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The history of astronomy has shown that advances in sensing methods open up new windows to the Universe and often lead to unexpected discoveries. Quantum sensor networks in combination with traditional astronomical observations are emerging as a novel modality for multimessenger astronomy. Here we develop a generic analysis framework that uses a data-driven approach to model the sensitivity of a quantum sensor network to astrophysical signals as a consequence of beyond-the-standard model (BSM) physics. The analysis method evaluates correlations between sensors to search for BSM signals coincident with astrophysical triggers, such as black hole mergers, supernovae, or fast radio bursts. Complementary to astroparticle approaches that search for particlelike signals (e.g., weakly interacting massive particles), quantum sensors are sensitive to wavelike signals from exotic quantum fields. This analysis method can be applied to networks of different types of quantum sensors, such as atomic clocks, matter-wave interferometers, and nuclear clocks, which can probe many types of interactions between BSM fields and standard model particles. We use this analysis method to carry out the first direct search utilizing a terrestrial network of precision quantum sensors for BSM fields emitted during a black hole merger. Specifically, we use the global network of optical magnetometers for exotic physics (GNOME) to perform a search for exotic low-mass field (ELF) bursts generated in coincidence with a gravitational-wave signal from a binary black hole merger (GW200311_115853) detected by LIGO/Virgo on the March 11, 2020. The associated gravitational wave heralds the arrival of the ELF burst that interacts with the spins of fermions in the magnetometers. This enables GNOME to serve as a tool for multimessenger astronomy. Our search found no significant events and, consequently, we place the first lab-based limits on combinations of ELF production and coupling parameters. 

Why the Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth’s solid surface, is so deep is unclear, but part of the reason must be the age and density of the downgoing plate. Northwest Pacific oceanic crust subducting in the Izu-Bonin-Mariana Trench is Cretaceous and Jurassic, but the age and nature of Pacific oceanic crust subducting in the southernmost Mariana Trench remains unknown. Here we present the first study of seafloor basalts recovered by the full-ocean-depth crewed submersible Fendouzhe from the deepest seafloor around the Challenger Deep, from both the overriding and downgoing plates. 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate that downgo¬ing basalts are Early Cretaceous (ca. 125 Ma), indicating they are part of the Pacific plate rather than the nearby Oligocene Caroline microplate. Downgoing-plate basalts are slightly enriched in incompatible elements but have similar trace element and Hf isotope compositions to other northwest Pacific mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs). They also have slightly enriched Sr-Nd-Pb isotope compositions like those of the Indian mantle domain. These features may have formed with contributions from plume-derived components via plume-ridge interac¬tions. One sample from the overriding plate gives an 40Ar/39Ar age of ca. 55 Ma, about the same age as subduction initiation, to form the Izu-Bonin-Mariana convergent margin. Our results suggest that 50%–90% of the Pb budget of Mariana arc magmas is derived from the subducted MORBs with Indian-type isotope affinity. 

A novel additive manufacturing process utilizing the laminated object manufacturing (LOM) technology with woven natural fiber-reinforced biopolymer is investigated in this paper. Traditional synthetic composite materials are products from nonrenewable crude oil with limited end-of-life options, and therefore not environmentally friendly. The continuous woven natural fiber is used to significantly strengthen the mechanical properties of biocomposites and PLA biopolymer as the matrix made the material completely biodegradable. This is one of the promising replacements for synthetic composites in applications such as automotive panels, constructive materials, and sports and musical instruments. A LOM 3D printer prototype has been designed and built by the team using a laser beam in cutting the woven natural fiber reinforcement and molten PLA powder to bind layers together. Tensile and flexural properties of the LOM 3D printed biocomposites were measured using ASTM test standards and then compared with corresponding values measured from pure PLA specimens 3D printed through FDM. Improved mechanical properties from LOM 3D-printed biocomposites were identified by the team. SEM imaging was performed to identify the polymer infusing and fiber-matrix binding situations. This research took advantage of both the material and process’s benefits and combine them into one sustainable practice. 

