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At least 19 records

Effect of finite particle number sampling on baryon number fluctuations

The effects of finite particle number sampling on the net baryon number cumulants, extracted from fluid dynamical simulations, are studied. The commonly used finite particle number sampling procedure introduces an additional Poissonian (or multinomial if global baryon number conservation is enforced) contribution which increases the extracted moments of the baryon number distribution. If this procedure is applied to a fluctuating fluid dynamics framework, one severely overestimates the actual cumulants. We show that the sampling of so-called test particles suppresses the additional contribution to the moments by at least one power of the number of test particles. We demonstrate this method in a numerical fluid dynamics simulation that includes the effects of spinodal decomposition due to a first-order phase transition. Furthermore, in the limit where antibaryons can be ignored, we derive analytic formulas which capture exactly the effect of particle sampling on the baryon number cumulants. These formulas may be used to test the various numerical particle sampling algorithms.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Baryon number violation: from nuclear matrix elements to BSM physics

Processes that violate baryon number, most notably proton decay and $n\bar{n}$ transitions, are promising probes of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) needed to understand the lack of antimatter in the Universe. To interpret current and forthcoming experimental limits, theory input from nuclear matrix elements to UV complete models enters. Thus, an interplay of experiment, effective field theory, lattice QCD, and BSM model building is required to develop strategies to accurately extract information from current and future data and maximize the impact and sensitivity of next-generation experiments. Here, we briefly summarize the main results and discussions from the workshop ‘INT-25-91W: Baryon Number Violation: From Nuclear Matrix Elements to BSM Physics,’ held at the Institute for Nuclear Theory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 13–17 January 2025.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Pulsar timing anomalies: a window into baryon number violation

Here, we investigate the influence of a specific class of slow Baryon Number Violation (BNV)—one that induces quasi-equilibrium evolution — on pulsar spin characteristics. This work reveals how BNV can potentially alter observable parameters, including spin-down rates, the second derivative of spin frequency, and braking indices of pulsars. Moreover, we demonstrate that BNV could lead to anomalies in pulsar timing, along with a wide array of braking indices, both positive and negative. In addition, we examine the possibility of pulsar spin-up due to BNV, which may result in a novel mechanism for the revival of “dead” pulsars. We conclude by assessing the sensitivity required for future pulsar timing efforts to detect such BNV effects, thus highlighting the potential for pulsars to serve as laboratories for testing fundamental physics.

cosmology↗

Skewness and kurtosis of net baryon-number distributions at small values of the baryon chemical potential

In this paper, we present results for the ratios of mean (M B ), variance (σ$2\atop{B}$), skewness (S B ) and kurtosis (κ B ) of net baryon-number fluctuations obtained in lattice QCD calculations with physical values of light and strange quark masses. Using next-to-leading order Taylor expansions in baryon chemical potential we find that qualitative features of these ratios closely resemble the corresponding experimentally measured cumulants ratios of net proton-number fluctuations for beam energies down to √sNN ≥ 19.6 GeV. We show that the difference in cumulant ratios for the mean net baryon-number, M B /σ$2\atop{B}$ = χ$B\atop{1}$ (T, µ B )/χ$B\atop{2}$ (T, µ B ) and the normalized skewness, S B σ B = χ$B\atop{3}$ (T, µB)/χ2 (T, µB ), nat-urally arises in QCD thermodynamics. Moreover, we establish a close relation between skewness and kurtosis ratios, S B σ$B\atop{3}$/M B = χ$B\atop{3}$ (T, µ B )/χ$B\atop{1}$ (T,µ B ) and κ B σ$2\atop{B}$ = χ$B\atop{4}$ (T,μ B )/χ$B\atop{2}$ (T,μ B ), valid at small values of the baryon chemical potential.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Indirect constraints on third generation baryon number violation

Abstract The non-observation of baryon number violation suggests that the scale of baryon-number violating interactions at zero temperature is comparable to the GUT scale. However, the pertinent measurements involve hadrons made of the first-generation quarks, such as protons and neutrons. One may therefore entertain the idea that new flavour physics breaks baryon number at a much lower scale, but only in the coupling to a third generation quark, leading to observable baryon-number violatingb-hadron decay rates. In this paper we show that indirect constraints on the new physics scale Λ BNV from the existing bounds on the proton lifetime do not allow for this possibility. For this purpose we consider the three dominant proton decay channelsp→$$ {\ell}^{+}{\nu}_{\ell}\overline{\nu} $$ ℓ + ν ℓ ν ¯ ,p→$$ {\pi}^{+}\overline{\nu} $$ π + ν ¯ andp→π 0 ℓ + mediated by a virtual bottom quark.

