Search

39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, Lattice 2022, Bonn, Germany, 8 Aug 2022 - 13 Aug 2022; Proceedings of Science / International School for Advanced Studies (LATTICE2022), 114 (2023). doi:10.22323/1.430.0114, We present results for the nucleon electromagnetic form factors using $N_f$=2+1+1 twisted mass lattice QCD with clover improvement and with quarks with masses tuned to their physical values. Our preliminary analysis includes three ensembles at similar physical volume and varying lattice spacing allowing us to take the continuum limit at the physical point. Both connected and disconnected contributions are evaluated, allowing us to take the isovector and isoscalar contributions as well as the individual proton and neutron form factors in the flavour isospin limit. For each ensemble we assess excited state effects using several sink-source time separations in the range 0.8 fm - 1.6 fm, exponentially increasing statistics with the separation., Published by SISSA, Trieste

Physical review / D 107(5), 054504 (2023). doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.107.054504, We present the first calculation of the Mellin moments of the transverse quark spin densities in the nucleon using lattice QCD simulations with physical values of the pion mass and in the continuum limit. Specifically, we use three $N_f=2+1+1$ twisted mass fermion gauge ensembles each at different lattice spacings. The densities are extracted from the unpolarized and transversity generalized form factors. The first moment of transversely polarized quarks in an unpolarized nucleon shows an interesting distortion, which can be traced back to the sharp falloff of the transversity generalized form factor $\bar{B}_{Tn0}(Q^2)$. The isovector tensor anomalous magnetic moment is determined to be $κ_T=1.051(94)$, which confirms a negative and large Boer-Mulders function, $h_1^⊥$, in the nucleon., Published by Inst., Woodbury, NY

At the TeV scale, low-energy precision observations of neutron characteristics provide unique probes of novel physics. Precision studies of neutron decay observables are susceptible to beyond the Standard Model (BSM) tensor and scalar interactions, while the neutron electric dipole moment, $d_n$, also has high sensitivity to new BSM CP-violating interactions. To fully utilise the potential of future experimental neutron physics programs, matrix elements of appropriate low-energy effective operators within neutron states must be precisely calculated. We present results from the QCDSF/UKQCD/CSSM collaboration for the isovector charges $g_T,~g_A$ and $g_S$ using lattice QCD methods and the Feynman-Hellmann theorem. We use a flavour symmetry breaking method to systematically approach the physical quark mass using ensembles that span five lattice spacings and multiple volumes. We extend this existing flavour breaking expansion to also account for lattice spacing and finite volume effects in order to quantify all systematic uncertainties. Our final estimates of the isovector charges are $g_T~=~1.009(20)_{\text{stat}}(03)_{\text{sys}},~g_A=1.246(69)_{\text{stat}}(05)_{\text{sys}}$ and $g_S~=~1.06(10)_{\text{stat}}(03)_{\text{sys}}$ renormalised, where appropriate, at $\mu=2~\text{GeV}$ in the $\overline{\text{MS}}$ scheme., Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 6 tables

41st International Conference on High Energy Physics, ICHEP2022, Bologna, Italy, 6 Jul 2022 - 13 Jul 2022; Proceedings of Science / International School for Advanced Studies (ICHEP2022), 797 (2023). doi:10.22323/1.414.0797, We discuss a new determination of the strong coupling at the $\tau$-mass scale, $\alpha_s(m_\tau^2)$, based on a new vector isovector spectral function, which combines ALEPH and OPAL spectra for the dominant $2\pi$ and $4\pi$ decay channels with estimates for several sub-leading contributions obtained using CVC from recently measured electroproduction cross-sections, as well as results for $\tau\to K^- K^0\nu_\tau$ obtained by BaBar. This fully inclusive vector isovector spectral function is entirely based on experimental data, and no longer relies on Monte Carlo input for any of the sub-leading modes. We obtain $\alpha_s(m_\tau)=0.3077\pm 0.0075$, corresponding to $\alpha_s(m_Z)=0.1171\pm 0.0010$., Published by SISSA, Trieste

In isospin symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter we study the structure functions connected with the zero sound excitations. In the simple model with Landau-Migdal quasiparticle interactions the density response $\Pi^R(\omega,k)$ of the nuclear matter to the small isovector external field $V_0(\omega,k)$ is considered. In the previous papers the complex branches of solutions $\omega_{si}(k)$, $i=n,p,np$ of the dispersion equation corresponding to zero sound excitations in the symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter are obtained. Now we investigate the structure and response functions of nuclear matter based on these solutions., Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, corrected misprint

Centroid energies, $$E_{\textrm{CEN}}$$ , of the isoscalar ( $$T=0$$ ) and isovector ( $$T=1$$ ) giant resonances of multipolarities $$L_{m}=0$$ –3 in $${}^{\mathrm{40,48}}$$ Ca, $${}^{\mathrm{68}}$$ Ni, $${}^{\mathrm{90}}$$ Zr, $${}^{\mathrm{116}}$$ Sn, $${}^{\mathrm{144}}$$ Sm, and $${}^{\mathrm{208}}$$ Pb, were calculated within the fully self-consistent spherical Hartree–Fock (HF)-based random-phase approximation (RPA) theory, using 33 different energy density functionals associated with Skyrme-type effective nucleon–nucleon interactions of the standard form commonly employed in the literature. We also calculate the Pearson linear correlation coefficients between each $$E_{\mathrm{CEN}}$$ and each bulk property of nuclear matter (NM), associated with the Skyrme interactions used in the calculations, and determine the sensitivity of $$E_{\mathrm{CEN}}$$ to bulk properties of NM. By comparing the calculated values of $$E_{\textrm{CEN}}$$ to the experimental data, we constrain the values of the bulk NM properties. We find that interactions associated with the values of the NM effective mass, $$m^{\ast}/m=0.70$$ –0.90, incompressibility coefficient, $$K_{\textrm{NM}}=210$$ –240 MeV, and the enhancement coefficient of the energy-weighted sum rule of the isovector giant dipole resonance, $$\kappa=0.25$$ –0.70, best reproduce the experimental data.

We introduce the concept of neutron-proton two-particle units (np-Weisskopf units) to be used in the analysis of the ($^{3}$He,p) and (p,3He) reactions on nuclei along the N=Z line. These are presented for the conditions relevant to the (n,j,ℓ) orbits expected from $^{16}$O to $^{100}$Sn. As is the case of the Weisskopf units for electromagnetic transitions, the np-WU's will provide a simple, yet robust, measure of isoscalar and isovector np pairing collective effects.

