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At least 577 records · Page 32

Flavor Dependence of Charged Pion Fragmentation Functions

We have measured the flavor dependence of multiplicities for π + and π - production in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (SIDIS) on proton and deuteron to explore a possible charge symmetry violation in fragmentation functions. The experiment used an electron beam with energies of 10.2 and 10.6 GeV at Jefferson Lab and the Hall-C spectrometers. The electron kinematics spanned the range 0.3 < x < 0.6, 2 < Q 2 < 5.5 GeV2, and 2.2 < W < 3.2 GeV. The pion fractional momentum range was 0.3 < z < 0.7, and the transverse momentum range was 0 < p T < 0.25 GeV/c. Assuming factorization and allowing for isospin breaking, the results can be described by two “favored” and two “unfavored” effective low p T fragmentation functions that are flavor-dependent. We find each pair converges to a common flavor-independent fragmentation function at the highest W, where factorization is most applicable.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Timelike form factor for the anomalous process γ⁎π → ππ

The form factor 𝐹 3𝜋 (𝑠, 𝑡, 𝑢) for the anomalous process 𝛾∗𝜋 → 𝜋𝜋 is calculated in the isospin limit for several values of the light current-quark mass (i.e., the pion mass) using Dyson–Schwinger and Bethe–Salpeter equations. Beyond a quark interaction kernel representing gluon-mediated interactions, leading beyond-rainbow-ladder effects at low energies are incorporated by back-coupling pions as explicit degrees of freedom. Building upon an earlier calculation of the quark-photon vertex that captures the branch cut associated with the two-pion threshold and the ρ-meson resonance, the form factor 𝐹 3𝜋 (𝑠, 𝑡, 𝑢) is determined for timelike Mandelstam s. In particular, predictions are made for the kinematics relevant to the Primakoff reaction studied with COMPASS/AMBER at CERN.

Miramontes, Angel S. [Univ. of Valencia (Spain)] (↗

Observation of three-proton-decaying resonant states in 21 Al

The structure of the proton-unbound nucleus 21 Al has been studied via proton transfer from a 9 Be target to a 20 Mg beam at E/A = 103 MeV. Three resonant states in 21 Al are identified by the invariant-mass reconstruction of 18 Ne + 3p events. The decay-energy spectra for the two subsystems of 21 Al , i.e. 18 Ne+ 1 p and 18 Ne+ 2 p , indicate that the observed resonant state with the lowest energy has decay branches consisting of three sequential steps of one-proton decay. Based on the ab initio and the distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA) calculations, this resonant state at Ε ⁎ = 6.09(11) MeV likely has a spin-parity of (1/2 + - 7/2 + ). Meanwhile, the possibility that the observed resonant peak represents an admixture of several states cannot be ruled out. The good isospin-symmetry of the low-lying states with d 5/2 , d 3/2 configurations in the 21 Al- 21 O pair and the ab initio calculations indicate weak configuration mixing between the s - and d -orbital components. The systematics of experimental energy differences between the 5/2 + ground state and lowest-lying 3/2 + excited state for isotopes (isotones) of Z(N) = 13 suggest a likely semimagic nature of 21 Al.

21Al↗

Inclusive studies of two- and three-nucleon short-range correlations in 3 H and 3 He

Inclusive electron scattering at carefully chosen kinematics can isolate scattering from the high-momentum nucleons in short-range correlations (SRCs). SRCs are produced by the hard, short-distance interactions of nucleons in the nucleus, and because the two-nucleon (2N) SRCs arise from the same N-N interaction in all nuclei, the cross section in the SRC-dominated regime is identical up to an overall scaling factor. This scaling behavior has been used to identify SRC dominance and to measure the contribution of SRCs in a wide range of nuclei. We examine this scaling behavior over a range of momentum transfers using new data on 2 H, 3 H, and 3 He, and find an expanded scaling region compared to heavy nuclei. Motivated by this improved scaling, we examine the 3 H and 3 He data in kinematics where three-nucleon SRCs may play an important role. The data for the largest struck nucleon momenta are consistent with isolation of scattering from three-nucleon SRCs, and suggest that the very highest momentum nucleons in 3 He have a nearly isospin-independent momentum configuration.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Ab initio calculations of the carbon and oxygen isotopes: Energies, correlations, and superfluid pairing

