Wed·Dec 17, 2025Wednesday·December 17, 2025

1. 01*

   Drell-Yan at the Electron-Ion Collider

   Henry T. Klest🇺🇸

   The photon is arguably the most universally important particle across all fields of physics. Despite its status as a fundamental particle, at high energies the photon can be seen as a hadronic source of partons. The partonic content of the photon is very poorly constrained compared to that of the proton, with photon PDF uncertainties typically one or two orders of magnitude larger than their proton counterparts, despite the fact that its source, the $\gamma \to q\bar{q}$ splitting, is perturbatively calculable. The high luminosity, excellent particle identification, and far-backward electron tagging capabilities of the Electron-Ion Collider make it an ideal environment for studying photon parton distribution functions. Similar to the $p+p$ or $\pi +p$ systems, photoproduction at the EIC can be thought of as two parton distributions colliding. One of the most powerful processes in such collisions is production of lepton pairs, i.e. $h+p\to l^{+}{l}^{-}+X$, known as the Drell--Yan process. This process has the ability to access for the first time the transverse-momentum-dependent parton distributions of the photon. The transversely polarized proton beam of the EIC additionally provides a possible means of accessing the transversity distribution of the proton without relying on fragmentation functions.

   nucl-exhep-exhep-phnucl-thPRD(2026)·4 citations
2. 02*

   Symmetry-preserving calculation of pion light-front wave functions

   Zhao-Qian Yao🇩🇪 · Zhen-Ni Xu🇪🇸 · Yu-Yang Xiao🇨🇳 · Craig D. Roberts🇨🇳 · Jose Rodriguez-Quintero🇪🇸

   Poincaré-covariant Bethe-Salpeter wave functions are used to calculate light-front wave functions (LFWFs) of the pion, $\pi$, and an analogue state, ${\pi }_{s\bar{s}}$. The current masses of the degenerate valence constituents in the ${\pi }_{s\bar{s}}$ are around $25$-times larger than those of the pion's valence constituents. Both valence spin-antialigned ($\mathcal{L}=0$) and valence spin-aligned ($\mathcal{L}=1$) components are obtained and combined to produce the complete LFWF for each system. Comparing predictions delivered by two distinct Bethe-Salpeter kernels, the impact of nonperturbative dynamical effects contained in the more sophisticated (bRL) kernel are seen to be significant; and contrasts between $\pi$, ${\pi }_{s\bar{s}}$ results reveal the interplay between emergent hadron mass and mass effects owing to Higgs-boson couplings. Amongst the results, one finds that for $\pi$, ${\pi }_{s\bar{s}}$, the LFWFs can be approximated by a separable form, with that representation being pointwise reliable in the bRL cases. Moreover, the $\mathcal{L}=1$ component is important; so a LFWF obtained after omission of this piece is typically a poor representation of the system. These features are naturally expressed in $\pi$, ${\pi }_{s\bar{s}}$ transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs). In this connection, it is found that a Gaussian \textit{Ansatz} can only provide a rough guide to TMD pointwise behaviour: magnitude deviations between \textit{Ansatz} and prediction exceed a factor of two on $k_{\perp }^2\gtrsim 0.55$GeV${}^2$. One should therefore be cautious in interpreting conclusions drawn from phenomenological analyses based upon Gaussian \textit{Ansätze}.

   ↳ hep-phhep-exhep-latnucl-ex+15 citations
3. 03*

   Impact of experimental mass of ${}^{70}$Kr on the ${}^{68}$Se waiting-point in $rp$-process

   Min Zhang🇨🇳 · Yudong Luo🇨🇳 · Akira Dohi🇯🇵 · Xing Xu🇨🇳 · Xinliang Yan🇨🇳 · Toshitaka Kajino🇨🇳 · Yuhu Zhang🇩🇪 · Meng Wang🇨🇳

   The recent mass measurement of ${}^{70}$Kr using the $B\rho$-defined isochronous mass spectrometry yields a mass excess of $-41320(140)$ keV, indicating a 220-keV increase in binding energy compared to the AME2020 prediction. We utilize this experimental mass -- the last piece of information needed -- to model the potential waiting point ${}^{68}$Se in $rp$-process and quantitatively constrain the sequential $p$-capture reaction flow bypassing this waiting point. Our investigation shows that the more tightly bound nature of ${}^{70}$Kr enhances this reaction flow up to a factor of four. This enhancement reduces the effective half-life of ${}^{68}$Se. {A} one-zone X-ray burst model calculations reveal that the higher flow of ${}^{70}$Kr has distinct effects on the tail structure of light curve and the final SnSbTe abundances in the ashes due to a stronger $rp$-process heating.