The European physical journal / C 82(10), 869 (2022). doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-10536-1, We review lattice results related to pion, kaon, D-meson, B-meson, and nucleon physics with the aim of making them easily accessible to the nuclear and particle physics communities. More specifically, we report on the determination of the light-quark masses, the form factor $f_+(0)$ arising in the semileptonic $K \rightarrow \pi $ transition at zero momentum transfer, as well as the decay constant ratio $f_K/f_\pi $ and its consequences for the CKM matrix elements $V_{us}$ and $V_{ud}$. Furthermore, we describe the results obtained on the lattice for some of the low-energy constants of $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R$ and $SU(3)_L\times SU(3)_R$ Chiral Perturbation Theory. We review the determination of the $B_K$ parameter of neutral kaon mixing as well as the additional four B parameters that arise in theories of physics beyond the Standard Model. For the heavy-quark sector, we provide results for $m_c$ and $m_b$ as well as those for the decay constants, form factors, and mixing parameters of charmed and bottom mesons and baryons. These are the heavy-quark quantities most relevant for the determination of CKM matrix elements and the global CKM unitarity-triangle fit. We review the status of lattice determinations of the strong coupling constant $\alpha _s$. We consider nucleon matrix elements, and review the determinations of the axial, scalar and tensor bilinears, both isovector and flavor diagonal. Finally, in this review we have added a new section reviewing determinations of scale-setting quantities., Published by Springer, Heidelberg

An exotic narrow state in the $D^0D^0\pi^+$ mass spectrum just below the $D^{*+}D^0$ mass threshold is studied using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb$^{-1}$ acquired with the LHCb detector in proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV. The state is consistent with the ground isoscalar $T^+_{cc}$ tetraquark with a quark content of $cc\bar{u}\bar{d}$ and spin-parity quantum numbers $\mathrm{J}^{\mathrm{P}}=1^+$. Study of the $DD$ mass spectra disfavours interpretation of the resonance as the isovector state. The decay structure via intermediate off-shell $D^{*+}$ mesons is confirmed by the $D^0\pi^+$ mass distribution. The mass of the resonance and its coupling to the $D^{*}D$ system are analysed. Resonance parameters including the pole position, scattering length, effective range and compositeness are measured to reveal important information about the nature of the $T^+_{cc}$ state. In addition, an unexpected dependence of the production rate on track multiplicity is observed., Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2021-032.html

19th International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy and Structure, HADRON 2021, Mexico City, Mexico, 26 Jul 2021 - 1 Aug 2021; Suplemento de la revista mexicana de física 3(3), 0308104 (2022). doi:10.31349/SuplRevMexFis.3.0308104, Momentum and spatial distributions of quarks and gluons inside hadrons are typically encoded in the so-called generalized parton distributions (GPDs). GPDs are multi-dimensional quantities that are very challenging to extract, both experimentally and within lattice QCD. We present the first lattice results on the $x$-dependence of isovector unpolarized, helicity and transversity GPDs of the proton, obtained from lattice QCD using an ensemble of $N_f=2+1+1$ maximally twisted mass fermions, with pion mass $M_\pi=260$ MeV and lattice spacing $a\simeq 0.093$ fm. Our calculations use the quasi-distribution formalism and the final distributions are presented in the MS-bar scheme at a renormalization scale of 2 GeV., Published by Sociedad Mexicana de Física, Ciudad de México

5 pags., 4 figs., Excited states in Zn were populated following one-neutron removal from a Zn beam impinging on a Be target at intermediate energies in an experiment conducted at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory at RIKEN. Three γ rays were observed and tentatively assigned to the 6→4→2→0 yrast sequence. This turns Zn into the heaviest T=−2 nucleus in which excited states are known. The excitation-energy differences between these levels and the isobaric analogue states in the T=+2 mirror partner, Fe, are compared with large-scale shell-model calculations considering the full pf valence space and various isospin-breaking contributions. This comparison, together with an analysis of the mirror energy differences in the A=58, T=±1 pair Zn and Ni, provides valuable information with respect to the size of the monopole radial and the isovector multipole isospin-breaking terms in the region above doubly-magic Ni., We thank the RIKEN Nishina Center accelerator staff and the BigRIPS team for providing excellent beams to the experiment. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Inno- vación under contracts FPA2017-84756-C4-2-P, PGC-2018-94583, and SEV-2016-0597, the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskap- srådet, VR 2016-3969), and the UK Science and Technology Facil- ities Council (STFC) under grants ST/L005727/1 and ST/P003885/1. FB is supported by the RIKEN Special Postdoctoral Researcher Pro- gram

The nuclear landscape has been investigated within the triaxial relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory with the PC-PK1 density functional, and the beyond-mean-field dynamical correlation energies are taken into account by a microscopically mapped five-dimensional collective Hamiltonian without additional free parameters. The effects of triaxial deformation and dynamical correlations on the nuclear landscape are analyzed. The present results provide the best description of the experimental binding energies, in particular for medium and heavy mass regions, in comparison with the results obtained previously with other state-of-the-art covariant density functionals. The inclusion of the dynamical correlation energies plays an important role in the PC-PK1 results. It is emphasized that the nuclear landscape is considerably extended by the PC-PK1 functional in comparison with the previous results with other density functionals, which may be due to the different isovector properties in the density functionals., 10 pages, 3 figures. See http://nuclearmap.jcnp.org/index.html for the data of calculated ground-state properties and potential energy surfaces

We calculate the nucleon isovector scalar charge in lattice QCD using overlap fermions on five ensembles of gauge configurations generated by the RBC/UKQCD collaboration using the domain-wall quark action with $2+1$ dynamical flavors. The five ensembles cover five pion masses, $m_\pi \approx$ 139, 171, 302, 337 and 371 MeV, and four lattice spacings, $a \approx $ 0.06, 0.08, 0.11 and 0.14 fm. Three to six valence quark masses are computed on each ensemble to investigate the pion mass dependence. The extrapolation to the physical pion mass, continuum and infinite volume limits is obtained by a global fit of all data to a formula originated from partially quenched chiral perturbation theory. The excited-states contamination is carefully analyzed with 3--5 sink-source separations and multi-state fits. Our final result, in the $\overline{\text{MS}}$ scheme at 2 GeV, is $g_{S}^{u-d}= 0.94 (10)_{stat}(8)_{sys}$, where the first error is the statistical error and the second is the systematic error., Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables

We apply the Distillation spatial smearing program to the extraction of the unpolarized isovector valence PDF of the nucleon. The improved volume sampling and control of excited-states afforded by distillation leads to a dramatically improved determination of the requisite Ioffe-time Pseudo-distribution (pITD). The impact of higher-twist effects is subsequently explored by extending the Wilson line length present in our non-local operators to one half the spatial extent of the lattice ensemble considered. The valence PDF is extracted by analyzing both the matched Ioffe-time Distribution (ITD), as well as a direct matching of the pITD to the PDF. Through development of a novel prescription to obtain the PDF from the pITD, we establish a concerning deviation of the pITD from the expected DGLAP evolution of the pseudo-PDF. The presence of DGLAP evolution is observed once more following introduction of a discretization term into the PDF extractions. Observance and correction of this discrepancy further highlights the utility of distillation in such structure studies., Comment: 34 pages, 26 figures

