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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Collins-Soper kernel and reduced soft function in lattice QCD

We evaluate the Collins-Soper kernel and the reduced soft function in lattice QCD, incorporating 𝒪⁡(𝛼 𝑠 ) matching corrections. The calculation relies on the evaluation of the quasitransverse momentum–dependent wave function with asymmetric staple-shaped quark bilinear operators and four-point meson form factors. These quantities are computed nonperturbatively using two 𝑁 𝑓 =2 + 1 + 1 twisted-mass fermion ensembles with the same lattice spacing of 𝑎 = 0.093 fm: the first ensemble has a lattice size of 24 3 × 48 and a pion mass of 346 MeV, and the second one has a lattice size of 32 3 × 64 and a pion mass of 261 MeV. The Collins-Soper kernel and the soft function are needed for the determination of the transverse momentum–dependent parton distribution functions.

Lattice QCD↗
DOE OSTI2025

Kaon gluon parton distribution and momentum fraction from 2+1+1 lattice QCD with high statistics

We present a high-statistics lattice-QCD determination of the kaon gluon parton distribution function and gluon momentum fraction. We use clover valence fermion action to take 1,296,640 kaon-correlator measurements on a highly improved staggered quark ensemble with 𝑎 ≈ 0.12 fm and 310-MeV pion mass generated by the MILC Collaboration. A detailed investigation into the impact of gauge-link smearing on the gluonic matrix elements indicates that five steps of hypercubic smearing offer an effective balance between signal quality and preservation of long-distance physics. We report a nonperturbatively renormalized kaon gluon momentum fraction of Math output error at 𝜇 = 2 GeV in the Math output error scheme. Using reduced pseudo-Ioffe-time-distribution matrix elements and pseudo-parton-distribution-function (PDF) matching, we extract the kaon gluon PDF and compare with the prediction from the Dyson-Schwinger equation and with the pion PDF obtained from the same ensemble.

First-principles calculations↗
DOE OSTI2026

Coupled-channel approach to isotensor π π π scattering from lattice QCD

The quest to understand three-body dynamics from first-principle QCD includes the study of nonresonant and resonant systems. The isospin I = 2 system is of particular interest having no three-body resonance but featuring a resonance in a subchannel, while also being a coupled-channel problem. In this study, we calculate the finite-volume spectrum from lattice QCD at two different pion masses, map the amplitude to the infinite volume through a generalized Finite-Volume Unitarity three-body quantization condition, investigate the limit of a narrow ρ , and compare with an effective Lagrangian prediction at leading order. Chiral extrapolations between different pion masses are performed.

Feng, Yuchuan [The George Washington University] (↗
DOE OSTI2026

Third moments of nucleon unpolarized, polarized, and transversity parton distribution functions from physical-point lattice QCD

Using forward matrix elements of local leading-twist operators, we present a determination of the isovector third Mellin moments ⟨𝑥 2 ⟩ of nucleon unpolarized, polarized, and transversity parton distribution functions. Two lattice QCD ensembles at the physical pion mass are used, which were generated using a tree-level Symanzik-improved gauge action and 2+1 flavor tree-level improved Wilson Clover fermions coupling via 2-level HEX-smearing. Leveraging a wide set of operators, two extraction methods for the matrix elements, and the automatic inclusion of model uncertainties via bootstrapped model averages, we extract values of the third Mellin moments. Furthermore, this is the first direct calculation of these observables performed at the physical pion mass.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

New Class of Three-Nucleon Forces and Their Implications

Here, we identify a new class of three-nucleon forces that arises in the low-energy effective theory of nuclear interactions including pions. We estimate their contribution to the energy of neutron and nuclear matter and find that it can be as important as the leading-order three-nucleon forces previously considered in the literature. The magnitude of this force is set by the strength of the coupling of pions to two nucleons and is presently not well constrained by experiments. The implications for nuclei, nuclear matter, and the equation of state of neutron matter are briefly discussed.

chiral perturbation theory↗
DOE OSTI2026

Long-Range Transverse-Momentum Correlations and Radial Flow in Pb-Pb Collisions at the LHC