Physics↗

Searches for baryon number violation in neutrino experiments: a white paper

Abstract Baryon number conservation is not guaranteed by any fundamental symmetry within the standard model, and therefore has been a subject of experimental and theoretical scrutiny for decades. So far, no evidence for baryon number violation has been observed. Large underground detectors have long been used for both neutrino detection and searches for baryon number violating processes. The next generation of large neutrino detectors will seek to improve upon the limits set by past and current experiments and will cover a range of lifetimes predicted by several Grand Unified Theories. In this White Paper, we summarize theoretical motivations and experimental aspects of searches for baryon number violation in neutrino experiments.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Search for Baryon-Number Violating Ξ b 0 Oscillations

A search for baryon-number violating Ξ 0 b oscillations is performed with a sample of pp collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb -1 . The baryon number at the moment of production is identified by requiring that the Ξ 0 b come from the decay of a resonance Ξ* b - → Ξ 0 b π - or Ξ' b - → Ξ 0 b π - , and the baryon number at the moment of decay is identified from the final state using the decays Ξ 0 b → Ξ + c π - , Ξ + c → pK - π + . No evidence of baryon-number violation is found, and an upper limit at the 95% confidence level is set on the oscillation rate of ω < 0.08 ps -1 , where ω is the associated angular frequency.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Measuring the Speed of Sound Using Cumulants of Baryon Number

Here, we show that the values of the first three cumulants of the baryon number distribution can be used to calculate the isothermal speed of sound and its logarithmic derivative with respect to the baryon-number density. We discuss applications of this result to heavy-ion collision experiments and address possible challenges, including effects due to baryon-number conservation, differences between proton and baryon cumulants, and the influence of finite-number statistics on fluctuation observables in both ex periment and hadronic transport simulations. In particular, we investigate the relation between quantities calculated in infinite, continuous matter, and observables obtained in simulations using a finite number of particles.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for Baryon Number Violation in Top Quark Production and Decay Using Proton-Proton Collisions at $\sqrt{𝑠}$ = 13 TeV

A search is presented for baryon number violating interactions in top quark production and decay. The analysis uses data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1 . Candidate events are selected by requiring two oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons) and exactly one jet identified as originating from a bottom quark. Multivariate discriminants are used to separate the signal from the background. No significant deviation from the standard model prediction is observed. Upper limits are placed on the strength of baryon number violating couplings. For the first time the production of single top quarks via baryon number violating interactions is studied. This allows the search to set the most stringent constraints to date on the branching fraction of the top quark decay to a lepton, an up-type quark (𝑢 or 𝑐), and a down-type quark (𝑑, 𝑠, or 𝑏). The results improve the previous bounds by 3 to 6 orders of magnitude based on the fermion flavor combination of the baryon number violating interactions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Higher order cumulants of net baryon-number distributions at non-zero μ

Using recent results on higher order cumulants of conserved charge fluctuations from lattice QCD, we construct mean, variance, skewness, kurtosis, hyper-skewness and hyper-kurtosis of net-baryon number distributions for small baryon chemical potentials μ B . For the strangeness neutral case ( μ S = 0) at fixed ratio of electric charge to baryon number density ( n Q n B = 0.4 ), which is appropriate for a comparison with heavy ion collisions, we present results for κ B σ 2 B , S B σ 3 B / M B , κ H B σ 4 B and S H B σ 5 B / M B on the crossover line for the chiral transition, T pc ( μ B ). Furthermore, continuum extrapolations for this pseudo-critical transition line have recently been reported by HotQCD up to baryon chemical potentials μ B ≃ 300 MeV [A. Bazavov, et al., Chiral crossover in QCD at zero and non-zero chemical potentials, Phys. Lett. B 795 (2019) 15–21. arXiv:1812.08235 .]. These cumulant ratios are of direct relevance for comparisons with corresponding ratios measured by STAR in the BES-I and II runs at beam energies s NN ≥ 20 GeV . In particular, we point out that recent high statistics results on skewness and kurtosis of net-baryon number distributions obtained by STAR at s NN = 54.4 GeV put strong constraints on freeze-out parameters and are consistent with predictions from thermal QCD.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Quartic cumulant of baryon number in the presence of a QCD critical point

In the context of the ongoing search for the QCD critical point at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider, we study the equation of state near the critical point in the temperature and baryon chemical potential plane. We use the parametric representation introduced in earlier literature, which maps the universal three-dimensional Ising equation of state onto the QCD phase diagram using several non-universal parameters. We focus on the quartic cumulant of the baryon number, or baryon number susceptibility χ$^ B_4$, which can be accessed experimentally via net-proton fluctuation kurtosis measurements. It was originally predicted, through universality arguments based on the leading singular contribution, that χ$^ B_4$ and net-proton kurtosis should show a specific nonmonotonic behavior due to the critical point. In particular, when following the freeze-out curve on the phase diagram by decreasing beam energy, the kurtosis is expected to dip, and then peak, when the beam energy scan passes close to the critical point. We study the effects of the nonuniversal and thus far unknown parameters of the Ising-to-QCD mapping on the behavior of χ$^ B_4$. We find that, while the peak remains a solid feature, the presence of the critical point does not necessarily cause a dip in χ$^ B_4$ on the freeze-out line below the transition temperature. The critical point contribution to the dip appears only for a narrow set of mapping parameters, when subleading singular terms are sufficiently suppressed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Search for Baryon-Number-Violating Processes in B − Decays to the Ξ ¯ c 0 Λ ¯ c − Final State