We present the first lattice calculation of the nucleon isovector unpolarized generalized parton distribution (GPD) at the physical pion mass using a lattice ensemble with 2+1+1 flavors of highly improved staggered quarks (HISQ) generated by MILC Collaboration, with lattice spacing $a\approx 0.09$~fm and volume $64^3\times 96$. We use momentum-smeared sources to improve the signal at nucleon boost momentum $P_z \approx 2.2$ GeV, and report results at nonzero momentum transfers in $[0.2,1.0]\text{ GeV}^2$. Nonperturbative renormalization in RI/MOM scheme is used to obtain the quasi-distribution before matching to the lightcone GPDs. The three-dimensional distributions $H(x,Q^2)$ and $E(x,Q^2)$ at $\xi=0$ are presented, along with the three-dimensional nucleon tomography and impact-parameter--dependent distribution for selected Bjorken $x$ at $\mu=3$ GeV in $\overline{\text{MS}}$ scheme., Comment: Typos fixed. Removed data using twisted-boundary conditions

We present a direct calculation for the first derivative of the isovector nucleon form factors with respect to the momentum transfer ${q}^{2}$ using the lower moments of the nucleon 3-point function in the coordinate space. Our numerical simulations are performed using the ${N}_{f}=2+1$ nonperturbatively $O(a)$-improved Wilson quark action and Iwasaki gauge action near the physical point, corresponding to the pion mass ${M}_{\ensuremath{\pi}}=138\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$, on a $(5.5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{fm}{)}^{4}$ lattice at a single lattice spacing of $a=0.085\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{fm}$. In the momentum derivative approach, we can directly evaluate the mean square radii for the electric, magnetic, and axial-vector form factors, and also the magnetic moment without the ${q}^{2}$ extrapolation to the zero momentum point. These results are compared with the ones determined by the standard method, where the ${q}^{2}$ extrapolations of the corresponding form factors are carried out by fitting models. We find that the new results from the momentum derivative method are obtained with a larger statistical error than the standard method, but with a smaller systematic error associated with the data analysis. Within the total error range of the statistical and systematic errors combined, the two results are in good agreement. On the other hand, two variations of the momentum derivative of the induced pseudoscalar form factor at the zero momentum point show some discrepancy. It seems to be caused by a finite volume effect, since a similar trend is not observed on a large volume, but seen on a small volume in our pilot calculations at a heavier pion mass of ${M}_{\ensuremath{\pi}}=510\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$. Furthermore, we discuss an equivalence between the momentum derivative method and the similar approach with the point splitting vector current.

Isoscalar and isovector effective masses of the nucleon in nuclear medium are explored in the quasi-elastic electron scattering of nuclei with KIDS (Korea-IBS-Daegu-SKKU) density functional model. Effective masses are varied in the range (0.7 ~ 1.0)$M$ where $M$ is the mass of the nucleon in free space. Parameters in the KIDS functional are adjusted to nuclear matter equation of state, energy and radius of selected nuclei, and effective mass of nucleons. Hartree-Fock equation is solved to obtain the wave functions of the nucleon in target nuclei, and they are plugged in the calculation of electron-nucleus scattering cross sections at the energies of incident electrons 300 MeV ~ 2.5 GeV. Theoretical prediction agrees well with measurement. Dependence on the effective mass is evident: cross section tends to increase with small isoscalar effective masses. However, effect of isovector effective mass is negligible. Spectroscopic factors are estimated for the protons in the outermost shells of $^{16}$O, $^{40}$Ca, and $^{208}$Pb. Results are consistent with the values in the literature., Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures

With the isovector coupling constants adjusted to reproduce the physical pion mass and lattice QCD results in baryon-free quark matter, we have carried out rigourous calculations for the pion condensate in the three-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, and studied the three-dimensional QCD phase diagram. With the increasing isospin chemical potential μI, we have observed two nonzero solutions of the pion condensate at finite baryon chemical potentials μB, representing, respectively, the pion superfluid phase and the Sarma phase, and their appearance and disappearance correspond to a second-order (first-order) phase transition at higher (lower) temperatures T and lower (higher) μB. Calculations by assuming equal constituent mass of u and d quarks would lead to large errors of the QCD phase diagram within μB∈(500,900) MeV, and affect the position of the critical end point.

Background: Giant resonance (GR) is a typical collective mode of vibration. The deformation splitting of the isovector (IV) giant dipole resonance is well established. However, the splitting of GRs with other multipolarities is not well understood.Purpose: I explore the IV monopole and quadrupole excitations and attempt to obtain the generic features of IV giant resonances in deformed nuclei by investigating the neutral and charge-exchange channels simultaneously.Method: I employ a nuclear energy-density functional (EDF) method: the Skyrme-Kohn-Sham-Bogoliubov and the quasiparticle random-phase approximation are used to describe the ground state and the transition to excited states.Results: I find the concentration of the monopole strengths in the energy region of the isobaric analog or Gamow-Teller resonance irrespective of nuclear deformation, and the appearance of a high-energy giant resonance composed of the particle-hole configurations of $2\ensuremath{\hbar}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$ excitation. Splitting of the distribution of the strength occurs in the giant monopole and quadrupole resonances due to deformation. The lower $K$ states of quadrupole resonances appear lower in energy and possess the enhanced strengths in the prolate configuration, and vice versa in the oblate configuration, while the energy ordering depending on $K$ is not clear for the $J=1$ and $J=2$ spin-quadrupole resonances.Conclusions: The deformation splitting occurs generally in the giant monopole and quadrupole resonances. The $K$ dependence of the quadrupole transition strengths is largely understood by the anisotropy of density distribution.

It has been shown for the first time that $NN$ interaction, at least in some partial waves, can be quantitatively described by the superposition of a long-range one-pion exchange and a short-range mechanism based on the complex pole in the $NN$ potential corresponding to the dibaryon resonance in this partial wave. For the partial waves $^3P_2$, $^1D_2$, $^3F_3$ and $^1S_0$ the parameters of the complex poles that give the best description of the elastic and inelastic phase shifts of $NN$ scattering are very close to the empirical parameters of the corresponding isovector dibaryon resonances detected experimentally. Based on the results obtained, a general conclusion is made about the nature of nuclear force at medium and small internucleon distances., 32 pages, 10 figures

We show that the symmetry-restored paired mean-field states (quasiparticle vacua) properly account for isoscalar versus isovector nuclear pairing properties. Full particle-number, spin, and isospin symmetries are restored in a simple SO(8) proton-neutron pairing model, and prospects to implement a similar approach in a realistic setting are delineated. Our results show that, provided all symmetries are restored, the pictures based on pair-condensate and quartet-condensate wave functions represent equivalent ways of looking at the physics of nuclear proton-neutron pairing., Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures

This review paper concerns the research devoted to the study of the properties of dipole excitations in nuclei. The main focus is on questions related to isospin effects in these types of excitations. Particular attention is given to the experimental and theoretical efforts made to understand the nature and the specific structure of the low-lying dipole states known as the Pygmy Dipole Resonance (PDR). The main experimental methods employed in the study of the PDR are reviewed as well as the most interesting theoretical aspects. The main features of the experiments and of theoretical models are reported with special emphasis on the reaction cross sections populating the dipole states. Results are organized for nuclei according to different mass regions. The knowledge of the isovector dipole response as well as its low energy part is important in order to deduce the nuclear polarizability as accurate as possible. This issue is discussed in this paper together with the connection with the neutron skin and the nuclear equation of state. The important role played by the dipole response to deduce other physical quantities of general interest is discussed in the last two chapters. One concerns the level density and the other the isospin mixing in nuclei at finite temperature and its relation with beta decay.

