We present the results for the complete next-to-leading order electroweak corrections to $pp\to HH$ at the Large Hadron Collider, focusing on the dominant gluon-gluon fusion process. While the corrections at the total cross-section level are approximately $-4\%$, those near the energy of $HH$ production threshold exceed $+15\%$, and corrections at the high-energy region are around $-10\%$, leading to a shape distortion for the differential distributions. Our findings substantially diminish the theoretical uncertainties associated with this pivotal process, providing valuable input for understanding the shape of the Higgs boson potential upon comparison with experimental measurements.

We investigate the effects of two-body currents on magnetic dipole moments of medium-mass and heavy nuclei using the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group with chiral effective field theory interactions and currents. Focusing on near doubly magic nuclei from oxygen to bismuth, we have found that the leading two-body currents globally improve the agreement with experimental magnetic moments. Moreover, our results show the importance of multishell effects for ${}^{41}\mathrm{Ca}$, which suggest that the $Z=N=20$ gap in ${}^{40}\mathrm{Ca}$ is not as robust as in ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}$. The increasing contribution of two-body currents in heavier systems is explained by the operator structure of the center-of-mass dependent Sachs term.

The magnetic dipole transition strength $B(M1)$ of ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}$ is dominated by a single resonant state at an excitation energy of 10.23 MeV. Experiments disagree about $B(M1)$ and this impacts our understanding of spin flips in nuclei. We performed ab initio computations based on chiral effective field theory and found that $B(M1:0^{+}\to 1^{+})$ lies in the range from 7.0 to $10.2{\mu }_N^2$. This is consistent with a $(\gamma ,n)$ experiment but larger than results from $(e,e^{\prime })$ and $(p,p^{\prime })$ scattering. Two-body currents yield no quenching of the $B(M1)$ strength and continuum effects reduce it by about 10%. For a validation of our approach, we computed magnetic moments in ${}^{47,49}\mathrm{Ca}$ and performed benchmark calculations in light nuclei.

Neutron stars contain neutron-rich matter with around 5% protons at nuclear saturation density. In this Letter, we consider equilibrium between bulk phases of matter based on asymmetric nuclear matter calculations using chiral effective field theory interactions rather than, as has been done in the past, by interpolation between the properties of symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter. Neutron drip (coexistence of nuclear matter with pure neutrons) is well established, but from earlier work it is unclear whether proton drip (equilibrium between two phases, both of which contain protons and neutrons) is possible. We find that proton drip is a robust prediction of any physically reasonable equation of state, but that it occurs over a limited region of densities and proton fractions. An analytical model based on expanding the energy in powers of the proton density, rather than the neutron excess, is able to account for these features of the phase diagram.

Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging has the ability to reconstruct hidden objects, allowing a wide range of applications. Existing NLOS systems rely on pulsed lasers and time-resolved single-photon detectors to capture the information encoded in the time of flight of scattered photons. Despite remarkable advances, the pulsed time-of-flight LIDAR approach has limited temporal resolution and struggles to detect the frequency-associated information directly. Here, we propose and demonstrate the coherent scheme—frequency-modulated continuous wave calibrated by optical frequency comb—for high-resolution NLOS imaging, velocimetry, and vibrometry. Our comb-calibrated coherent sensor presents a system temporal resolution at subpicosecond and its superior signal-to-noise ratio permits NLOS imaging of complex scenes under strong ambient light. We show the capability of NLOS localization and 3D imaging at submillimeter scale and demonstrate NLOS vibrometry sensing at an accuracy of dozen Hertz. Our approach unlocks the coherent LIDAR techniques for widespread use in imaging science and optical sensing.

Relativistic positron sources with high spin polarization have important applications in nuclear and particle physics and many frontier fields. However, it is challenging to produce dense polarized positrons. Here we present a simple and effective method to achieve such a positron source by directly impinging a relativistic high-density electron beam on the surface of a solid target. During the interaction, a strong return current of plasma electrons is induced and subsequently asymmetric quasistatic magnetic fields as high as megatesla are generated along the target surface. This gives rise to strong radiative spin flips and multiphoton processes, thus leading to efficient generation of copious polarized positrons. With three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate the production of a dense highly polarized multi-GeV positron beam with an average spin polarization above 40% and nC-scale charge per shot. This offers a novel route for the studies of laserless strong-field quantum electrodynamics physics and for the development of high-energy polarized positron sources.

In this study, we discovered a turbulence transition in a large helical device. The turbulence level and turbulence-driven energy transport decrease to a specific transition density and increase above it. The ruling turbulences below and above the transition density were ion-temperature gradient (ITG) and resistive-interchange (RI) turbulences, consistent with the predictions of gyrokinetic theory and two-fluid MHD model, respectively. Isotope experiments on hydrogen (H) and deuterium (D) clarified the role of transitions. In the ITG regime, turbulence levels and energy transport were comparable in the H and D plasmas. In contrast, in the RI regime, they were clearly suppressed in the D plasma. The results provide crucial knowledge for understanding isotope effects and future optimization of stellarator and heliotron devices.

