arXiv subjects

F. Liu

Publications and source records attributed to F. Liu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Apodex 1.1: Scaling Agentic Intelligence for Complex Work

General-purpose language models can reason and synthesize knowledge, but complex work also requires sustained interaction with files, information sources, and executable code, together with state maintenance, failure recovery, and verifiable delivery. We call this \emph{working capability}: sustained, verifiable progress toward a real-world objective. Apodex 1.1 develops this capability along two complementary dimensions. \emph{Environment Scaling} expands the diversity and verifiability of executable file, search, and code environments, while \emph{Agentic Coordination Scaling} trains agents to decompose long-horizon tasks, delegate parallel work, integrate asynchronous results, and replan. A shared execution harness and AgentOS maintain task state and provenance across tools and agents, and training turns environment trajectories and coordination traces into reliable behavior. Across complex professional work, finance, scientific research, mathematics, coding, and search, Apodex 1.1 reaches the leading performance band despite using a substantially smaller model than many frontier systems. The 35B-parameter Apodex 1.1 Mini further retains strong working capability in a locally deployable form. These results ground agentic intelligence in useful, verifiable work completed over time and advance our goal of building a \emph{Heavy-Duty Solver} for ambitious, long-running tasks.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2026

Parenclitic hypergraphs and their application in personalized cancer therapy

Understanding the differences between individual instances of the same complex system remains a central challenge, particularly in biological contexts. Parenclitic networks constitute a suitable means to detect deviations in correlations with respect to reference populations. Here, we introduce parenclitic hypergraphs, a general framework for identifying anomalies in higher-order correlations across arbitrary interaction orders. After validating the method on synthetic datasets and benchmark ones, we apply it to patient-derived cancer organoids, capturing temporal changes in gene expression between healthy and cancerous tissues as the disease progresses. Our approach not only reproduces known oncogenic signatures, but also reveals a previously unrecognized candidate therapeutic target. Since organoids are generated from individual patients, our method provides, for the first time, a viable protocol for personalized cancer therapy based on higher-order correlation patterns. These findings offer a novel, systems-level strategy for precision oncology grounded in complex systems theory.

q-bio.QM↗

arXiv2026

Extreme-ultraviolet optical response of atomically-thin molybdenum disulfide

We report multi-angle reflectivity measurements in the extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) range for mono- and bilayer MoS$_2$ on a Si$_3$N$_4$ substrate. Using a single-sheet 2D conductivity model, we extract the complex optical response of the MoS$_2$ bilayer between 25 and 90 eV and derive an effective refractive index by introducing a thickness equal to the interlayer spacing. The MoS$_2$ monolayer response is consistently reproduced either by halving the 2D conductivity or the effective thickness, indicating a robust scaling with layer number. The resulting optical constants display a broad resonance at the Mo N$_{2,3}$ edge with no signatures of sharp core-exciton features despite the reduced dimensionality. First-principles calculations reproduce the experimental results and show that local-field (Hartree) effects dominate the XUV response, while screened-exchange (SEX) contributions remain weak and mainly induce spectral shifts. Our analysis demonstrates that excitonic effects play a minor role in the XUV optical response of atomically thin MoS$_2$, highlighting key differences with respect to the visible and infrared regimes, and calling for a reassessment of the use of Mo-based transition metal dichalcogenides in attosecond spectroscopy and XUV excitonics.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Multi-Modal Spectroscopy Theory for Ultrafast Control of Rabi Oscillations

We propose a three-cavity scheme to realize full control of the emitter-cavity coupling strength in cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED). The involvement of coupled oscillators gives rise to transient dynamics comprising multiple spectral components, which significantly increases the numerical cost to resolve the fluorescence spectrum in the time domain. A generalized sensor method is hence developed to simplify the calculation process for the characterization of nonstationary quantum dynamics. Multi-modal spectroscopy reveals the emergence, splitting, and disappearance of supermodes in real time. Based on the depletion of the zero-energy supermode, ultrafast switching of Rabi oscillations is demonstrated for time-domain multi-modal spectroscopy. These results exhibit a consistent picture from the spectral control of multiple oscillators to the quantum observation in ultrafast dynamics, which establishes the sensor method as a powerful theoretical tool for the ultrafast spectroscopy of cQED systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Phase-preserving control of Floquet-engineered cavity quantum electrodynamics

