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Model investigation of the longitudinal broadening of the transverse momentum two-particle correlator

Here, the multiphase transport model is used to investigate the longitudinal broadening of the transverse momentum two-particle correlator C 2 (Δη,Δφ), and its utility to extract the specific shear viscosity, η/s, of the quark-gluon plasma formed in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. The results from these model studies indicate that the longitudinal broadening of C 2 (Δη,Δφ) is sensitive to the value of η/s. However, reliable extraction of the longitudinal broadening of the correlator requires the suppression of possible self-correlations associated with the definition of the collision centrality.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Spectroscopy of states in 136 Ba using the 138 Ba(p,t) reaction

Background: The 136 Ba isotope is the daughter nucleus in 136 Xe $ββ$ decay. It also lies in a shape transitional region of the nuclear chart, making it a suitable candidate to test a variety of nuclear models. Purpose: To obtain spectroscopic information on states in 136 Ba, which will allow a better understanding of its low-lying structure. These data may prove useful to constrain future 136 Xe → 136 Ba neutrinoless $ββ$ decay matrix element calculations. Methods: Here, a 138 Ba(p, t) reaction was used to populate states in 136 Ba up to approximately 4.6 MeV in excitation energy. The tritons were detected using a high-resolution Q3D magnetic spectrograph. A distorted wave Born approximation analysis was performed for the measured triton angular distributions. Results: 102 excited states in 136 Ba were observed, out of which 52 are reported for the first time. Definite spin-parity assignments are made for 26 newly observed states, while previously ambiguous assignments for ten other states are resolved. Together with other available data, the results are used to determine level densities in 136 Ba. These were compared with theory predictions, obtained using shell model calculations with Hamiltonians previously used for 136 Xe neutrinoless $ββ$ decay matrix element evaluations. Conclusions: The shell model predicted level densities agree reasonably well for the two Hamiltonians. However the results for theory and experiment are found to agree only at lower energies, diverging from one another for the higher lying states, with the discrepancy increasing with energy. This is presumably because of lower production cross sections for a majority of the higher-lying predicted states and the experimental limitations in resolving a large number of nearly degenerate states predicted by the theory.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Quantum many-body calculations using body-centered cubic lattices

It is often computationally advantageous to model space as a discrete set of points forming a lattice grid. This technique is particularly useful for computationally difficult problems such as quantum many-body systems. For reasons of simplicity and familiarity, nearly all quantum many-body calculations have been performed on simple cubic lattices. Since the removal of lattice artifacts is often an important concern, it would be useful to perform calculations using more than one lattice geometry. In this paper we show how to perform quantum many-body calculations using auxiliary-field Monte Carlo simulations on a three-dimensional body-centered cubic (BCC) lattice. As a benchmark test we compute the ground state energy of 33 spin-up and 33 spin-down neutrons in the unitary limit, which is an idealized limit where the interaction range is zero and scattering length is infinite. As a fraction of the free Fermi gas energy E FG , we find that the ground state energy is E 0 /E FG =0.369(2),0.371(2), using two different definitions of the finite-system energy ratio. This is in excellent agreement with recent results obtained on a cubic lattice [He et al., Phys. Rev. A 101, 063615 (2020)]. We find that the computational effort and performance on a BCC lattice is approximately the same as that for a cubic lattice with the same number of lattice points. We discuss how the lattice simulations with different geometries can be used to constrain the size of lattice artifacts in simulations of continuum quantum many-body systems.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Experimental investigation of abnormal transverse flow enhancement of α particles in heavy-ion collisions

The mass dependence of the transverse flow for Z = 1–5 fragments from the collisions of 40 Ar + 27 Al, 40 Ar + 48 Ti, and 40 Ar + 58 Ni at 47 MeV/nucleon is investigated experimentally in this article. The transverse flow values are determined using the in-plane components of the fragment transverse momenta, where three conventional methods, i.e., the kinetic flow tensor method, the transverse momentum analysis method, and the azimuthal correlation method, are applied to reconstruct the reaction plane in an event-by-event basis. It is demonstrated from the comparison of the present experimental mass dependent flow measurements and the model simulations using an improved antisymmetrized molecular dynamics model that the experimentally observed abnormal α transverse flow enhancement is closely related to the reaction plane reconstruction procedure in the flow extraction. We further investigate the physical existence of the abnormal α flow behavior using a two-particle azimuthal correlation method, which allows us to provide the relative flow magnitude information with an identification of fragment charge number without the knowledge of the reaction plane differing from the three conventional methods. It is found that the relative flow magnitudes deduced from the two-particle azimuthal correlation functions with an identification of Z, with the correction for the recoil effect imposed by the momentum conservation, show a monotonically increasing trend as a function of fragment charge number, with no exception of the α flow enhancement. These results, in addition to those from the improved antisymmetrized molecular dynamics model simulations, definitely provide experimental evidences for the inexistence of the abnormal α flow behavior in the heavy-ion collisions at the present incident energy region in nature.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Vortex rings from high energy central 𝑝 + 𝐴 collisions

