Hadron-hadron interactions, being nonperturbative in nature, play a significant role in addressing phenomenological questions in particle physics. Femtoscopy is a powerful tool in heavy-ion collision experiments, enabling the extraction of hadron-hadron interactions via momentum-correlation functions (CFs). These CFs are typically expressed as a convolution of source functions and hadron-hadron wave functions, with the latter encoding information about the interactions. However, source functions remain poorly constrained and are commonly approximated by a Gaussian form. Reconstructing source functions from experimental correlation data constitutes an 'inverse problem.' To address this, we propose a toy model based on Tikhonov regularization. Using a square-well potential with four distinct strengths, we calculate the CFs for inputs of single Gaussian source functions and mixed Gaussian source functions. The resulting CFs are then used to reconstruct the source functions via Tikhonov regularization. Our results show that the Gaussian source function can be successfully reconstructed, highlighting the potential of this approach for extracting realistic source functions from hadron pairs of interest.

China

Ao-Sheng Xiong

Qi-Wei Yuan

Ming-Zhu Liu

Fu-Sheng Yu

Zhi-Wei Liu

Li-Sheng Geng

Solving the inverse source problem in femtoscopy with a toy model * Supported in part by the Fundamental and Interdisciplinary Disciplines Breakthrough Plan of the Ministry of Education of China (JYB2025XDXM204) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (W2543006, 12435007). Ming-Zhu Liu acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12575086). Zhi-Wei Liu acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12405133) and from the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (ZDSYS20230626091501002). Fu-Sheng Yu and Ao-Sheng Xiong acknowledge support from the Scientific Research Innovation Capability Support Project for Young Faculty (ZYGXQNJSKYCXNLZCXM-P2) and from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (lzujbky-2023-stlt01, lzujbky-2024-oy02, lzujbky-2025-eyt01)

We evaluate discovery prospects for photophobic axion-like particles (ALPs) in the $\textit{WWjj}$ final state at the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC; $\sqrt{s}=14\ {\rm{TeV}}$ , ${\cal{L}}=3\ {\rm{ab}}^{-1}$ ). In the photophobic limit ( $g_{a\gamma\gamma}=0$ ), ALPs couple to electroweak gauge bosons and are produced in association with two jets ( $ pp\to jj\ a $ ) via both $\textit{s}$-channel electroweak exchange and vector boson fusion (VBF)–like topologies, followed by $a\to W^+W^-$ decay. We target the different-flavour dilepton mode $W^+W^- \to e^\pm\mu^\mp\nu \bar{\nu}$ with two jets and moderate missing transverse momentum. The analysis employs a two-step strategy: initial preselection that defines the signal-like final state, followed by a multivariate analysis (MVA) trained on dijet and dileptonic-$\textit{WW}$ kinematics from both the $\textit{s}$-channel and VBF-like production mechanisms to separate signal from background; the MVA threshold is optimized independently at each $m_a$ . We present 2$\textit{σ}$ and 5$\textit{σ}$ discovery sensitivities for the ALP–$\textit{W}$ coupling $g_{aWW}$ across the 170–4000 GeV mass range. For $260\ {\rm{GeV}}\le m_a\le1500\ {\rm{GeV}}$ , the 2$\textit{σ}$ (5$\textit{σ}$) sensitivity is approximately flat around $ 0.61(0.76)\ {\rm{TeV}}^{-1}$ . At large masses/couplings, the mapping between an experimental rate and a single EFT parameter $g_{aWW}$ can become UV sensitive, and we treat the extreme high-mass/high-coupling corner as an extrapolation; therefore, we also report model-independent discovery thresholds for the fiducial quantity $ \sigma(pp\to jj\ a)\times\rm{Br}(a\to W^+W^-) $ over the same mass range to enable reinterpretation for other models. These results indicate that the $WWjj$ topology offers competitive and complementary sensitivity to heavy photophobic ALPs at the HL-LHC.

