In relativistic heavy-ion collisions, the properties of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) and complex dynamics of multi-scale processes in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) are studied by analyzing the final state produced particles in a variety of different ways. In these proceedings, we present an overview of new detailed measurements of flow, chirality, and vorticity by the STAR experiment at RHIC. Furthermore, STAR's future opportunities for the precision measurements on small systems, fixed-target (FXT) mode, and Beam Energy Scan (BES-II) program are discussed.
The STAR isobar data of 96Ru+96Ru and 96Zr+96Zr collisions at sNN=200 GeV show that ratios of observables (RO) such as the multiplicity distribution, p(Nch), and the harmonic flow, vn, deviate from unity, when presented as a function of centrality, c. These deviations have been attributed to the differences in the shape and radial profiles between 96Ru and 96Zr nuclei. In addition, the ratios RO(x) depend on the choice of the event activity variable x, which could be either Nch or centrality. We estimate the difference ΔR between these two choices, based on the published p(Nch), as well as those from a multiphase transport (AMPT) model with varied nuclear structure parameters: nuclear radius (R0), surface diffuseness (a0), quadrupole deformation (β2), and octupole deformation (β3). In contrary to Rvn(c), Rvn(Nch) is nearly independent of the analysis approaches, suggesting that nonflow effects are better controlled by Nch than c. The ratios of observables sensitive to the chiral magnetic effect (CME) are also much closer to unity for x=Nch than x=c, indicating that the ratios calculated at the same Nch provide a better baseline for the non-CME background. According to the AMPT results, the dominant parameter for ΔR is a0, while R0 and βn are only important in central collisions. The published p(Nch) is also used to estimate ΔR⟨pT⟩ for mean transverse momentum, which is non-negligible compared with R⟨pT⟩−1.
While ample evidence for the so-called empirical parabolic law of the Equation of State (EOS) of isospin asymmetric nuclear matter (ANM) has been obtained in many studies within both non-relativistic and relativistic nuclear many-body theories using various interactions, it has been unclear if there is any fundamental physics reason for the small quartic symmetry energy compared to the quadratic one even as the ANM approaches pure neutron matter. Within both relativistic and non-relativistic Free Fermi Gas (FFG) models in coordinate spaces of arbitrary dimension d with and without considering Short-Range Correlations (SRC) as well as non-linear Relativistic Mean Field (RMF) models, we study effects of relativistic kinematics, dimensionality, interactions and SRC on the ratio Ψ(ρ) of quartic over quadratic symmetry energies in ANM EOSs. We found that the ratio Ψ(ρ) in the FFG model depends strongly on the dimension d. While it is very small already in the normal 3D space, it could be even smaller in spaces with reduced dimensions for sub-systems of particles in heavy-ion reactions and/or whole neutron stars due to constraints, collectivities and/or symmetries. We also found that the ratio Ψ(ρ) could theoretically become very large only at the ultra-relativistic limit far above the density reachable in neutron stars. On the other hand, nuclear interaction directly and/or indirectly through SRC-induced high-momentum nucleons affect significantly the density dependence of Ψ(ρ) compared to the relativistic FFG model prediction. The SRC affects significantly not only the kinetic energy of symmetric nuclear matter but also the ratio Ψ(ρ) while the relativistic corrections are found negligible. The results may help better understand the EOS of dense neutron-rich matter.
We report a simple and pure data-driven method to find new energy levels of quantum many-body systems only from observed line wavelengths. In our method, all the possible combinations are computed from known energy levels and wavelengths of unidentified lines. As each excited state exhibits many transition lines to different lower levels, the true levels should be reconstructed coincidentally from many level-line combinations, while the wrong combinations distribute randomly. Such a coincidence can be easily detected statistically. We demonstrate this statistical method by finding new levels for various atomic and nuclear systems from unidentified line lists available online.
