Zihan Yan

My new paper "Dynamical entropy of charged black objects" with Manus Visser is now on arXiv! arxiv.org/abs/2510.20747 We develop a general, gauge-invariant framework for understanding the p-form electromagnetic potential-charge contributions to the first law of near-stationary black objects in general diffeomorphism invariant theories of gravity with (non-minimally and non-linearly coupled) p-form gauge fields. The charged black objects in consideration could have various horizon topology: holes, rings, folds, strings, branes, etc. We illustrate our framework with dyonic AdS black holes, dipole black rings, and charged black branes, and we look forward to its applications to string theory solutions with α'-corrections. This is another work that I expected to finish with 20-30 pages but turned out to be 60+😂

1/ Deep learning is going to have a scientific theory. We can see the pieces starting to come together, and it's looking a lot like physics! We're releasing a paper pulling together these emerging threads and giving them a name: learning mechanics. 🔨 arxiv.org/pdf/2604.21691 🔧

@HelaMhiri5 Cool!

Excited to share my first PhD paper: “Boson sampling beyond the dilute regime: second moments and anti-concentration” proving a long standing open problem in hardness theory of Boson sampling! arxiv.org/abs/2604.14323 ⬇️

Just trying GPT-5.4 Pro. Asked it some research-level theoretical physics questions, but each took it at least 45 mins to answer! Is this speed normal???

@AcerFur In Cambridge, I suppose you can skip all the lectures and just attend the final tripos in May/June (but make sure don’t let your DoS find out). As long as you don’t fail the exam you get a degree.

1/ Seeking advice on this since it’s been on my mind for the past four months or so If I were to drop out of my undergrad Cambridge degree and join OpenAI fully, what options would I really have on trying to continue to postgrad maths at some point?

@42_gravity @ArtificialAnlys cool, thanks!

@physicscat0x7d check the CritPt benchmark on @ArtificialAnlys

A question: in the scenario of “vibe physics” (using LLM to implement your ideas), which model is the best? Claude Opus or GPT Pro? Can everyone share their experience?

@Renet29304 Ideally I want to do that, too! But I currently only have the budget for one. If only choose one, which do you prefer?

@physicscat0x7d I keep exchanging between models

@arafatkatze Is this a tech startup?

Startups in London will pay you wageslave salaries like this in the most expensive city on the planet and then wonder why all the smart Brits leave for SF

@Renet29304 Good to know… but I just left academia for an industry job…

I am glad to hear that postdoc funding in the UK will be somewhat restored

@Renet29304 Maybe a virtual machine would do?

if i want to use openclaw, is it advisable to buy a separate computer?

@Renet29304 Wow looks amazing! I recently started to write papers with AI as well (though I cannot afford Claude Max yet). I am eager to learn how you designed the agentic system and make it evolve.

arxiv.org/abs/2603.29926 This is my first paper written in collaboration with AI. Exciting time! (ง˙∇˙)ว

@Renet29304 Hope you are alright!

Shit there was an earthquake

@Renet29304 This is so cool!

Have you ever woken up and suddenly understood a math concept better than the night before?I tested whether AI models can do the same thing. Trained a transformer on basic arithmetic, then let it "dream" (noisy self-replay). predicts.github.com/mk2427/overfit…

感慨一下： 未来世界属于人工智能和能工智人。 The future world belongs to Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Artificers. AI and IA. #AI

@ThePhysicsMemes imaginary central charge?

just solved eintseins theory ask me anything #laboratory

Academia is brutal. This year I’m shortlisted by 5 places for postdoc positions, got high up on the waitlist, and then got no offer. The first-round offer holders all had other offers, but that cannot be traded. I’m probably out. This is more cruel than hearing nothing…

Just passed my viva!

27啦！下周就要博士论文答辩，悬而未决的postdoc申请也即将尘埃落定，不知道还能在象牙塔里面待多久。新的一岁，新的开始，新的探索，新的希望。

Can’t believe this… So junior researchers who had to leave academia should consider becoming politicians or civil servants in order to allocate more money for theoretical physics. But then I wonder whether they’d hate people who rejected them and (unintentionally) forced them out

@nblqbl I don't doubt it for one second. My opinion is based on what I read in referee reports for grant applications. Those that always were annoyed with the more abstract theorists, are now copy pasting Hossenfelder type quotes. "The proposal uses strings/SUSY, strings/SUSY is dead..."

The 2026 UK science funding problem makes the current hep-th postdoc hiring season particularly tough. We had over 800 applicants in our network that can offer roughly 30 positions. Many excellent applicants will receive no offer. 💔. The anti science popularizers don't help...

@ThomasVanRiet2 If I’m ever forced out of academia, and if I’m lucky to make enough money, I’d found a private hep-th institution and hire myself and other people back with higher salaries.