Jiaojiao Feng

Ying-nan Mao

Kechen Wang

Discovery prospects for photophobic axion-like particles in the $\textit{WWjj}$ final state at the High-Luminosity LHC * Jiaojiao Feng and Kechen Wang are supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11905162), the Excellent Young Talents Program of the Wuhan University of Technology (40122102, 40122103) and the research program of the Wuhan University of Technology (2020IB024, 104972025KFYjc0101). Ying-nan Mao is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12205227). The simulation and analysis work of this article was completed with the computational cluster provided by the Theoretical Physics Group at the Department of Physics, School of Physics and Mechanics, Wuhan University of Technology

A new measurement of the $^{65}$Cu($\textit{γ}$, $\textit{n}$)$^{64}$Cu photoneutron cross section is performed using quasi-monoenergetic, tunable $\textit{γ}$-ray beams produced at the Shanghai Laser Electron Gamma Source (SLEGS). The energy spectrum of the SLEGS $\textit{γ}$-ray beams incident on the isotopically enriched $^{65}$Cu target is monitored using a BGO detector, while the photoneutron yields are determined with a moderated $^{3}$He detection array with high and flat efficiency. Within the energy range of $10.1 \le E_\gamma \le 17.6$ MeV, the measured $\sigma(E_\gamma)$ data have an uncertainty of $\lesssim 4$ %, and a pronounced giant-dipole peak is observed at $E_\gamma \simeq 16.65$ MeV with a maximal cross section of $\sigma_{\text{max}} \simeq 137$ mb. These photoneutron data are compared with previous experimental results and are employed to extract the $\textit{γ}$-ray strength function of $^{65}$Cu above the neutron threshold. Furthermore, we calculate the radiative neutron capture cross sections and astrophysical reaction rates for $^{64}$Cu, which is a short-lived intermediate nucleus whose reaction rate controls the local abundance distribution in the weak $\textit{s}$-process. It is found that the calculated $^{64}$Cu($\textit{n,}$ $\textit{γ}$)$^{65}$Cu data have an overall agreement with ENDF/B-VIII.0, JEFF-3.3, and TENDL-2023 evaluations, and the corresponding astrophysical reaction rates are consistent with those reported in the JINA REACLIB database.

Yu-Long Shen

Zi-Rui Hao

Qian-kun Sun

Hong-Wei Wang

Long-Xiang Liu

Hang-Hua Xu

Yue Zhang

Sheng Jin

Kai-Jie Chen

Meng-Die Zhou

Zhen-Wei Wang

Meng-Ke Xu

Xiang-Fei Wang

Chang Yang

Pu Jiao

Chun-Wang Ma

Gong-Tao Fan

Zhi-Cai Li

Wen Luo

Photoneutron cross section measurements on $^{65}$Cu: toward understanding ($\textit{n,}$ $\textit{γ}$) cross sections relevant to weak $\textit{s}$-process nucleosynthesis * This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2023YFA1606901), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12575133, 12505144)

This study investigates the ultraviolet realization of semileptonic four-fermion operator $ O_{ledq}^{\alpha \beta 11} $ that incorporates Majorana dark matter (DM) in both lepton-flavor-conserving (LFC) and lepton-flavor-violating (LFV) scenarios at the one-loop level via box diagram, thereby effectively alleviating the lower bounds on the new physics scale. In addition, we investigate the interplay between model-independent constraints on the Wilson coefficients and DM direct detection, relic density, and collider searches in the context of fermion portal DM model with two mediators. We found that both the projected future constraint on the LFC Wilson coefficient $ C_{ledq}^{2211}/\Lambda^2 \lt $ $ (12.3\; \text{TeV})^{-2} $ from the measurements of neutrino non-standard interaction in the next-generation neutrino oscillation experiments, and the LFV constraint $ C_{ledq}^{1211}/\Lambda^2 \lt \left(2.2\times 10^3\; \text{TeV} \right)^{-2} $ from ongoing charged-lepton-flavor-violation searches, provide a complementary exploration of the parameter space encompassing the DM and scalar masses. With a colored mediator mass of approximately $ 2\; \text{TeV} $ , the sensitivity of the indirect constraints on the four-fermion operator can surpass those of collider searches and DM direct detection, in scenarios where the masses of the DM and scalar are close. By ensuring the correct DM relic density, however, we find that the collider searches and DM direct detection are more sensitive to the electroweak-scale DM and scalar than indirect constraints.

Yuxuan He

Gang Li

Jia Liu

Xiao-Ping Wang

Xiang Zhao

Lepton flavor of four-fermion operator and fermion portal dark matter * Gang Li and Xiang Zhao are supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12347105, 12505127), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2024A1515012668). The work of Jia Liu is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (12235001, 12475103) and State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology (NPT2025ZX11). The work of Xiao-Ping Wang is supported by National Science Foundation of China (12375095) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

Within the framework of Dyson-Schwinger equations (DSEs) and by means of the Multiple Reflection Expansion approximation, we study the finite volume effects on the constituent quark mass in a strong external magnetic field. Since the magnetic field influences the coupling constant, which controls the strength of strong interactions in QCD, we adopt the magnetic-field-dependent running coupling constant in our simulations. The results show that, in addition to the magnetic field, the masses of constituent quarks also have a significant dependence on the volume and the running coupling constant. The model behaves closely to the infinite volume limit for large sizes, but the effect of the finite volume is significant when the system size $\textit{R}$ is about $ 2-6 $ fm. The finite volume effects and the magnetic-field-dependent running coupling constant have considerable influence on the phase transition.