This Letter presents measurements of long-range transverse-momentum correlations using a new observable, 𝑣 0⁡ (𝑝 T ), serving as a probe of event-by-event radial-flow fluctuations, the underlying radial expansion, and the medium’s properties in heavy-ion collisions. Results are reported for inclusive charged particles, pions, kaons, and protons across various centrality intervals in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{𝑠_{\textrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV, recorded by the ALICE detector. A pseudorapidity-gap technique, similar to that used in anisotropic-flow studies, is employed to suppress short-range correlations. At low 𝑝 T , a characteristic mass ordering consistent with hydrodynamic collective flow is observed. At higher 𝑝 T (>3 GeV/𝑐), protons exhibit larger 𝑣 0 ⁡(𝑝 T ) than pions and kaons, in agreement with expectations from quark-recombination models. Comparisons to viscous hydrodynamic calculations with varying bulk viscosity and equation of state demonstrate the sensitivity of the 𝑣 0 ⁡(𝑝 T ) observable to these key medium properties. The findings establish 𝑣 0 ⁡(𝑝 T ) as a valuable addition to the set of observables used in Bayesian analyses for extracting the transport properties and constraining the equation of state of strongly interacting matter, while also helping to systematically explore its sensitivity and impact within such global studies.

Acharya, S. [INFN] (ORCID:0000000292135329)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Pair momentum dependence of a tilted source in heavy-ion collisions

In noncentral heavy-ion collisions, the particle-emitting source can be tilted away from the beam direction, an effect that becomes particularly significant at collision energies of a few GeV and lower. This phenomenon, manifest itself in many observables such as directed flow, polarization, and vorticity, is therefore important to investigate. Here, in this paper, we study the consistency between the tilt extracted directly from the freeze-out distribution of pions and the tilt parameter obtained using the azimuthally sensitive femtoscopy (asHBT) method. Using the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics model, we demonstrate a strong dependence of the tilt parameter extracted with asHBT on the momentum of the particle pair. Considering the experimental challenges in accessing low particle momenta—where the tilt parameter extracted with asHBT closely matches the tilt of the freeze-out distribution of pions—we propose an exponential extrapolation method to obtain the tilt of the entire freeze-out distribution. This approach aims to enhance the accuracy of experimental measurements of tilt in noncentral heavy-ion collisions.

particle correlations & fluctuations↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dihadron azimuthal correlations in deep-inelastic scattering off nuclear targets

We measured the nuclear dependence of the di-pion azimuthal correlation function in deepinelastic scattering (DIS) using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) and a 5 GeV electron beam. As the nuclear-target size increases, transitioning from deuterium to carbon, iron, and lead, the correlation function broadens monotonically. Its shape exhibits a significant dependence on kinematics, including the transverse momentum of the pions and the difference in their rapidity. None of the various Monte-Carlo event generators we evaluated could fully replicate the observed correlation functions and nuclear effects throughout the entire phase space. As the first study of its kind in DIS experiments, this research provides an important baseline for enhancing our understanding of the interplay between the nuclear medium and the hadronization process in these reactions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Testing meson portal dark sector solutions to the MiniBooNE anomaly at the Coherent CAPTAIN Mills experiment

A solution to the MiniBooNE excess invoking rare three-body decays of the charged pions and kaons to new states in the MeV mass scale was recently proposed as a dark-sector explanation. This class of solution illuminates the fact that, while the charged pions were focused in the target-mode run, their decay products were isotropically suppressed in the beam-dump-mode run in which no excess was observed. This suggests a new physics solution correlated to the mesonic sector. We investigate an extended set of phenomenological models that can explain the MiniBooNE excess as a dark sector solution, utilizing long-lived particles that might be produced in the three-body decays of the charged mesons and the two-body anomalous decays of the neutral mesons. Over a broad set of interactions with the long-lived particles, we show that these scenarios can be compatible with constraints from LSND, KARMEN, and MicroBooNE, and evaluate the sensitivity of the ongoing and future data taken by the Coherent CAPTAIN Mills experiment to a potential discovery in this parameter space. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Nonresonant central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV

The central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in p p collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is examined, based on data collected in a special high- β * run of the LHC. The nonresonant continuum processes are studied with the invariant mass of the centrally produced two-pion system in the resonance-free region, m π + π − < 0.7 or m π + π − > 1.8 GeV . Differential cross sections as functions of the azimuthal angle between the surviving protons, squared exchanged four-momenta, and m π + π − are measured in a wide region of scattered proton transverse momenta, between 0.2 and 0.8 GeV, and for pion rapidities | y | < 2 . A rich structure of interactions related to double-pomeron exchange is observed. A parabolic minimum in the distribution of the two-proton azimuthal angle is observed for the first time. It can be interpreted as an effect of additional pomeron exchanges between the protons from the interference between the bare and the rescattered amplitudes. After model tuning, various physical quantities are determined that are related to the pomeron cross section, proton-pomeron and meson-pomeron form factors, pomeron trajectory and intercept, and coefficients of diffractive eigenstates of the proton. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS and TOTEMs Collaboration 2024 CERN

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

New μ forces from ν μ sources

Accelerator-based experiments reliant on charged pion and kaon decays to produce muon-neutrino beams also deliver an associated powerful flux of muons. Therefore, these experiments can additionally be sensitive to light new particles that preferentially couple to muons and decay to visible final states on macroscopic length scales. Such particles are produced through rare 3-body meson decays in the decay pipe or via muon scattering in the beam dump, and decay in a downstream detector. To demonstrate the potential of this search strategy, we recast existing MiniBooNE and MicroBooNE studies of neutral pion production in neutrino-induced neutral-current scattering ( ν μ N → ν μ N π 0 , π 0 → γ γ ) to place limits on light ( < 2 m μ ) muon-philic scalar particles that decay to diphotons through loops of virtual muons. While much of this parameter space has already been excluded by E137, we also project that SBND can be sensitive to unexplored parameter space for these models, and provide a road map for future neutrino experiments to perform dedicated searches for muon-philic forces. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Nonlinear Sigma model amplitudes to all loop orders are contained in the Tr ( Φ 3 ) theory

Scattering amplitudes for the simplest theory of colored scalar particles—the Tr ( Φ 3 ) theory—have recently been the subject of active investigations. In this work we describe an unanticipated wider implication of this work: the Tr ( Φ 3 ) theory secretly contains nonlinear sigma model (NLSM) amplitudes to all loop orders. The NLSM amplitudes are obtained from Tr ( Φ 3 ) amplitudes by a unique shift of kinematic variables. We show that this shifted kinematics produces amplitudes for a cubic theory with a linear term in the potential, with extrema spontaneously breaking U ( N ) → U ( N − k ) × U ( k ) . The Goldstone amplitudes for this theory coincide with those of pions in the U ( N ) × U ( N ) → U ( N ) chiral Lagrangian to all orders in the planar limit. We also give a purely on-shell understanding of this correspondence, showing that integrands defined by the kinematic shifts have the correct residues on poles and appropriately produce the Adler zero. Finally, we discuss how similar kinematic shifts produce certain infinite classes of mixed amplitudes of pions and Tr ( Φ 3 ) scalars, most of which are not interpretable from the Lagrangian description. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Dissecting a strongly coupled scalar nucleon

We continue our investigation of the stress within a strongly coupled scalar nucleon, and now dissect the gravitational form factors into contributions from its constituents, the (mock) nucleon and the (mock) pion. The computation is based on a nonperturbative solution of the scalar Yukawa model in the light-front Hamiltonian formalism with a Fock sector expansion, including up to one nucleon and two pions. By employing the “good currents” T i + + , T i + − and T i 12 , we extract the full set of gravitational form factors A i , D i , c ¯ i without the contamination of the spurious form factors and free of uncanceled UV divergences. With these results, we decompose the mass of the system into its constituents and compute the matter and mechanical radii, gaining insights into the strongly coupled system. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Cao, Xianghui (ORCID:0009000359096713)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Timelike meson form factors beyond the elastic region from lattice QCD

We present a calculation of the vector-isovector timelike form factors of the pion and the kaon using lattice quantum chromodynamics. We calculate two-point correlation functions with m π ∼ 280 MeV , extracting both the finite-volume spectrum and matrix elements for these states created from the vacuum by a vector current. After determining the coupled-channel π π , K K ¯ scattering amplitudes, we perform the necessary correction for the significant finite-volume effects present in the current matrix elements, leading to the timelike form factors. We find these to be dominated by the presence of the ρ resonance, and we extract its decay constant by an analytic continuation of the amplitudes to the resonance pole. In addition, the spacelike pion form factor is determined on the same lattice configurations, and a dispersive parametrization is used to simultaneously describe the spacelike and elastic timelike regions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bootstrapping gauge theories