We report the results of the first search for B − decays to the Ξ ¯ c 0 Λ ¯ c − final state using 711 fb − 1 of data collected at the ϒ ( 4 S ) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e + e − collider. The results are interpreted in terms of both direct baryon-number-violating B − decay and Ξ c 0 − Ξ ¯ c 0 oscillations which follow the standard model decay B − → Ξ c 0 Λ ¯ c − . We observe no evidence for baryon number violation and set the 95% confidence-level upper limits on the ratio of baryon-number-violating and standard model branching fractions B ( B − → Ξ ¯ c 0 Λ ¯ c − ) / B ( B − → Ξ c 0 Λ ¯ c − ) to be < 2.7 % and on the effective angular frequency of mixing ω in Ξ c 0 − Ξ ¯ c 0 oscillations to be < 0.76 ps − 1 (equivalent to τ mix > 1.3 ps ). Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Physics↗

Neutron Stars with Baryon Number Violation, Probing Dark Sectors

The neutron lifetime anomaly has been used to motivate the introduction of new physics with hidden-sector particles coupled to baryon number, and on which neutron stars provide powerful constraints. Although the neutron lifetime anomaly may eventually prove to be of mundane origin, we use it as motivation for a broader review of the ways that baryon number violation, be it real or apparent, and dark sectors can intertwine and how neutron star observables, both present and future, can constrain them.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Role of baryon number conservation in measurements of fluctuations

Here, I discuss the role and impact of net-baryon number conservation in measurements of net-proton fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions. I show that the magnitude of the fluctuations is entirely determined by the strength of two particle correlations. At LHC and top RHIC energy, this implies the fluctuations are proportional to the integral of the balance function (BF), B pp¯ of protons and antiprotons, while in the context of the RHIC beam energy scan (BES), one must also account for correlations of stopped protons. The integral of B pp¯ measured in a 4π detector depends on the relative cross sections of processes yielding pp¯ and those balancing the proton baryon number via the production of other antibaryons. The accepted integral of B pp¯ further depends on the shape and width of the BF relative to the width of the acceptance. The magnitude of the measured second-order cumulant of net-proton fluctuations thus has much less to do with QCD susceptibilities than with the creation/transport of baryons and antibaryons in heavy-ion collisions, and most particularly the impact of radial flow on the width of the BF. I thus advocate that net-proton fluctuations should be studied by means of differential BF measurements rather than with integral correlators. I also derive an expression of net-baryon fluctuations in terms of integrals of balance functions of identified baryon pairs and argue that measurements of such balance functions would enable a better understanding of the collision system expansion dynamics, the hadronization chemistry, and an experimental assessment of the strength of net-baryon fluctuations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Baryon-Number Violation by Two Units and the Deuteron Lifetime

We calculate the lifetime of the deuteron with dimension-nine quark operators that violate baryon number by two units. We construct an effective field theory for |ΔB| = 2 interactions that give rise to neutron-antineutron (n– n¯) oscillations and dinucleon decay within a consistent power counting. We calculate the ratio of the deuteron lifetime to the square of the n– n¯ oscillation time up to next-to-leading order. Our result, which is analytical and has a quantified uncertainty, is smaller by a factor ≃2.5 than earlier estimates based on nuclear models, which impacts the indirect bound on the n– n¯ oscillation time and future experiments. We discuss how combined measurements of n– n¯ oscillations and deuteron decay can help to identify the sources of baryon-number violation.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Insights from binary pulsars and laboratories into baryon number violation: Implications for GeV dark matter

Rare processes in laboratory and within astrophysical environments can be highly sensitive probes of baryon-number-violating interactions at the TeV scale. We demonstrate the power of neutron stars to constrain baryon-number violation by considering a minimal extension of the standard model involving a TeV-mass scalar mediator and a GeV scale Majorana fermion ψ . We find that a Δ B = 2 mass-loss process in binary pulsar systems via n → γ ψ and the subsequent scattering ψ n → π − K + places stringent constraints on the model parameter space. These limits will become much stronger, due to the possibility of Λ → γ ψ decays at the tree level, if the neutron star equation of state is hyperonic. We compare these constraints with ongoing and future collider experiments, n − n ¯ oscillations, and dinucleon decay searches at future large-scale neutrino experiments, finding that the binary pulsars bounds on couplings are significantly tighter for specific flavor combinations. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

baryons↗

Search for baryon-number and lepton-number violating decays of Λ hyperons using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory

We present a search for ten baryon-number violating decay modes of Λ hyperons using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory. Nine of these decay modes result in a single meson and single lepton in the final state (Λ → mΙ) and conserve either the sum or the difference of baryon and lepton number (Β ± L). The tenth decay mode (Λ → p¯π + ) represents a difference in baryon number of two units and no difference in lepton number. Furthermore, we observe no significant signal and set upper limits on the branching fractions of these reactions in the range (4 – 200) x 10 7 at the 90% confidence level.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