We perform ab initio nuclear lattice calculations of the neutron-rich carbon and oxygen isotopes using high-fidelity chiral interactions. We find good agreement with the observed binding energies and compute correlations associated with each two-nucleon interaction channel. For the isospin T = 1 channels, we show that the dependence on T z provides a measure of the correlations among the extra neutrons in the neutron-rich nuclei. For the spin-singlet S-wave channel, we observe that any paired neutron interacts with the nuclear core as well as its neutron pair partner, while any unpaired neutron interacts primarily with only the nuclear core. For the other partial waves, the correlations among the extra neutrons grow more slowly and smoothly with the number of neutrons. These general patterns are observed in both the carbon and oxygen isotopes and may be universal features that appear in many neutron-rich nuclei.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Three-dimensional Pentagon Carbon with a genesis of emergent fermions

Carbon, the basic building block of our universe, enjoys a vast number of allotropic structures. Owing to its bonding characteristic, most carbon allotropes possess the motif of hexagonal rings. Here, with first-principles calculations, we discover a new metastable three-dimensional carbon allotrope entirely composed of pentagon rings. The unique structure of this Pentagon Carbon leads to extraordinary electronic properties, making it a cornucopia of emergent topological fermions. Under lattice strain, Pentagon Carbon exhibits topological phase transitions, generating a series of novel quasiparticles, from isospin-1 triplet fermions to triply degenerate fermions and further to Hopf-link Weyl-loop fermions. Its Landau level spectrum also exhibits distinct features, including a huge number of almost degenerate chiral Landau bands, implying pronounced magneto-transport signals. In conclusion, our work not only discovers a remarkable carbon allotrope with highly rare structural motifs, it also reveals a fascinating hierarchical particle genesis with novel topological fermions beyond the Dirac and Weyl paradigm.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Direct measurement of discrete valley and orbital quantum numbers in bilayer graphene

The high magnetic field electronic structure of bilayer graphene is enhanced by the spin, valley isospin, and an accidental orbital degeneracy, leading to a complex phase diagram of broken symmetry states. Here, we present a technique for measuring the layer-resolved charge density, from which we directly determine the valley and orbital polarization within the zero energy Landau level. Layer polarization evolves in discrete steps across 32 electric field-tuned phase transitions between states of different valley, spin, and orbital order, including previously unobserved orbitally polarized states stabilized by skew interlayer hopping. We fit our data to a model that captures both single-particle and interaction-induced anisotropies, providing a complete picture of this correlated electron system. The resulting roadmap to symmetry breaking paves the way for deterministic engineering of fractional quantum Hall states, while our layer-resolved technique is readily extendable to other two-dimensional materials where layer polarization maps to the valley or spin quantum numbers.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Deeply virtual Compton scattering off the neutron

The three-dimensional structure of nucleons (protons and neutrons) is embedded in so-called generalized parton distributions, which are accessible from deeply virtual Compton scattering. In this process, a high-energy electron is scattered off a nucleon by exchanging a virtual photon. Then, a highly energetic real photon is emitted from one of the quarks inside the nucleon, which carries information on the quark's transverse position and longitudinal momentum. By measuring the cross-section of deeply virtual Compton scattering, Compton form factors related to the generalized parton distributions can be extracted. Here, we report the observation of unpolarized deeply virtual Compton scattering off a deuterium target. From the measured photon-electroproduction cross-sections, we have extracted the cross-section of a quasifree neutron and a coherent deuteron. Due to the approximate isospin symmetry of quantum chromodynamics, we can determine the contributions from the different quark flavours to the helicity-conserved Compton form factors by combining our measurements with previous ones probing the proton's internal structure. These results advance our understanding of the description of the nucleon structure, which is important to solve the proton spin puzzle. The internal structure of the neutron has now been probed by highly energetic photons scattering off it. Combined with previous results for protons, these measurements reveal the contributions of quark flavours to the nucleon structure.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Many-body factorization and position–momentum equivalence of nuclear short-range correlations

While mean-field approximations, such as the nuclear shell model, provide a good description of many bulk nuclear properties, they fail to capture the important effects of nucleon–nucleon correlations such as the short-distance and high-momentum components of the nuclear many-body wave function1. Here, we study these components using the effective pair-based generalized contact formalism and ab initio quantum Monte Carlo calculations of nuclei from deuteron to 40 Ca. We observe a universal factorization of the many-body nuclear wave function at short distance into a strongly interacting pair and a weakly interacting residual system. The residual system distribution is consistent with that of an uncorrelated system, showing that short-distance correlation effects are predominantly embedded in two-body correlations. Spin- and isospin-dependent ‘nuclear contact terms’ are extracted in both coordinate and momentum space for different realistic nuclear potentials. The contact coefficient ratio between two different nuclei shows very little dependence on the nuclear interaction model. These findings thus allow extending the application of mean-field approximations to short-range correlated pair formation by showing that the relative abundance of short-range pairs in the nucleus is a long-range (that is, mean field) quantity that is insensitive to the short-distance nature of the nuclear force.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Mirror-symmetry violation in bound nuclear ground states