Relativistic p + A collisions may produce droplets of quark gluon plasma (QGP) that quickly develop a toroidal vortex structure similar to that of an expanding smoke ring. We present viscous relativistic hydrodynamic calculations of ultra-central p + A collisions and develop an experimental observable to probe the structure, correlating the polarization and momentum of hyperons emitted from the collision. This effect is robust against changes in the definition of vorticity used to calculate the polarization. Experiments at RHIC and LHC may test the existence and strength of the vortex toroids, bringing new evidence to bear on the question of collectivity in the smallest QGP droplets.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Single-pion contribution to the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule and related integrals

Phenomenological amplitudes obtained in partial-wave analyses (PWA) of single-pion photoproduction are used to evaluate the contribution of this process to the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn (GDH), Baldin and Gell-Mann-Goldberger-Thirring (GGT) sum rules, by integrating up to 2 GeV in photon energy. Here, our study confirms that the single-pion contribution to all these sum rules converges even before the highest considered photon energy, but the levels of saturation are very different in the three cases. Single-pion production almost saturates the GDH sum rule for the proton, while a large fraction is missing in the neutron case. The Baldin integrals for the proton and the neutron are both saturated to about four fifths of the predicted total strength. For the GGT sum rule, the wide variability in predictions precludes any definitive statement.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Impact of fragment formation on shear viscosity in the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition region

Within the improved quantum molecular dynamics (ImQMD) model we follow the evolution of nuclear matter for planar Couette flow in a periodic box. We focus on the region of liquid-gas phase transition and extract the shear viscosity coefficient from the local stress tensor, directly following the viscosity definition. Here, by switching on and off the mean field and thus inducing the phase transition, we are able to observe the impact of clumping in the phase transition region on the viscosity.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Spectroscopic study of a possible $Λnn$ resonance and a pair of $ΣNN$ states using the $(e,e'K^+)$ reaction with a tritium target

Here, a mass spectroscopy experiment with a pair of nearly identical high resolution spectrometers and a tritium target was performed in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. Utilizing the (e,e'K + ) reaction, enhancements, which may correspond to a possible $\Lambda$nn resonance and a pair of ΣNN states, were observed with an energy resolution of about 1.21 MeV (σ), although greater statistics are needed to make definitive identifications. An experimentally measured Λnn state may provide a unique constraint in determining the Λn interaction, for which no scattering data exist. In addition, although bound A = 3 and 4 Σ hypernuclei have been predicted, only an A = 4 Σ hypernucleus ($^4_Σ$He) was found, utilizing the (K - ,π - ) reaction on a 4 He target. The possible bound ΣNN state is likely a Σ 0 nn state, although this has to be confirmed by future experiments.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Causality violations in realistic simulations of heavy-ion collisions

Causality is violated in the early stages of state-of-the-art heavy-ion hydrodynamic simulations. Such violations are present in up to 75% of the fluid cells in the initial time and only after 2–3 fm/c of evolution do we find that 50% of the fluid cells are definitely causal. Superluminal propagation reaches up to 15% the speed of light in some of the fluid cells. The inclusion of pre-equilibrium evolution significantly reduces the number of acausal cells. Here our findings suggests that relativistic causality may place constraints on the available parameter space of heavy-ion collision simulations when factored into more thorough statistical analyses.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Extending a scaling equation of state to QCD

Whether quantum chromodynamics (QCD) exhibits a phase transition at finite temperature and density is an open question. It is important for hydrodynamic modeling of heavy ion collisions and neutron-star mergers. Lattice QCD simulations have definitively shown that the transition from hadrons to quarks and gluons is a crossover when the baryon chemical potential is zero or small. Here, we combine the parametric scaling equation of state, usually associated with the three-dimensional Ising model, with a background equation of state based on a smooth crossover from hadrons to quarks and gluons. Comparison to experimental data from the Beam Energy Scan II at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider or in heavy ion experiments at other accelerators may allow the critical exponents and amplitudes in the scaling equation of state to be determined for QCD if a critical point exists.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Measures of complexity and entanglement in many-fermion systems

