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DOE OSTI2025

Measurements of a LYSO crystal array from threshold to 100 MeV

We report measurements of ten custom-made high-homogeneity LYSO crystals. The investigation is motivated by the need for a compact, high-resolution, and fast electromagnetic calorimeter for a new rare pion decay experiment. Each 2.5 x 2.5 x 18 cm 3 crystal was first characterized for general light yield properties and then its longitudinal response uniformity and energy resolution were measured using low-energy gamma sources. The ten crystals were assembled as an array and subjected to a 30–100 MeV positron beam with excellent momentum definition. The energy and timing resolutions were measured as a function of energy, and the spatial resolution was determined at 70 MeV. An additional measurement using monoenergetic 17.6 MeV gammas produced through a p-Li resonance was later made after the photosensors used in positron testing were improved. Here, as an example of the results, the energy resolution at 70 MeV of (1.52 ± 0.03) % is more than two times better than reported results using previous generation LYSO crystals.

Electromagnetic calorimeter↗

DOE OSTI2025

The imaging Time-of-Propagation detector at Belle II

Here, we report on the construction, operation, and performance of the Time-of-Propagation detector with imaging used for the Belle II experiment running at the Super-KEKB e + e - collider. This detector is located in the central barrel region and uses Cherenkov light to provide particle identification among hadrons. The Cherenkov light is radiated in highly polished bars of synthetic fused silica (quartz) and transported to the ends of the bars via total internal reflection. One bar end is instrumented with finely segmented micro-channel-plate photomultiplier tubes to record the light, while the other end has a mirror attached to reflect the photons back to the instrumented end. Both the propagation times and hit positions of the Cherenkov photons are measured; these depend on the Cherenkov angle and together provide good discrimination among charged pions, kaons, and protons with momenta up to around 4 GeV/ c . To date, the detector has been used to record and analyze almost 600 fb −1 of Belle II data.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2026

A proximity-focusing RICH detector for the ePIC Experiment at the EIC

The Electron-Proton/Ion Collider Experiment (ePIC) will be a large, multi-purpose detector to be installed at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) being built at Brookhaven National Laboratory. As robust particle identification (PID) capabilities are essential for fully realizing the EIC science program, ePIC contains several PID subsystems spanning different angular ranges. PID capability in the electron-going endcap is provided by a proximity-focusing Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector (pfRICH) designed to deliver at least 3σ separation between pions and kaons for momenta up to 7 GeV/ c . It will also aid with electron-hadron discrimination at low momentum and assist in the determination of the collision time (t 0 ). This contribution will summarize the design of the pfRICH as well as ongoing fabrication and component testing efforts. geant-based performance simulations will also be discussed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2020

Importance of non-flow background on the chiral magnetic wave search

We report an observable sensitive to the chiral magnetic wave (CMW) is the charge asymmetry dependence of the π - and π + anisotropic flow difference, Δv n (A ch ). We show that, due to non-flow correlations, the flow measurements by the Q-cumulant method using all charged particles as reference introduce a trivial linear term to Δv n (A ch ). The trivial slope contribution to the triangle flow difference Δv 3 (A ch ) can be negative if the non-flow is dominated by back-to-back pairs. This can explain the observed negative Δv 3 (A ch ) slope in the preliminary STAR data. We further find that the non-flow correlations give rise to additional backgrounds to the slope of Δv 2 (A ch ) from the competition among different pion sources and from the larger multiplicity dilution to π + (π - ) at positive (negative) A ch .

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2021

Number of constituent quark scaling of elliptic flows in high multiplicity p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=5.02TeV

In this work, we briefly summarize our recent study on the number of constituent quark (NCQ) scaling of hadron elliptic flows in high multiplicity p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV. With the inclusion of hadron production via the quark coalescence model at intermediate p T , the viscous hydrodynamics at low p T , and jet fragmentation at high p T , our Hydro – Coal – Frag model provides a nice description of the p T -spectra and differential elliptic flow v 2 (p T ) of pions, kaons and protons over the pT range from 0 to 6 GeV. Our results demonstrate that including the quark coalescence is essential for reproducing the observed approximate NCQ scaling of hadron v 2 at intermediate p T in experiments, indicating strongly the existence of partonic degrees of freedom and the formation of quark-gluon plasma in high multiplicity p-Pb collisions at the LHC.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Constraints on charm-anticharm asymmetry in the nucleon from lattice QCD

