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At least 523 records · Page 29

Progress and challenges in small systems

Here, we present a comprehensive review of the theoretical and experimental progress in the investigation of novel high-temperature quantum chromodynamics phenomena in small systems at both the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider. We highlight the challenges and opportunities associated with studying small systems, by which we generally mean collision systems that involve at least one light ion or even a photon projectile. We discuss perspectives on possible future research directions to better understand the underlying physics at work in the collisions of small systems.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A precise electron EDM constraint on CP-odd heavy-quark Yukawas

CP-odd Higgs couplings to bottom and charm quarks arise in many extensions of the standard model and are of potential interest for electroweak baryogenesis. These couplings induce a contribution to the electron EDM. The experimental limit on the latter then leads to a strong bound on the CP-odd Higgs couplings. We point out that this bound receives large QCD corrections, even though it arises from a leptonic observable. We calculate the contribution of CP-odd Higgs couplings to the bottom and charm quarks in renormalisation-group improved perturbation theory at next-to-leading order in the strong interaction, thereby reducing the uncertainty to a few percent.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Progress in Constraining Nuclear Symmetry Energy Using Neutron Star Observables Since GW170817

The density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy is among the most uncertain parts of the Equation of State (EOS) of dense neutron-rich nuclear matter. It is currently poorly known especially at suprasaturation densities partially because of our poor knowledge about isovector nuclear interactions at short distances. Because of its broad impacts on many interesting issues, pinning down the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy has been a longstanding and shared goal of both astrophysics and nuclear physics. New observational data of neutron stars including their masses, radii, and tidal deformations since GW170817 have helped improve our knowledge about nuclear symmetry energy, especially at high densities. Based on various model analyses of these new data by many people in the nuclear astrophysics community, while our brief review might be incomplete and biased unintentionally, we learned in particular the following: (1) The slope parameter L of nuclear symmetry energy at saturation density ρ0 of nuclear matter from 24 new analyses of neutron star observables was about L≈57.7±19 MeV at a 68% confidence level, consistent with its fiducial value from surveys of over 50 earlier analyses of both terrestrial and astrophysical data within error bars. (2) The curvature Ksym of nuclear symmetry energy at ρ0 from 16 new analyses of neutron star observables was about Ksym≈−107±88 MeV at a 68% confidence level, in very good agreement with the systematics of earlier analyses. (3) The magnitude of nuclear symmetry energy at 2ρ0, i.e., Esym(2ρ0)≈51±13 MeV at a 68% confidence level, was extracted from nine new analyses of neutron star observables, consistent with the results from earlier analyses of heavy-ion reactions and the latest predictions of the state-of-the-art nuclear many-body theories. (4) While the available data from canonical neutron stars did not provide tight constraints on nuclear symmetry energy at densities above about 2ρ0, the lower radius boundary R2.01=12.2 km from NICER’s very recent observation of PSR J0740+6620 of mass 2.08±0.07M⊙ and radius R=12.2–16.3 km at a 68% confidence level set a tight lower limit for nuclear symmetry energy at densities above 2ρ0. (5) Bayesian inferences of nuclear symmetry energy using models encapsulating a first-order hadron–quark phase transition from observables of canonical neutron stars indicated that the phase transition shifted appreciably both L and Ksym to higher values, but with larger uncertainties compared to analyses assuming no such phase transition. (6) The high-density behavior of nuclear symmetry energy significantly affected the minimum frequency necessary to rotationally support GW190814’s secondary component of mass (2.50–2.67) M⊙ as the fastest and most massive pulsar discovered so far. Overall, thanks to the hard work of many people in the astrophysics and nuclear physics community, new data of neutron star observations since the discovery of GW170817 have significantly enriched our knowledge about the symmetry energy of dense neutron-rich nuclear matter.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Direct observation of the dead-cone effect in quantum chromodynamics