We propose a Floquet-engineered framework for the coherent control of the light-matter interaction in a two-level system (TLS) located in a time-modulated cavity. Strictly phase-preserving operation of the TLS-cavity interaction is demonstrated, allowing the interrupt and retrieval of coherent Rabi oscillations without the loss of quantum information. By introducing a phonon reservoir, it is proved that the frequency instability induced from non-Markovian processes does not produce significant phase decoherence during Floquet modulation. Our results provide new insights into the fundamental physics of a driven quantum system and establish Floquet engineering as a powerful tool for coherent quantum information processing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Understanding Polaronic Transport in Anatase TiO2 Films by Combining Precise Synthesis and First-Principles Many-Body Theory

In complex oxides, charge carriers often couple strongly with lattice vibrations to form polarons-entangled electron-phonon quasiparticles whose transport properties remain difficult to characterize. Experimental access to intrinsic polaronic transport requires ultraclean samples, while theoretical descriptions demand methods beyond low-order perturbation theory. Here, we combine the growth of high-quality oxygen-vacancy-doped anatase TiO2 films by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) with a first-principles electron-phonon diagrammatic Monte Carlo (FEP-DMC) framework recently developed for accurate polaron predictions. Our films exhibit record-high electron mobility for anatase TiO2, in excellent agreement with FEP-DMC calculations conducted prior to experiment, which predict a room-temperature mobility of 45 +/- 15 cm2V-1s-1 and a mobility-temperature scaling of mobility proportional to T^(-1.9 +/- 0.077). Microscopic analysis using scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals the role of oxygen vacancies in modulating transport at lower temperatures. FEP-DMC further provides quantitative insight into polaron formation energy, phonon cloud distribution, lattice distortion around the polaron, and the polaronic contribution to mobility. Together, these results establish a predictive theory-experiment workflow to characterize polarons and provide a microscopic understanding of large-polaron transport in anatase TiO2, with broader implications for complex oxides and other polaronic materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Strength in Numbers: Red Galaxies Bolster the Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density at z > 3

A comprehensive account of the cosmic star-formation history demands an accurate census of dust-enshrouded star formation over cosmic time. We provide strong new constraints from a large sample of 777 red galaxies, selected based on their dust-reddened, rest-frame UV-optical emission. This sample of 777 galaxies spans $1 < z < 8$ and is selected from PRIMER JWST NIRCam and HST COSMOS optical data, ensuring robust colour criteria. The SEDs indicate that these dust-reddened galaxies are star-forming, with median $\mathrm{SFR \sim 40M_{\odot}yr^{-1}}$ and stellar mass $\log(M_{*}/M_{\odot}) = 10.3^{+0.6}_{-0.8}$; each exceeds the corresponding medians of the full JWST-detected population by over two dex. Our sample thus clearly shows that red galaxies dominate the high-mass end: they comprise 72 \% of galaxies with $\log(M/M_{\odot}) > 10$ at $z = 3.3$, rising to 91\% by $z \sim 7$ (albeit with large uncertainties at the highest redshifts). Crucially, we find that the number density of massive red star-forming galaxies at $z \sim 6$ is sufficient to explain the abundance of quiescent galaxies at $z > 3$, consistent with typical quenching timescales allowed in the $\mathrm{\sim 1Gyr}$ interval from $z \sim 6$ to $z \sim 3$. This large abundance yields a substantial contribution to the cosmic star-formation rate density: at $z \sim 4$, red galaxies provide $\mathrm {\rho_{SFR} = 3.9^{+0.6}_{-0.5} \times 10^{-2} M_{\odot} yr^{-1}Mpc^{-3}}$, and at $z \sim 5$ they supply nearly 40 \% of the total $\rho_{SFR}$. This exceeds the contribution of bright sub(mm)-selected dusty star-forming galaxies by more than an order of magnitude. Future deeper and wider ALMA surveys will provide further opportunities to strengthen and extend our results in our quest to fully quantify the contribution of dust-obscured activity to $\rho_{\mathrm{SFR}}$ at high redshifts.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Enhancing Photon Indistinguishability of Spectrally Mismatched Single Photons by Cavity Floquet Engineering

