We present forecasted cosmological constraints from combined measurements of galaxy cluster abundances from the Simons Observatory and galaxy clustering from a DESI-like experiment on two well-studied modified gravity models, the chameleon-screened Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$ model and the nDGP braneworld Vainshtein model. A Fisher analysis is conducted using ${\sigma }_8$ constraints derived from thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (tSZ) selected galaxy clusters as well as linear and quasilinear redshift-space 2-point galaxy correlation functions. We find that the cluster abundances drive the constraints on the nDGP model while $f(R)$ constraints are led by galaxy clustering. The two tracers of the cosmological gravitational field are found to be complementary, and their combination significantly improves constraints on the $f(R)$ in particular in comparison to each individual tracer alone. For a model of $f(R)$ with a general relativity (GR) fiducial case ($f_{R0}=0$), we find a $2\text{−}\sigma$ upper limit of $f_{R0}\le 5.68\times {10}^{-7}$. For the well-studied log-based fiducial parameter value in $f(R)$, ${\log }_{10}(f_{R0})=-5$, paired with the parameter value $n=1$, we find combined $1\text{−}\sigma$ constraints of $\sigma ({\log }_{10}(f_{R0}))=0.12$ and $\sigma (n)=0.36$. For the nDGP model with fiducial $n_{\mathrm{nDGP}}=1$ we find $\sigma (n_{\mathrm{nDGP}})=0.087$. Our results present the exciting potential to utilize upcoming galaxy and CMB survey data available in the near future to discern and/or constrain cosmic deviations from GR.

We compute the cosmological boost factor at high redshifts of $z=10–100$ by integrating the nonlinear matter power spectrum measured from high-resolution cosmological $N$-body simulations. An accurate boost factor is required to estimate the energy injection from dark matter annihilation, which may affect the cosmological reionization process. We combined various box-size simulations (side lengths of 1 kpc–10 Mpc) to cover a wide range of scales, i.e., $k=1–{10}^7{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-1}$. The boost factor is consistent with the linear theory prediction at $z\gtrsim 50$ but strongly enhanced at $z\lesssim 40$ as a result of nonlinear matter clustering. Although dark matter free-streaming damping was imposed at $k_{\mathrm{fs}}={10}^6{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-1}$ in the initial power spectrum, the damping disappears at later times of $z\lesssim 40$ as a result of the power transfer from large to small scales. Because the simulations do not explore very small-scale clustering at $k>{10}^7{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-1}$, our result is a lower bound on the boost factor at $z\lesssim 40$. A simple fitting function of the boost factor is also presented.

In this work, we extend our previous study of the bulk viscosity of hot and dense $npe$ matter induced by the Urca processes in the neutrino trapped regime to $npe\mu$ matter by adding the muonic Urca processes as well as the purely leptonic electroweak processes involving electron-muon transition. The nuclear matter is modeled in a relativistic density functional approach with two different parametrizations which predict neutrino dominated matter (DDME2 model) and antineutrino dominated matter (NL3 model) at temperatures for which neutrinos/antineutrinos are trapped. In the case of neutrino-dominated matter, the main equilibration mechanism is lepton capture, whereas in the case of antineutrino-dominated matter this is due to neutron decay. We find that the equilibration rates of Urca processes are higher than that of the pure leptonic processes, which implies that the Urca-process-driven bulk viscosity can be computed with the leptonic reactions assumed to be frozen. We find that the bulk viscosity decreases with temperature as $\zeta \sim T^{-2}$ at moderate temperatures. At high temperatures this scaling breaks down by sharp drops of the bulk viscosity close to the temperature where the proton fraction is density-independent and the matter becomes scale-invariant. This occurs also when the matter undergoes a transition from the antineutrino-dominated regime to the neutrino-dominated regime where the bulk viscosity attains a local maximum. We also estimate the bulk viscous dissipation timescales and find that these are in the $\mathrm{range}\gtrsim 1\mathrm{s}$ for temperatures above the neutrino trapping temperature. These timescales would be relevant only for long-lived objects formed in binary neutron star mergers and hot proto-neutron stars formed in core-collapse supernovas.