We present the first lattice QCD calculation of the charm quark contribution to the nucleon electromagnetic form factors $G^c_{E,M}(Q^2)$ in the momentum transfer range $0\leq Q^2 \leq 1.4$ $\rm GeV^2$. The quark mass dependence, finite lattice spacing and volume corrections are taken into account simultaneously based on the calculation on three gauge ensembles including one at the physical pion mass. The nonzero value of the charm magnetic moment $\mu^c_M=-0.00127(38)_{\rm stat}(5)_{\rm sys}$, as well as the Pauli form factor, reflects a nontrivial role of the charm sea in the nucleon spin structure. The nonzero $G^c_{E}(Q^2)$ indicates the existence of a nonvanishing asymmetric charm-anticharm sea in the nucleon. Performing a nonperturbative analysis based on holographic QCD and the generalized Veneziano model, we study the constraints on the $[c(x)-\bar{c}(x)]$ distribution from the lattice QCD results presented here. Our results provide complementary information and motivation for more detailed studies of physical observables that are sensitive to intrinsic charm and for future global analyses of parton distributions including asymmetric charm-anticharm distribution.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2021

First measurement of coherent ρ 0 photoproduction in ultra-peripheral Xe–Xe collisions at s NN = 5.44 TeV

The first measurement of the coherent photoproduction of ρ 0 vector mesons in ultra-peripheral Xe–Xe collisions at s NN = 5.44 TeV is presented. This result, together with previous HERA γ p data and γ –Pb measurements from ALICE, describes the atomic number ( A ) dependence of this process, which is particularly sensitive to nuclear shadowing effects and to the approach to the black-disc limit of QCD at a semi-hard scale. The cross section of the Xe + Xe → ρ 0 + Xe + Xe process, measured at midrapidity through the decay channel ρ 0 → π + π – , is found to be d σ / d y = 131.5 ± 5.6 ( stat . ) – 16.9 + 17.5 ( syst . ) mb. The ratio of the continuum to resonant contributions for the production of pion pairs is also measured. In addition, the fraction of events accompanied by electromagnetic dissociation of either one or both colliding nuclei is reported. The dependence on A of cross section for the coherent ρ 0 photoproduction at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon of the γA system of W γ A , n = 65 GeV is found to be consistent with a power-law behaviour σ ( γ A → ρ 0 A ) ∝ A α with a slope α = 0.96 ± 0.02 ( syst . ) . This slope signals important shadowing effects, but it is still far from the behaviour expected in the black-disc limit.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2022

Nuclear modification factor of light neutral-meson spectra up to high transverse momentum in p–Pb collisions at s NN = 8.16 TeV

Neutral pion (π 0 ) and η meson production cross sections were measured up to unprecedentedly high transverse momenta (p T ) in p–Pb collisions at √ s NN = 8.16 TeV. The mesons were reconstructed via their two-photon decay channel in the rapidity interval –1.3 < y < 0.3 in the ranges of 0.4 < p T < 200 GeV/c and 1.0 < p T < 50 GeV/c, respectively. The respective nuclear modification factor (R pPb ) is presented for p T up to of 200 and 30 GeV/c, where the former was achieved by extending the π 0 measurement in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV using the merged cluster technique. The values of R pPb are below unity for p T < 10 GeV/c, while they are consistent with unity for p T > 10 GeV/c, leaving essentially no room for final state energy loss. The new data provide strong constraints for nuclear parton distribution and fragmentation functions over a broad kinematic range and are compared to model predictions as well as previous results at √ s NN = 5.02 TeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Measurement of K*(892) ± production in inelastic pp collisions at the LHC

The first results on K*(892) ± resonance production in inelastic pp collisions at LHC energies of √s = 5.02, 8, and 13 TeV are presented. The K*(892) ± has been reconstructed via its hadronic decay channel K*(892)→±K$^0_S$ +π ± with the ALICE detector. Measurements of transverse momentum distributions, p T -integrated yields, and mean transverse momenta for charged K*(892) are found to be consistent with previous ALICE measurements for neutral K*(892) within uncertainties. For p T >1 GeV/c the K*(892) ± transverse momentum spectra become harder with increasing centre-of-mass energy from 5.02 to 13 TeV, similar to what previously observed for charged kaons and pions. For p T < GeV/c the K*(892) ± yield does not evolve significantly and the abundance of K*(892) ± relative to K is rather independent of the collision energy. The transverse momentum spectra, measured for K*(892) ± at midrapidity in the interval 0 < p T <15 GeV/c, are not well described by predictions of different versions of PYTHIA 6, PYTHIA 8 and EPOS-LHC event generators. These generators reproduce the measured p T -integrated K *± /K ratios and describe well the momentum dependence for p T <2 GeV/c.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2022

