The measurements of inclusive electron scattering from nuclear targets carried out at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in the mid 2000s have provided valuable novel information on the $A$ dependence of the modifications of nuclear structure functions known as the EMC effect. We argue that these data are best described in terms of the scaling variable $\tilde{y}$, designed to take into account dynamical effects in interacting many-particle systems, and analyze the $A$ dependence of the slope of the inclusive cross-section ratios, $R_A=({\sigma }_A/A)/({\sigma }_2/2)$, providing a measure of the size of the EMC effect in the region where nuclear binding plays a leading role. The results of our study clearly hint at a linear correlation between $d{R}_A\left(\tilde{y}\right)/d\tilde{y}$ and the average nucleon removal energy $\langle E_A\rangle$. The role of correlation effects in the determination of $\langle E_A\rangle$ is highlighted.

We formulate two methods to facilitate the calculation of perturbative corrections to quantum few-body observables. Both techniques are designed for a numerical realization in combination with any tool that obtains either the entire spectrum or solely the eigenvalues of an operator corresponding to the observable of interest. We exemplify these methods in the context of the nuclear contact theory without pions $\left({}^{\pi /}\mathrm{EFT}\right)$ and benchmark them in the deuteron channel with available analytical, field-theoretical calculations, as well as in the triton and 3-helium (helion) channels through earlier extractions within the dibaryon formalism, where in all three systems the point-proton root-mean-square charge radius (rms) was the perturbed observable of choice. Beyond these $A\le 3$ consistency and accuracy checks, we employ the numerical methods to predict the rms of the 4-helium nuclear ground state to assess three different ways of integrating the Coulomb interaction into ${}^{\pi /}\mathrm{EFT}$. By comparing the respective results at leading and next-to-leading order for 3- and 4-helium, we find that the uncertainty due to the strong, short-range interaction is significantly larger compared with that due to the long-range Coulomb interaction for both bound states with their different binding momenta. Thereby, we provide strong support for simplifying extractions of bound-state observables by shutting off any Coulomb interaction if the strong part of the potential is considered only up to first order in the effective range expansion.

I discuss the feasibility of quantum spin-state teleportation in a three-proton system at an energy of 151 MeV, where, similarly to the low-energy case, a single Bell-state term dominates the proton-proton scattering matrix. I find that, in contrast to the low-energy regime, where unpolarized proton-proton scattering produces strongly entangled outgoing proton pairs at higher energies, a pair of protons, each with an energy of 151 MeV, must be produced in an unpolarized, exclusive proton-deuteron breakup reaction under complete final-state-interaction kinematics. The subsequent interaction of one of the entangled protons with a polarized hydrogen target triggers, as in the low-energy case, the teleportation process, whereby the polarization of the target proton is transferred to the second member of the entangled pair within the very narrow angular region of strong entanglement centered around a laboratory scattering angle of ${45}^{\circ }$. I also find that scattering one member of a strongly correlated proton pair forming a Bell state from an unpolarized hydrogen target leads to Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen–like correlations between the polarization of the scattered proton and that of the unscattered second entangled proton. The polarization of the scattered proton varies with its scattering angle. An identical polarization, following the angular dependence of the polarization of the first proton, is induced in the second member of the pair, whose initial polarization was zero and whose momentum remains unchanged. The sign of the polarization of the second proton is determined by the sign of the spin correlation in the Bell state.

Nuclear bound-state ${\beta }^{-}$ decay (${\beta }_{\text{b}}$ decay) is a novel weak-interaction process that becomes possible when atoms are highly ionized, such as in stellar environments or heavy-ion storage rings. In this work we present systematic theoretical calculations for the ${\beta }_{\text{b}}$-decay half-lives of interesting candidates for the first time, where both allowed Gamow-Teller transitions and first-forbidden transitions are taken into account by the microscopic projected shell model, and the lepton phase space is calculated by the Takahashi-Yokoi model. We analyze the structure informations for hundreds of nuclei near the $\beta$-stability line, and select 16 interesting candidates belonging to two categories, i.e., nuclei with negative $Q$ values and positive $Q$ values in neutral atoms, respectively. Among these candidates, we recommend ${}^{243}\mathrm{Am}^{95+}$, ${}^{194}\mathrm{Os}^{76+}$, ${}^{227}\mathrm{Ac}^{89+}$, ${}^{228}\mathrm{Ra}^{88+}$, ${}^{241}\mathrm{Pu}^{94+}$, ${}^{247}\mathrm{Cm}^{96+}$, and ${}^{250}\mathrm{Cm}^{96+}$ as promising ones for future studies of storage-ring experiments because their ${\beta }_{\text{b}}$-decay half-lives are predicted to be much shorter than the half-lives in neutral atoms. These findings provide essential nuclear inputs for astrophysical models and identify specific candidates where experimental verification would be most valuable.

