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1. A trace inequality for Euclidean gravitational path integrals (and a new positive action conjecture)

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP04(2024)140  

   Colafranceschi, Eugenia; Marolf, Donald; Wang, Zhencheng (April 2024, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> The AdS/CFT correspondence states that certain conformal field theories are equivalent to string theories in a higher-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. One aspect of the correspondence is an equivalence of density matrices or, if one ignores normalizations, of positive operators. On the CFT side of the correspondence, any two positive operatorsA, Bwill satisfy the trace inequality Tr(AB) ≤ Tr(A)Tr(B). This relation holds on any Hilbert space$$ \mathcal{H} $$ $H$and is deeply associated with the fact that the algebraB($$ \mathcal{H} $$ $H$) of bounded operators on$$ \mathcal{H} $$ $H$is a type I von Neumann factor. Holographic bulk theories must thus satisfy a corresponding condition, which we investigate below. In particular, we argue that the Euclidean gravitational path integral respects this inequality at all orders in the semi-classical expansion and with arbitrary higher-derivative corrections. The argument relies on a conjectured property of the classical gravitational action, which in particular implies a positive action conjecture for quantum gravity wavefunctions. We prove this conjecture for Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity and we also motivate it for more general theories. 

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2. Topologically charged BPS microstates in AdS3/CFT2

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2025)069  

   Ardehali, Arash Arabi; Krishna, Hare (March 2025, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> In the standard$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= (4, 4) AdS₃/CFT₂with sym^N(T⁴), as well as the$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= (2, 2) Datta-Eberhardt-Gaberdiel variant with sym^N(T⁴/ℤ₂), supersymmetric index techniques have not been applied so far to the CFT states with target-space momentum or winding. We clarify that the difficulty lies in a central extension of the SUSY algebra in the momentum and winding sectors, analogous to the central extension on the Coulomb branch of 4d$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 2 gauge theories. We define modified helicity-trace indices tailored to the momentum and winding sectors, and use them for microstate counting of the corresponding bulk black holes. In the$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= (4, 4) case we reproduce the microstate matching of Larsen and Martinec. In the$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= (2, 2) case we resolve a previous mismatch with the Bekenstein-Hawking formula encountered in the topologically trivial sector by going to certain winding sectors. 

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3. Non-toric Brane Webs, Calabi–Yau 3-Folds, and 5d SCFTs

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-025-05461-9  

   Alexeev, Valery; Argüz, Hülya; Bousseau, Pierrick (October 2025, Communications in Mathematical Physics)

   Abstract We study webs of 5-branes with 7-branes in Type IIB string theory from a geometric perspective. Mathematically, a web of 5-branes with 7-branes is a tropical curve in$$\mathbb {R}^2$$ $R^2$with focus-focus singularities introduced. To any such a webW, we attach a log Calabi–Yau surface (Y, D) with a line bundleL. We then describe supersymmetric webs, which are webs defining 5d superconformal field theories (SCFTs), in terms of the geometry of (Y, D, L). We also introduce particular supersymmetric webs called “consistent webs, and show that any 5d SCFT defined by a supersymmetric web can be obtained from a consistent web by adding free hypermultiplets. Using birational geometry of degenerations of log Calabi–Yau surfaces, we provide an algorithm to test the consistency of a web in terms of its dual polygon. Moreover, for a consistent webW, we provide an algebro-geometric construction of the mirror$$\mathcal {X}^{\textrm{can}}$$ $X^{\text{can}}$to (Y, D, L), as a non-toric canonical 3-fold singularity, and show that M-theory on$$\mathcal {X}^{\textrm{can}}$$ $X^{\text{can}}$engineers the same 5d SCFT asW. We also explain how to derive explicit equations for$$\mathcal {X}^{\textrm{can}}$$ $X^{\text{can}}$using scattering diagrams, encoding disk worldsheet instantons in the A-model, or equivalently the BPS states of an auxiliary rank one 4d$$\mathcal {N}=2$$ $N=2$theory. 

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4. Measurement of the $$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{H} $$ and tH production rates in the H → $$ \textrm{b}\overline{\textrm{b}} $$ decay channel using proton-proton collision data at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 13 TeV

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2025)097  

   Hayrapetyan, A; Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Andrejkovic, J W; Bergauer, T; Chatterjee, S; Damanakis, K; Dragicevic, M; Hussain, P S; Jeitler, M; et al (February 2025, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> An analysis of the production of a Higgs boson (H) in association with a top quark-antiquark pair ($$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{H} $$ $t\overline{t}H$) or a single top quark (tH) is presented. The Higgs boson decay into a bottom quark-antiquark pair (H →$$ \textrm{b}\overline{\textrm{b}} $$ $b\overline{b}$) is targeted, and three different final states of the top quark decays are considered, defined by the number of leptons (electrons or muons) in the event. The analysis utilises proton-proton collision data collected at the CERN LHC with the CMS experiment at$$ \sqrt{s} $$ $\sqrt{s}$= 13 TeV in 2016–2018, which correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹. The observed$$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{H} $$ $t\overline{t}H$production rate relative to the standard model expectation is 0.33 ± 0.26 = 0.33 ± 0.17(stat) ± 0.21(syst). Additionally, the$$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{H} $$ $t\overline{t}H$production rate is determined in intervals of Higgs boson transverse momentum. An upper limit at 95% confidence level is set on the tH production rate of 14.6 times the standard model prediction, with an expectation of$$ {19.3}_{-6.0}^{+9.2} $$ ${19.3}_{-6.0}^{+9.2}$. Finally, constraints are derived on the strength and structure of the coupling between the Higgs boson and the top quark from simultaneous extraction of the$$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{H} $$ $t\overline{t}H$and tH production rates, and the results are combined with those obtained in other Higgs boson decay channels. 

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5. $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 JT supergravity and matrix models

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP12(2023)003  

   Turiaci, Gustavo J.; Witten, Edward (December 2023, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> Generalizing previous results for$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 0 and$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 1, we analyze$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 2 JT supergravity on asymptotically AdS₂spaces with arbitrary topology and show that this theory of gravity is dual, in a holographic sense, to a certain random matrix ensemble in which supermultiplets of differentR-charge are statistically independent and each is described by its own$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 2 random matrix ensemble. We also analyze the case with a time-reversal symmetry, either commuting or anticommuting with theR-charge. In order to compare supergravity to random matrix theory, we develop an$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 2 analog of the recursion relations for Weil-Petersson volumes originally discovered by Mirzakhani in the bosonic case. 

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