There is no unique and widely accepted definition of the complexity measure (CM) of a many-fermion wave function in the presence of interactions. The simplest many-fermion wave function is a Slater determinant. In shell-model or configuration interaction (CI) and other related methods, the state is represented as a superposition of a large number of Slater determinants, which in the case of CI calculations reaches about 20 billion terms [Johnson, arXiv:1809.07869]. Although in practice this number has been used as a CM for decades, it is ill defined: it is not unique, and it depends on the particular type and the number of single-particle wave functions used to construct the Slater determinants. Further, the canonical wave functions and/or natural orbitals [Löwdin, Adv. Phys. 5, 1 (1956); Löwdin and Shull, Phys. Rev. 101, 1730 (1956); Bardeen et al., Phys. Rev. 108, 1175 (1957); N. N. Bogoljubov, Il Nuovo Cimento 7, 794 (1958); Valatin, Il Nuovo Cimento 7, 843 (1958); de Gennes, Superconductivity of Metals and Alloys (CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1999); Ring and Schuck, The Nuclear Many-Body Problem, 1st ed. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2004)] and their corresponding occupation probabilities are intrinsic properties of any many-body wave function, irrespective of the representation, and they provide a unique solution to characterize the CM. The non-negative orbital entanglement entropy, which vanishes for a Slater determinant, provides the simplest CM, while a more complete measure of complexity is the entanglement spectrum. We illustrate these aspects in the case of a complex nonequilibrium time-dependent process, induced nuclear fission described within a real-time density functional theory framework extended to superfluid systems, which can describe simultaneously the long-range and the short-range correlations between fermions. The orbital entanglement entropy of the fissioning nucleus illustrates the localization mechanism of the many-body wave function in Fock and/or Hilbert space. The (minimal) number of Slater determinants required to represent such a complex many-body wave function with a well-defined number of particles in the case presented here is about 10 500 . The realistic case of the highly nonequilibrium nuclear fission process illustrated here is equivalent to a system of 23.328×10 9 interacting quantum spin-1/2 particles, a very large system for the study of quantum entanglement.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Event-by-event correlations between Λ ( Λ ¯ ) hyperon global polarization and handedness with charged hadron azimuthal separation in Au + Au collisions at s N N = 27 GeV from STAR

Global polarizations (P) of Λ (Λ¯) hyperons have been observed in non-central heavy-ion collisions. The strong magnetic field primarily created by the spectator protons in such collisions would split the Λ and Λ¯ global polarizations (ΔP=P Λ –P Λ ¯<0). Additionally, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) predicts topological charge fluctuations in vacuum, resulting in a chirality imbalance or parity violation in a local domain. This would give rise to an imbalance (Δn = N L –N R /< N L +N R > ≠0) between left- and right-handed Λ (Λ¯) as well as a charge separation along the magnetic field, referred to as the chiral magnetic effect (CME). This charge separation can be characterized by the parity-even azimuthal correlator (Δγ) and parity-odd azimuthal harmonic observable (Δa 1 ). Measurements of ΔP, Δγ, and Δa 1 have not led to definitive conclusions concerning the CME or the magnetic field, and Δn has not been measured previously. Correlations among these observables may reveal new insights. Furthermore, this paper reports measurements of correlation between Δn and Δa 1 , which is sensitive to chirality fluctuations, and correlation between ΔP and Δγ sensitive to magnetic field in Au+Au collisions at 27 GeV. For both measurements, no correlations have been observed beyond statistical fluctuations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

In-medium changes of nucleon cross sections tested in neutrino-induced reactions

Historically, studied in the context of heavy-ion collisions, the extent to which free nucleon-nucleon cross sections are modified in-medium remains undetermined by these data sets. Therefore, we investigate the impact of N N in-medium modifications on neutrino-nucleus cross section predictions using the GiBUU transport model. We find that including an in-medium lowering of the N N cross section and density dependence on Δ excitation improves agreement with MicroBooNE neutrino-argon scattering data. This is observed for both proton and neutral pion spectra in charged-current muon neutrino and neutral-current single pion production data sets. The impact of collision broadening of the Δ resonance is also investigated. The absence of Δ broadening is slightly favored, but the larger uncertainties on the pion production data prevent definitive conclusions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Bogart, B. (ORCID:0000000305588934)↗

Covariant calculation of a two-loop test of nonrelativistic QCD factorization

In this work we test the nonrelativistic QCD factorization conjecture for inclusive quarkonium production at two loops by carrying out a covariant calculation of the nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics (NRQCD) long-distance matrix element (LDME) for a heavy-quark pair in an S-wave, color-octet state to fragment into a heavy-quark pair in a color-singlet state of arbitrary orbital angular momentum. The NRQCD factorization conjecture for the universality of the LDME requires that infrared divergences that it contains be independent of the direction of the Wilson line that appears in its definition. We find this to be the case in our calculation. The results of our calculation differ in some respects from those of a previous calculation that was carried out by Nayak, Qiu, and Sterman using light-cone methods. We have identified the sources of some of these differences. The results of both calculations are consistent with the NRQCD factorization conjecture. However, the general principle that underlies this confirmation of NRQCD factorization at two-loop order has yet to be revealed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Prospects for detecting heavy WIMP dark matter with the Cherenkov Telescope Array: The Wino and Higgsino