Penning trap mass measurements of ${}^{149}\mathrm{La}$, ${}^{149}\mathrm{Ce}$, and ${}^{149}\mathrm{Pr}$ were performed with the Canadian Penning Trap at the Californium Rare Isotope Breeder Upgrade facility of Argonne National Laboratory using the phase-imaging ion-cyclotron-resonance technique. The resulting mass excess of ${}^{149}\mathrm{La}$ differs by 221.6(32) keV from a recent JYFLTRAP measurement, resulting in a significant change in the profile of the two-neutron separation energy for that isotopic chain. The mass excesses of ${}^{149}\mathrm{Ce}$ and ${}^{149}\mathrm{Pr}$ are determined with an eightfold improvement in precision compared to previous time-of-flight ion-cyclotron-resonance measurements; the ${}^{149}\mathrm{Ce}$ value is consistent with AME2020, while the ${}^{149}\mathrm{Pr}$ mass excess is lower by 17.5(100) keV. The mass excesses of ${}^{149}\mathrm{La}$ and ${}^{149}\mathrm{Pr}$ reported in this work have been confirmed recently by a measurement with a multireflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer coupled to a $\beta$-time-of-flight detector at RIKEN, providing further validation of the present results.

The true ion-ion interaction governed by the repulsive electrostatic potential and the attractive nuclear potential at small separation is approximated as a Coulomb barrier decorated by an attractive $\delta$-shell potential placed under the barrier. This composite potential can generate unbound or resonance states with positive energy eigenvalues. The resonances are determined through the calculation of scattering phase shift $\delta$ of the S matrix. We make the $\delta$-shell potential complex with an attractive imaginary part in it and obtain the phase shift $\delta$ as a complex quantity. This complex phase shift gives nonzero positive reaction cross section to be considered as fusion cross section ${\sigma }_f$ in the calculation. Resonances generated by our model potential combination are clearly manifested as positive peaks in the variation of ${\sigma }_f$ as a function of energy E. The presentation of ${\sigma }_f$ as $\frac{d^2\left(E{\sigma }_f\right)}{d{E}^2}$ in variance with E shows oscillations or structures with several peaks and valleys including valleys of negative values. The calculated results of ${\sigma }_f$ and $\frac{d^2\left(E{\sigma }_f\right)}{d{E}^2}$ are shown to account for the respective measured results showing oscillatory structures with remarkable success in the fusion data of the ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}+{}^{12}\mathrm{C}$, ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}+{}^{16}\mathrm{O}$, ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}+{}^{16}\mathrm{O}$, and ${}^{40}\mathrm{Ca}+{}^{90,94,96}\mathrm{Zr}$ systems involving light as well as heavy nuclei.

The nuclear stiffness as a dominant contribution of nuclear symmetry energy is analyzed in the context of the properties of compact stars, considering constraints from nuclear physics and astrophysics. A compact star can be a neutron star composed only of nuclear matter or a hybrid star with a quark core. Two typical models (soft and stiff) are considered for the nuclear equation of state and for the hybrid equation of state, and a parametrized first-order phase-transition approach completed with a linear quark-matter equation of state is implemented. We show that the phase transition reduces the tension between GW170817 and NICER observations, and we illustrate how the nuclear stiffness affects the understanding of the nature of the binary system in GW170817. The implication for nuclear symmetry energy is also discussed. We also confirm our previous findings that the GW170817 waveform is best described as a binary hybrid star with a low-density onset of stiff quark matter. This could also be interpreted as a quarkyonic crossover.

