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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

B- and D-meson semileptonic decays with highly improved staggered quarks

We present results for $B_{(s)}$- and $D_{(s)}$-meson semileptonic decays from ongoing calculations by the Fermilab Lattice and MILC Collaborations. Our calculation employs the highly improved staggered quark (HISQ) action for both sea and valence quarks and includes several ensembles with physical-mass up, down, strange, and charm quarks and lattice spacings ranging from $a\approx0.15$ fm down to 0.06 fm. At most lattice spacings, an ensemble with physical-mass light quarks is included. The use of the highly improved action, combined with the MILC Collaboration's gauge ensembles with lattice spacings down to $a\approx0.042$ fm, allows heavy valence quarks to be treated with the same discretization as the light and strange quarks. This unified treatment of the valence quarks allows (in some cases) for absolutely normalized currents, bypassing the need for perturbative matching, which has been a leading source of uncertainty in previous calculations of $B$-meson decay form factors by our collaboration. All preliminary form-factor results are blinded.

Jay, William I.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Elliptic flow coalescence to identify the $f_0$(980) content

Here we use a simple coalescence model to generate $f_0$(980) particles for three configurations: a $s\bar{s}$ meson, a $u\bar{u}s\bar{s}$ tetraquark, and a $K^+K^–$ molecule. The phase-space information of the coalescing constituents is taken from a multiphase transport (AMPT) simulation of heavy-ion collisions. It is shown that the number of constituent quarks scaling of the elliptic flow anisotropy can be used to discern $s\bar{s}$ from $u\bar{u}s\bar{s}$ and $K^+K^–$ configurations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Theoretical and Phenomenological Studies of the Nucleon Structure in High Energy Reactions

The understanding of the internal structure of the proton and other strongly interacting particles is at the forefront of modern nuclear physics research. Generalized Parton Distribution Functions (GPDs) are a powerful tool to advance the understanding of hadron structure. In addition to the information about the one- dimensional collinear momentum distributions of partons (quarks, anti-quarks, and gluons) known from studies of high energy deep-inelastic reactions, GPDs also carry information on the distribution of partons in the transverse plane, and allow us in this way to access the three-dimensional structure of the nucleon. GPDs can be studied in hard-exclusive reactions and contain also information on the energy-momentum tensor form factors which will allow us to gain insights on quantities like pressure or angular momentum distribution inside the nucleon. The goal of this thesis is to deepen our understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the nucleon. We investigate energy-momentum tensor form factors and densities, and all leading-twist GPDs in the bag model. This quark model provides a consistent theoretical framework to investigate many general concepts that have recently attracted interest, and allows one to study insightful limits like the large-Nc limit, heavy-quark limit or the non-relativistic limit. Another important aspect of this thesis is the discussion of the monopole and quadrupole contributions to the angular momentum density. Finally, the description of pseudoscalar meson production in exclusive processes in terms of GPDs is discussed in the Goloskokov-Kroll model and implemented in the PARTONS framework, a software development project which will provide direct support for experiments at the Jefferson National Lab and the future Electron-Ion Collider.

Tezgin, Kemal↗
DOE OSTI2022

Understanding the Origin of the Hadron Mass within the Standard Model

Understanding the origin of the hadron mass, which constitutes 99% of our visible universe, is one of the central goals of nuclear physics. Although the Higgs mechanism provides mass for the fundamental building blocks of matter, it can only contribute less than 2% of the proton mass. The vast majority of the proton mass is believed to come from the strong force that tightly binds quarks and gluons (collectively called partons) together as described by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The mass that emerges as a consequence of the strong interactions within QCD is commonly denoted as Emergent Hadronic Mass (EHM). Understanding how the nucleon mass emerges in QCD is a prerequisite to an explanation of how the Universe came into being, therefore it is of utmost importance and one of the key questions to be addressed by the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). When it comes to light mesons, particularly pions, the mass decomposition is drastically different. Since the pion is naturally massless in the chiral limit, the majority of its observed mass needs to come from other mechanisms within QCD. Any successful explanation for the EHM needs to be able to reconcile both the heavy proton mass and the very light pion mass (~15% of proton mass) simultaneously. The EHM theories have direct measurable implications on the description of the internal structure of the hadron, i.e., how the partons distribute inside the hadron. Precise measurement of the parton distribution functions (PDFs) will provide necessary experimental verifications and constraints of potential EHM mechanisms. We propose to carry out a comprehensive study of the poorly known pion PDFs at the AMBER experiment at CERN. The measurement will provide vital input to constrain the global analysis of the pion PDFs, which are still based on limited data obtained more than 30 years ago. The proposed pion measurement is the only direct measurement achievable within this decade, which could lead to a future major meson structure program parallel to the EIC’s proton structure measurement.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Probing quantum phenomena through photoproduction in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Photoproduction in ultra-peripheral relativistic heavy-ion collisions displays many unique features, often involving quantum mechanical coherence and two-source interference between photon emission from the two ions. We review the recent experimental results from RHIC and the LHC and theoretical studies of coherent vector meson photoproduction, emphasizing the quantum mechanical aspects of the interactions and the entanglement between the final state particles. These studies enrich our understanding of non-local realism, underscore the critical role of the polarization of the photon source, quantum interference and nuclear effect on the gluon distribution. It paves a way for quantitatively probing the quantum nature of these high-energy nuclear collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Probing an MeV-scale scalar boson in association with a TeV-Scale top-quark partner at the LHC