We present our studies of the forward unpolarised doubly-virtual Compton scattering (VVCS) off the deuteron and the closely related two-photon-exchange (2γ-exchange) corrections to the Lamb shift of muonic deuterium. The deuteron VVCS amplitude is calculated in the framework of pionless effective field theory, up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N3LO) for the longitudinal and next-to-leading order (NLO) for the transverse amplitude. The charge elastic form factor of the deuteron, obtained from the residue of the longitudinal VVCS amplitude, is used to extract the value of the single unknown two-nucleon one-photon contact coupling that enters the longitudinal amplitude at N3LO. The obtained deuteron VVCS amplitude serves as a high-precision model-independent input to examine the 2γ-exchange corrections. Substantial differences with the recent dispersive evaluations are identified, namely, the elastic contribution appears to be larger by several standard deviations, thus ameliorating the current discrepancy between theory and experiment on the size of 2γ-exchange effects. A correlation between the values of the deuteron charge and Friar radii is found that can be used to judge on the quality of a parametrisation of the deuteron charge elastic form factor. The discrepancy between the theory and the empirical result for the 2γ-exchange correction in muonic deuterium appears to be completely eliminated. To further confirm this, we revisit the hydrogen-deuterium isotope shift in the same framework. Our work provides an alternative self-consistent and high-precision evaluation of the 2γ-exchange correction in (muonic) deuterium.
A calculation of two-neutrino double-β (2νββ) decay matrix elements within the interacting boson model (IBM) that is based on the nuclear density functional theory is presented. The constrained self-consistent mean-field (SCMF) calculation using a universal energy density functional (EDF) and a pairing interaction provides potential energy surfaces with triaxial quadrupole degrees of freedom for even-even nuclei corresponding to the initial and final states of the 2νββ decays of interest. The SCMF energy surface is then mapped onto the bosonic one, and this procedure determines the IBM Hamiltonian for the even-even nuclei. The same SCMF calculation provides the essential ingredients of the interacting boson fermion-fermion model (IBFFM) for the intermediate odd-odd nuclei and the Gamow-Teller and Fermi transition operators. The EDF-based IBM and IBFFM provide a simultaneous description of excitation spectra and electromagnetic transition rates for each nucleus, and single-β and ββ decay properties. The calculated 2νββ-decay nuclear matrix elements are compared with experiment and with those from earlier theoretical calculations.
Electron Ion Collider (EIC) is a particle accelerator facility planned for construction at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York by the United States Department of Energy. EIC will provide capabilities of colliding beams of polarized electrons with polarized beams of proton and light ions. EIC will be one of the largest and most sophisticated new accelerator facilities worldwide, and the only new large-scale accelerator facility planned for construction in the United States in the next few decades. The versatility, resolving power and intensity of EIC will present many new opportunities to address some of the crucial and fundamental open scientific questions in particle physics. This document provides an overview of the science case of EIC from the perspective of the high energy physics community.
We review direct photons in the phenomenology of nuclear collisions at relativistic energies. Direct photons carry information about the space-time evolution of nuclear collisions because the QCD medium is transparent against colorless particles. After a status summary of theoretical and experimental studies, transverse momentum spectra and azimuthal momentum anisotropies of direct photons are studied in the context of the hydrodynamic modeling of relativistic nuclear collisions with emphasis on pre-equilibrium photons. It is implied that pre-equilibrium photons can be as important as thermal and prompt photons for comprehensive understanding of direct photon production.
As particles traverse the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) formed during a heavy ion collision they undergo energy loss depending on the distance travelled. We study several temperature- and velocity-weighted path length distributions of non-interacting particles as they traverse the plasma using the Trajectum heavy ion code, including those of back-to-back path lengths. We use event-shape engineering (ESE) in combination with in-plane versus out-of-plane selection to accurately control these path lengths. Lastly, we show how soft observables depend on the different ESE classes.
Searches for neutrinoless double-beta decay continue to expand our understanding of the lepton sector, with experiments now pursuing ton-scale target masses with sensitivity to mββ covering the allowed parameter space for the inverted neutrino mass ordering. Continued searches for this rare decay will require scalable detector technologies to achieve significant increases in the target mass beyond the ton scale, in order to probe the normal ordering region. This work explores the concept of searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay in a 10 kton scale liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) located deep underground and doped with percent-level quantities of xenon. We discuss the design requirements, background mitigation and detector R&D needs, and considerations for deployment in a modified DUNE far detector module. We find that such a detector could reach mββ sensitivity at the 2-4 meV range with xenon doping at 2% if significant background reductions can be achieved.
* Reconstructed cohort: no mailing for this day survives in the archive. Papers are grouped by their submission times and arXiv's announcement cut-off, assuming announcement without delay; positions follow identifier order. Validated at ~91% exact-day agreement against the archived era.