QCD analysis of Δ S = 0 hadronic parity violation

We present a QCD analysis of the effective weak Hamiltonian at hadronic energy scales for strangeness-nonchanging (ΔS = 0) hadronic processes. Performing a leading-order renormalization group analysis in QCD from the W to the O(2 GeV) energy scale, we derive the pertinent effective Hamiltonian for hadronic parity violation, including the effects of both neutral and charged weak currents. We compute the complete renormalization group evolution of all isosectors and the evolution through heavy-flavor thresholds for the first time. We show that the additional four-quark operators that enter below the W mass scale from QCD operator mixing effects form a closed set, and they result in a 12 x 12 anomalous dimension matrix. Computing the resulting effective Hamiltonian and comparing to earlier results, we affirm the importance of operator mixing effects and find, as an example, that the parity-violating pion-nucleon coupling constant, using the factorization Ansatz and an assessment of the pertinent quark charge of the nucleon in lattice QCD at the 2 GeV scale, is in better agreement with recent experiments.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2022

System size and flavour dependence of chemical freeze-out temperatures in ALICE data from pp, pPb and PbPb collisions at LHC energies

We present the system size and flavour dependence of the chemical freeze-out temperature (T ch ) at vanishing baryo-chemical potential calculated via thermal fits to experimental yields for several multiplicity classes in pp, pPb and PbPb collisions measured by ALICE. Using the Thermal-FIST Hadron Resonance Gas model package, we compare the quality of fits across various treatments of strangeness conservation under different freeze-out conditions as a function of the charged particle multiplicity density $\langle$dN ch /d η $\rangle$. Additionally, we examine how the anti-hadron to pion yield ratios of light and strange baryons, as well as the φ meson, evolve within a flavour-dependent model. Through a unique twotemperature chemical freeze-out approach, we show that flavour dependence of T ch in a Strangeness Canonical Ensemble leads to a natural explanation of strangeness enhancement from small to large systems at LHC energies without requiring any non-equilibrium particle production at small $\langle$dN ch /d η $\rangle$.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Simultaneous reweighting of Transverse Momentum Dependent distributions

The Bayesian reweighting procedure is extended to the case of multiple independent extractions of transverse momentum dependent parton distributions (TMDs). By exploiting the data on transverse single spin asymmetries, A N , for inclusive pion production in polarized proton-proton collisions measured at RHIC, we perform a simultaneous reweighting of the quark Sivers, transversity and Collins TMD functions extracted from semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) and annihilation into hadron pairs. The impact of the implementation of the Soffer bound, as well as the differences between older and newer e + e - data, are investigated. The agreement with A N data at large-x F values, a kinematical region complementary to those explored in SIDIS measurements, is enhanced, improving the knowledge of the polarized quark TMDs in the large-x region.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Measurement of 𝐽∕𝜓and 𝜓(2𝑆)production in 𝑝 +𝑝and 𝑝 +𝑑interactions at 120 GeV

We report the p + p and p + d differential cross sections measured in the SeaQuest experiment for J/psi and psi(2S) production at 120GeV beam energy covering the forward x-Feynman (x(F)) range of 0.5 < x(F) < 0.9. The measured cross sections are in good agreement with theoretical calculations based on the nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) using the long-distance matrix elements deduced from a recent global analysis of proton- and pion-induced charmonium production data. The sigma(psi(2S))/sigma(J/psi) cross section ratios are found to increase as x(F) increases, indicating that the q (q) over bar. annihilation process has larger contributions in the psi(2S) production than the J/psi production. The sigma(pd)/2 sigma(pp) cross section ratios are observed to be significantly different for the DrellYan process and J/psi production, reflecting their different production mechanisms. We find that the sigma(pd)/2 sigma(pp) ratios for J/psi production at the forward x(F) region are sensitive to the (d) over bar/(u) over bar flavor asymmetry of the proton sea, analogous to the Drell-Yan process. The transverse momentum (p(T)) distributions for J/psi and psi(2S) production are also presented and compared with data collected at higher center-of-mass energies.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of f1(1285) production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