Searches for new low-mass matter and mediator particles have actively been pursued at fixed target experiments and at e + e - colliders. It is challenging at the CERN LHC, but they have been searched for in Higgs boson decays and in B meson decays by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations, as well as in a low transverse momentum phenomena from forward scattering processes (e.g., FASER). We propose a search for a new scalar particle in association with a heavy vector-like quark. We consider the scenario in which the top quark (t) couples to a light scalar φ' and a heavy vector-like top quark T. We examine single and pair production of T in pp collisions, resulting in a final state with a top quark that decays purely hadronically, a T which decays semileptonically (T → W + b → ℓ ν b), and a φ' that is very boosted and decays to a pair of collimated photons which can be identified as a merged photon system. The proposed search is expected to achieve a discovery reach with signal significance greater than 5σ (3σ) for m(T) as large as 1.8 (2) TeV and m(φ') as small as 1 MeV, assuming an integrated luminosity of 3000 fb -1 . This search can expand the reach of T, and demonstrates that the LHC can probe low-mass, MeV-scale particles.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Mesogenesis through the ephemeral dark decay of Beauty

Mesogenesis provides a path for generating the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, using only the CP violation furnished by the Standard Model in the decay of B mesons. While this is an intriguing possibility, it is largely constrained by the data on B meson branching fractions into baryons and missing energy carried into the dark sector. We point out that it is possible to make this branching fraction dominant only in the early Universe, through an ultralight scalar coupled to the dark sector and the Standard Model leptons. A scenario is examined where the thermal density of muons in the early Universe temporarily lowers the mass of a dark fermion, allowing for efficient B meson decays. This `dark’ decay channel is shut off later when the muon number density falls, making the scenario compatible with flavor data. Our model can be consistent with the LHC constraints on color-charged heavy bosons required to implement Mesogenesis; such states may be discovered in the future runs as their masses cannot be far above the current bounds. We also outline other possible signals, which can arise in future displaced vertex searches, long range force searches, and observations of neutron star binary mergers.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

New limits on WR from meson decays

In this work we show that pseudoscalar meson leptonic data can be used to set stringetn limits on the mass of a right handed gauge boson, such as the one that appears in left-right symmetric models. We have shown that for a heavy neutrino with mass in the range 50 to 1900 MeV one can constrain the right hand gauge boson mass to be bigger than 4-19 TeV at 90% confidence level depending on the heavy neutrino mass.

Alves, Gustavo↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bringing the Peccei-Quinn mechanism down to Earth

It is conventionally assumed that the physics underlying the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) mechanism for addressing the strong C P problem is at very high energies, orders of magnitude above the weak scale. However, this may not be the case in general and the associated PQ boson ϕ , besides the signature state, i.e., the ultralight axion a , may emerge well below the weak scale. We consider this possibility and examine some of the conditions for its viability. The example model proposed here may also provide the requisite Standard Model Higgs mass parameter, without invoking new scalars above the giga-electron-volt (GeV) scale. The corresponding parameter space can maintain against quantum corrections. This scenario, depending on the choice of parameters, can potentially be constrained by flavor data. We point out that the current mild excess in B + → K + ν ν ¯ , reported by the Belle II experiment, could in principle be explained in this setup as B + → K + ϕ and B + → K + a , with both ϕ and a escaping the detector as missing energy. For a sufficiently heavy PQ boson, in the GeV regime (as the preferred explanation of the Belle II excess), one can separate these two contributions, due to the difference in K + momenta. In this case, the axion may also affect lighter meson, e.g., kaon, decays while ϕ would not be a kinematically allowed final state. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Search for the chiral magnetic effect through beam energy dependence of charge separation using event shape selection