Earlier work suggested that the in-medium $\pi N$ threshold isovector amplitude $b_1(\rho)$ gets renormalized in pionic atoms by about 30% away from its $\rho=0$ free-space value, relating such renormalization to the leading low-density decrease of the in-medium quark condensate $$ and the pion decay constant $f_{\pi}$ in terms of the pion-nucleon $\sigma$ term $\sigma_{\pi N}$. Accepting the validity of this approach, we extracted $\sigma_{\pi N}$ from a large-scale fit of pionic-atom level shift and width data across the periodic table. Our fitted value $\sigma_{\pi N}=57\pm 7$ MeV is robust with respect to variation of $\pi N$ interaction terms other than the isovector $s$-wave term with which $\sigma_{\pi N}$ was associated. Higher order corrections to the leading order in density involve some cancellations, suggesting thereby only a few percent overall systematic uncertainty. The value of $\sigma_{\pi N}$ derived here agrees with values obtained in several recent studies based on near-threshold $\pi N$ phenomenology, but sharply disagrees with values obtained in recent direct lattice QCD calculations., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, some discussion and references added in v2; matches published version

In this work, we study the BK¯ molecule in the Bethe-Salpeter (BS) equation approach. With the kernel containing one-particle-exchange diagrams and introducing two different form factors (monopole form factor and dipole form factor) in the vertex, we solve the BS equation numerically in the covariant instantaneous approximation. We investigate the isoscalar and isovector BK¯ systems, and we find that X5568 cannot be a BK¯ molecule.

International audience; While the ground state configuration is classically determined by the variational principle minimizing the binding energy of the system, we propose here a different procedure to identify the configuration of the ground state in odd-A nuclei. This procedure is based on the Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov (HFB) framework with a self-consistent blocking of the unpaired nucleon and identifies the ground state as the blocked quasiparticle configuration compatible with the observed spin and parity and, most importantly, the measured magnetic moment. The magnetic moments are calculated within the HFB framework for all odd Hg isotopes for which experimental data is available. To validate the method, a systematic comparison between the predicted and measured electric quadrupole moments and isotopic shifts is performed. For even-even isotopes, we show that the ground state deformation, and more particularly the competition between the prolate and oblate shapes, can hardly be determined through a comparison of the QRPA β-decay half-life with experiment, though this approach also calls for an observable similar to the one used for odd-A isotopes, namely the spin-flip component of the isovector part of the magnetic moment operator. For even isotopes with shape coexistence, no adequate constraint could be identified, except though the charge radius. Assuming light even-even Hg isotopes to have an oblate shape, the resulting charge radii staggering observed in the Hg chain by laser spectroscopy can through this identification procedure be reproduced.

A diagonalization scheme for the shell model mean-field plus isovector pairing Hamiltonian in the O(5) tensor product basis of the quasi-spin SUΛ(2) ⊗ SUI(2) chain is proposed. The advantage of the diagonalization scheme lies in the fact that not only can the isospin-conserved, charge-independent isovector pairing interaction be analyzed, but also the isospin symmetry breaking cases. More importantly, the number operator of the np-pairs can be realized in this neutron and proton quasi-spin basis, with which the np-pair occupation number and its fluctuation at the J = 0+ ground state of the model can be evaluated. As examples of the application, binding energies and low-lying J = 0+ excited states of the even–even and odd–odd N∼Z ds-shell nuclei are fit in the model with the charge-independent approximation, from which the neutron–proton pairing contribution to the binding energy in the ds-shell nuclei is estimated. It is observed that the decrease in the double binding-energy difference for the odd–odd nuclei is mainly due to the symmetry energy and Wigner energy contribution to the binding energy that alter the pairing staggering patten. The np-pair amplitudes in the np-pair stripping or picking-up process of these N = Z nuclei are also calculated.

Spin-M1 excitations of nuclei are important for describing neutrino reactions in supernovae or in neutrino detectors since they are allowed transitions mediated by neutral current neutrino interactions. The spin-M1 excitation strength distributions in self-conjugate N=Z nuclei were studied by proton inelastic scattering at forward angles for each of isovector and isoscalar excitations as reported in H. Matsubara et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 102501 (2015). The experiment was carried out at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics, Osaka University, employing a proton beam at 295 MeV and the high-resolution spectrometer Grand Raiden. The measured cross-section of each excited state was converted to the squared nuclear matrix elements of spin-M1 transitions by applying a unit cross-section method. Comparison with predictions by a shell-model has revealed that isoscalar spin-M1 strengths are not quenched from the prediction although isovector spin-M1 strengths are quenched similarly with Gamow-Teller strengths in charged-current reactions. This finding hints at an important origin of the quenching of the strength relevant to neutrino scattering, that is, the proton-neutron spin-spin correlation in the ground state of the target nucleus. In this manuscript we present the details of the unit cross-section method used in the data analysis and discuss the consistency between the quenching of the isoscalar magnetic moments and that of the isoscalar spin-M1 strengths.

The secondary component of GW190814 with a mass of 2.50--2.67 ${M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$ may be the lightest black hole or the heaviest neutron star ever observed in a binary compact object system. To explore the possible equation of state (EOS), which can support such a massive neutron star, we apply the relativistic mean-field model with a density-dependent isovector coupling constant to describe the neutron-star matter. The acceptable EOS should satisfy some constraints: the EOS model can provide a satisfactory description of the nuclei; the maximum mass ${M}_{\text{TOV}}$ is above 2.6 ${M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$; the tidal deformability of a canonical 1.4 ${M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$ neutron star ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{1.4}$ should lie in the constrained range from GW170817. In this paper, we find that nuclear symmetry energy and its density dependence play a crucial role in determining the EOS of neutron-star matter. The constraints from the mass of 2.6 ${M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$ and the tidal deformability ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{1.4}={616}_{\ensuremath{-}158}^{+273}$ (based on the assumption that GW190814 is a NS-BH binary) can be satisfied for the slope of symmetry energy $L\ensuremath{\le}50$ MeV. Even including the constraint ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{1.4}={190}_{\ensuremath{-}120}^{+390}$ from GW170817 which suppresses the EOS stiffness at low density, the possibility that the secondary component of GW190814 is a massive neutron star cannot be excluded in this study.