The scattering of light dark matter off thermal electrons inside the Sun produces a “fast” subcomponent of the dark matter flux that may be detectable in underground experiments. We update and extend previous work by analyzing the signatures of dark matter candidates which scatter via light mediators. Using numerical simulations of the dark matter-electron interaction in the solar interior, we determine the energy spectrum of the reflected flux, and calculate the expected rates for direct detection experiments. We find that large Xenon-based experiments (such as XENON1T) provide the strongest direct limits for dark matter masses below a few MeV, reaching a sensitivity to the effective dark matter charge of $\sim {10}^{-9}e$.

It is possible that bosonic dark matter forms halos around the Sun or the Earth. We discuss the possibility of probing such halos with atomic clocks. Focusing on either a Higgs portal or photon portal interaction between the dark matter and the Standard Model, we search the possible parameter space for which a clock on Earth and a clock in space would have a discernible frequency difference. Bosonic dark matter halos surrounding the Earth can potentially be probed with current optical atomic clocks.

LHAASO $\mathrm{J}0621+3755$ is a TeV gamma-ray halo newly identified by LHAASO-KM2A. It is likely to be generated by electrons trapped in a slow-diffusion zone around PSR $\mathrm{J}0622+3749$ through inverse Compton scattering. However, when the gamma-ray spectrum of LHAASO-KM2A is fitted, the GeV fluxes derived by the commonly used one-zone normal diffusion model for electron propagation are significantly higher than the upper limits of Fermi-LAT. In this work, we try to solve the contradiction by adopting a more generalized propagation model, i.e., the superdiffusion model or the two-zone diffusion model. For the superdiffusion scenario, we find that a model with superdiffusion index $\alpha \lesssim 1.2$ can meet the constraints of Fermi-LAT observation. For the two-zone diffusion scenario, the size of the slow-diffusion zone is required to be smaller than $\sim 50\mathrm{pc}$, which is consistent with theoretical expectations. Future precise measurements of the Geminga halo may further distinguish between these two scenarios for the electron propagation in pulsar halos.

Neutrino flavor instabilities have the potential to shuffle neutrinos between electron, mu, and tau flavor states, possibly modifying the core-collapse supernova mechanism and the heavy elements ejected from neutron star mergers. Analytic methods indicate the presence of so-called fast flavor transformation instabilities, and numerical simulations can be used to probe the nonlinear evolution of the neutrinos. Simulations of the fast flavor instability to date have been performed assuming imposed symmetries. We perform simulations of the fast flavor instability that include all three spatial dimensions and all relevant momentum dimensions in order to probe the validity of these approximations. If the fastest growing mode has a wave number along a direction of imposed symmetry, then the instability can be suppressed. The late-time equilibrium distribution of flavor, however, seems to be little affected by the number of spatial dimensions. This is a promising hint that the results of lower-dimensionality simulations to date have predictions that are robust against their the number of spatial dimensions, though simulations of a wider variety of neutrino distributions need to be carried out to support this claim more generally.

We discuss cross-link relations between the $\pi$ and $\rho$-meson channels emerging from two different descriptions of the QCD vacuum: instanton physics and QCD sum rules with nonlocal condensates (NLCs). We derive in both schemes an intriguing linear relation between the $\pi$ and the ${\rho }^{\parallel }$-meson distribution amplitudes in terms of their conformal coefficients and work out the specific impact of the scalar NLC in these two channels. Using a simple model with Gaussian decay of the scalar NLC, we are able to relate it to the moments of the pion nonsinglet parton distribution function measurable in experiment—a highly nontrivial result. The implications for the pion and the ${\rho }^{\parallel }$-meson distribution amplitudes entailed by the obtained cross-link relations are outlined in terms of two generic scenarios.