Multimachine empirical scaling predicts an extremely narrow heat exhaust layer in future high magnetic field tokamaks, producing high power densities that require mitigation. In the experiments presented, the width of this exhaust layer is nearly doubled using actuators to increase turbulent transport in the plasma edge. This is achieved in low collisionality, high confinement edge pedestals with their gradients limited by turbulent transport instead of large-scale, coherent instabilities. The exhaust heat flux profile width and divertor leg diffusive spreading both double as a high frequency band of turbulent fluctuations propagating in the electron diamagnetic direction doubles in amplitude. The results are quantitatively reproduced in electromagnetic XGC particle-in-cell simulations which show the heat flux carried by electrons emerges to broaden the heat flux profile, directly supported by Langmuir probe measurements.

Correlated metallic layered $t_{2g}^n$ perovskites are intensively studied and yet their low-energy electronic properties remain hotly debated. Important elements of the puzzle, beside the on-site Coulomb repulsion, are the tetragonal crystal-field splitting and the spin-orbit interaction. Here, we show that they control the electronic properties principally via form and occupations of natural orbitals. We discuss consequences for shape and topology of the Fermi surface, effective masses, and metal-insulator transition, building a map of crystal-field effects. The emerging picture captures electronic-structure trends in this family of systems within a single framework.

A combination of searches for a new resonance decaying into a Higgs boson pair is presented, using up to $139{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$ recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The combination includes searches performed in three decay channels: $b\overline{b}b\overline{b}$, $b\overline{b}{\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-}$, and $b\overline{b}\gamma \gamma$. No excess above the expected Standard Model background is observed and upper limits are set at the 95% confidence level on the production cross section of Higgs boson pairs originating from the decay of a narrow scalar resonance with mass in the range 251 GeV–5 TeV. The observed (expected) limits are in the range 0.96–600 fb (1.2–390 fb). The limits are interpreted in the type-I two-Higgs-doublet model and the minimal supersymmetric standard model, and constrain parameter space not previously excluded by other searches.

Photoexcited GeTe undergoes a nonthermal phase transition from a rhombohedral to a rocksalt crystalline phase. The microscopic mechanism and the nature of the transition are unclear. By using constrained density functional perturbation theory and by accounting for quantum anharmonicity within the stochastic self-consistent harmonic approximation, we show that the nonthermal phase transition is strongly first order and does not involve phonon softening, at odds with the thermal one. The transition is driven by the closure of the single particle gap in the photoexcited rhombohedral phase. Finally, we show that ultrafast x-ray diffraction data are consistent with a coexistence of the two phases, as expected in a first order transition. Our results are relevant for the understanding of phase transitions and bonding in phase change materials.

We consider spin injection driven by nonequilibrium chiral phonons from a chiral insulator into an adjacent metal. Phonon-spin conversion arises from the coupling of the electron spin with the microrotation associated with chiral phonons. We derive a microscopic formula for the spin injection rate at a metal-insulator interface. Our results clearly illustrate the microscopic origin of spin current generation by chiral phonons and may lead to a breakthrough in the development of spintronic devices without heavy elements.

The mirror suspensions in gravitational wave detectors demand low mechanical loss jointing to ensure good enough detector performance and to enable the detection of gravitational waves. Hydroxide catalysis bonds have been used in the fused silica suspensions of the GEO600, Advanced LIGO, and Advanced Virgo detectors. Future detectors may use cryogenic cooling of the mirror suspensions and this leads to a potential change of mirror material and suspension design. Other bonding techniques that could replace or be used alongside hydroxide catalysis bonding are of interest. A design that incorporates repair scenarios is highly desirable. Indeed, the mirror suspensions in KAGRA, which is made from sapphire and operated at cryogenic temperatures, have used a combination of hydroxide catalysis bonding and gallium bonding. This Letter presents the first measurements of the mechanical loss of a gallium bond measured between 10 K and 295 K. It is shown that the loss, which decreases with temperature down to the level of $(1.8\pm 0.3)\times {10}^{-4}$ at 10 K, is comparable to that of a hydroxide catalysis bond.

We study two-loop corrections to the scattering amplitude of four massive leptons in quantum electrodynamics. These amplitudes involve previously unknown elliptic Feynman integrals, which we compute analytically using the differential equation method. In doing so, we uncover the details of the elliptic geometry underlying this scattering amplitude and show how to exploit its properties to obtain compact, easy-to-evaluate series expansions that describe the scattering of four massive leptons in QED in the kinematical regions relevant for Bhabha and Møller scattering processes.

We present the first ab initio lattice calculations of spin and density correlations in hot neutron matter using high-fidelity interactions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order in chiral effective field theory. These correlations have a large impact on neutrino heating and shock revival in core-collapse supernovae and are encapsulated in functions called structure factors. Unfortunately, calculations of structure factors using high-fidelity chiral interactions were well out of reach using existing computational methods. In this Letter, we solve the problem using a computational approach called the rank-one operator (RO) method. The RO method is a general technique with broad applications to simulations of fermionic many-body systems. It solves the problem of exponential scaling of computational effort when using perturbation theory for higher-body operators and higher-order corrections. Using the RO method, we compute the vector and axial static structure factors for hot neutron matter as a function of temperature and density. The ab initio lattice results are in good agreement with virial expansion calculations at low densities but are more reliable at higher densities. Random phase approximation codes used to estimate neutrino opacity in core-collapse supernovae simulations can now be calibrated with ab initio lattice calculations.