Conservation laws are deeply related to any symmetry present in a physical system. Analogously to electrons in atoms exhibiting spin symmetries, it is possible to consider neutrons and protons in the atomic nucleus as projections of a single fermion with an isobaric spin (isospin) of t = 1/2. Every nuclear state is thus characterized by a total isobaric spin T and a projection T z —two quantities that are largely conserved in nuclear reactions and decays. A mirror symmetry emerges from this isobaric-spin formalism: nuclei with exchanged numbers of neutrons and protons, known as mirror nuclei, should have an identical set of states, including their ground state, labelled by their total angular momentum J and parity π. In this work, we report evidence of mirror-symmetry violation in bound nuclear ground states within the mirror partners strontium-73 and bromine-73. We find that a J π = 5/2 - spin assignment is needed to explain the proton-emission pattern observed from the T = 3/2 isobaric-analogue state in rubidium-73, which is identical to the ground state of strontium-73. Therefore the ground state of strontium-73 must differ from its J π = 1/2 - mirror bromine-73. This observation offers insights into charge-symmetry-breaking forces acting in atomic nuclei.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Revealing the short-range structure of the mirror nuclei 3 H and 3 He

When protons and neutrons (nucleons) are bound into atomic nuclei, they are close enough to feel significant attraction, or repulsion, from the strong, short-distance part of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. These strong interactions lead to hard collisions between nucleons, generating pairs of highly energetic nucleons referred to as short-range correlations (SRCs). SRCs are an important but relatively poorly understood part of nuclear structure, and mapping out the strength and the isospin structure (neutron-proton (np) versus proton-proton (pp) pairs) of these virtual excitations is thus critical input for modelling a range of nuclear, particle and astrophysics measurements. Two-nucleon knockout or 'triple coincidence' reactions have been used to measure the relative contribution of np-SRCs and pp-SRCs by knocking out a proton from the SRC and detecting its partner nucleon (proton or neutron). These measurements have shown that SRCs are almost exclusively np pairs, but they had limited statistics and required large model-dependent final-state interaction corrections. Here we report on measurements using inclusive scattering from the mirror nuclei hydrogen-3 and helium-3 to extract the np/pp ratio of SRCs in systems with a mass number of three. In this work we obtain a measure of the np/pp SRC ratio that is an order of magnitude more precise than previous experiments, and find a marked deviation from the near-total np dominance observed in heavy nuclei. This result implies an unexpected structure in the high-momentum wavefunction for hydrogen-3 and helium-3. Understanding these results will improve our understanding of the short-range part of the nucleon-nucleon interaction.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Investigating the crust of neutron stars with neural-network quantum states

An accurate description of low-density nuclear matter is crucial for explaining the physics of neutron star crusts. In the density range between approximately 0.01 fm −3 and 0.1 fm −3 , matter transitions from neutron-rich nuclei to various higher-density pasta shapes, before ultimately reaching a uniform liquid. In this work, we introduce a variational Monte Carlo method based on a neural Pfaffian-Jastrow quantum state, which allows us to model the transition from the liquid phase to neutron-rich nuclei microscopically. At low densities, nuclear clusters dynamically emerge from the microscopic interactions among protons and neutrons, which we model based on pionless effective field theory. Our variational Monte Carlo approach represents a significant improvement over the state-of-the-art auxiliary-field diffusion Monte Carlo method, which is severely hindered by the fermion-sign problem in this low-density regime and cannot capture the onset of clusters. In addition to computing the energy per particle of symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter, we analyze an intermediate isospin-asymmetry configuration to elucidate the formation of nuclear clusters. We also provide evidence that the presence of such nuclear clusters influences the amount of protons in the crust compared to protons in beta-equilibrated, neutrino-transparent matter.

Nuclear astrophysics↗

Quarks in Few Body Nuclei

Electron scattering at very high Bjorken x from hadrons provides an excellent test of models, has an important role in high energy physics, and from nuclei, provides a window into short range correlations. Light nuclei have a key role because of the relatively well-known nuclear structure. The development of a novel tritium target for Jefferson Lab has led to renewed interest in the mass three system. For example, deep inelastic scattering experiments in the light nuclei provide a powerful means to determine the neutron structure function. The isospin dependence of electron scattering from mass- 3 nuclei provide information on short range correlations in nuclei. The program using the new tritium target will be presented along with a summary of other experiments aimed at revealing the large-x structure of the nucleon.