In this work we present the first nonperturbative determination of the hadronic susceptibilities that constrain the form factors entering the semileptonic $B\to D^{(*)}\ell {\nu }_{\ell }$ transitions due to unitarity and analyticity. The susceptibilities are obtained by evaluating moments of suitable two-point correlation functions obtained on the lattice. Making use of the gauge ensembles produced by the Extended Twisted Mass Collaboration (ETMC) with $N_f=2+1+1$ dynamical quarks at three values of the lattice spacing ($a\simeq 0.062$, 0.082, 0.089 fm) and with pion masses in the range $\simeq 210–450\mathrm{MeV}$, we evaluate the longitudinal and transverse susceptibilities of the vector and axial-vector polarization functions at the physical pion point and in the continuum and infinite volume limits. The ETMC ratio method is adopted to reach the physical $b$-quark mass $m_b^{\mathrm{phys}}$. At zero momentum transfer for the $b\to c$ transition we get ${\chi }_{0^{+}}(m_b^{\mathrm{phys}})=7.58(59)\times {10}^{-3}$, ${\chi }_{1^{-}}(m_b^{\mathrm{phys}})=6.72(41)\times {10}^{-4}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-2}$, ${\chi }_{0^{-}}(m_b^{\mathrm{phys}})=2.58(17)\times {10}^{-2}$ and ${\chi }_{1^{+}}(m_b^{\mathrm{phys}})=4.69(30)\times {10}^{-4}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-2}$ for the scalar, vector, pseudoscalar and axial susceptibilities, respectively. In the case of the vector and pseudoscalar channels the one-particle contributions due to $B_c^{*}$ and $B_c$ mesons are evaluated and subtracted to improve the bounds, obtaining ${\chi }_{1^{-}}^{\mathrm{sub}}(m_b^{\mathrm{phys}})=5.84(44)\times {10}^{-4}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-2}$ and ${\chi }_{0^{-}}^{\mathrm{sub}}(m_b^{\mathrm{phys}})=2.19(19)\times {10}^{-2}$, respectively.

We present the first lattice-QCD calculation of the unpolarized strange and charm parton distribution functions using large-momentum effective theory. We use a lattice ensemble with ($2+1+1$) flavors of highly improved staggered quarks generated by the MILC Collaboration, with lattice spacing $a\approx 0.12\mathrm{fm}$ and $M_{\pi }\approx 310\mathrm{MeV}$, and clover valence fermions with two valence pion masses: 310 and 690 MeV. We use momentum-smeared sources to improve the signal up to nucleon boost momentum $P_z=2.15\mathrm{GeV}$, and determine nonperturbative renormalization factors in regularization independent momentum subtraction scheme. We compare our lattice results with the matrix elements obtained from matching the parton distribution functions (PDFs) from CT18NNLO and NNPDF3.1NNLO global fits. Our data support the assumptions of strange-antistrange and charm-anticharm symmetry that are commonly used in global PDF fits.

Transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions and wave functions (TMDPDFs/TMDWFs) can be extracted from lattice calculations of appropriate Euclidean matrix elements of staple-shaped Wilson line operators. We investigate the mixing pattern of such operators under lattice renormalization using symmetry considerations. We perform an analysis for operators with all Dirac structures, which reveals mixings that are not present in one-loop lattice perturbation theory calculations. We also present the relevant one-loop matching in a renormalization scheme that does not introduce extra nonperturbative effects at large distances, both for the TMDPDFs and for the TMDWFs. Our results have the potential to greatly facilitate numerical calculations of TMDPDFs and TMDWFs on the lattice.

The spectroscopic properties of single heavy spin-$1/2{\mathrm{\Lambda }}_Q$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_Q$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_Q^{(\prime )}$, and ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_Q$ baryons are investigated at finite temperature in the framework of the thermal QCD sum rule. We discuss the behavior of the mass and residue of these baryons with respect to temperature, taking into account contributions of nonperturbative operators up to dimension eight. We include additional operators coming from the Wilson expansion due to breaking the Lorentz invariance at nonzero temperature. The obtained results show that the mass of these baryons remain stable up to roughly $T=108\mathrm{MeV}$ while their residue is unchanged up to $T=93\mathrm{MeV}$. After these points, the mass and residue start to diminish by increasing the temperature. The shifts in the mass and residue for both the bottom and charm channels are considerably large and we observe the melting of these baryons near to the pseudocritical temperature determined by recent lattice QCD calculations. We present our results for the mass of these baryons with both the positive and negative parity at the $T\to 0$ limit, which are consistent with the existing theoretical predictions as well as experimental data.