We have performed a study of the isovector, octet, and singlet axial charges of the proton in an extended chiral constituent quark model, where all the possible uudqq¯ (q=u, d, s) five-quark Fock components in the proton wave function are taken into account. The P03 quark-antiquark creation mechanism is assumed to account for the transition coupling between three- and five-quark components in proton, and the corresponding transition coupling strength is fixed by fitting the intrinsic sea flavor asymmetry d¯−u¯ data for proton. Accordingly, with all the parameters fixed by empirical values, the probabilities of the intrinsic five-quark Fock components in proton wave function should be ∼30–50%, which lead to the numerical results for quark spin Δu, Δd, and Δs, as well the axial charges of proton consistent with the experimental data and predictions by other theoretical approaches.

We study the ability of variational approaches based on self-consistent mean-field and beyond-mean-field methods to reproduce exact energies and electromagnetic properties of the nuclei defined within the $sd$-shell valence space using the non-trivial USD Hamiltonian. In particular, Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB), variation after particle-number projection (VAPNP) and projected generator coordinate methods (PGCM) are compared to exact solutions {obtained by} the full diagonalization of the Hamiltonian. We analyze the role played by the proton-neutron ($pn$) mixing as well as the quadrupole and pairing degrees of freedom (including both isoscalar and isovector channels) in the description of the spectra of even-even, even-odd and odd-odd nuclei in the whole $sd$-shell., 16 pages; 16 figures

A low-energy magnetic dipole $(M1)$ spin-scissors resonance (SSR) located just below the ordinary orbital scissors resonance (OSR) was recently predicted in deformed nuclei within the Wigner Function Moments (WFM) approach. We analyze this prediction using fully self-consistent Skyrme Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) method. Skyrme forces SkM*, SVbas and SG2 are implemented to explore SSR and OSR in $^{160,162,164}$Dy and $^{232}$Th. Accuracy of the method is justified by a good description of M1 spin-flip giant resonance. The calculations show that isotopes $^{160,162,164}$Dy indeed have at 1.5-2.4 MeV (below OSR) $I^{\pi}K=1^+1$ states with a large $M1$ spin strength ($K$ is the projection of the total nuclear moment to the symmetry z-axis). These states are almost fully exhausted by $pp[411\uparrow, 411\downarrow]$ and $nn[521\uparrow, 521\downarrow]$ spin-flip configurations corresponding to $pp[2d_{3/2}, 2d_{5/2}]$ and $nn[2f_{5/2}, 2f_{7/2}]$ structures in the spherical limit. So the predicted SSR is actually reduced to low-orbital (l=2,3) spin-flip states. Following our analysis and in contradiction with WFM spin-scissors picture, deformation is not the principle origin of the low-energy spin $M1$ states but only a factor affecting their features. The spin and orbital strengths are generally mixed and exhibit the interference: weak destructive in SSR range and strong constructive in OSR range. In $^{232}$Th, the $M1$ spin strength is found very small. Two groups of $I^{\pi}=1^+$ states observed experimentally at 2.4-4 MeV in $^{160,162,164}$Dy and at 2-4 MeV in $^{232}$Th are mainly explained by fragmentation of the orbital strength. Distributions of nuclear currents in QRPA states partly correspond to the isovector orbital-scissors flow but not to spin-scissors one., Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures

New observational data of neutron stars since GW170817 have helped improve our knowledge about nuclear symmetry energy especially at high densities. We have learned particularly: (1) The slope parameter $L$ of nuclear symmetry energy at saturation density $\rho_0$ of nuclear matter from 24 new analyses is about $L\approx 57.7\pm 19$ MeV at 68\% confidence level consistent with its fiducial value, (2) The curvature $K_{\rm{sym}}$ from 16 new analyses is about $K_{\rm{sym}}\approx -107\pm 88$ MeV, (3) The magnitude of nuclear symmetry energy at $2\rho_0$, i.e. $E_{\rm{sym}}(2\rho_0)\approx 51\pm 13$ MeV at 68\% confidence level, has been extracted from 9 new analyses of neutron star observables consistent with results from earlier analyses of heavy-ion reactions and the latest predictions of the state-of-the-art nuclear many-body theories, (4) while the available data from canonical neutron stars do not provide tight constraints on nuclear symmetry energy at densities above about $2\rho_0$, the lower radius boundary $R_{2.01}=12.2$ km from NICER's very recent observation of PSR J0740+6620 of mass $2.08\pm 0.07$ $M_{\odot}$ and radius $R=12.2-16.3$ km at 68\% confidence level sets a tight lower limit for nuclear symmetry energy at densities above $2\rho_0$, (5) Bayesian inferences of nuclear symmetry energy using models encapsulating a first-order hadron-quark phase transition from observables of canonical neutron stars indicate that the phase transition shift appreciably both the $L$ and $K_{\rm{sym}}$ to higher values but with larger uncertaintie , (6) The high-density behavior of nuclear symmetry energy affects significantly the minimum frequency necessary to rotationally support GW190814's secondary component of mass (2.50-2.67) $M_{\odot}$ as the fastest and most massive pulsar discovered so far., Comment: Published version with added discussions and references

We present an $\mathcal{O}(\ensuremath{\alpha})$ Standard Model calculation of the inner radiative corrections to Gamow-Teller $\ensuremath{\beta}$ decays. We find that a priori contributions arise from the photonic vertex correction and $\ensuremath{\gamma}W$ box diagram. Upon evaluation most elastic contributions vanish due to crossing symmetry or cancellation between isoscalar and isovector photonic contributions, leaving only the polarized parity-odd contribution, i.e., the Gamow-Teller equivalent of the well-known axial $\ensuremath{\gamma}W$ box contribution for Fermi decays. We show that weak magnetism contributes significantly to the Born amplitude, and consider additional hadronic contributions at low energy using a holomorphic continuation of the polarized Bjorken sum rule constrained by experimental data. We perform the same procedure for the Fermi inner radiative correction through a combination of the running of Bjorken and Gross-Llewellyn Smith sum rules. We discuss heavy flavor, higher-twist, and target mass corrections and find a significant increase at low momentum from the latter. We find ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{R}^{A}=0.02532(22)$ and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{R}^{V}=0.02473(27)$ for axial and vector inner radiative corrections, respectively, resulting in ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{R}^{A}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{R}^{V}=0.60(5)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$, which allows us to extract ${g}_{A}^{0}$ for the first time to our knowledge. We discuss consequences for comparing experimental data to lattice calculations in beyond Standard Model fits. Further, we show how some traditional $\ensuremath{\beta}$ decay calculations contain part of this effect but fail to account for cancellations in the full $\mathcal{O}(\ensuremath{\alpha})$ result. Finally, we correct for a double-counting instance in the isospin $T=1/2$ mirror decay extraction of $|{V}_{ud}|$, the up-down matrix element of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element, resolving a long-standing tension and leading to increased precision.