Ascomycota, the most speciose phylum of fungi, is a complex entity, comprising three diversesubphyla: Pezizomycotina, Saccharomycotina, and Taphrinomycotina. The largest and most diversesubphylum, Pezizomycotina, is a rich tapestry of 16 classes and 171 orders. Saccharomycotina, thesecond largest subphylum, is a diverse collection of seven classes and 12 orders, whileTaphrinomycotina, the smallest, is a unique assembly of six classes and six orders. Over the pastdecade, numerous taxonomic studies have focused on the generic, family, and class classifications ofAscomycota. These efforts, well-documented across various databases, are crucial for acomprehensive understanding of the classification. However, the study of taxonomy at the ordinallevel, a crucial tier in the taxonomic hierarchy, has been largely overlooked. In a global collaborationwith mycologists and lichenologists, this study presents the first comprehensive information on theorders within Pezizomycotina and Taphrinomycotina. The recent taxonomic classification ofSaccharomycotina has led to the exclusion of this subphylum from the present study, as an immediaterevision is not necessary. Each order is thoroughly discussed, highlighting its historical significance,current status, key identification characteristics, evolutionary relationships, ecological and economicroles, future recommendations, and updated family-level classification. Teaching diagrams for thelife cycles of several orders, viz. Asterinales, Helotiales, Hypocreales, Laboulbeniales, Meliolales,Mycosphaerellales, Ophiostomatales, Pezizales, Pleosporales, Phyllachorales, Rhytismatales,Sordariales, Venturiales, Xylariales (Pezizomycotina) and Pneumocystidales,Schizosaccharomycetales and Taphrinales (Taphrinomycotina) are provided. Each diagram is explained with a representative genus/genera of their sexual and asexual cycles of each order. WithinPezizomycotina, Dothideomycetes contains the highest number of orders, with 57, followed bySordariomycetes (52 orders), Lecanoromycetes (21 orders), Eurotiomycetes and Leotiomycetes (12orders each), Laboulbeniomycetes (3 orders), and Arthoniomycetes and Xylonomycetes (2 orderseach). Candelariomycetes, Coniocybomycetes, Geoglossomycetes, Lichinomycetes, Orbiliomycetes,Pezizomycetes, Sareomycetes, and Xylobotryomycetes each contain a single order, whileThelocarpales and Vezdaeales are treated as incertae sedis within Pezizomycotina. Notably, theclasses Candelariomycetes, Coniocybomycetes, Geoglossomycetes, Sareomycetes, andXylonomycetes, all recently grouped under Lichinomycetes, are treated as separate classes based onphylogenetic analysis and current literature. Within Lecanoromycetes, the synonymization ofSporastatiales with Rhizocarpales and Sarrameanales with Schaereriales is not supported in thephylogenetic analysis. These orders are retained separately, and the justifications are provided undereach section as well as in the discussion. Within Leotiomycetes, the order Medeolariales, which wasonce considered part of Helotiales, is treated as a distinct order based on phylogenetic evidence. Theclassification of Medeolariales may change as more data becomes available from different generegions. Lahmiales (Leotiomycetes) is not included in the phylogenetic analysis due to a lack ofmolecular data. Sareomycetes and Xylonomycetes are treated as separate classes. Spathulosporamixed with Lulworthiales and the inclusion of Spathulosporales within Lulworthiomycetidae issupported and extant molecular sampling is important to resolve the phylogenetic boundaries ofmembers of this subclass. The majority of the classes of Pezizomycotina and Taphrinomycotinaformed monophyletic clades in the phylogenetic analysis conducted based on SSU, LSU, 5.8S, TEFand RPB2 sequence data. However, Arthoniomycetes nested with the basal lineage ofDothideomycetes and formed a monophyletic clade also known as the superclass, Dothideomyceta.In Taphrinomycotina, a single order is accepted within each class. 

Abstract We report the observation of gravitational waves from two binary black hole coalescences during the fourth observing run of the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA detector network, GW241011 and GW241110. The sources of these two signals are characterized by rapid and precisely measured primary spins, nonnegligible spin–orbit misalignment, and unequal mass ratios between their constituent black holes. These properties are characteristic of binaries in which the more massive object was itself formed from a previous binary black hole merger and suggest that the sources of GW241011 and GW241110 may have formed in dense stellar environments in which repeated mergers can take place. As the third-loudest gravitational-wave event published to date, with a median network signal-to-noise ratio of 36.0, GW241011 furthermore yields stringent constraints on the Kerr nature of black holes, the multipolar structure of gravitational-wave generation, and the existence of ultralight bosons within the mass range 10⁻¹³–10⁻¹²eV. 

Abstract On 2023 November 23, the two LIGO observatories both detected GW231123, a gravitational-wave signal consistent with the merger of two black holes with masses $137_{-18}^{+23}{M}_{\odot }$and $101_{-50}^{+22}{M}_{\odot }$(90% credible intervals), at a luminosity distance of 0.7–4.1 Gpc, a redshift of $0.40_{-0.25}^{+0.27}$, and with a network signal-to-noise ratio of ∼20.7. Both black holes exhibit high spins— $0.90_{-0.19}^{+0.10}$and $0.80_{-0.52}^{+0.20}$, respectively. A massive black hole remnant is supported by an independent ringdown analysis. Some properties of GW231123 are subject to large systematic uncertainties, as indicated by differences in the inferred parameters between signal models. The primary black hole lies within or above the theorized mass gap where black holes between 60–130M_⊙should be rare, due to pair-instability mechanisms, while the secondary spans the gap. The observation of GW231123 therefore suggests the formation of black holes from channels beyond standard stellar collapse and that intermediate-mass black holes of mass ∼200M_⊙form through gravitational-wave-driven mergers.