We obtain the leading twist T-odd quark transverse momentum-dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs) of the proton, namely, the Sivers function $f_{1T}^{\perp q}(x,p_{\perp }^2)$ and the Boer-Mulders function $h_1^{\perp q}(x,p_{\perp }^2)$, in a light-front quark-diquark model constructed with the wave functions predicted by the soft-wall AdS/QCD. The gluon rescattering is crucial to predict nonzero T-odd TMDs. We study the utility of a nonperturbative $SU(3)$ gluon rescattering kernel going beyond the usual approximation of perturbative $U(1)$ gluons. The spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) associated with these T-odd TMDs are found to be consistent with HERMES and COMPASS data. We further predict the Sivers asymmetries of pion production in the SIDIS process in the kinematical region of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) and the EIC in China. We also evaluate the generalized Sivers and Boer-Mulders shifts and compare them with the available lattice QCD simulations.

We compute the transverse single spin asymmetry in forward $p^{\uparrow }p\to hX$ and $p^{\uparrow }A\to hX$ collisions from the odderon mechanism originally suggested by Kovchegov and Sievert [Phys. Rev. D 86, 034028 (2012)]. Working in the hybrid approach of the color glass condensate effective theory, we first identify the relevant collinear parton distribution function (PDF) of the transversely polarized proton $p^{\uparrow }$ as the intrinsic twist-3 $g_T(x)$ distribution. We further argue that the complete polarized cross section also contains contributions from the kinematical and the dynamical twist-3 PDFs, in addition to the intrinsic twist-3 PDF. By restricting to the Wandzura-Wilczek approximation, where the dynamical twist-3 PDFs are dropped, we find that the odderon contribution to the polarized cross section for inclusive hadron production is exactly zero at the next-to-leading order in the strong coupling.

We study the excited states of $\omega$ and ${\omega }_3$ by comparison with the $\rho$ and ${\rho }_3$ families, and discuss the possibility of $X(2220)$ as $\omega$ excitation by analyzing the mass spectra and strong decay behaviors. In addition, we predict the masses and widths of $\omega (2D)$, ${\omega }_3(4D)$, ${\rho }_3(4D)$, ${\rho }_3(1G)$, ${\omega }_3(2G)$, ${\rho }_3(2G)$, ${\omega }_3(3G)$, and ${\rho }_3(3G)$. The abundant information of their two-body strong decays predicted in this work will be helpful to further study of these $\omega$ and ${\omega }_3$ and $\rho$ and ${\rho }_3$ states in experiment and theory.

Using $4.5{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ of $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ annihilation data samples collected at the center-of-mass energies ranging from 4.600 GeV to 4.699 GeV with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider, a first study of the semileptonic decays ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to p{K}^{-}{e}^{+}{\nu }_e$, ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to \mathrm{\Lambda }(1520)e^{+}{\nu }_e$ and ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to \mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)e^{+}{\nu }_e$ is performed. The ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to p{K}^{-}{e}^{+}{\nu }_e$ decay is observed with a significance of $8.2\sigma$ and the branching fraction is measured to be $\mathcal{B}({\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to p{K}^{-}{e}^{+}{\nu }_e)=(0.88\pm 0.17_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 0.07_{\mathrm{syst}})\times {10}^{-3}$. We also report evidence of ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to \mathrm{\Lambda }(1520)e^{+}{\nu }_e$ and ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to \mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)e^{+}{\nu }_e$ with significances of $3.3\sigma$ and $3.2\sigma$, respectively, and measure $\mathcal{B}({\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to \mathrm{\Lambda }(1520)e^{+}{\nu }_e)=(1.02\pm 0.52_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 0.11_{\mathrm{syst}})\times {10}^{-3}$ and $\mathcal{B}({\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to \mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)[\to p{K}^{-}]e^{+}{\nu }_e)=(0.42\pm 0.19_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 0.04_{\mathrm{syst}})\times {10}^{-3}$. Combining these with the inclusive semileptonic ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}$ branching fraction measured by BESIII, the relative fraction is determined to be $[\mathcal{B}({\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to p{K}^{-}{e}^{+}{\nu }_e)/\mathcal{B}({\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to X{e}^{+}{\nu }_e)]=(2.1\pm 0.4_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 0.2_{\mathrm{syst}})\%$, which provides a clear confirmation that semileptonic ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}$ decays are not saturated by the $\mathrm{\Lambda }{\ell }^{+}{\nu }_{\ell }$ final state.

