is valid ``near the bounce". To leading order we obtain a simple bounce solution similar to that in general relativity for a closed FLRW model with a positive cosmological constant, but in which the curvature term in the Friedmann equation is re-normalized within new general relativity. Qualitatively the minimum of the bounce at $t=0$ changes, but near the bounce the evolution remains symmetric. The central inhomogeneity evolves at higher perturbative orders, where the details depend on the arbitrary constants of the perturb
Compensating changes between a subjects' training and testing session in Brain Computer Interfacing (BCI) is challenging but of great importance for a robust BCI operation. We show that such changes are very similar between subjects, thus can be reliably estimated using data from other users and utilized to construct an invariant feature space. This novel approach to learning from other subjects aims to reduce the adverse effects of common non-stationarities, but does not transfer discriminative information. This is an important conceptual difference to standard multi-subject methods that e.g. improve the covariance matrix estimation by shrinking it towards the average of other users or construct a global feature space. These methods do not reduces the shift between training and test data and may produce poor results when subjects have very different signal characteristics. In this paper we compare our approach to two state-of-the-art multi-subject methods on toy data and two data sets of EEG recordings from subjects performing motor imagery. We show that it can not only achieve a significant increase in performance, but also that the extracted change patterns allow for a neurophys
A generalized Robertson-Walker spacetime is the warped product with base an open interval of the real line endowed with the opposite of its metric and base any Riemannian manifold. The family of generalized Robertson-Walker spacetimes widely extends the one of classical Robertson-Walker spacetimes. In this article we prove a very simple characterization of generalized Robertson-Walker spacetimes; namely, a Lorentzian manifold is a generalized Robertson-Walker spacetime if and only if it admits a timelike concircular vector field.
Our comment on García-Donato et al. (2025). "Model uncertainty and missing data: An objective Bayesian perspective" explores a further extension of the proposed methodology. Specifically, we consider the sequential setting where (potentially missing) data accumulate over time, with the goal of continuously monitoring statistical evidence, as opposed to assessing it only once data collection terminates. We explore a new variable selection method based on sequential model confidence sets, as proposed by Arnold et al. (2024), and show that it can help stabilise the inference of García-Donato et al. (2025). To be published as "Invited discussion" in Bayesian Analysis.
This paper considers an inverse shape problem for recovering an unknown clamped obstacle in two dimensions from far--field measurements generated by a single incident wave or just a few incident waves for the biharmonic (flexural) wave equation. Here we will develop a new extended sampling method (ESM) that is derived using the analysis of the well--known factorization method. We will also consider an ESM using both sound--soft and sound--hard sampling disks to identify sampling points where the reference disk intersects the unknown cavity. The use of a sound--hard sampling disk has not been studied in the literature whereas the sound--soft sampling disk has been used in most recent works. Traditionally the ESM seeks to find the location of the scatterer from limited incident directional data. Here, our method acts more like the factorization method to obtain the location as well as the size (and possibly the shape) of the obstacle. We present numerical experiments with synthetic data that demonstrate how effective this new implementation is with respect to noisy data and illustrate the influence of the reference disk radius on the reconstruction.
Considering the existence of nonconformal stochastic fluctuations in the metric tensor a generalized uncertainty principle and a deformed dispersion relation (associated to the propagation of photons) are deduced. Matching our model with the so called quantum kappa--Poincare group will allow us to deduce that the fluctuation--dissipation theorem could be fulfilled without needing a restoring mechanism associated with the intrinsic fluctuations of spacetime. In other words, the loss of quantum information is related to the fact that the spacetime symmetries are described by the quantum kappa--Poincare group, and not by the usual Poincare symmetries. An upper bound for the free parameters of this model will also be obtained.
This comment addresses discrepancies in dielectric constant calculations of water under extreme conditions (~10 GPa and 1000 K) between Fowler et al.'s recent study [Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 372, 111-123 (2024)] and the earlier work by Pan et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 110, 6646-6650 (2013)]. Through reproduced ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations using the CP2K code with extended duration and identical system size, we rigorously validate that Pan et al.'s original results (39.4) are well-converged, contrasting with Fowler et al.'s reported value of 51. The observed discrepancy cannot be attributed to simulation duration limitations, but rather to methodological differences in dipole moment calculation. Our analysis highlights critical issues in the treatment of dipole moment fluctuations in periodic systems within the framework of modern theory of polarization. This clarification has significant implications for modeling mineral-water interactions in Earth's mantle using Born theory.