We theoretically propose a scheme to enhance the photon indistinguishability of spectrally mismatched single photons via Floquet-engineered optical frequency combs (OFCs) in cavity quantum electrodynamic systems. By periodically modulating two distinct single-photon states under a modulation frequency which is exactly equal to the spectral mismatch of two cavity modes, a pair of single-photon frequency-comb (SPFC) states is prepared energy-conservatively based on full unitary operations. The two states show high indistinguishability with an ideal $g^{(2)}_\mathrm{HOM}(0)$ down to zero due to the superposition of intensity-matched single-photon states coherently distributed across the teeth of the combs.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Mesostructural origins of the anisotropic compressive properties of low-density closed-cell foams: A deeper understanding

Many closed-cell foams exhibit an elongated cell shape in the foam rise direction, resulting in anisotropic compressive properties. Nevertheless, the underlying deformation mechanisms and how cell shape anisotropy induces this mechanical anisotropy are not yet fully understood, in particular for the foams with a high cell face fraction and low relative density. Moreover, the impacts of mesostructural stochastics are often overlooked. This contribution conducts a systematic numerical study on the anisotropic compressive behaviour of low-density closed-cell foams, which accounts for cell shape anisotropy, cell structure and different mesostructural stochastics. Representative volume elements (RVE) of foam mesostructures are modeled, with cell walls described as Reissner-Mindlin shells in a finite rotation setting. A mixed stress-strain driven homogenization scheme is introduced, which allows for enforcing an overall uniaxial stress state. Quantitative analysis of the cell wall deformation behaviour confirms the dominant role of membrane deformation in the initial elastic region, while the bending contribution gets important only after buckling, followed by membrane yielding. Based on the identified deformation mechanisms, analytical models are developed that relates mechanical anisotropy to cell shape anisotropy. It is found that cell shape anisotropy translates into the anisotropy of compressive properties through three pathways, cell load-bearing area fraction, cell wall buckling strength and cell wall inclination angle. Besides, the resulting mechanical anisotropy is strongly affected by the cell shape anisotropy stochastics while almost insensitive to the cell size and cell wall thickness stochastics. The present findings provide deeper insights into the relationships between the anisotropic compressive properties and mesostructures of low-density closed-cell foams.

math.NA↗

arXiv2025

Photoinduced twist and untwist of moir\'e superlattices in TMDC heterobilayers

Two-dimensional moir\'e materials are formed by artificially stacking atomically thin monolayers. A wealth of correlated and topological quantum phases can be engineered via precise choice of stacking geometry. These designer electronic properties depend crucially on interlayer coupling and atomic registry. An important open question is how atomic registry responds on ultrafast timescales to optical excitation and whether the moir\'e geometry can be dynamically reconfigured to tune emergent phenomena in real time. Here we show that femtosecond photoexcitation drives a coherent twist-untwist motion of the moir\'e superlattice in $2^\circ$ and $57^\circ$ twisted WSe$_2$/MoSe$_2$ heterobilayers, resolved directly by ultrafast electron diffraction. Upon above-band-gap photoexcitation, the moir\'e superlattice diffraction features are enhanced within 1 ps and subsequently suppressed several picoseconds after, deviating markedly from typical photoinduced lattice heating. Kinetic diffraction analysis, supported by simulations of the sample dynamics, indicates a peak-to-trough local twist angle modulation of $0.6^\circ$, correlated with a sub-THz frequency moir\'e phonon. This motion is driven by ultrafast charge transfer that transiently increases interlayer attraction. Our results could lead to ultrafast control of moir\'e periodic lattice distortions and, by extension, the local moir\'e potential that shapes excitons, polarons, and correlation-driven behaviors