This study presents the first measurement of the f 1 (1285) resonance using the ALICE detector in inelastic proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The resonance is reconstructed at midrapidity (|y| < 0.5) through the hadronic decay channel f 1 (1285)→ K$^0_S$K ± π ± . Key measurements include the determination of its mass, transverse-momentum integrated yield, and average transverse momentum. Additionally, the ratio of the transverse-momentum integrated yield of f 1 (1285) to pion is compared with calculations from the canonical statistical hadronization model. The model calculation, assuming a zero total strangeness content for f 1 (1285), reproduces the data within 1σ deviation, shedding light on the quark composition of f 1 (1285).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Melting down a tetraquark: DD() interactions and T c c ( 3875 ) + in a hot environment

We discuss the modification of the properties of the tetraquark-like and its heavy quark spin partner, immersed in a hot bath of pions. We consider these exotic states as purely isoscalar DD* and D*D* S-wave bound states, respectively. Finite temperature effects are incorporated through the D and D* state-of-the-art thermal spectral functions calculated in [G. Montana et al., Phys. Rev. D, 102 (2020) 096020], using the imaginary-time formalism. We find important modifications of the DD* and D*D* scattering amplitudes already for MeV, and show that the hot-bath lineshapes of these tetraquark-like states strongly depend on their Weinberg molecular content. We find that the thermal and spectral functions change more rapidly with temperature for high molecular probabilities P0. For large values of P0, the widths significantly increase with temperature, leading to the melting of these exotic states for temperatures larger than 80 MeV. For small molecular components, the changes in the spectral functions of these states due to temperature become significantly less important. All these results show that any future experimental determination of the D(*)D* scattering amplitudes at finite temperature will provide valuable insights into the molecular content of the and exotics.

Montesinos, V. (ORCID:0000000261862777)↗

DOE OSTI2025

First measurement of differential cross sections for muon neutrino charged current interactions on argon with a two-proton final state using the MicroBooNE detector

We present the first measurement of differential cross sections for charged-current muon neutrino interactions on argon with one muon, two protons, and no pions in the final state. These final states are dominated by two-nucleon knockout interactions, which are complicated to model and for which there is currently limited information about the characteristics of these interactions in existing neutrino-nucleus scattering data. Detailed investigations of two-nucleon knockout are vital to support upcoming experiments exploring the nature of the neutrino. Among the different kinematic quantities measured, the opening angle between the two protons, the angle between the total proton momentum and the muon, and the total transverse momentum of the final state system are most sensitive to the underlying physics processes as embodied in various theoretical models.

2-particle 2-hole states↗

DOE OSTI2025

High-energy $η^{(')}π$ photoproduction and the nature of exotic waves

The observation of hybrid mesons in photoproduction experiments can provide essential insight into the inner workings of quantum chromodynamics in the strong coupling regime. In particular, the study of final $η^{(')}π$ states is of great interest due to the presence of the lowest lying hybrid candidate with manifestly exotic quantum numbers, the $π_1$(1600). In this work, a double-vector exchange model with Reggeized $ρ$ and $ω$ trajectories is developed to describe the photoproduction of $η^{(')}π$ in the high-mass region. Results are presented for the differential cross sections and forward-backward asymmetries in the energy region of interest to the GlueX experiment. The model contains no free parameters, and reproduces the magnitude and t-dependence of existing CLAS data at $E_γ$ = 5 GeV. The model predicts a stronger asymmetry in the $η'π$ channel than in the $ηπ$ channel, consistent with what has previously been observed in pion beam experiments. This suggests that the sizeable production of exotic odd waves in $η'π$ is not necessarily related to the presence of gluon-rich environments. Confirmation of these predicted asymmetries from forthcoming GlueX data would enable further predictions of the low-energy spectrum.

Montaña, Glòria [Thomas Jefferson National Acceler↗

DOE OSTI2026

Decoding the proton’s gluonic density with lattice QCD-informed machine learning

We present a first machine learning-based decoding of the gluonic structure of the proton from lattice QCD using a variational autoencoder inverse mapper (VAIM). Harnessing the power of generative AI, we predict the parton distribution function (PDF) of the gluon given information on the reduced pseudo-Ioffe-time distributions (RpITDs) as calculated from an ensemble with lattice spacing a ≈ 0.09 fm and a pion mass of M π ≈ 310 MeV. The resulting gluon PDF is consistent with phenomenological global fits within uncertainties, particularly in the intermediate-to-high-x region where lattice data are most constraining. A subsequent correlation analysis confirms that the VAIM learns a meaningful latent representation, highlighting the potential of generative AI to bridge lattice QCD and phenomenological extractions within a unified analysis framework.

Gluon parton distribution function↗