Proton-induced reactions on ${}^{19}\mathrm{F}$ can lead to different branches of the CNO cycles, possibly resulting in the synthesis of heavier nuclei. For instance, CNO breakout is considered to be a viable path to the production of calcium in the most metal-poor stars. Present-day observational studies indicate that ${}^{19}\mathrm{F}$ is mostly produced in the asymptotic giant branch phase of low- and intermediate-mass stars, and its synthesis and surface abundance are strictly intertwined with the production of heavy elements through slow neutron captures (s-process). Therefore, ${}^{19}\mathrm{F}$ can act as a probe of nucleosynthesis scenarios and stars inner structure. In recent years, new experimental data on ${}^{19}\mathrm{F}$ destruction reactions have been published, highlighting the occurrence of several resonances at astrophysical energies close to the proton threshold. While direct measurements relied on extrapolation from higher energies, indirect measurements made it possible to cover the astrophysical energies. In this work we will focus on the threshold region, which has been studied by means of the Trojan Horse method (THM) in the framework of the modified $R$-matrix approach. Thanks to this novel measurement, we could derive the asymptotic normalization coefficient (ANC) of the $-448$ keV subthreshold resonance and the strength of the 11 keV one, which turned out to be significantly lower than previously extrapolated. To evaluate the astrophysical impact, we calculated the astrophysical reaction rates using a modern Monte Carlo approach, constraining them with the ANC and threshold resonance strengths measured via the THM.

The photoneutron cross sections for the ${}^{209}\mathrm{Bi}(\gamma$, $n){}^{208}\mathrm{Bi}$ reaction have been measured using quasimonoenergetic $\gamma$-ray beams at the Shanghai Laser Electron Gamma Source (SLEGS) in the energy range from 7.54 to 13.53 MeV. A flat-efficiency neutron detector consisting of 26 ${}^3\mathrm{He}$ proportional counters was employed to minimize systematic uncertainties associated with neutron energy dependence. An iterative unfolding method was applied to extract monoenergetic cross sections from the measured data. The results resolve the longstanding discrepancy between the Lawrence Livermore and Saclay datasets, confirming the systematically higher Saclay values and revealing an 18% underestimation in the Livermore data at the giant dipole resonance peak. A Lorentzian fit to the combined data yields resonance parameters of 13.56 MeV for the centroid energy, 4.08 MeV for the width, and $639.3\pm 4.1$ mb for the peak cross section. Using these constrained results, we calculate the stellar photodisintegration rate and the reverse neutron capture cross section, providing improved input for p-process nucleosynthesis simulations and accelerator-driven system design.

The differential cross section for the ${}^1\mathrm{H}(d,pp)n$ breakup reaction at deuteron beam energy of 380 MeV has been determined with high statistical precision for 189 angular configurations of outgoing protons in the region of forward laboratory angles. The cross-section data were compared to theoretical predictions based on the state-of-the-art nucleon-nucleon potentials, combined with a three-nucleon force, the Coulomb interaction or carried out in a relativistic approach. In the region of the lowest differential cross section, the discrepancy between the data and the theoretical predictions is observed, also in the case of relativistic calculations.

High-spin states in ${}^{123}\mathrm{Te}$ were populated in the ${}^{82}\mathrm{Se}({}^{48}\mathrm{Ca},\alpha 3n){}^{123}\mathrm{Te}$ reaction at a beam energy of 205 MeV, and $\gamma$-ray coincidence events were measured with the Gammasphere array. The level scheme has been extended to spin $I\approx 50$ through the identification of several new $\gamma$-ray transitions, and a rotational band feeding states above $I\approx 20$. Cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky calculations are consistent with the observed low-spin yrast structure and support an interpretation of the high-spin band as a smooth terminating configuration involving two $g_{9/2}$ proton holes and no neutron excitations across the $N=82$ shell gap. A transition from near-prolate to triaxial rotation about the intermediate axis is suggested for the band near $I\approx 40$.

The antimagnetic rotation (AMR) on the neutron-deficient Cd isotopes is investigated. The observed negative-parity yrast band with $\alpha =-1/2$ in ${}^{103}\mathrm{Cd}$ and the positive-parity band with $\alpha =0$ in ${}^{104}\mathrm{Cd}$ are fitted by using the cranked shell model plus a particle-number conserving method. For the two bands above backbending, the calculated $B\left(E2\right)$ values display a decreasing tendency with the increasing of rotational frequency and the two-shears-like mechanism is clearly presented, thus conforming to the characteristics of AMR. On the other hand, the available experimental data indicate that Cd isotopes with $A<103$ do not meet the basic conditions for the existence of AMR bands. Therefore, it is judged that the Cd AMR chain may terminate at ${}^{103,104}\mathrm{Cd}$.