We consider asymptotically free gauge theories with gauge group S U ( N c ) and N f quarks with mass m q ≪ Λ QCD that undergo chiral symmetry breaking and confinement. We propose a bootstrap method to compute the S matrix of the pseudo-Goldstone bosons (pions) that dominate the low-energy physics. For the important case of N c = 3 , N f = 2 , a numerical implementation of the method gives the phase shifts of the S 0 , P 1 and S 2 waves in good agreement with experimental results. The method incorporates gauge theory information ( N c , N f , m q , Λ QCD ) by using the form-factor bootstrap recently proposed by Karateev, Kuhn and Penedones together with a finite energy version of the Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov (SVZ) sum rules. At low energy we impose constraints from chiral symmetry breaking. The only low-energy numerical inputs are the pion mass m π and the quark and gluon condensates. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

He, Yifei (ORCID:0000000213666157)↗
DOE OSTI2025

QCD moat regime and its real-time properties

Dense quantum chromodynamics (QCD) matter may exhibit crystalline phases. Their existence is reflected in a moat regime, where mesonic correlations feature spatial modulations. We study the real-time properties of pions at finite temperature and density in QCD in order to elucidate the nature of this regime. We show that the moat regime arises from particle-hole-like fluctuations near the Fermi surface. This gives rise to a characteristic peak in the spectral function of the pion at nonzero spacelike momentum. This peak can be interpreted as a new quasi particle, the moaton. In addition, our framework also allows us to directly test the stability of the homogeneous chiral phase against the formation of an inhomogeneous condensate in QCD. We find that an inhomogeneous instability is highly unlikely for baryon chemical potentials μ B ≤ 630 MeV . Published by the American Physical Society 2025

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quenching through the QCD chiral phase transition

We present a detailed numerical and analytical study of the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of Model G, the dynamical universality class relevant to the chiral phase transition. We perform numerical 3D stochastic (Langevin) simulations of the 𝑂⁡(4) critical point for large lattices in the chiral limit. We quench the system from the high-temperature unbroken phase to the broken phase and study the nonequilibrium dynamics of pion fields. Strikingly, the nonequilibrium evolution of the two-point functions exhibits a regime of growth, a parametrically large enhancement, and a subsequent slow relaxation to equilibrium. We analyze our numerical results using dynamic critical scaling and mean-field theory. The growth of the two-point functions is determined by the nonlinear dynamics of an ideal non-Abelian superfluid, which is a limit of Model G that reflects the broken chiral symmetry. We also relate the nonequilibrium two-point functions to a long-lived parametric enhancement of soft pion yields relative to thermal equilibrium following a quench.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Common femtoscopic hadron-emission source in pp collisions at the LHC

The femtoscopic study of pairs of identical pions is particularly suited to investigate the effective source function of particle emission, due to the resulting Bose–Einstein correlation signal. In small collision systems at the LHC, pp in particular, the majority of the pions are produced in resonance decays, which significantly affect the profile and size of the source. In this work, we explicitly model this effect in order to extract the primordial source in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV from charged π–π correlations measured by ALICE. We demonstrate that the assumption of a Gaussian primordial source is compatible with the data and that the effective source, resulting from modifications due to resonances, is approximately exponential, as found in previous measurements at the LHC. The universality of hadron emission in pp collisions is further investigated by applying the same methodology to characterize the primordial source of K–p pairs. The size of the primordial source is evaluated as a function of the transverse mass (m T ) of the pairs, leading to the observation of a common scaling for both π–π and K–p, suggesting a collective effect. Further, the present results are compatible with the m T scaling of the p–p and p–Λ primordial source measured by ALICE in high multiplicity pp collisions, providing additional evidence for the presence of a common emission source for all hadrons in small collision systems at the LHC. This will allow the determination of the source function for any hadron–hadron pairs with high precision, granting access to the properties of the possible final-state interaction among pairs of less abundantly produced hadrons, such as strange or charmed particles.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