In particle collider experiments, elementary particle interactions with large momentum transfer produce quarks and gluons (known as partons) whose evolution is governed by the strong force, as described by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). These partons subsequently emit further partons in a process that can be described as a parton shower, which culminates in the formation of detectable hadrons. Studying the pattern of the parton shower is one of the key experimental tools for testing QCD. This pattern is expected to depend on the mass of the initiating parton, through a phenomenon known as the dead-cone effect, which predicts a suppression of the gluon spectrum emitted by a heavy quark of mass m Q and energy E, within a cone of angular size m Q /E around the emitter. Previously, a direct observation of the dead-cone effect in QCD had not been possible, owing to the challenge of reconstructing the cascading quarks and gluons from the experimentally accessible hadrons. We report the direct observation of the QCD dead cone by using new iterative declustering techniques to reconstruct the parton shower of charm quarks. This result confirms a fundamental feature of QCD. Furthermore, the measurement of a dead-cone angle constitutes a direct experimental observation of the non-zero mass of the charm quark, which is a fundamental constant in the standard model of particle physics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Gluon radiation from a classical point particle: recoil effects

Abstract The gluon radiation spectrum of a classical particle struck by a sheet of colored glass, is a key ingredient in understanding the distribution of energy and baryon density in the fragmentation region, particularly in the initial stages of heavy ion collisions. However, the currently known classical spectrum has a troublesome high-momentum tail (Kajantie et al. in Phys. Rev. D 100(5):054011, 2019; Phys Rev D 101(5):054012, 2020). By comparing tree-level bremsstrahlung of a spin-less quark to the above-mentioned known result, we propose an interpolating formula that takes into account the recoil of the struck particle, and therefore produces the correct perturbative behaviour at high momentum of the radiated gluon.

Physics↗

An overview of new measurements of flow, chirality and vorticity from STAR experiment

In relativistic heavy-ion collisions, the properties of quark–gluon plasma (QGP) and complex dynamics of multi-scale processes in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) are studied by analyzing the final state produced particles in a variety of different ways. In these proceedings, we present an overview of new detailed measurements of flow, chirality and vorticity by the STAR experiment at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Furthermore, STAR’s future opportunities for the precision measurements on small systems, fixed-target (FXT) mode, and Beam Energy Scan (BES-II) program are discussed.

Physics↗

Understanding the Origin of the Hadron Mass within the Standard Model

Understanding the origin of the hadron mass, which constitutes 99% of our visible universe, is one of the central goals of nuclear physics. Although the Higgs mechanism provides mass for the fundamental building blocks of matter, it can only contribute less than 2% of the proton mass. The vast majority of the proton mass is believed to come from the strong force that tightly binds quarks and gluons (collectively called partons) together as described by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The mass that emerges as a consequence of the strong interactions within QCD is commonly denoted as Emergent Hadronic Mass (EHM). Understanding how the nucleon mass emerges in QCD is a prerequisite to an explanation of how the Universe came into being, therefore it is of utmost importance and one of the key questions to be addressed by the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). When it comes to light mesons, particularly pions, the mass decomposition is drastically different. Since the pion is naturally massless in the chiral limit, the majority of its observed mass needs to come from other mechanisms within QCD. Any successful explanation for the EHM needs to be able to reconcile both the heavy proton mass and the very light pion mass (~15% of proton mass) simultaneously. The EHM theories have direct measurable implications on the description of the internal structure of the hadron, i.e., how the partons distribute inside the hadron. Precise measurement of the parton distribution functions (PDFs) will provide necessary experimental verifications and constraints of potential EHM mechanisms. We propose to carry out a comprehensive study of the poorly known pion PDFs at the AMBER experiment at CERN. The measurement will provide vital input to constrain the global analysis of the pion PDFs, which are still based on limited data obtained more than 30 years ago. The proposed pion measurement is the only direct measurement achievable within this decade, which could lead to a future major meson structure program parallel to the EIC’s proton structure measurement.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Proton decay from quark and lepton compositeness

Within a chiral SU(15) gauge theory in which the Standard Model fermions are bound states of massless preons, we show that proton-decay operators are likely induced at the compositeness scale, Λ pre . Our estimate of the limit imposed by searches for proton decays is Λ pre > 10 4 TeV 1/2 $C^{1/4}_{8} m^{1/2}_{Q}$, where C 8 is a rescaled coefficient of an 8-prebaryon operator induced by SU(15) dynamics, and m Q is the mass of a composite vectorlike quark. The latter has a lower limit related to the mass of a composite vectorlike lepton, which in turn is required by LHC searches to be above 1 TeV. For C 8 in the 10 –5 – 1 range, the lower limit on Λ pre varies between 3 × 10 3 TeV and 5 × 10 4 TeV. We point out that exotic proton decay modes, into a π + and a heavy right-handed neutrino, could be observed using the Super-Kamiokande or DUNE detectors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Hadronic mono- W ' probes of dark matter at colliders

