Nuclear Theory·nucl-th

Tuesday·September 30, 2025

24 papers—14 primary·10 cross-listed

15
Toward the Analytic Bootstrap of Energy Correlators
Jianyu Gong🇨🇳 · Andrzej Pokraka🇳🇱 · Kai Yan🇨🇳 · Xiaoyuan Zhang🇺🇸
In this paper, we present a framework for the analytic bootstrap of three-point energy correlators, a crucial observable in $N = 4$ super Yang-Mills theory and quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Our approach combines spherical contour techniques, general physical constraints such as pole cancellations, and power correction data in the singular limits to determine its analytic expression. In contrast to previous bootstrap studies restricted to scattering amplitudes for supersymmetric theories, our framework makes use of the properties of Feynman integrals, marking a significant step toward bootstrapping realistic QCD observables. Using this method, we derive analytic expressions for leading-order three-point energy correlators with equal and unequal energy weights, where the latter are crucial ingredients for projected $N$ -point energy correlators. We also apply the recently developed technique of analytic regression with lattice reduction as a way to bypass needing explicit expressions for the singular limits. Bridging theoretical advances in scattering amplitudes with the renewed interest in weighted cross-sections, our work opens the door to precision tests of QCD dynamics through analytic event-shape predictions.
↳ hep-phhep-thnucl-thJHEP(2026)·4 citations
16
Theory of Quarkonia as Probes for Deconfinement
Xiaojun Yao🇺🇸
This is a plenary talk given at Quark Matter 2025, summarizing recent theoretical developments for the understanding of quarkonium production in relativistic heavy ion collisions and how quarkonium uniquely probes the deconfined phase of QCD matter.
↳ hep-phnucl-thEPJ Web Conf.(2026)·0 citations
17
Thermoelectric Conduction in General Relativity: A Causal, Stable, and Well Posed Theory
Lorenzo Gavassino🇬🇧
We present a covariantly stable first-order framework for describing charge and heat transport in isotropic rigid media embedded in curved spacetime. Working in the Lorenz gauge, we show that the associated initial value problem is both causal and locally well-posed in the fully nonlinear regime. We then apply such framework to explore a range of gravitothermoelectric effects in metals undergoing relativistic acceleration. These include (1) the separation of charge through acceleration, (2) the non-uniformity of Joule heating across accelerating circuits due to time dilation, and (3) the effect of redshift on magnetic diffusion. As an astrophysical application, we derive a relativistic Thomas-Fermi equation governing the charge distribution inside a compact object, also accounting for Seebeck charge displacements driven by cooling.
↳ gr-qchep-thnucl-thPRL(2026)·2 citations
18
Decoupling hydrodynamization from thermalization via nonlinear Boltzmann equation
Xingjian Lu🇨🇳 · Shuzhe Shi🇨🇳
The early thermalization puzzle arises from the unexpectedly early applicability of hydrodynamics in heavy-ion collisions. While hydrodynamics has traditionally been associated with the onset of local thermal equilibrium, its derivations -- whether microscopic or macroscopic -- rely instead on linearization around equilibrium. However, the linearization timescale -- the time at which a system's evolution begins to follow a linearized equation -- has not been systematically investigated. In this work, we employ the spectral nonlinear Boltzmann equation -- the lowest-order truncation of the spectral Bogoliubov--Born--Green--Kirkwood--Yvon (BBGKY) hierarchy -- to analyze the timescales of linearization and thermalization under three distinct truncation schemes. The first two truncations allow for analytic treatment via recursive spectral equations, while the third requires numerical methods for generic initial conditions. The analysis is performed for a homogeneous, massless system with a constant differential cross section. For this simplified setup, we find a robust separation: the linearization time is consistently about half the thermalization time ( $τ_{lin} / τ_{therm} \approx 1/2$ ). This separation of timescales suggests an explanation for the early applicability of hydrodynamics and points toward a possible quantitative resolution of the early thermalization puzzle.
↳ hep-phcond-mat.stat-mechmath-phmath.MP+13 citations
19
Resonance Contributions to Radiative Corrections in Charged-Current Elastic (Anti)Neutrino-Nucleon Scattering at GeV Energies
Oleksandr Tomalak🇺🇸
We present the first evaluation of virtual resonance contributions to the charged-current (anti)neutrino-nucleon elastic scattering at GeV energies, focusing on the dominant $Δ (1232)$ resonance. We approximate the vector part of the $N \to Δ$ transition by the leading magnetic dipole term. Our results for the cross-section corrections at fixed neutrino energy indicate the permille-level contribution of resonance intermediate states to the elastic and radiative scattering cross sections. This calculation exhibits the expected infrared behavior of the invariant amplitudes and unpolarized cross sections. Our findings provide important insights into inelastic excitations in the charged-current (anti)neutrino-nucleon elastic scattering at GeV energies.