Using a data set of electron-positron collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $293{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ taken with the BESIII detector at a center-of-mass energy of 3.773 GeV, a search for the baryon ($B$) and lepton ($L$) number violating decays $D^{\pm }\to n(\overline{n})e^{\pm }$ is performed. No signal is observed and the upper limits on the branching fractions at the 90% confidence level are set to be $1.43\times {10}^{-5}$ for the decays $D^{+(-)}\to \overline{n}(n)e^{+(-)}$ with $\mathrm{\Delta }|B-L|=0$, and $2.91\times {10}^{-5}$ for the decays $D^{+(-)}\to n(\overline{n})e^{+(-)}$ with $\mathrm{\Delta }|B-L|=2$, where $\mathrm{\Delta }|B-L|$ denotes the change in the difference between baryon and lepton numbers.

Using the fact that the horizon of black holes is a Carroll manifold, we show that an “exotic photon,” i.e., a particle without mass and charge but with anyonic spin, magnetic moment, and exotic charges associated with the two-parameter central extension of the two-dimensional Carroll group moves on the horizon of a Kerr-Newman black hole consistently with the Hall law.

We probe the contraction from $2d$ relativistic CFTs to theories with Bondi-Metzner-Sachs (BMS) symmetries, or equivalently conformal Carroll symmetries, using diagnostics of quantum chaos. Starting from an ultrarelativistic limit on a relativistic scalar field theory and following through at the quantum level using an oscillator representation of states, one can show the ${\mathrm{CFT}}_2$ vacuum evolves smoothly into a ${\mathrm{BMS}}_3$ vacuum in the form of a squeezed state. Computing circuit complexity of this transmutation using the covariance matrix approach shows clear divergences when the BMS point is hit or equivalently when the target state becomes a boundary state. We also find similar behavior of the circuit complexity calculated from methods of information geometry. Furthermore, we discuss the Hamiltonian evolution of the system and investigate out-of-time-ordered correlators and operator growth complexity, both of which turn out to scale polynomially with time at the BMS point.

Studying the color superconductivity (CSC) phase is important to understand the physics in the core of the neutron stars which is the only known context where the CSC phase might appear due to the gravitational force squeezing the matter to a sufficiently high density. We propose a simple holographic dual description of the CSC phase transition in the realistic Yang-Mills theory with the power-law Maxwell field. We find the CSC phase transition with the large color number in the deconfinement phase, which is not found in the case of the usual Maxwell field, if the power parameter characterizing for the power-law Maxwell field is sufficiently lower than one but above $1/2$ and the chemical potential is above a critical value. However, the power parameter is not arbitrary below one because when this parameter is sufficiently far away from one it leads to the occurrence of the CSC state in the confinement phase which is not compatible with a nonzero vacuum expectation value of the color nonsinglet operator.

For a strongly coupled system that has a gravity dual description, we show that the standard holographic dictionary yields a non-negative susceptibility when the system is in thermodynamic equilibrium and the correlation function is absolutely integrable. When the system has no spontaneous condensation or has a spontaneous ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$-symmetry breaking, we find that the “trace energy condition” is violated in many cases. There is a normalized grand potential density that is monotonic as accessing to lower scales, providing a candidate $c$-function characterizing the number of effective degrees of freedom. Finally, we discuss a “paradox” raising by the negative susceptibility in holography and its resolution.

Comparing different dark matter (DM) models, we explore the DM influence on black hole (BH) accretion disk physics, considering corotating and counterrotating thick accretion tori orbiting a central spinning BH. Our results identify accretion onto a central BH as a good indicator of DM presence, signaling possible DM tracers in accretion physics. We analyze accretion around a spinning BH immersed in perfect-fluid dark matter, cold dark matter and scalar field dark matter. Our investigation addresses observational evidence of distinctive DM effects on toroidal accretion disks and protojet configurations, proving that BH accretion tori immersed in DM can present characteristics, such as interdisk cusp or double tori, which have usually been considered as tracers for superspinars and naked singularity attractors. Therefore, in this context DM influence on the BH geometry could manifest as superspinar mimickers. DM also affects the central spinning attractor energetics associated with accretion physics, and its influence on accretion disks can be searched for in a variation of the central BH energetics as an increase of the mass accretion rates.

Constraining the inflationary epoch is one of the aims of modern cosmology. In order to fully exploit current and future small-scale observations, it is necessary to devise tools to directly relate them to the early Universe’s dynamics. We present here a novel reverse engineering approach able to connect fundamental late-time observables to consistent inflationary dynamics and, eventually, to the inflaton potential. Employing this procedure, we are able to describe which conditions can give rise to a raised plateau in the power spectrum of curvature perturbations at small scales, which are not constrained by CMB observations. Within this new phenomenologically driven approach, we find that inflation can generate a raised plateau in the spectrum of curvature perturbations that potentially connects three fundamental observables; a dominant component of the dark matter in the form of asteroid-mass/atomic-size primordial black holes, detectable signals in stochastic gravitational waves, and a subdominant fraction of stellar-mass primordial black holes mergers.