High-energy, heavy-ion collisions can create local domains of chirality-imbalanced quarks, reflecting the topological features of quantum chromodynamics. The chiral magnetic effect (CME) predicts an electric charge separation of quarks in such topological domains along the magnetic field ($\vec{B}$) generated by the passing of two high-Z nuclei. Here, we use a correlation observable Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}$ between charged meson pairs to detect the CME-induced charge separation and a novel event shape selection (ESS) method to mitigate the background effects related to elliptic flow (𝑣 2 ). The ESS method classifies events based on the emission pattern of final-state particles and determines Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}_{ESS}$ from the zero-flow limit. We reconstruct the $\vec{B}$ field direction from the spectator nucleons, which minimizes backgrounds unrelated to the collective motion of the system. In this work, we report the measurements of Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}$ and a background indicator Δ⁢𝛾$^{132}$ in Au+Au collisions from the Brookhaven National Laboratory Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) Beam Energy Scan phase II and at the top RHIC energy. After background suppression, Δ⁢𝛾$^{132}_{ESS}$ aligns with zero, and Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}_{ESS}$ is reduced to no more than 20% of Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}$. We observe a finite residual charge separation with 2.5⁢𝜎, 3⁢𝜎, and 3.2⁢𝜎 significance in the 20–50% centrality range of Au + Au collisions at 11.5, 14.6, and 19.6 GeV. The results at 17.3 and 27 GeV also show positive values but with a lower significance of 1.3⁢𝜎 and 1.1⁢𝜎, respectively. The corresponding Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}_{ESS}$ values at 7.7, 9.2, and 200 GeV are consistent with zero within uncertainties.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

String breaking in the heavy quark limit with scalable circuits

Quantum simulations of non-Abelian gauge theories require efficient mappings onto quantum computers and practical state preparation and measurement procedures. A truncation of the Hilbert space of non-Abelian lattice gauge theories with matter in the heavy quark limit is developed. This truncation is applied to SU(2) lattice gauge theory in 1+1D to map the theory efficiently onto a quantum computer. Scalable variational circuits are found to prepare the vacuum and single meson states. It is also shown how these state preparation circuits can be used to perform measurements of the number of mesons produced during the system’s time evolution. A state with a single qq¯ pair is prepared on quantum hardware and the inelastic production of qq¯ pairs is observed using 104 qubits on IBM’s Heron quantum computer ibm_torino.

Ciavarella, Anthony N↗
DOE OSTI2023

Tomography of ultrarelativistic nuclei with polarized photon-gluon collisions

A linearly polarized photon can be quantized from the Lorentz-boosted electromagnetic field of a nucleus traveling at ultrarelativistic speed. When two relativistic heavy nuclei pass one another at a distance of a few nuclear radii, the photon from one nucleus may interact through a virtual quark-antiquark pair with gluons from the other nucleus, forming a short-lived vector meson (e.g., ρ 0 ). In this experiment, the polarization was used in diffractive photoproduction to observe a unique spin interference pattern in the angular distribution of ρ 0 → π + π – decays. The observed interference is a result of an overlap of two wave functions at a distance an order of magnitude larger than the ρ0 travel distance within its lifetime. The strong-interaction nuclear radii were extracted from these diffractive interactions and found to be 6.53 ± 0.06 fm ( 197 Au) and 7.29 ± 0.08 fm ( 238 U), larger than the nuclear charge radii. The observable is demonstrated to be sensitive to the nuclear geometry and quantum interference of nonidentical particles.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

$K^{*}(892)^0$ meson production in inelastic p+p interactions at 40 and 80 $\text{ GeV }\!/\!c$ beam momenta measured by NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS

Measurements of $K^{*}(892)^0$ resonance production via its $K^{+}\pi ^{-}$ decay mode in inelastic p+p collisions at beam momenta 40 and 80 $\text{ GeV }\!/\!c$ ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}=8.8$ and 12.3 $\text{ GeV }$) are presented. The data were recorded by the NA61/SHINE hadron spectrometer at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The template method was used to extract the $K^{*}(892)^0$ signal. Transverse momentum and rapidity spectra were obtained. The mean multiplicities of $K^{*}(892)^0$ mesons were found to be $(35.1 \pm 1.3 \mathrm {(stat)} \pm 3.6 \mathrm {(sys))} \cdot 10^{-3}$ at 40 $\text{ GeV }\!/\!c$ and $(58.3 \pm 1.9 \mathrm {(stat)} \pm 4.9 \mathrm {(sys))} \cdot 10^{-3}$ at 80 $\text{ GeV }\!/\!c$. The NA61/SHINE results are compared with the Epos1.99 and Hadron Resonance Gas models as well as with world data. The transverse mass spectra of $K^{*}(892)^0$ mesons and other particles previously reported by NA61/SHINE were fitted within the Blast-Wave model. The transverse flow velocities are close to 0.1–0.2 of the speed of light and are significantly smaller than the ones determined in heavy nucleus-nucleus interactions at the same beam momenta.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electromagnetic probes: Theory and experiment