We show that LiVCuO4 should be described by strongly ferromagnetically coupled Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chains (HAC) in sharp contrast with the effective exchange integrals Ji given in Enderle et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. vol. 104, 237207 (2010), and the main issues of that work, namely, (i) LiVCuO4 is well described by two weakly ferromagnetically coupled interpenetrating Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 chains, (ii) the extracted exchange integrals J1, J2 agree with a previous spin-wave description (Enderle et al., Euphys. Lett. vol. 70, 237 (2005)), (iii) the spectral density of inelastic neutron scattering (INS) above 10 meV is ascribed to a 4-spinon continuum. Applying exact diagonalization and DMRG methods to fit their INS and magnetization M(H) data, supported by two independent microscopic methods (5-band Hubbard model and LSDA+U calculations), we demonstrate that LiCuVO4 exhibits strong inchain frustration with alpha =-J2/J1 < 1, i.e. strong coupling of the HAC at odds with (i). An alternative phenomenological set in accord with various experimental results is proposed. In view of the recent possible discovery of quantum-spin nematics and Bose condensation of two-m
We propose to develop a wide-field and ultra-high-precision photometric survey mission, temporarily named "Earth 2.0 (ET)". This mission is designed to measure, for the first time, the occurrence rate and the orbital distributions of Earth-sized planets. ET consists of seven 30cm telescopes, to be launched to the Earth-Sun's L2 point. Six of these are transit telescopes with a field of view of 500 square degrees. Staring in the direction that encompasses the original Kepler field for four continuous years, this monitoring will return tens of thousands of transiting planets, including the elusive Earth twins orbiting solar-type stars. The seventh telescope is a 30cm microlensing telescope that will monitor an area of 4 square degrees toward the galactic bulge. This, combined with simultaneous ground-based KMTNet observations, will measure masses for hundreds of long-period and free-floating planets. Together, the transit and the microlensing telescopes will revolutionize our understandings of terrestrial planets across a large swath of orbital distances and free space. In addition, the survey data will also facilitate studies in the fields of asteroseismology, Galactic archeology, t
A characterization of the foliation by spacelike slices of an $(n+1)$-dimensional spatially closed Generalized Robertson-Walker spacetime is given by means of studying a natural mean curvature type equation on spacelike graphs. Under some natural assumptions, of physical or geometric nature, all the entire solutions of such an equation are obtained. In particular, the case of entire spacelike graphs in de Sitter spacetime is faced and completely solved by means of a new application of a known integral formula.
The magnetic compression experiment at General Fusion was a repetitive non-destructive test to study plasma physics to Magnetic Target Fusion compression. A compact torus (CT) is formed with a co-axial gun into a containment region with an hour-glass shaped inner flux conserver, and an insulating outer wall. External coil currents keep the CT off the outer wall (radial levitation) and then rapidly compress it inwards. The optimal external coil configuration greatly improved both the levitated CT lifetime and the rate of shots with good flux conservation during compression. As confirmed by spectrometer data, the improved levitation field profile reduced plasma impurity levels by suppressing the interaction between plasma and the insulating outer wall during the formation process. Significant increases in magnetic field, density, and ion temperature were routinely observed at magnetic compression despite the prevalence of an instability, thought be an external kink, at compression. Matching the decay rate of the levitation coil currents to that of the internal CT currents resulted in a reduced level of MHD activity associated with unintentional compression by the levitation field, an
The notion that the geometry of our space-time is not only a static background but can be physically dynamic is well established in general relativity. Geometry can be described as shaped by the presence of matter, where such shaping manifests itself as gravitational force. We consider here probabilistic or atomistic models of such space-time, in which the active geometry emerges from a statistical distribution of 'atoms'. Such atoms are not to be confused with their chemical counterparts, however the shift of perspective obtained in analyzing a gas via its molecules rather than its bulk properties is analogous to this "second atomization". In this atomization, space-time itself (i.e. the meter and the second) is effectively atomized, so the atoms themselves must exist in a 'subspace'. Here we build a simple model of such a space-time from the ground up, establishing a route for more complete theories, and enabling a review of recent work. We first introduce the motivation behind statistical interpretations and atomism, and look at applications to the realm of dynamic space-time theories. We then consider models of kinetic media in subspace compatible with our understanding of ligh
We derive magnetic black hole solutions using a general gauge potential in the framework of teleparallel equivalent general relativity. One of the solutions gives a non-trivial value of the scalar torsion. This non-triviality of the torsion scalar depends on some values of the magnetic field. The metric of those solutions behave asymptotically as Anti-de-Sitter/ de-Sitter (AdS/dS) spacetimes. The energy conditions are discussed in details. Also, we calculate the torsion and curvature invariants to discuss singularities. Additionally, we calculate the conserved quantities using the Einstein-Cartan geometry to understand the physics of the constants appearing into the solutions.
The preceding Comment by Xu et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 059803 (2019); arXiv:1808.05390) erroneously applies the entropic stress expression in our Letter (T.C. O'Connor et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 047801 (2018); arXiv:1806.09509) to transient stress. In addition, the authors only apply this expression at extreme extension rates where we clearly showed deviations from the entropic stress expression for steady-state extensional flow. Hence the surprisingly minor discrepancies noted in the Comment between observed and "predicted" stress are entirely expected and have no bearing on the discussion or conclusions in our Letter.
