Fri·Dec 26, 2025Friday·December 26, 2025

1. 01*

   Probing gluon saturation with forward di-hadron correlations in proton-nucleus collisions

   Paul Caucal🇫🇷 · Zhong-Bo Kang🇺🇸 · Piotr Korcyl🇵🇱 · Farid Salazar🇺🇸 · Björn Schenke🇺🇸 · Tomasz Stebel🇵🇱 · Raju Venugopalan🇺🇸 · Wenbin Zhao🇨🇳

   We present a detailed numerical investigation of semi-inclusive forward di-hadron production in proton-nucleus collisions employing the Color Glass Condensate effective theory. We focus on the regime where di-hadrons are produced nearly back-to-back in the transverse plane, thereby justifying a transverse-momentum-dependent factorization approach in terms of small-$x$ gluon distributions. Our computation integrates several key elements: i) non-linear rapidity evolution via the Balitsky-Kovchegov equation with running coupling, ii) both perturbative and non-perturbative Sudakov resummation, and iii) a phenomenologically constrained model for the initial conditions for small-$x$ gluon distributions. We compare this phenomenological framework to experimental data from the STAR Collaboration on azimuthal correlations in forward di-pion production in both proton-proton and proton-gold collisions. We analyze the systematic theoretical uncertainties associated with the saturation scales of nuclei at the initial scale for rapidity evolution and with those associated with the hadronization process. Finally, we make predictions for the kinematics anticipated to be covered by the ALICE Forward Calorimeter (FoCal) upgrade at the Large Hadron Collider.

   ↳ hep-phnucl-exnucl-thPLB(2026)·15 citations
2. 02*

   Probing Internal Conversion and Dark-Matter-Induced De-excitation of 180mTa with a gamma-ray TES Array

   A. Gando🇯🇵 · K. Ichimura🇯🇵 · K. Ishidoshiro🇯🇵 · T. Kikuchi🇯🇵 · T. Kishimoto🇯🇵 · A. Takeuchi🇯🇵 · R. Sato🇯🇵 · R. Smith🇬🇧

   We propose and evaluate a source-as-detector search for the de-excitation of the long-lived isomer ${}^{180\mathrm{m}}\mathrm{Ta}$ in natural tantalum (Ta), using a $\gamma$-ray transition-edge-sensor (TES) array. We exploit two capabilities not available in conventional high-purity germanium (HPGe) searches: (i) near-unity containment of low-energy secondaries (internal-conversion electrons and characteristic X rays), as well as the nuclear recoil, enabling a calorimetric, event-by-event measurement of the total energy deposited in the absorber; and (ii) a delayed-coincidence tag based on the subsequent ${}^{180}$Ta electron-capture (EC) decay to ${}^{180}$Hf. We evaluate the $3\sigma$ discovery reach for internal conversion (IC) and for dark-matter-induced de-excitation in two benchmark scenarios: a strongly interacting dark-matter (DM) subcomponent and inelastic DM with off-diagonal couplings. Using a background model based on intrinsic radioactivity in the Ta absorber and realistic detector performance, we show that arrays with $N_{\mathrm{TES}}=256$ and $1,000$ pixels can reach the theoretically expected IC half-life within $2.6$ yr and $0.66$ yr, respectively. For an array with $N_{\mathrm{TES}}=10^4$ and a five-year exposure, the projected sensitivity to DM-induced de-excitation surpasses limits inferred from HPGe non-observations of ${}^{180\mathrm{m}}$Ta and probes regions of parameter space not covered by current direct-detection experiments.

   ↳ hep-phnucl-exphysics.ins-detPRD(2026)·0 citations

* 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.