Holt, Roy J.↗

Chiral Extrapolations of the $\boldsymbol{ρ(770)}$ Meson in $\mathbf{N_f=2+1}$ Lattice QCD Simulations

Several lattice QCD simulations of meson-meson scattering in p-wave and Isospin = 1 in Nf = 2 + 1 flavours have been carried out recently. Unitarized Chiral Perturbation Theory is used to perform extrapolations to the physical point. In contrast to previous findings on the analyses of Nf = 2 lattice data, where most of the data seems to be in agreement, some discrepancies are detected in the Nf = 2 + 1 lattice data analyses, which could be due to different masses of the strange quark, meson decay constants, initial constraints in the simulation, or other lattice artifacts. In addition, the low-energy constants are compared to the ones from a recent analysis of Nf = 2 lattice data.

Molina, Raquel↗

Low-energy pion-nucleon scattering and the Δ resonance in lattice QCD

We report on our investigation of low-energy pion-nucleon scattering from lattice QCD with Wilson type fermions. Our focus is on the isospin I = 3/2 channel, which couples to the Delta resonance. We discuss our calculations aiming at the extraction of the Delta resonance mass, width and effective coupling at pion mass 250 MeV, using the Lüscher finite-volume method to extract the phase shift δ J=3/2,l=1 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Decay of the Λ(1405) hyperon to Σ 0 π 0 measured at GlueX

Among the light baryons, the J π = 1/2 - Λ(1405) hyperon is an important special case as it sits just below the $N\bar{K}$ threshold and decays almost exclusively to Σ π . Some long-standing hypotheses for Λ(1405) are that it could be a $N\bar{K}$ bound state or a Σ π continuum resonance. It may also be considered as a simple quark-model resonance, the P -wave companion of the Λ(1520). In recent years chiral unitary models have suggested that there are two isospin zero poles present in this mass region, and that the “line shape" of the Λ(1405) depends to what extent each of the two poles are stimulated in a given reaction. Below the $N\bar{K}$ threshold, the Λ(1405) decays to the three Σ π charge combinations. The Σ 0 π 0 mode is purely I = 0 and it is uncontaminated by complications arising from I = 1 scattering processes contributing to the reaction mechanism in the Σ + π - and Σ - π + decays. It is also not affected from production and decay of the nearby Σ 0 (1385) hyperon. The GlueX experiment at Jefferson Lab has been used to study the Λ(1405) → Σ 0 π 0 decay mode. We focus on the preliminary results of dσ/dM Σ 0 π 0 and fits to the line shape of the Λ(1405) region in the -( t - t min ) range 0 - 1.5 GeV 2 from analyzing the reaction γp → K + Λ * using the data collected during the first phase of the GlueX program.

Wickramaarachchi, Nilanga↗

QCD material parameters at zero and non-zero chemical potential from the lattice

Using an eighth-order Taylor expansion in baryon-chemical potential, we recently obtained the (2+1) flavor QCD equation of state (EoS) at non zero conserved charge chemical potentials from the lattice. We focused on strangeness-neutral, isospin-symmetric QCD matter, which closely resembles the situation encountered in heavy-ion collision experiments. Using this EoS, we present here results on various QCD material parameters; in particular we compute the specific heat, speed of sound, and compressibility along appropriate lines of constant physics.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Electric dipole excitations near the neutron separation energies in 96 Mo

Electric dipole strength near the neutron separation energy significantly impacts nuclear structure properties and astrophysical scenarios. These excitations are complex in nature and may involve the so-called pygmy dipole resonance (PDR). Transition densities play a crucial role in understanding the nature of nuclear excited states, including collective excitations, as well as in constructing transition potentials in DWBA or coupled-channels equations. In this work, we focus on electric dipole excitations in spherical molybdenum isotopes, particularly 96 Mo, employing fully consistent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) and Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) methods. We analyze the dipole strength near the neutron separation energy, which represents the threshold for neutron capture processes, and examine the isospin characteristics of PDR states through transition density calculations. Examination of proton and neutron transition densities reveals distinctive features of each dipole state, indicating their isoscalar and isovector nature. We observe that the primary component in the enhanced low-energy region exhibits isovector character. The PDR displays a mixture of isoscalar and isovector nature, distinguishing it from the isovector giant dipole resonance (IVGDR). These findings lay the groundwork for future investigations into the role of transition densities in reaction models and for their application to inelastic scattering calculations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