TeV-scale particles that couple to the standard model through the weak force represent a compelling class of dark matter candidates. The search for such weakly interacting massive particles has already spanned multiple decades, and whilst it has yet to provide any definitive evidence for their existence, viable parameter space remains. In this paper, we show that the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) has significant sensitivity to uncharted parameter space at the TeV mass scale. To do so, we focus on two prototypical dark matter candidates, the Wino and Higgsino. Additionally, sensitivity forecasts for both models are performed including the irreducible background from misidentified cosmic rays, as well as a range of estimates for the Galactic emissions at TeV energies. For each candidate, we find substantial expected improvements over existing bounds from current imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. In detail, for the Wino we find a sensitivity improvement of roughly an order of magnitude in <σ v>, whereas for the Higgsino we demonstrate that CTA has the potential to become the first experiment that has sensitivity to the thermal candidate. Taken together, these enhanced sensitivities demonstrate the discovery potential for dark matter at CTA in the 1–100 TeV mass range.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Effective field theory analysis of the first LUX dark matter search

The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter search was a 250-kg active mass dual-phase time projection chamber that operated by detecting light and ionization signals from particles incident on a xenon target. In December 2015, LUX reported a minimum 90% upper C.L. of 6 x 10 -46 cm 2 on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering cross section based on a 1.4 x 10 4 kg ∙ day exposure in its first science run. Tension between experiments and the absence of a definitive positive detection suggest it would be prudent to search for WIMPs outside the standard spin-independent/spin-dependent paradigm. Recent theoretical work has identified a complete basis of 14 independent effective field theory (EFT) operators to describe WIMP-nucleon interactions. In addition to spin-independent and spin-dependent nuclear responses, these operators can produce novel responses such as angular-momentum-dependent and spin-orbit couplings. Here we report on a search for all 14 of these EFT couplings with data from LUX's first science run. Limits are placed on each coupling as a function of WIMP mass.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Investigation of the background in coherent J/ψ production at the EIC

Understanding various fundamental properties of nucleons and nuclei is among the most important scientific goals at the upcoming Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). With the unprecedented opportunity provided by the next-generation machine, the EIC might provide definitive answers to many standing puzzles and open questions in modern nuclear physics. We investigate one of the golden measurements proposed at the EIC, which is to obtain the spatial gluon density distribution within a lead (Pb) nucleus. The proposed experimental process is the exclusive J/ψ vector-meson production off the Pb nucleus: e + Pb → e' + J/ψ + Pb'. The Fourier transformation of the momentum transfer |t| distribution of the coherent diffraction is the transverse gluon spatial distribution. In order to measure it, the experiment has to overcome an overwhelmingly large background arising from the incoherent diffractive production, where the nucleus Pb' mostly breaks up into fragments of particles in the far-forward direction close to the hadron-going beam rapidity. We systematically study the rejection of incoherent J/ψ production by vetoing products from these nuclear breakups—protons, neutrons, and photons—which is based on the BeAGLE event generator and the most up-to-date EIC Far-forward Interaction Region design. The achieved vetoing efficiency, the ratio between the numbers of vetoed events and total incoherent events, ranges from about 80% to 99% depending on |t|. Assuming a 5% smearing applied to the reconstructed |t| resolution in the Sar t re model, this vetoing efficiency can suppress the incoherent background to at least the first minimum of the coherent |t| distribution. Experimental and accelerator machine challenges as well as potential improvements are discussed herein.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Perturbative approaches in relativistic kinetic theory and the emergence of first-order hydrodynamics

Hydrodynamics can be formulated in terms of a perturbative series in derivatives of the temperature, chemical potential, and flow velocity around an equilibrium state. Different formulations for this series have been proposed over the years, which consequently led to the development of various hydrodynamic theories. In this work, we discuss the relativistic generalizations of the perturbative expansions put forward by Chapman and Enskog, and Hilbert, using general matching conditions in kinetic theory. This allows us to describe, in a comprehensive way, how different out-of-equilibrium definitions for the hydrodynamic fields affect the development of the hydrodynamic perturbative series. We provide a perturbative method for systematically deriving the hydrodynamic formulation recently proposed by Bemfica, Disconzi, Noronha, and Kovtun (BDNK) from relativistic kinetic theory. The various transport coefficients that appear in BDNK (at first-order) are explicitly computed using a new formulation of the relaxation time approximation for the Boltzmann equation. Assuming Bjorken flow, we also determine the hydrodynamic attractors of BDNK theory and compare the overall hydrodynamic evolution obtained using this formulation with that generated by the Israel-Stewart equations of motion and also kinetic theory.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