In this paper, we construct ${\overline{D}}_s^{(*)}{D}^{(*)}$-molecule-type interpolating currents $J_{(\pm )\mu }(x)$ with $J^P=1^{+}$, calculate the corresponding mass and magnetic moment using the QCD sum rule method and its extension in the weak electromagnetic field, and study the processes of $Z_{(\pm )cs}$ to ${\eta }_c{K}^{*}$, $J/\psi K$, $\overline{D}{D}_s^{*}$, and ${\overline{D}}^{*}{D}_s$ via three-point sum rules. The numerical values are $m_{Z_{(\pm )cs}}=3.99_{-0.14}^{+0.17}\mathrm{GeV}$, ${\lambda }_{Z_{(\pm )cs}}=2.07_{-0.16}^{+0.28}\times {10}^{-2}{\mathrm{GeV}}^5$, and ${\mu }_{Z_{(\pm )cs}}=0.18_{-0.09}^{+0.16}{\mu }_N$ with ${\mu }_N$ the nucleon magneton, ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{Z_{(+)cs}}=17.47_{-8.08}^{+12.70}$, and ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{Z_{(-)cs}}=13.86_{-6.51}^{+10.37}$. The masses are in agreement with the recently measured value of $Z_{cs}(3985)$ by the BESIII Collaboration, $m_{Z_{cs}}^{\exp }=({3982.5}_{-2.6}^{+1.8}\pm 2.1)\mathrm{MeV}$. The widths are compatible with the experimental value ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{Z_{cs}}^{\exp }=({12.8}_{-4.4}^{+5.3}\pm 3.0)\mathrm{MeV}$. The magnetic moment and the various decay modes can help us to determine the inner structure of $Z_{cs}(3985)$ when being confronted with experimental data in the future.

Motivated by a novel origin of transverse single spin asymmetry (SSA) in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) uncovered by some of us, we quantitatively investigate its impact on the theoretical understanding of the mechanism responsible for SSA. This new contribution from the quark-initiated channel first appears in two-loop perturbation theory and involves the $g_T(x)$ distribution. We point out another entirely analogous piece from the gluon-initiated channel proportional to the gluon helicity distribution $\mathrm{\Delta }G(x)$. Both contributions are solely expressed in terms of twist-two polarized parton distribution functions and twist-two fragmentation functions in the Wandzura-Wilczek approximation, such that they can be unambiguously evaluated without introducing free parameters. We make predictions for measurements of the asymmetries $A_{UT}$ at the future electron-ion collider (EIC), and find that $A_{UT}$ associated with the $\sin ({\varphi }_h-{\varphi }_S)$, $\sin {\varphi }_S$ and $\sin (2{\varphi }_h-{\varphi }_S)$ harmonics can reach up to 1–2% even at the top EIC energy.

We report on studies of the $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to HZ$ process with the subsequent decay of the Higgs boson $H\to Z{Z}^{\star }$, where the $Z{Z}^{\star }$ combination is reconstructed in the final states with two jets and two leptons. The analysis is performed using Monte Carlo data samples obtained with detailed ILD detector simulation assuming the integrated luminosity $2{\mathrm{ab}}^{-1}$, the beam polarizations ${\mathcal{P}}_{e^{-}{e}^{+}}=(-0.8,+0.3)$, and the center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=250\mathrm{GeV}$. The analysis is also repeated for the case of two $0.9{\mathrm{ab}}^{-1}$ data samples with polarizations ${\mathcal{P}}_{e^{-}{e}^{+}}=(\mp 0.8,\pm 0.3)$. The process is measured in four decay channels, which correspond to two combinations for the Higgs final states and two decay modes of the directly produced $Z$ boson, $Z\to q\overline{q}$ and $Z\to \nu \overline{\nu }$. To obtain the Higgs boson mass distributions, we used the variables $M(jj\ell \ell )$ and $M_{\mathrm{\Delta }}=M(jj\ell \ell )-M(jj)+M(Z_{\mathrm{nom}})$, where $M(Z_{\mathrm{nom}})=91.2\mathrm{GeV}$. Contributions of the potential background processes are taken into account based on the available MC event samples. We propose a model-independent method for obtaining the width of the Higgs boson using the measurement of the $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to HZ$ process.