↳ hep-phnucl-exnucl-thPLB(2026)·2 citations
20
Heavy flavor correlations and Quarkonia production in high energy pp collisions in the EPOS4 framework
Jiaxing Zhao🇩🇪 · Taesoo Song🇩🇪 · Pol Bernard Gossiaux🇫🇷 · Klaus Werner🇫🇷 · Joerg Aichelin🇫🇷 · Elena Bratkovskaya🇩🇪
In QCD, the production of heavy quark-antiquark pairs can proceed through different mechanisms, each imprinting characteristic correlations between the heavy quarks. In this work, we use the EPOS4 event generator to study how these correlations affect quarkonium production in pp collisions. Our results demonstrate that the observed correlations between heavy mesons directly reflect the underlying production mechanisms and simultaneously shape the transverse-momentum distributions of quarkonia.
↳ hep-phnucl-thEPJ Web Conf.(2026)·1 citation
21
Heavy flavor angular correlations as probes of the glasma
Dana Avramescu🇫🇮 · Vincenzo Greco🇮🇹 · Tuomas Lappi🇫🇮 · Heikki Mäntysaari🇫🇮 · David I. Müller🇦🇹
We study the effect of the glasma fields, formed in the early stage of heavy-ion collisions, on the transport of $Q Q ˉ$ pairs produced back-to-back. We find that for pairs with moderate initial transverse momentum $p_{T}$ evolving in glasma fields with sufficiently large saturation momentum $Q_{s}$ , the azimuthal correlation $C (Δ ϕ)$ is quickly affected. The decorrelation widths $σ_{Δ ϕ}$ during the glasma and Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) phases are comparable.
↳ hep-phhep-latnucl-thEPJ Web Conf.(2026)·0 citations
22
Finite-volume formalism for $N π π$ at maximal isospin
Maxwell T. Hansen🇬🇧 · Fernando Romero-López🇨🇭 · Stephen R. Sharpe🇺🇸
We extend the relativistic field theoretic finite-volume formalism to $N π π$ scattering states at maximal isospin, $I = 5/2$ . As in previous work using the relativistic field theory approach, we work to all orders in a generic low-energy effective theory, and determine the quantization condition that relates finite-volume energies to intermediate K matrices, and the integral equations connecting the latter to the physical scattering amplitudes. We discuss the parametrization of the K matrices, and explain in detail the new features that arise in implementing the quantization condition due to the spin of the nucleon in combination with the use of non-degenerate particles. As a concrete example, we provide a sample numerical application including the $Δ$ resonance in the $N π$ subchannel. The extension to the $I = 3/2$ and $1/2$ channels is more involved, due to mixing with $N π$ states, and we do not provide a complete formalism for these cases. We explain why $N π$ states cannot be included by treating the nucleon as a pole in $p$ -wave $N π$ scattering, an approach that has been successful in studying $D D^{*}$ scattering using the three-particle $D D π$ formalism. We additionally provide results for all isospins under the assumption of no two-to-three mixing, thereby laying the groundwork for a follow-up paper in which all $N π π \leftrightarrow N π$ systems are fully treated. Finally, we study the singularities in $N π π$ amplitudes arising from $N π π π$ intermediate states, and find that our subthreshold cutoff functions must be modified to avoid such singularities.
↳ hep-lathep-phnucl-thJHEP(2026)·11 citations
23
Quantum Dynamics with Time-Dependent Neural Quantum States
Alejandro Romero-Ros · Javier Rozalén Sarmiento · Arnau Rios
We present proof-of-principle time-dependent neural quantum state (NQS) simulations to illustrate the ability of this approach to effectively capture key aspects of quantum dynamics in the continuum. NQS leverage the parameterization of the wave function with neural-network architectures. Here, we put NQS to the test by solving the quantum harmonic oscillator. We obtain the ground state and perform coherent state and breathing mode dynamics. Our results are benchmarked against analytical solutions, showcasing an excellent agreement.
↳ quant-phcs.NEnucl-th1 citation
24
New insights from the flavor dependence of quark transverse momentum distributions in the pion
Lorenzo Rossi🇮🇹 · Alessandro Bacchetta🇮🇹 · Matteo Cerutti🇫🇷 · Marco Radici🇮🇹
We update our previous extraction of transverse momentum distributions of unpolarized quarks in the pion by implementing a more comprehensive description of theoretical uncertainties and, for the first time, by exploring possible differences among quark flavors. We extract such distributions from all available data for unpolarized pion-nucleus Drell-Yan processes, where the cross section is differential in the transverse momentum of the final lepton pair. The cross section involves transverse momentum distributions in the nucleon, that we consistently take from our previous studies.
↳ hep-phhep-exnucl-exnucl-thPLB(2026)·7 citations

Affiliations

first authorsco-authorsvia INSPIRE