In the distorted wave Born approximation, the optical potentials of the entrance and exit channels are constrained by elastic scattering only on the energy shell, so their interior behavior, which a local Woods-Saxon form fixes by convention, is in fact left undetermined. We represent this off-shell freedom through the nonlocality of the optical potential and ask how far it propagates into reaction observables. A unitary transformation of the two-body Hamiltonian generates a continuous family of nonlocal potentials that are phase-shift equivalent, for every partial wave, to a given local potential, while differing in their interior wave functions. Applied to prior-form transfer and nonelastic breakup, the family produces a band of cross sections that share identical two-body elastic observables yet differ appreciably at forward angles. This nonlocality uncertainty is carried by the low partial waves that sample the nuclear interior and is suppressed by the Coulomb and centrifugal barriers, so it is largest for light, weakly charged systems and is expected to be small for heavy ones. The widely used Perey-Buck prescription is not a member of this family. Its nonlocality range is a parameter fitted under the assumption that one energy-independent nonlocal potential serves every energy; freed from that assumption, the range generates a second family that reshapes the interior differently. The off-shell freedom is therefore wider than either family alone maps.

Low-energy $\mathrm{D}+\mathrm{D}$ reactions in condensed-matter environments (where $\mathrm{D}$ denotes ${}^2\mathrm{H}$) exhibit several reported features, including suppression of the neutron channel, enhanced angular anisotropy, plateaulike relative-yield behavior, and nonmonotonic time evolution of the enhancement factor. These features are not always reproduced by conventional descriptions based solely on a static electron-screening potential. In this work, a phase-sensitive, observable-level framework is developed in which the reaction response arises from the coherent superposition of a slowly varying background amplitude and a possible narrow near-threshold $0^{+}$ contribution. Within this framework, local environment-dependent variations of the relative interference phase are represented phenomenologically by a distribution of effective resonance conditions. The measured response is consequently described as an ensemble average over locally different interference patterns, without requiring the intrinsic nuclear pole to acquire a material-dependent displacement or width. For the reported Pd and PdD relative yields, a core phase-sensitive model combining electron screening with a distributed coherent near-threshold contribution gives ${\chi }^2=13.26$ for 13 degrees of freedom, compared with ${\chi }^2=43.10$ for 20 degrees of freedom for the strict screening-only description. Among the tested static parametrizations, the core model provides the best overall balance between fit quality and model complexity. More flexible extensions containing explicit effective-condition and barrier modifications reduce the raw ${\chi }^2$ only modestly, are strongly penalized by the information criteria, and drive several nuisance parameters to their imposed bounds. A joint profile of the core model gives the conditional central effective resonance condition $E_{R,0}=1.{11}_{-0.62}^{+0.39}$ keV above the $\mathrm{D}+\mathrm{D}$ threshold in the center-of-mass system. This result is conditional on the adopted $\mathrm{\Gamma }=5\mathrm{eV}$ amplitude-level width scale and the imposed bound $a_{\mathrm{res}}\le 200$. It should not be interpreted as a model-independent determination of a bare ${}^4\mathrm{He}$ pole energy or as evidence for an additional narrow nuclear level. The reported time-dependent enhancement is summarized by an empirical rise-and-decay parametrization, with a relatively rapid buildup followed by a slower relaxation. This nonmonotonic behavior is compatible with an evolving target environment, but the limited time-series data do not identify a unique microscopic mechanism or independently establish an environment-induced nuclear phase shift. The results show that a distributed coherent contribution provides a viable phenomenological extension of the conventional static-screening description for the observables examined. They do not establish the existence of an additional narrow $0^{+}$ level and do not exclude explanations based on the known multilevel structure of ${}^4\mathrm{He}$, target evolution, or other nonequilibrium effects.

The production cross sections of neutron-rich nuclides near the $N=126$ neutron shell closure have been measured for the elements ranging from tungsten ($Z=74$) to gold ($Z=79)$ in the fragmentation of a $1000\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{u} {}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$ beam on a ${}^9\mathrm{Be}$ target. Several cross sections, namely those for ${}^{196-199}\mathrm{W}, {}^{199-201}\mathrm{Re}$, and ${}^{202-203}\mathrm{Os}$, were determined for the first time with this projectile-target combination. The results are compared with the predictions of several nuclear reaction models and semiempirical parametrizations; special attention is devoted to multiple proton-removal channels and the formation of nuclides with neutron number $N=127$.