Particle collisions at the energy frontier can probe the nature of invisible dark matter via production in association with recoiling visible objects. We propose a new potential production mode, in which dark matter is produced by the decay of a heavy dark Higgs boson radiated from a heavy W' boson. In such a model, motivated by left-right symmetric theories, dark matter would not be pair produced in association with other recoiling objects due to its lack of direct coupling to quarks or gluons. We study the hadronic decay mode via W' → tb and estimate the LHC exclusion sensitivity at 95% confidence level to be 10 2 - 10 5 fb for W' boson masses between 250 and 1750 GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The LHCb state $P^{Λ}_{ψs}$(4338) as a triangle singularity

We present a model for the J/ψ Λ spectrum in B – → J/ψ Λ $\bar{p}$ decays, including the $P^{Λ}_{ψs}$(4338) baryon recently observed by the LHCb collaboration. We assume production via triangle diagrams which couple to the final state via non-perturbative interactions which are constrained by heavy- quark and SU 3 -flavor symmetry. The bulk of the distribution is described by a triangle diagram with a color-favored electroweak vertex, while the sharp $P^{Λ}_{ψs}$(4338) enhancement is due to the ψs triangle singularity in another diagram featuring a 1/2 – baryon consistent with Σ c (2800). We predict a comparable $P^{Λ}_{ψs}$(4338) signal in η c Λ, and anticipate possible large isospin mixing effects ψs through decays to J/ψ Σ 0 and η c Σ 0 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Quark flavor balancing in nuclear collisions

The notion of charge balance function, originally designed to study the evolution of charge production in heavy-ion collisions, is extended to consider quark flavor balancing. This extension is considered based on simulations performed with the PYTHIA 8 event generator in the context of pp collisions at √𝑠 = 13.6, 7, and 2.76 TeV but can be trivially applied to any other scenario and implemented in measurements of correlated particle production in pp, pA, and AA collisions at colliders. Correlation of selected flavor balancing pairs is examined as a function of the produced charged particle multiplicity. One finds that the amplitude of the correlations increases monotonically with the number of balanced flavors and the actual flavor content of correlated particles.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Universality of scaled particle spectra in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions

We study the transverse momentum spectra of identified particles in ultrarelativistic collisions of large and small collision systems. In order to isolate information contained in the momentum dependence, we propose to scale the spectra by the total particle number and mean transverse momentum, global quantities which are already well studied. We observe an interesting, nearly universal, centrality-independent shape in the scaled spectra, similar to scalings that have been studied previously. This scaling behavior breaks down at large transverse momentum and for very small systems, such as those produced in p − p collisions. We perform hybrid hydrodynamic simulations and show that, in these simulations, a centrality-independent shape is a consequence of an event-by-event independence. Here, our results motivate further theoretical and experimental investigations of the regime of validity of this scaling phenomenon and their physical interpretation at different collision energies and systems.

Collective flow↗

Bayesian calibration of viscous anisotropic hydrodynamic simulations of heavy-ion collisions

Owing to large pressure gradients at early times, standard hydrodynamic model simulations of relativistic heavy-ion collisions do not become reliable until O(1) fm/c after the collision. To address this one often introduces a prehydrodynamic stage that models the early evolution microscopically, typically as a conformal, weakly interacting gas. In such an approach the transition from the prehydrodynamic to the hydrodynamic stage is discontinuous, introducing considerable theoretical model ambiguity. Alternatively, fluids with large anisotropic pressure gradients can be handled macroscopically using the recently developed viscous anisotropic hydrodynamics (VAH). In high-energy heavy-ion collisions VAH is applicable already at very early times, and at later times transitions smoothly into conventional second-order viscous hydrodynamics. Here we present a Bayesian calibration of the VAH model with experimental data for Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC at $\sqrt{^{S}NN}$ = 2.76 A TeV. We find that the VAH model has the unique capability of constraining the specific viscosities of the quark-gluon plasma at higher temperatures than other previously used models.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

