Hidden transverse-flow topology in partially coherent structured light

[2608.14923] Hidden transverse-flow topology in partially coherent structured light Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Search arXiv Press Enter to search · Advanced search Physics > Optics arXiv:2608.14923 (physics) [Submitted on 14 Aug 2026] Title: Hidden transverse-flow topology in partially coherent structured light Authors: Rosario Martínez-Herrero , Ángel S. Sanz View a PDF of the paper titled Hidden transverse-flow topology in partially coherent structured light, by Rosario Mart\'inez-Herrero and 1 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: Partial coherence is commonly viewed as a mechanism that reduces contrast or smooths intensity structure. Here we show that it can also encode hidden transverse-flow topology. Starting from the cross-spectral density, we formulate a generalized transverse flux, an effective velocity field, and the associated flux trajectories for quasi-monochromatic partially coherent paraxial beams. This construction converts two-point correlation phases into local transport information and reduces to the usual coherent energy-flow picture in the single-mode limit. Because the generalized flux is obtained through a local differential operation on the cross-spectral density, the proposed trajectories can, in principle, be reconstructed from measurements of the complex second-order coherence function, without requiring direct measurement of individual optical paths. Two analytical beam families expose this hidden topology. In twisted Gaussian Schell-model beams, a Gaussian intensity hides a distributed rotational flow with nonzero vorticity. In Laguerre-Christoffel-Darboux beams, sources with identical intensity profiles can have different flux topology, producing either spiral or purely radial trajectories. Thus, intensity and coherence magnitude do not exhaust the physical information contained in the cross-spectral density: partial coherence can reorganize the hidden topology of transverse optical transport. Comments: 12 pages, 4 figures Subjects: Optics (physics.optics) ; Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2608.14923 [physics.optics] (or arXiv:2608.14923v1 [physics.optics] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.14923 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Angel S. Sanz [ view email ] [v1] Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:24:35 UTC (3,012 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Hidden transverse-flow topology in partially coherent structured light, by Rosario Mart\'inez-Herrero and 1 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: physics.optics < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-08 Change to browse by: physics quant-ph References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab) Major funding support from

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