Rapidity-even directed flow, $v_1^{\mathrm{even}}$, provides a sensitive probe of fluctuation-driven dipolar asymmetry in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, but its extraction is complicated by strong first-harmonic nonflow correlations, particularly those associated with global momentum conservation (GMC). In this study, $v_1^{\mathrm{even}}$ and its multiparticle correlations are investigated in $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\mathrm{G}\mathrm{eV}$ using the AMPT and HIJING models. An $\eta$-dependent weighting procedure is applied to suppress the leading GMC contribution. The GMC-suppressed HIJING results are strongly reduced for most $v_1$-related observables, while AMPT reproduces the characteristic sign-changing $p_T$ dependence of $v_1^{\mathrm{even}}$ and exhibits clear sensitivity to the partonic transport setting. The non-normalized mixed-harmonic correlations show a stronger transport dependence, whereas the normalized observables are substantially less sensitive to the absolute final-state response. Comparison with the initial-state eccentricity correlations shows that these normalized observables retain the underlying dipolar, elliptic, and triangular correlation structure after modification by the medium. These results demonstrate that GMC-suppressed rapidity-even dipolar flow correlations provide complementary constraints on initial-state fluctuations and their transformation during the final-state evolution.

The structure and basic properties of dense nuclear matter still remain one of the open problems of physics. In particular, the composition of the matter that composes neutron stars is under theoretical and experimental investigation. Among the theories that have been proposed, apart from the classical one where the composition is dominated by hadrons, the existence or coexistence of deconfined quark matter is a dominant guess. An approach towards this solution is the phenomenological view according to which the existence of quarkyonic matter plays a dominant role in the construction of the equation of state (EOS). According to the above statement, the structure of the EOS is based on the existence of the quarkyonic particle which is a hybrid state of a particle that combines properties of hadronic and quark matter with a corresponding representation in momentum space. In this paper we propose a phenomenological model for hot quarkyonic matter, borrowed from corresponding applications in hadronic models, where the interaction in the quarkyonic matter depends not only on the position but also on the momentum of the quarkyonic particles. This consideration, as we demonstrate, can have a remarkable consequence on the shape of the EOS and thus on the properties of neutron stars, especially in those for which the effect of temperature is significant, offering a sufficiently flexible model. Comparison with recent observational data can place constraints on the parametrization of the particular model and help improve its reliability.

To investigate low-energy incomplete fusion (ICF) dynamics, the excitation functions (EFs) of different evaporation residues (ERs) produced in ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}+{}^{130}\mathrm{Te}$ system were measured in the 4–7 MeV/nucleon energy range using the recoil-catcher activation technique followed by off-line $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy and analyzed in the framework of statistical model code pace4. It has been found that cross sections for $xn$ channels were well reproduced by the code, suggesting that they originate from complete fusion (CF) reactions. In contrast, the $\alpha$-emitting channels display a marked enhancement over theoretical predictions, pointing to the contribution of incomplete fusion (ICF) processes arising from projectile breakup. To quantify these effects, the ICF fraction (${\text{F}}_{\text{ICF}}$) has been deduced and analyzed as a function of projectile energy, mass asymmetry, Coulomb factor $Z_P{Z}_T$, deformation parameter ${\beta }_2$, and the $\alpha$-separation energy of the projectile $Q_{\alpha }$. The results show that ${\text{F}}_{\text{ICF}}$ increases with projectile energy and shows systematic dependence on mass asymmetry and $Z_P{Z}_T$. However, comparisons with earlier studies reveal that these parameters alone are insufficient to fully account for the observed strength of ICF, underscoring the role of projectile structure and $Q_{\alpha }$. Additionally, the angular-momentum distributions calculated using ccfull indicate that, at the studied energies, both CF and ICF contributions arise from partial waves with $\ell <{\ell }_{\mathrm{crit}}$, suggesting a diffused angular-momentum boundary rather than a sharp cutoff for the onset of ICF.

We present a new accurate analysis of the ${}^3\mathrm{He}(p,e^{+}{\nu }_e){}^4\mathrm{He}$ (“hep”) reaction at astrophysical energies. The $S$-factor is computed using a state-of-the-art method to calculate the four-nucleon scattering and bound-state wave functions (the hyperspherical harmonic expansion) and by using nuclear interactions and accompanying electroweak nuclear currents obtained within the chiral effective field theory framework. Our analysis includes a detailed examination of the theoretical uncertainties coming from two different sources: the truncation of the interaction and current chiral expansions and the model dependence. Our recommended final theoretical value for the hep $S$-factor at zero energy is $S\left(0\right)=(8.7\pm 0.9)\times {10}^{-20}$ keV b. We provide also the energy spectrum of the outgoing hep positrons which may be measured in future experiments. We include also an analysis of the “sister” reaction ${}^3\mathrm{He}(n,\gamma ){}^4\mathrm{He}$ (“hen”) at low energies, showing that the calculation well reproduce the total cross section from thermal energies to few MeV, validating our results on the hep reaction.