   ↳ nucl-thnucl-exPRC(2025)·1 citation
4. 04*

   Modeling Short-Range Nucleon Pair and Triplet Abundances in Atomic Nuclei

   I. Wischnevsky Shlush🇮🇱 · A. Denniston🇮🇱 · R. Wagner🇮🇱 · I. Korover🇮🇱 · E. Piasetzky🇮🇱

   Short-range correlated (SRC) nucleon pairs provide a sensitive probe of the short-distance structure of atomic nuclei and the underlying nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction. We present a simple numerical method to estimate the number of two- and three-nucleon SRC clusters using an independent-particle shell model with a harmonic-oscillator basis. The relative abundances of proton-neutron (pn), proton-proton (pp), and neutron-neutron (nn) SRC pairs are calculated for Al, Fe, and Pb nuclei, normalized to carbon, and compared with existing analytical predictions and available extractions from experimental data. We extend the analysis to the isotopes 40Ca, 48Ca, and 54Fe (collectively, the CaFe nuclei), which have been recently measured but whose SRC results are not yet published. These isotopes provide insight into the role of 1f7/2 shell occupancy in SRC pair formation. Finally, we present a reference baseline for three-nucleon SRC cluster abundances across the studied nuclei, assuming 3N clusters originate from independent two-nucleon interactions. The predicted baseline is about 2.5% 3N-SRC/2N-SRC ratio for all medium and heavy nuclei. Deviations from this baseline may indicate the presence of additional short-range nuclear dynamics.

   ↳ nucl-thnucl-exPRC(2026)·2 citations
5. 05*

   Prediction of deformed halo nuclei ${}^{43,45}$Si from multiple criteria based on structure and reaction analyses

   C. Pan🇨🇳 · J. L. An · P. Ring🇩🇪 · X. H. Wu🇨🇳 · P. Papakonstantinou🇰🇷 · M.-H. Mun🇰🇷 · Y. Kim🇯🇵 · S. S. Zhang🇺🇸 · K. Y. Zhang🇨🇳

   Possible deformed neutron halos in silicon isotopes are investigated from both structure and reaction perspectives using the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum (DRHBc) combined with the Glauber model. The experimental neutron separation energies of silicon isotopes are well reproduced by the DRHBc theory. Multiple halo criteria are examined, including the global ones based on root-mean-square radii and density profiles, as well as the microscopic ones based on single-particle orbitals and their spatial distributions. Calculations employing different density functionals and pairing strengths consistently indicate the emergence of $p$-wave neutron halos in ${}^{43,45}$Si, accompanied by pronounced shape decoupling between the halo and the core. Moreover, the enhanced reaction cross sections and the narrow longitudinal momentum distributions of one-neutron removal residues provide additional evidence supporting the halo structures in ${}^{43,45}$Si.

   ↳ nucl-thnucl-exPLB(2026)·2 citations
6. 06*

   Towards First Detection of the Solar MSW Transition With JUNO

   Obada Nairat🇺🇸 · John F. Beacom🇺🇸 · Kevin J. Kelly🇺🇸 · Shirley Weishi Li🇺🇸

   Matter-induced neutrino flavor mixing (the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein, or MSW, effect) is a central prediction of the neutrino mixing framework, but it has not been conclusively observed. Direct observation of the energy-dependent MSW transition in the solar electron-neutrino survival probability would solve this, but backgrounds have been prohibitive. We show that our new technique for suppressing muon-induced spallation backgrounds will allow JUNO to measure the MSW transition at $>$4$\sigma$ significance in 10 years. This would strongly support upcoming multi-\$1B next-generation experiments and their goals in cementing the neutrino mixing framework.

   ↳ hep-phastro-ph.HEhep-exnucl-ex+1PRL(2026)·1 citation

* 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.