The Next-Generation Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope Array (NG-ACTA) is proposed as a prospective infrastructure for very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy, consisting of a mixed-aperture array of 88 telescopes with a maximum array diameter of 10 km. The array adopts a three-tier configuration of 30 m large-aperture Large Size Telescopes (LSTs), 12 m medium-aperture Medium Size Telescopes (MSTs), and 6 m small-aperture Small Size Telescopes (SSTs), enabling continuous gamma-ray detection across the full energy band from 20 GeV to 100 TeV. With core advantages of an ultra-low detection threshold ($\leq20$ GeV), ultra-high angular resolution ($\leq0.04^\circ$), ultra-large effective area ($\geq1\times10^5$ m$^2$), extreme cosmic ray background rejection (proton rejection efficiency $\geq99.99\%$), and rapid transient response ($\leq100$ ns trigger latency), NG-ACTA targets the most cutting-edge and transformative fundamental scientific topics in modern astrophysics and particle physics, including VHE gamma-ray astronomy, cosmic ray origin, multi-messenger astronomy, and dark matter as well as new physics tests. The array's scientific goals cover five core fields: particle astrophy
We implement a spatially fixed mesh refinement under spherical symmetry for the characteristic formulation of General Relativity. The Courant-Friedrich-Levy (CFL) condition lets us deploy an adaptive resolution in (retarded-like) time, even for the nonlinear regime. As test cases, we replicate the main features of the gravitational critical behavior and the spacetime structure at null infinity using the Bondi mass and the News function. Additionally, we obtain the global energy conservation for an extreme situation, i.e. in the threshold of the black hole formation. In principle, the calibrated code can be used in conjunction with an ADM 3+1 code to confirm the critical behavior recently reported in the gravitational collapse of a massless scalar field in an asymptotic anti-de Sitter spacetime. For the scenarios studied, the fixed mesh refinement offers improved runtime and results comparable to code without mesh refinement.
In Jiang et al. (2020), we reported a possible bright flash (hereafter GN-z11-flash) from a galaxy GN-z11 at z ~ 11. Recently, Steinhardt et al. (2021; arXiv:2101.12738) found 27 images with transient signals in Keck MOSFIRE archival data and claimed that GN-z11-flash was more likely from a moving object in our Solar system. We show that the Steinhardt et al.'s definition of the chance probability and their methodology of finding GN-z11-flash-like transients are problematic in several aspects. In particular, none of their transients is analogous to GN-z11-flash, and none of them is positionally coincident with a known object in their imaging data. In Jiang et al., we performed a comprehensive analysis of the origin of GN-z11-flash and ruled out, to the best of our knowledge, the possibility of known man-made objects or moving objects in the Solar system, based on all available information and our current understanding of these objects. Steinhardt et al. did not use such information and did not analyse the GN-z11-flash event itself. The majority of their transients are apparently low-Earth orbit satellites or aircrafts. Therefore, their analysis can neither prove nor disprove our re
In this work we investigate the structure of white dwarfs using the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations and compare our results with those obtained from Newtonian equations of gravitation in order to put in evidence the importance of General Relativity (GR) for the structure of such stars. We consider in this work for the matter inside white dwarfs two equations of state, frequently found in the literature, namely, the Chandrasekhar and Salpeter equations of state. We find that using Newtonian equilibrium equations, the radii of massive white dwarfs ($M>1.3M_{\odot}$) are overestimated in comparison with GR outcomes. For a mass of $1.415M_{\odot}$ the white dwarf radius predicted by GR is about 33\% smaller than the Newtonian one. Hence, in this case, for the surface gravity the difference between the general relativistic and Newtonian outcomes is about 65\%. We depict the general relativistic mass-radius diagrams as $M/M_{\odot}=R/(a+bR+cR^2+dR^3+kR^4)$, where $a$, $b$, $c$ and $d$ are parameters obtained from a fitting procedure of the numerical results and $k=(2.08\times 10^{-6}R_{\odot})^{-1}$, being $R_{\odot}$ the radius of the Sun in km. Lastly, we point out that GR play
In a recent Letter (astro-ph/9605001), Cowsik et al. claim that the best fit value of the velocity dispersion of the Galactic dark matter is 600 kms. This result is obtained by a numerical method of solving the coupled self-gravitation equations, assuming Maxwellian velocity distributions. The rotation curve presented in their original paper is not the whole story, as it does not match onto the spherical self-gravitating halo with a Maxwellian velocity distribution -- as it must. This was pointed out in the original version of this Comment. In their Reply (astro-ph/9608035), Cowsik et al. provide a rotation curve that does behave with the correct asymptotics. Unfortunately, it violates mass estimates of the Local Group by over an order of magnitude. It is the pressure required to balance the weight of the overlying layers of this phenomenal mass at large radii that is the physical origin of Cowsik et al's anomalously high dark matter velocity dispersion.