The mass spectra of isovector ϒ, ψ, ϕ, and ω meson resonances are investigated, in the AdS/QCD and information entropy setups. The differential configurational entropy is employed to obtain the mass spectra of radial S-wave resonances, with higher excitation levels, in each one of these meson families, whose respective first undisclosed states are discussed and matched up to candidates in the Particle Data Group.

We present expressions for the matrix elements of the spin--spin operator $\vec S_{\rm n}\cdot\vec S_{\rm p}$ in a variety of coupling schemes. These results are then applied to calculate the expectation value $\langle\vec S_{\rm n}\cdot\vec S_{\rm p}\rangle$ in eigenstates of a schematic Hamiltonian describing neutrons and protons interacting in a single-$l$ shell through a Surface Delta Interaction. The model allows us to trace $\langle\vec S_{\rm n}\cdot\vec S_{\rm p}\rangle$ as a function of the competition between the isovector and isoscalar interaction strengths and the spin--orbit splitting of the $j=l\pm \frac{1}{2}$ shells. We find negative $\langle\vec S_{\rm n}\cdot\vec S_{\rm p}\rangle$ values in the ground state of all even--even $N=Z$ nuclei, contrary to what has been observed in hadronic inelastic scattering at medium energies. We discuss the possible origin of this discrepancy and indicate directions for future theoretical and experimental studies related to neutron--proton spin--spin correlations., 11 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in the European Physical Journal A

The low-lying dipole strength in the 90,94Zr nuclei was investigated via (p,p′γ) at 80 MeV and (α,α′γ) at 130 MeV. The experiments, made at RCNP, used the magnetic spectrometer Grand Raiden for the scattered particles and the array CAGRA with HPGe detectors for the γ-decay. For 94Zr these are the first data for both reactions and for 90Zr these are the first data with (p,p′γ) and the first ones at high resolution for (α,α′γ). The comparison of the present results for the two nuclei with existing (γ,γ′) data shows that both nuclear probes produce an excitation pattern different than that of the electromagnetic probes. DWBA calculations were made using form factors deduced from transition densities, based on RPA calculations, characterized by a strong neutron component at the nuclear surface. A combined analysis of the two reactions was performed for the first time to investigate the isoscalar character of the 1− states in 90,94Zr. The (p,p′γ) cross section was calculated using values for the isoscalar electric dipole energy-weighted sum rule (E1 ISEWSR) obtained from the (α,α′γ) data. The isoscalar strength for 90Zr was found to exhaust 20 ± 2.5% of the EWSR in the energy range up to 12 MeV. In case of 94Zr, a strength of 9 ± 1.1% of the EWSR was found in the range up to 8.5 MeV. Although an overall general description was obtained in the studied energy intervals, not all proton cross sections were well reproduced using the isoscalar strength from (α,α′γ). This might suggest mixing of isoscalar and isovector components and that this mixing and the degree of collectivity are not the same for all the 1− states below the particle binding energy.

Quantum chromodynamics presents a series of exact and approximate symmetries which can be exploited to predict new hadrons from previously known ones. The ${Z}_{c}(3900)$ and ${Z}_{c}(4020)$, which have been theorized to be isovector ${D}^{*}\overline{D}$ and ${D}^{*}{\overline{D}}^{*}$ molecules [${I}^{G}({J}^{PC})={1}^{\ensuremath{-}}({1}^{+\ensuremath{-}})$], are no exception. Here we argue that from SU(3)-flavor symmetry, we should expect the existence of strange partners of the ${Z}_{c}$'s with hadronic molecular configurations ${D}^{*}{\overline{D}}_{s}\ensuremath{-}D{\overline{D}}_{s}^{*}$ and ${D}^{*}{\overline{D}}_{s}^{*}$ (or, equivalently, quark content $c\overline{c}s\overline{q}$, with $q=u$, $d$). The quantum numbers of these ${Z}_{cs}$ and ${Z}_{cs}^{*}$ structures would be $I({J}^{P})=\frac{1}{2}({1}^{+})$. The predicted masses of these partners depend on the details of the theoretical scheme used, but they should be around the ${D}^{*}{\overline{D}}_{s}\ensuremath{-}D{\overline{D}}_{s}^{*}$ and ${D}^{*}{\overline{D}}_{s}^{*}$ thresholds, respectively. Moreover, any of these states could be either a virtual pole or a resonance. We show that, together with a possible triangle singularity contribution, such a picture nicely agrees with the very recent BESIII data of the ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{K}^{+}({D}_{s}^{\ensuremath{-}}{D}^{*0}+{D}_{s}^{*\ensuremath{-}}{D}^{0})$.

The remaining uncertainties of isovector nuclear interactions call for reliable experimental measurements of isovector probes in finite nuclei. Based on the Bayesian analysis, although the neutron-skin thickness data or the isovector giant dipole resonance data in $^{208}$Pb can constrain only one isovector interaction parameter, correlations between other parameters are built. Using combined data of both the neutron-skin thickness and the isovector giant dipole resonance helps to constrain significantly all isovector interaction parameters, thus serves as a useful way in the future analysis., 5 pages, 4 figures

The low-lying $sQ\overline{q}\overline{q}$ ($q=u$, $d$, $Q=c$, $b$) tetraquark states with ${J}^{P}={0}^{+}$, ${1}^{+}$, and ${2}^{+}$, and in the isoscalar and isovector sectors, are systematically investigated in the framework of the real- and complex-scaling range of a chiral quark model, whose parameters are fixed in advance describing hadron, hadron-hadron, and multiquark phenomenology, and thus, all results presented here are pure predictions. Each tetraquark configuration compatible with the quantum numbers studied is taken into account; this includes meson-meson, diquark-antidiquark, and K-type arrangements of quarks with all possible color wave functions in the four-body sector. Among the different numerical techniques to solve the Schr\"odinger-like four-body bound-state equation, we use a variational method in which the trial wave function is expanded in complex-range Gaussian basis functions because of its simplicity and flexibility. Several compact bound states and narrow resonances are found in both charm-strange $cs\overline{q}\overline{q}$ and bottom-strange $bs\overline{q}\overline{q}$ tetraquark sectors, most of them as a product of the strong coupling between the different channels. In regard to the so-called ${X}_{0,1}(2900)$ structures recently discovered with good statistical significance by the LHCb Collaboration, whose properties point out to be $cs\overline{u}\overline{d}$ tetraquarks, we find that they are unstable in our formalism with several candidates in the single-channel computations. We distinguish four cases with $I({J}^{P})=0({0}^{+})$ quantum numbers: three K-type configurations with masses at 2.89, 2.96, and 2.97 GeV, and one hidden-color coupled-channel calculation delivering a mass 2.86 GeV. With quantum numbers $I({J}^{P})=0({1}^{+})$, only one candidate can be found in the hidden-color coupled-channel calculation with mass 2.94 GeV.