STAR Highlights

In this overview talk, I have represented STAR to highlight the results of 19 parallels talks and 38 posters at this Quark Matter Conference. Overall, the contents have 8 major categories: 1. experimental measurements related to the BreitWheeler process and vacuum birefringence; 2. probes of initial states of heavy-ion collisions (parton distribution function and azimuthal correlations in small systems); 3. constraints on temperature-dependent viscosity (η/s(T)) with multiple flow harmonics and rapidity correlations; 4. hard probes using jet structures and heavy flavors; 5. exploration of the origin of global polarization and vorticity; 6. chiral and thermal properties of the QGP; 7. Beam Energy Scan (BES) and the critical point search; 8. upgrades and summary.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

The ALICE experiment: a journey through QCD

The ALICE experiment was proposed in 1993, to study strongly-interacting matter at extreme energy densities and temperatures. This proposal entailed a comprehensive investigation of nuclear collisions at the LHC. Its physics programme initially focused on the determination of the properties of the quark–gluon plasma (QGP), a deconfined state of quarks and gluons, created in such collisions. The ALICE physics programme has been extended to cover a broader ensemble of observables related to Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of strong interactions. The experiment has studied Pb–Pb, Xe–Xe, p–Pb and pp collisions in the multi-TeV centre of mass energy range, during the Run 1–2 data-taking periods at the LHC (2009–2018). The aim of this review is to summarise the key ALICE physics results in this endeavor, and to discuss their implications on the current understanding of the macroscopic and microscopic properties of strongly-interacting matter at the highest temperatures reached in the laboratory. It will review the latest findings on the properties of the QGP created by heavy-ion collisions at LHC energies, and describe the surprising QGP-like effects in pp and p–Pb collisions. Measurements of few-body QCD interactions, and their impact in unraveling the structure of hadrons and hadronic interactions, will be discussed. ALICE results relevant for physics topics outside the realm of QCD will also be touched upon. Finally, prospects for future measurements with the ALICE detector in the context of its planned upgrades will also be briefly described.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Bottomonium suppression in pNRQCD and open quantum system approach

By employing the potential non-relativistic quantum chromodynamics (pNRQCD) effective field theory within an open quantum system framework, we derive a Lindblad equation governing the evolution of the heavy-quarkonium reduced density matrix, accurate to next-to-leading order (NLO) in the ratio of the state's binding energy to the medium's temperature [1]. The derived NLO Lindblad equation provides a more reliable description of heavy-quarkonium evolution in the quark-gluon plasma at low temperatures compared to the leading-order truncation. For phenomenological applications, we numerically solve this equation using the quantum trajectories algorithm. By averaging over Monte Carlo-sampled quantum jumps, we obtain solutions without truncation in the angular momentum quantum number of the considered states. Our analysis highlights the importance of quantum jumps in the nonequilibrium evolution of bottomonium states within the quark-gluon plasma [2]. Additionally, we demonstrate that the quantum regeneration of singlet states from octet configurations is essential to explain experimental observations of bottomonium suppression. The heavy-quarkonium transport coefficients used in our study align with recent lattice QCD determinations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Parton distribution functions of heavy mesons on the light front

The parton distribution functions (PDFs) of heavy mesons are evaluated from their light-front wave functions, which are obtained from a basis light-front quantization in the leading Fock sector representation. We consider the mass eigenstates from an effective Hamiltonian consisting of the confining potential adopted from light-front holography in the transverse direction, a longitudinal confinement, and a one-gluon exchange interaction with running coupling. In this work we present the gluon and the sea quark PDFs which we generate dynamically from the QCD evolution of the valence quark distributions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Single-top-quark production in the t-channel at NNLO

We present a calculation of t-channel single-top-quark production and decay in the five-flavor scheme at NNLO. Our results resolve a disagreement between two previous calculations of this process that found a difference in the inclusive cross section at the level of the NNLO coefficient itself. We compare in detail with the previous calculations at the inclusive, differential and fiducial level including b-quark tagging at a fixed scale μ = m t . In addition, we advocate the use of double deep inelastic scattering (DDIS) scales ( μ 2 = Q 2 for the light-quark line and μ 2 = Q 2 + m t 2 for the heavy-quark line) that maximize perturbative stability and allow for robust scale uncertainties. All NNLO and NLOⓍNLO contributions for production and decay are included in the on-shell and vertex-function approximation. We present fiducial and differential results for a variety of observables used in Standard Model and Beyond Standard Model analyses, and find an important difference between the NLO and NNLO predictions of exclusive t + n-jet cross sections. Overall we find that NNLO corrections are crucial for a precise identification of the t-channel process.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