$\mathrm{G}4.8+6.2$ was proposed as a possible kilonova remnant associated with the Korean guest star of AD 1163 in our Milky Way galaxy. Its age is about 860 years according to the historical record. If a neutron star was left in the center of $\mathrm{G}4.8+6.2$, this young neutron star may radiate strong continuous gravitational waves, which could beat the indirect age-based upper limit with current LIGO sensitivity. In this work, we searched such continuous gravitational waves in the frequency band 20–1500 Hz. This search used two days of LIGO O3b data from the Hanford and Livingston detectors. While no signal was found, we placed upper limits on the gravitational wave strain. For comparison, we also showed the latest results of all-sky searches obtained with various search pipelines. With upgrading of the gravitational wave detectors, it will provide the opportunity to see whether a black hole or a neutron star is harbored inside $\mathrm{G}4.8+6.2$.

The “no-hair” theorem can, in principle, be tested at the center of the Milky Way by measuring the spin and the quadrupole moment of Sgr ${\mathrm{A}}^{*}$ with the orbital precession of S-stars, measured over their full periods. Contrary to the original method, we show why it is possible to test the no-hair theorem using observations from only a single star, by measuring precession angles over a half-orbit. There are observational and theoretical reasons to expect S-stars to spin rapidly, and we have quantified the effect of stellar spin, via spin-curvature coupling (the leading-order manifestation of the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon equations), on future quadrupole measurements. We find that spin-curvature coupling is generally a minor effect that causes errors only of order a few percentage points, but for some orbital parameters, the error can be much higher. We reexamine the more general problem of astrophysical noise sources that may impede future quadrupole measurements, and find that a judicious choice of measurable precession angles can often eliminate individual noise sources. We have derived optimal combinations of observables to eliminate the large noise source of mass precession, the novel noise of spin-curvature coupling due to stellar spin, and the more complicated noise source arising from transient quadrupole moments in the stellar potential.

Quantum electrodynamics predicts that the quantum vacuum is birefringent, but due to the very small cross-section this is yet to be confirmed by experiment. Vacuum birefringence arises as the elastic part of photon-photon scattering; the inelastic part is Breit-Wheeler pair production. We outline how measurements of the photon-polarized nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process can be used to infer a measurement of all-order, nonlinear vacuum birefringence. As an example scenario, we calculate the accuracy of such a measurement for parameters anticipated at upcoming laser-particle experiments.

After the success of affine quantization in proving through Monte Carlo analysis that the covariant euclidean scalar field theory, ${\phi }_n^r$, where $r$ denotes the power of the interaction term and $n=s+1$ with $s$ the spatial dimension and 1 adds imaginary time, such that $r\ge 2n/(n-2)$ can be acceptably quantized and the resulting theory is nontrivial, unlike what happens using canonical quantization, we show here that the same has to be expected for $r>2$ and any $n$ even for the ultralocal field theory. In particular we consider the ultralocal ${\phi }_2^4$ model and study its renormalized properties for both the scaled canonical quantization version and the scaled affine quantization version through path integral Monte Carlo.

We study first-order electroweak phase transitions nonperturbatively, assuming any particles beyond the Standard Model are sufficiently heavy to be integrated out at the phase transition. Utilizing high temperature dimensional reduction, we perform lattice Monte Carlo simulations to calculate the main quantities characterizing the transition: the critical temperature, the latent heat, the surface tension and the bubble nucleation rate, updating and extending previous lattice studies. We focus on the region where the theory gives first-order phase transitions due to an effective reduction in the Higgs self-coupling and give a detailed comparison with perturbation theory.

In QCD sum-rule methods, the fundamental field-theoretical quantities are correlation functions of composite operators that serve as hadronic interpolating fields. One of the challenges of loop corrections to QCD correlation functions in conventional approaches is the renormalization-induced mixing of composite operators. This involves a multi-step process of first renormalizing the operators, and then calculating the correlation functions in this mixed basis. This process becomes increasingly complicated as the number of operators mixed under renormalization increases, a situation that is exacerbated as the operator mass dimension increases in important physical systems such as tetraquarks, pentaquarks, and hybrids. Diagrammatic renormalization provides an alternative to the conventional operator renormalization approach. Diagrammatic renormalization methods are outlined and applied to a variety of QCD sum-rule examples of increasing complexity. The results are benchmarked, and the diagrammatic method is contrasted with the conventional operator mixing approach. Advantages and conceptual interpretations of the diagrammatic renormalization approach are outlined and technical subtleties are explored.