High statistics results for the isovector momentum fraction, $\langle x \rangle_{u-d}$, helicity moment, $\langle x \rangle_{\Delta u-\Delta d}$, and the transversity moment, $\langle x\rangle_{\delta u-\delta d}$, of the nucleon are presented using seven ensembles of gauge configurations generated by the JLab/W&M/LANL/MIT collaborations using $2+1$-flavors of dynamical Wilson-clover quarks. Attention is given to understanding and controlling the contributions of excited states. The final results are obtained using a simultaneous fit in the lattice spacing $a$, pion mass $M_\pi$ and the finite volume parameter $M_\pi L$ keeping leading order corrections. The data show no significant dependence on the lattice spacing and some evidence for finite-volume corrections. The main variation is with $M_\pi$, whose magnitude depends on the mass gap of the first excited state used in the analysis. Our final results, in the $\overline{\rm MS}$ scheme at 2 GeV, are $\langle x \rangle_{u-d} = 0.160(16)(20)$, $\langle x \rangle_{\Delta u-\Delta d} = 0.192(13)(20)$ and $\langle x \rangle_{\delta u-\delta d} = 0.215(17)(20)$, where the first error is the overall analysis uncertainty assuming excited-state contributions have been removed, and the second is an additional systematic uncertainty due to possible residual excited-state contributions. These results are consistent with other recent lattice calculations and phenomenological global fit values., Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, 12 tables. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2005.13779

Background: Response to spin-dependent operators has been investigated in the magnetic dipole and Gamow-Teller transitions, which provides magnetic properties of a nuclear system. Purpose: I investigate an isotopic dependence of the collectivity generated by the spin-dependent interactions in the Ca and Ni isotopes through the isovector (IV) spin-flip excitations. The responses in the neutral $(t_z)$ and charge-exchange $(t_{\pm})$ channels are considered in a unified way. Method: A nuclear energy-density functional approach is employed for calculating the response functions based on the Skyrme-Kohn-Sham-Bogoliubov method and the quasiparticle-random-phase approximation (QRPA). I adopt the like-particle QRPA and the proton-neutron QRPA for the neutral and charge-exchange channels, respectively. I consider the fluctuation of the proton-neutron pair fields. Results: The collective shift due to RPA correlations for the response in the neutral channel is explained by the occupation probability of neutrons in the $j_>=\ell+1/2$ orbital. Many particle-hole or two-quasiparticle excitations have a coherent contribution to form a giant resonance in neutron-rich nuclei for the charge-exchange channel. The IV spin susceptibility displays the isotopic evolution of the collectivity and the underlying shell structure. Conclusions: A repulsive character of the residual interaction in the spin-isospin channel diminishes the IV spin susceptibility due to the collectivity, while the dynamic ${}^{3}S$ pairing appearing in the charge-exchange channel opposes the reduction., Revised version and accepted to PRC; comparison with available experimental data, numerical results, and discussion were added

This work continues our program of lattice-QCD baryon physics using staggered fermions for both the sea and valence quarks. We present a proof-of-concept study that demonstrates, for the first time, how to calculate baryon matrix elements using staggered quarks for the valence sector. We show how to relate the representations of the continuum staggered flavor-taste group $\text{SU}(8)_{FT}$ to those of the discrete lattice symmetry group. The resulting calculations yield the normalization factors relating staggered baryon matrix elements to their physical counterparts. We verify this methodology by calculating the isovector vector and axial-vector charges $g_V$ and $g_A$. We use a single ensemble from the MILC Collaboration with 2+1+1 flavors of sea quark, lattice spacing $a\approx 0.12$ fm, and a pion mass $M_\pi\approx305$ MeV. On this ensemble, we find results consistent with expectations from current conservation and neutron beta decay. Thus, this work demonstrates how highly-improved staggered quarks can be used for precision calculations of baryon properties, and, in particular, the isovector nucleon charges., Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures

The QCD axion remains experimentally viable in the mass range of $\mathcal{O}(10\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV})$ if (i) it couples predominantly to the first generation of SM fermions; (ii) it decays to ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ with a short lifetime ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{a}\ensuremath{\lesssim}4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}14}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{s}$; and (iii) it has suppressed isovector couplings, i.e., if it is piophobic. Remarkably, these are precisely the properties required to explain recently observed anomalies in nuclear deexcitations, to wit: the ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ emission spectra of isoscalar magnetic transitions of $^{8}\mathrm{Be}$ and $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ nuclei showed a ``bumplike'' feature peaked at ${m}_{{e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}}\ensuremath{\sim}17\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$. In this paper, we argue that on-shell emission of the QCD axion (with the aforementioned properties) provides an extremely well-motivated, compatible explanation for the observed excesses in these nuclear deexcitations. The absence of anomalous features in other measured transitions is also naturally explained: piophobic axion emission is strongly suppressed in isovector magnetic transitions and forbidden in electric transitions. This QCD axion hypothesis is further corroborated by an independent observation: a $\ensuremath{\sim}2--3\ensuremath{\sigma}$ deviation in the measurement of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}({\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}})$ from the Standard Model theoretical expectation. This paper also includes detailed estimations of various axionic signatures in rare light meson decays, which take into account contributions from low-lying QCD resonance exchange, and, in the case of rare kaon decays, the possible effective implementations of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}S=1$ octet enhancement in chiral perturbation theory. These inherent uncertainties of the effective description of the strong interactions at low energies result in large variations in the predictions for hadronic signals of the QCD axion; in spite of this, the estimated ranges for rare meson decay rates obtained here can be probed in the near future in $\ensuremath{\eta}/{\ensuremath{\eta}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ and kaon factories.

Nuclear equation of state is often described in the framework of energy density functional. However, the isovector channel in most functionals has been poorly constrained, mainly due to rather limited available experimental data to probe it. Only recently, the relativistic nuclear energy density functional with an effective point-coupling interaction was constrained by supplementing the ground-state properties of nuclei with the experimental data on dipole polarizability and isoscalar monopole resonance energy in 208Pb, resulting in DD-PCX parameterization. In this work, we pursue a complementary approach by introducing a family of 8 relativistic point-coupling functionals that reproduce the same nuclear ground-state properties, including binding energies and charge radii, but in addition have a constrained value of symmetry energy at saturation density in the range J = 29, 30, …, 36 MeV. In the next step, this family of functionals is employed in studies of excitation properties such as dipole polarizability and magnetic dipole transitions, and the respective experimental data are used to validate the optimal choice of functional as well as to assess reliable values of the symmetry energy and slope of the symmetry energy at saturation.

