Sign problems in path integrals arise when different field configurations contribute with different signs or phases. Phase unwrapping describes a family of signal processing techniques in which phase differences between elements of a time series are integrated to construct noncompact unwrapped phase differences. By combining phase unwrapping with a cumulant expansion, path integrals with sign problems arising from phase fluctuations can be systematically approximated as linear combinations of path integrals without sign problems. This work explores phase unwrapping in zero-plus-one-dimensional complex scalar field theory. Results with improved signal-to-noise ratios for the spectrum of scalar field theory can be obtained from unwrapped phases, but the size of cumulant expansion truncation errors is found to be undesirably sensitive to the parameters of the phase unwrapping algorithm employed. It is argued that this numerical sensitivity arises from discretization artifacts that become large when phases fluctuate close to singularities of a complex logarithm in the definition of the unwrapped phase.1 Other interesting LQCD observables face distinct StN problems. For instance, isoscalar meson correlation functions are uncharged under U (1) symmetries and possess exponential StN problems but not U (1) phase fluctuations. Excited-state energies are extracted from differences of correlation functions with the same quantum numbers and face StN problems arising from the exponentially precise cancellations needed to project out ground-state contributions and leave exponentially faster decaying excited-state contributions. In large nuclei, StN problems associated with MeV excitation energies are negligible compared to the phase fluctuation StN problem associated with the multi-GeV rest mass of the nucleus. LQCD calculations of isoscalar mesons and exotic hadrons conversely face StN problems primarily from sources besides U (1) phase fluctuations, and phase unwrapping is not immediately applicable to these systems. 2 Cumulant expansions of noncompact "extensive phases" have also been applied to sign problems in QCD and other theories at nonzero chemical potential [51][52][53][54][55][56].