We report a novel correlated background in the antineutrino detection using the inverse beta decay reaction. Spontaneous fissions and $(\alpha ,n)$ reactions in peripheral materials of the antineutrino detector, such as borosilicate glass of photomultipliers, produce fast neutrons and prompt gamma rays. If the shielding from the material to the detector target is not thick enough, neutrons and gammas could enter the target volume and mimic antineutrino signals. This paper revisits the yields and energy spectra of neutrons produced in $\mathrm{B}(\alpha ,n)\mathrm{N}$ and $\mathrm{F}(\alpha ,n)\mathrm{Na}$ reactions. A Geant4 based simulation has been carried out using a simplified detector geometry for the present generation reactor neutrino experiments. The background rates in these experiments are estimated. If this background was not taken into account, the value of the neutrino mixing angle ${\sin }^{2}2{\theta }_{13}$ would be underestimated. We recommend that Daya Bay, RENO, Double Chooz, and JUNO, carefully examine the masses and radiopurity levels of detector materials that are close to the target and rich in boron and fluorine.

This article describes a search for low-mass axionlike particles (ALPs) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). If ALPs were produced at the LHC via gluon-gluon fusion and decayed to bosons, the energy dependence of the measured diboson cross-sections would differ from the Standard Model expectation. Measurements of $WW$ and $Z\gamma$ differential cross sections by the ATLAS collaboration are interpreted to constrain ALP couplings to $W$-, $Z$-bosons and photons assuming gluon-gluon-fusion production.

Based on a data sample of $(1.0087\pm 0.0044)\times {10}^{10}J/\psi$ events collected by the BESIII detector at the BEPCII accelerator, the absolute branching fraction (BF) of the decay $J/\psi \to \gamma \eta$ is measured with high precision using events in which the radiative photon converts to $e^{+}{e}^{-}$. Using the measured absolute BF of $J/\psi \to \gamma \eta$, the absolute BFs of four dominant $\eta$ decay modes are measured for the first time. The results are $\mathcal{B}(J/\psi \to \gamma \eta )=(1.067\pm 0.005\pm 0.023)\times {10}^{-3}$, $\mathcal{B}(\eta \to \gamma \gamma )=(39.86\pm 0.04\pm 0.99)\%$, $\mathcal{B}(\eta \to {\pi }^0{\pi }^0{\pi }^0)=(31.96\pm 0.07\pm 0.84)\%$, $\mathcal{B}(\eta \to {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}{\pi }^0)=(23.04\pm 0.03\pm 0.54)\%$, and $\mathcal{B}(\eta \to {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}\gamma )=(4.38\pm 0.02\pm 0.10)\%$, where the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The results are consistent with the world average values within two standard deviations.

We investigate the surface tension $\sigma$ and the curvature energy $\gamma$ of quark matter drops in the MIT bag model with vector interactions. Finite size corrections to the density of states are implemented by using the multiple reflection expansion (MRE) formalism. We find that $\sigma$ and $\gamma$ are strongly enhanced by new terms arising from vector interactions. With respect to the noninteracting case they are increased by a large factor, which can be as high as $\sim 10$ when the vector coupling constant $g$ varies within the range used in the literature. This behavior may have major consequences for the hadron-quark mixed phase speculated to exist at neutron star (NS) interiors, which may be totally suppressed or have its extension substantially reduced.

In this work we verify consistency of refined topological string theory from several perspectives. First, we advance the method of computing refined open amplitudes by means of geometric transitions. Based on such computations we show that refined open BPS (Bogomol’nyi–Prasad–Sommerfield) invariants are non-negative integers for a large class of toric Calabi-Yau threefolds: an infinite class of strip geometries, closed topological vertex geometry, and some threefolds with compact four-cycles. Furthermore, for an infinite class of toric geometries without compact four-cycles we show that refined open string amplitudes take form of quiver generating series. This generalizes the relation to quivers found earlier in the unrefined case, implies that refined open BPS states are made of a finite number of elementary BPS states, and asserts that all refined open BPS invariants associated to a given brane are non-negative integers in consequence of their relation to (integer and non-negative) motivic Donaldson-Thomas invariants. Non-negativity of motivic Donaldson-Thomas invariants of a symmetric quiver is therefore crucial in the context of refined open topological strings. Furthermore, reinterpreting these results in terms of webs of five-branes, we analyze Hanany-Witten transitions in novel configurations involving Lagrangian branes.