Background: The presence of nuclear ground states with stable reflection-asymmetric shapes is supported by rich experimental evidence. Theoretical surveys of odd-multipolarity deformations predict the existence of pear-shaped isotopes in several fairly localized regions of the nuclear landscape in the vicinity of near-lying single-particle shells with $\Delta\ell=\Delta j=3$. Purpose: We analyze the role of isoscalar, isovector, neutron-proton, neutron-neutron, and proton-proton multipole interaction energies in inducing the onset of reflection-asymmetric ground-state deformations. Methods: The calculations are performed in the framework of axial reflection-asymmetric Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory using two Skyrme energy density functionals and density-dependent pairing force. Results: We show that reflection-asymmetric ground-state shapes of atomic nuclei are driven by the odd-multipolarity neutron-proton (or isoscalar) part of the nuclear interaction energy. This result is consistent with the particle-vibration picture, in which the main driver of octupole instability is the isoscalar octupole-octupole interaction giving rise to large $E3$ polarizability., Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures

A light boson $U$ from an extra $U(1)$ interpolates between a generalized dark photon coupled to $Q$, $B$, and ${L}_{i}$ (or $B\ensuremath{-}L$), plus possibly dark matter, a dark $Z$ coupled to the $Z$ current, and one axially coupled to quarks and leptons. We identify the corresponding $U(1{)}_{F}$ symmetries, with $F={\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{Y}Y+{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{B}B+{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{{L}_{i}}{L}_{i}+{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{A}{F}_{A}+{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{{F}^{\ensuremath{'}}}{F}^{\ensuremath{'}}+{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{d}{F}_{d}$, ${F}_{d}$ acting in a dark sector and ${F}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ on possible semi-inert Brout-Englert-Higgs (BEH) doublets uncoupled to quarks and leptons. The $U$ current is obtained from the $U(1{)}_{F}$ and $Z$ currents, with a mixing determined by the spin-0 BEH fields. The charge ${Q}_{U}$ of chiral quarks and leptons is a combination of $Q$, $B$, ${L}_{i}$, and ${T}_{3L}$ with the axial ${F}_{A}$. It involves in general isovector and isoscalar axial terms, in the presence of two BEH doublets. A longitudinal $U$ with axial couplings has enhanced interactions and behaves much as an axionlike particle. Its axial couplings ${g}_{A}$, usually restricted to $\ensuremath{\lesssim}\text{ }2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}\text{ }\text{ }{m}_{U}(\mathrm{MeV})$, lead to effective pseudoscalar ones ${g}_{P}={g}_{A}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2{m}_{q,l}/{m}_{U}={2}^{1/4}{G}_{F}^{1/2}{m}_{q,l}\text{ }{A}_{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$. ${A}_{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ is proportional to an invisibility parameter $r=\mathrm{cos}{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{A}$ induced by a singlet v.e.v., possibly large and allowing the $U$ to be very weakly interacting. This allows for a very small gauge coupling, expressed with two doublets and a singlet as ${g}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}}/4\ensuremath{\simeq}2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}6}\text{ }\text{ }{m}_{U}(\mathrm{MeV})\text{ }r/\mathrm{sin}2\ensuremath{\beta}$. We discuss phenomenological implications for meson decays, neutrino interactions, atomic-physics parity violation, naturally suppressed ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\gamma}U$ decays, etc. The $U$ boson fits within the grand unification framework, in symbiosis with a $SU(4{)}_{\mathrm{es}}$ electrostrong symmetry broken at the grand unification scale, with ${Q}_{U}$ depending on $Q$, $B\ensuremath{-}L$, ${F}_{A}$, and ${T}_{3A}$ through three parameters ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{Y}$, ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{A}$, and $\ensuremath{\eta}$.

Using the dcQMD transport model, the isoscalar and isovector in-medium potentials of the $\Delta$(1232) baryon are studied and information regarding their effective strength is obtained from a comparison to experimental pion production data in heavy-ion collisions below 800 MeV/nucleon impact energy. The best description is achieved for an isoscalar potential moderately more attractive than the nucleon optical potential and a rather small isoscalar relative effective mass m$^*_\Delta \approx$ 0.45. For the isovector component only a constraint between the potential's strength at saturation and the isovector effective mass difference can be extracted, which depends on quantities such as the slope of the symmetry energy and the neutron-proton effective mass difference. These results are incompatible with the usual assumption, in transport models, that the $\Delta$(1232) and nucleon potentials are equal. The density dependence of symmetry energy can be studied using the high transverse momentum tail of pion multiplicity ratio spectra. Results are however correlated with the value of neutron-proton effective mass difference. This region of spectra is shown to be affected by uncertain model ingredients such as the pion potential or in-medium correction to inelastic scattering cross-sections at levels smaller than 10$\%$. Extraction of precise constraints for the density dependence of symmetry energy above saturation will require experimental data for pion production in heavy-ion collisions below 800 MeV/nucleon impact energy and experimental values for the high transverse momentum tail of pion multiplicity ratio spectra accurate to better than 5$\%$., Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures

We present the first Monte Carlo based global QCD analysis of spin-averaged and spin-dependent parton distribution functions (PDFs) that includes nucleon isovector matrix elements in coordinate space from lattice QCD. We investigate the degree of universality of the extracted PDFs when the lattice and experimental data are treated under the same conditions within the Bayesian likelihood analysis. For the unpolarized sector, we find rather weak constraints from the current lattice data on the phenomenological PDFs, and difficulties in describing the lattice matrix elements at large spatial distances. In contrast, for the polarized PDFs we find good agreement between experiment and lattice data, with the latter providing significant constraints on the spin-dependent isovector quark and antiquark distributions., Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures

$^{12}$C$(\alpha, \gamma)^{16}$O radiative-capture process is a key reaction to produce the element of oxygen in stars. Measuring the cross section near the Gamow window is extremely hard because it is too small. To make a theoretical contribution towards resolving the long-standing problem, I present a microscopic formulation that aims at providing all materials needed to calculate the cross section. The states of $^{12}$C and $^{16}$O relevant to the reaction are respectively described with fully microscopic 3 $\alpha$-particle and 4 $\alpha$-particle configurations, in which the relative motion among the $\alpha$ particles is expanded in terms of correlated Gaussian basis functions. The configuration space has the advantage of being able to well describe the reduced $\alpha$-width amplitudes of the states of $^{16}$O. Both electric dipole and electric quadrupole transitions are responsible for the radiative-capture process. The $\alpha$ particle is described with a $(0s)^4$ configuration admixed with a small amount of an isospin $T=1$ impurity component, which is crucially important to account for the isovector electric dipole transition. The isoscalar electric dipole operators are also taken into account up to the first order beyond the long-wavelength approximation. All the necessary ingredients are provided to make the paper self-contained and ready for numerical computations., Comment: 25 pages, accepted for publication in Few-Body Systems

The fraction of the longitudinal momentum of $^{3}\mathrm{He}$ that is carried by the isovector combination of $u$ and $d$ quarks is determined using lattice QCD for the first time. The ratio of this combination to that in the constituent nucleons is found to be consistent with unity at the few-percent level from calculations with quark masses corresponding to ${m}_{\ensuremath{\pi}}\ensuremath{\sim}800\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$. With a naive extrapolation to the physical quark masses, this constraint is consistent with, and more precise than, determinations from global nuclear parton distribution function fits through the nnnpdf framework. It is thus concretely demonstrated that lattice QCD calculations of light nuclei have imminent potential to enable more precise determinations of the $u$ and $d$ parton distributions in light nuclei and to reveal the QCD origins of the EMC effect.