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Abstract Cosmic rays (CRs) streaming in weakly magnetized plasmas can drive large-amplitude magnetic fluctuations via nonresonant streaming instability (NRSI), or Bell instability. Using one-dimensional kinetic simulations, we investigate how monenergetic and power-law CR momentum distributions influence the growth and saturation of NRSI. The linear growth is governed solely by the CR current and is largely insensitive to the CR distribution. However, the saturation depends strongly on the CR distribution and is achieved through CR isotropization, which quenches the driving current. Monoenergetic CRs effectively amplify the magnetic field and isotropize. For power-law distributions, the lowest-energy CRs dominate current relaxation and magnetic growth, while the highest-energy CRs remain weakly scattered, limiting their contribution to saturation. In the absence of low-energy CRs, high-energy particles amplify magnetic fields effectively and isotropize. Accounting for these effects, we provide a modified saturation prescription valid for both relativistic and nonrelativistic CRs. We propose a layered CR-confinement scenario upstream of astrophysical shocks, relevant to particle acceleration to high energies. 

Abstract We use 3D fully kinetic simulations to study different turbulence modes and turbulence anisotropy of relativistic turbulence in magnetically dominated collisionless plasmas. We extend the method developed by J. Cho & A. Lazarian for decomposing nonrelativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence into Alfvén, fast, and slow modes to the regime of collisionless plasmas. We find that Alfvén and slow modes are anisotropic, following the P. Goldreich & H. Sridhar scaling, while fast modes are isotropic. We observe a larger kinetic energy fraction of fast modes compared to that found in the nonrelativistic MHD turbulence, suggesting a stronger coupling of Alfvén and fast modes in relativistic magnetized turbulence in collisionless plasmas. We further examine the dynamic alignment and find a weaker scale dependence of the alignment angle than previously proposed. The dominant thermal fluctuations in the kinetic range can cause flattening of the turbulent velocity structure function and weakening of the turbulence anisotropy and dynamic alignment near the kinetic scales. 

Composite asymmetric dark matter (ADM) is the framework that naturally explains the coincidence of the baryon density and the dark matter density of the Universe. Through a portal interaction sharing particle-antiparticle asymmetries in the Standard Model and dark sectors, dark matter particles, which are dark-sector counterparts of baryons, can decay into antineutrinos and dark-sector counterparts of mesons (dark mesons) or dark photon. Subsequent cascade decay of the dark mesons and the dark photon can also provide electromagnetic fluxes at late times of the Universe. The cosmic-ray constraints on the decaying dark matter with the mass of 1–10 GeV has not been well studied. We perform comprehensive studies on the decay of the composite ADM by combining the astrophysical constraints from $e^{\pm }$ and $\gamma$ ray. The constraints from cosmic-ray positron measurements by AMS-02 are the most stringent at $\gtrsim 2\mathrm{GeV}$ : a lifetime should be larger than the order of ${10}^{26}\mathrm{s}$ , corresponding to the cutoff scale of the portal interaction of about ${10}^8–{10}^9\mathrm{GeV}$ . We also perform the dedicated analysis for the neutrino monoenergetic signals at Super-Kamiokande and Hyper-Kamiokande due to the atmospheric neutrino background in the energy range of our interest. 

Ultrahigh-energy neutrinos ( $\mathrm{UHE}\nu$ s) can be used as a valuable probe of superheavy dark matter above $\sim {10}^9\mathrm{GeV}$ , the latter being difficult to probe with collider and direct detection experiments due to the feebly interacting nature. Searching for radio emissions originating from the interaction of $\mathrm{UHE}\nu$ s with the lunar regolith enables us to explore energies beyond ${10}^{12}\mathrm{GeV}$ , which astrophysical accelerators cannot achieve. Taking into account the interaction of $\mathrm{UHE}\nu$ s with the cosmic neutrino background and resulting standard neutrino cascades to calculate the neutrino flux on Earth, for the first time, we investigate sensitivities of such lunar radio observations to very heavy dark matter. We also examine the impacts of cosmogenic neutrinos that have the astrophysical origin. We show that the proposed ultralong wavelength lunar radio telescope, as well as the existing low-frequency array, can provide the most stringent constraints on decaying or annihilating superheavy dark matter with masses at $\gtrsim {10}^{12}\mathrm{GeV}$ . The limits are complementary to or even stronger than those from other $\mathrm{UHE}\nu$ detectors, such as the IceCube-Gen2 radio array and the Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection. 

Abstract Dielectrics have long been considered as unsuitable for pure electrical switches; under weak electric fields, they show extremely low conductivity, whereas under strong fields, they suffer from irreversible damage. Here, we show that flexoelectricity enables damage-free exposure of dielectrics to strong electric fields, leading to reversible switching between electrical states—insulating and conducting. Applying strain gradients with an atomic force microscope tip polarizes an ultrathin film of an archetypal dielectric SrTiO 3 via flexoelectricity, which in turn generates non-destructive, strong electrostatic fields. When the applied strain gradient exceeds a certain value, SrTiO 3 suddenly becomes highly conductive, yielding at least around a 10 8 -fold decrease in room-temperature resistivity. We explain this phenomenon, which we call the colossal flexoresistance, based on the abrupt increase in the tunneling conductance of ultrathin SrTiO 3 under strain gradients. Our work extends the scope of electrical control in solids, and inspires further exploration of dielectric responses to strong electromechanical fields.