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Artificial Intelligence for the Electron Ion Collider (AI4EIC)

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a state-of-the-art facility for studying the strong force, is expected to begin commissioning its first experiments in 2028. This is an opportune time for artificial intelligence (AI) to be included from the start at this facility and in all phases that lead up to the experiments. The second annual workshop organized by the AI4EIC working group, which recently took place, centered on exploring all current and prospective application areas of AI for the EIC. This workshop is not only beneficial for the EIC, but also provides valuable insights for the newly established ePIC collaboration at EIC. This paper summarizes the different activities and R&D projects covered across the sessions of the workshop and provides an overview of the goals, approaches and strategies regarding AI/ML in the EIC community, as well as cutting-edge techniques currently studied in other experiments.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2023

High-fidelity interconversion between Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and $W$ states through Floquet-Lindblad engineering in Rydberg atom arrays

Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and W states feature genuine tripartite entanglement that cannot be converted into each other by local operations and classical communication. Here, we present a dissipative protocol for deterministic interconversion between Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and W states of three neutral $^{87}$Rb atoms arranged in an equilateral triangle of a two-dimensional array. With three atomic levels and diagonal van der Waals interactions of Rydberg atoms, the interconversion between tripartite entangled states can be efficiently accomplished in the Floquet-Lindblad framework through the periodic optical pump and dissipation engineering. We evaluate the feasibility of the existing methodology using the experimental parameters accessible to current neutral-atom platforms. We find that our scheme is robust against typical noises, such as laser phase noise and geometric imperfections of the atom array. In addition, our scheme can integrate the Gaussian soft quantum control technique, which further reduces the overall conversion time and increases the resilience to timing errors and interatomic distance fluctuations. The high-fidelity and robust tripartite entanglement interconversion protocol provides a route to save physical resources and enhance the computational efficiency of quantum networks formed by neutral-atom arrays.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Reactor neutrino physics potentials of cryogenic pure-CsI crystal

This paper presents a world-leading scintillation light yield among inorganic crystals measured from a 0.5~kg pure-CsI detector operated at 77 Kelvin. Scintillation photons were detected by two 2-inch Hamamatsu SiPM arrays equipped with cryogenic front-end electronics. Benefiting the light yield enhancement of pure-CsI at low temperatures and the high photon detection efficiency of SiPM, a light yield of 30.1 photoelectrons per keV energy deposit was obtained for X-rays and $\gamma$-rays with energies from 5.9~keV to 59.6~keV. Instrumental and physical effects in the light yield measurement are carefully analyzed. This is the first stable cryogenic operation of kg-scale pure-CsI crystal readout by SiPM arrays at liquid nitrogen temperatures for several days. The world-leading light yield opens a door for the usage of pure-CsI crystal in several fields, particularly in detecting the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering of reactor neutrinos. The potential of using pure-CsI crystals in neutrino physics is discussed in the paper.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

A multi-cubic-kilometre neutrino telescope in the western Pacific Ocean

Next-generation neutrino telescopes with significantly improved sensitivity are required to pinpoint the sources of the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux detected by IceCube and uncover the century-old puzzle of cosmic ray origins. A detector near the equator will provide a unique viewpoint of the neutrino sky, complementing IceCube and other neutrino telescopes in the Northern Hemisphere. Here we present results from an expedition to the north-eastern region of the South China Sea, in the western Pacific Ocean. A favorable neutrino telescope site was found on an abyssal plain at a depth of $\sim$ 3.5km. At depths below 3km, the sea current speed, water absorption and scattering lengths for Cherenkov light, were measured to be $v_{\mathrm{c}}<$10cm/s, $\lambda_{\mathrm{abs} }\simeq$ 27m and $\lambda_{\mathrm{sca} }\simeq$ 63m, respectively. Accounting for these measurements, we present the design and expected performance of a next-generation neutrino telescope, TRopIcal DEep-sea Neutrino Telescope (TRIDENT). With its advanced photon-detection technology and large dimensions, TRIDENT expects to observe the IceCube steady source candidate NGC 1068 with 5$\sigma$ significance within 1 year of operation. This level of sensitivity will open a new arena for diagnosing the origin of cosmic rays and probing fundamental physics over astronomical baselines.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Multi-scale time-resolved electron diffraction: A case study in moir\'e materials