We review the current state of research on electromagnetic probes in the context of heavy-ion collisions. The focus is on thermal photons and dileptons which provide unique insights into the properties of the created hot and dense matter. This review is intended to provide an introductory overview of the topic as well as a discussion of recent theoretical and experimental results. In particular, we discuss the role of vector-meson spectral functions in the calculation of photon and dilepton rates and present recent results obtained from different frameworks. Furthermore, we will highlight the special role of photons and dileptons to provide information on observables such as the temperature, the lifetime, the polarization and the electrical conductivity of the produced medium as well as their use to learn about chiral symmetry restoration and phase transitions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Exploring the hidden valley at MATHUSLA

Hidden valley models naturally predict numerous long-lived particles, the distinctive signatures of which would be compelling evidence for a hidden valley scenario. As these are typically low-energy particles, they pose a challenge in terms of passing energy triggers in traditional searches at the Large Hadron Collider. The MATHUSLA (MAssive Timing Hodoscope for Ultra-Stable neutraL pArticles) experiment is specifically designed for the purpose of detecting long-lived particles. It also has the capability of detecting lower energy particles relative to ATLAS and CMS. In this paper, we assess MATHUSLA's potential for effectively probing hidden valley models. As a benchmark, we assume the hidden valley sector communicates with Standard Model sectors via a heavy vector propagator that couples to Standard Model quarks as well as hidden valley quarks. We model the showering and hadronization in the hidden valley sector using PYTHIA and study the detector acceptance as a function of the hidden valley meson's lifetime. We find that MATHUSLA possesses significant capabilities to explore previously uncharted parameter space within hidden valley models.

Hidden sector↗
DOE OSTI2020

Light dark sectors through the Fermion portal

Pairs of Standard Model fermions form dimension-3 singlet operators that can couple to new dark sector states. This “fermion portal” is to be contrasted with the lower-dimensional Higgs, vector and neutrino singlet portals. We characterise its distinct phenomenology and place effective field theory bounds on this framework, focusing on the case of fermion portals to a pair of light dark sector fermions. We obtain current and projected limits on the dimension-6 effective operator scale from a variety of meson decay experiments, missing energy and long-lived particle searches at colliders, as well as astrophysical and cosmological bounds. The DarkEFT public code is made available for recasting these limits, which we illustrate with various examples including an integrated- out heavy dark photon.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Multiplicity dependence of charm baryon and charm meson production in pPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 8.16$ TeV

Measurements of the production yields of charm baryons (Λ$^+_c$ ) and charm mesons (D 0 ) in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV are presented. The data were collected in 2016 with the CMS experiment and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 186 nb -1 . The Λ$^+_c$ baryon is reconstructed from the decay channel Λ$^+_c$ → K$^0_S$p , while the D 0 meson is reconstructed via D 0 → K - π + . The Λ$^+_c$ baryon and D 0 meson yields are extracted in several charged-particle multiplicity classes. No strong multiplicity dependence of the Λ$^+_c$-to-D 0 yield ratio is observed, unlike the observed strange baryon to strange meson yield ratio of $Λ/\bar{Λ}$to K$^0_S$, which shows a strong multiplicity dependence. This observation indicates different mechanisms for the multiplicity evolution of hadronization processes for charm and strange quarks and provides new constraints to the understanding of heavy flavor production and collectivity in small collision systems.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Baryon-baryon, meson-meson, and meson-baryon interactions in nonrelativistic QCD

Van der Waals potentials describing interactions between color-singlet mesons and/or baryons vanish at leading order in potential nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics (pNRQCD). This result and constraints from Gauss’s law are used to prove that weakly coupled pNRQCD van der Waals potentials in generic non-Abelian gauge theories with only heavy quarks are too weak to form bound states whose color state is a product of color singlets. Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of four, five, and six quarks with equal masses provide numerical evidence that exotic color configurations are higher energy than products of color-singlet hadrons, suggesting that equal-mass fully heavy tetraquark, pentaquark, and hexaquark bound states do not exist at next-to-leading order in pNRQCD and at all orders in QCD-like theories in which all quark masses are asymptotically large. Mechanisms for generating hadron-hadron bound states are identified, which necessarily involve large quark-mass hierarchies, relativistic effects arising from the presence of sufficiently light quarks, or nonperturbative effects outside the scope of weakly coupled pNRQCD.

Effective field theory↗