Ultrafast-optical-pump -- structural-probe measurements, including ultrafast electron and x-ray scattering, provide direct experimental access to the fundamental timescales of atomic motion, and are thus foundational techniques for studying matter out of equilibrium. High-performance detectors are needed in scattering experiments to obtain maximum scientific value from every probe particle. We deploy a hybrid pixel array direct electron detector to perform ultrafast electron diffraction experiments on a WSe$_2$/MoSe$_2$ 2D heterobilayer, resolving the weak features of diffuse scattering and moir\'e superlattice structure without saturating the zero order peak. Enabled by the detector's high frame rate, we show that a chopping technique provides diffraction difference images with signal-to-noise at the shot noise limit. Finally, we demonstrate that a fast detector frame rate coupled with a high repetition rate probe can provide continuous time resolution from femtoseconds to seconds, enabling us to perform a scanning ultrafast electron diffraction experiment that maps thermal transport in WSe$_2$/MoSe$_2$ and resolves distinct diffusion mechanisms in space and time.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

Multi-functional metasurface architecture for amplitude, polarization and wavefront control

Metasurfaces (MSs) have been utilized to manipulate different properties of electromagnetic waves. By combining local control over the wave amplitude, phase, and polarization into a single tunable structure, a multi-functional and reconfigurable metasurface can be realized, capable of full control over incident radiation. Here, we experimentally validate a multi-functional metasurface architecture for the microwave regime, where in principle variable loads are connected behind the backplane to reconfigurably shape the complex surface impedance. As a proof-of-concept step, we fabricate several metasurface instances with static loads in different configurations (surface mount capacitors and resistors of different values in different connection topologies) to validate the approach and showcase the different achievable functionalities. Specifically, we show perfect absorption for oblique incidence (both polarizations), broadband linear polarization conversion, and beam splitting, demonstrating control over the amplitude, polarization state, and wavefront, respectively. Measurements are performed in the 4-18 GHz range inside an anechoic chamber and show good agreement with theoretically-anticipated results. Our results clearly demonstrate the practical potential of the proposed architecture for reconfigurable electromagnetic wave manipulation.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2021

Intertwined states at finite temperatures in the Hubbard model

Significant advances in numerical techniques have enabled recent breakthroughs in the study of various properties of the Hubbard model - a seemingly simple, yet complex model of correlated electrons that has been a focus of study for more than half a century. In particular, it captures the essence of strong correlations, and is believed to possess various emergent, low energy states and collective excitations characteristic of cuprate high-temperature superconducting materials. While a thorough review of all activity is not possible here, we have focused the discussion on our recent work using unbiased, numerically exact, ``brute force", finite temperature quantum Monte Carlo methods. Our various studies reveal a rich variety of quantum liquid crystal phases, and complementary transport properties, which answer some questions, but certainly raise others concerning ``strange metal" behavior and the ultimate fate of quasiparticles in the Hubbard model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

New plasma regimes with small ELMs and high confinement at the Joint European Torus

New plasma regimes with high confinement, low core impurity accumulation and small Edge localized mode (ELMs) perturbations have been obtained close to ITER conditions in magnetically confined plasmas from the Joint European torus (JET) tokamak. Such regimes are achieved by means of optimized particle fuelling conditions which trigger a self-organize state with a strong increase in rotation and ion temperature and a decrease of the edge density. An interplay between core and edge plasma regions leads to reduced turbulence levels and outward impurity convection. These results pave the way to an attractive alternative to the standard plasmas considered for fusion energy generation in a tokamak with metallic wall environment such as the ones expected in ITER

physics.plasm-ph↗