Li-Juan Zhou

De-Xian Wei

Zhong-Yi Liu

Hong-Wei Zhong

Dynamical quark mass and finite volume effects in the Dyson-Schwinger equations * Li-Juan Zhou has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11865005), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi (China) (2025GXNSFAA069552). De-Xian Wei has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12105057), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi (China) (2023GXNSFAA026020)

Motivated by the observation of the doubly charmed tetraquark $ T_{cc}(3875)^+ $ , we present a systematic study of doubly heavy tetraquarks ( $ T_{QQ'\bar{q}\bar{q}'} $ ) using heavy antiquark-diquark symmetry (HADS) within a constituent quark model. By calibrating model parameters to known hadron spectra and incorporating the effective mass formula, we predict the masses for 38 ground-state tetraquarks with $ cc $ , $ bb $ , and $ bc $ heavy quark pairs, including the non-strange, single-strange, and double-strange configurations with quantum numbers $ J^P = 0^+, 1^+ $ and $ 2^+ $ . Notably, we identify several stable states below the relevant meson-meson thresholds, particularly in the $ bb\bar{q}\bar{q}' $ sector. The explicit connection between the doubly heavy tetraquark and the heavy baryon spectra through HADS reduces model dependence and reveals the fundamental systematics in the heavy-quark hadron landscape.

Liu-Yu Zhang

Tian-Wei Wu

Yong-Liang Ma

Bridging doubly heavy tetraquark mass spectrum with heavy baryons utilizing heavy antiquark-diquark symmetry * The work of Tian-Wei Wu is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12405108). Yong-Liang Ma is supported in part by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (12347103) and Gusu Talent Innovation Program (ZXL2024363)

The Giant Dipole Resonance (GDR) in 51V has been a long-term conflicting interpretation, with existing photoneutron cross section data suggesting either a single peak or a pronounced splitting, leading to opposite conclusions on nuclear deformation. A new measurement of the 51V( <italic>&#947;</italic>,1n) cross section, performed at the Shanghai Laser Electron Gamma Source (SLEGS) facility, employs a refined monochromatic cross section extraction method. By integrating Polynomial Regression and Support Vector Regression (SVR) for robust interpolation and extrapolation, the new extracted monoenergetic cross sections exhibit a single, broad peak with no evidence of GDR splitting. Re-analysis of the reported splitting shows that any deformation extracted from such a structure would be relatively weaker than those of neighboring nuclei, providing a support for a spherical or near-spherical shape of 51V. Furthermore, we found that deliberately overfitting the data using an SVR model reproduces multi-peak structures similar to those reported in historical datasets, implying that the previously claimed splitting might originated from analysis artifacts rather than physical phenomena.

Chen Chen

Qian-Kun Sun

Yi-Fei Niu

Yu-Xuan Yang

Shan Ye

Jia-Wen Ding

New measurement of 51V( <italic>&#947;</italic>,1n) cross section through the refined monochromatic cross section extraction method

Several possible excesses around $ 95 $ GeV hint at an additional light scalar beyond the Standard Model. We examine the capability of the Circular Electron-Positron Collider (CEPC) to test this hypothesis in the Higgs-strahlung channel $ e^{+}e^{-} \to ZS $ with $ Z \to\mu^{+}\mu^{-} $ and $ S \to\tau^{+}\tau^{-} $ . A full detector simulation shows that the optimal center-of-mass energy for studying the 95 GeV light scalar is 210 GeV. A deep neural network classifier reduces the luminosity required for discovery by half. At $ L = 20\; \mathrm{ab}^{-1} $ , the $ 5\sigma $ sensitivity of the CEPC to the signal strength $ \mu_{\tau\tau}^{ZS} $ reaches 0.016 and 0.020 for $ \sqrt{s} = 210 $ GeV and 240 GeV, respectively. The corresponding thresholds for a 5% precision measurement are $ \mu_{\tau\tau}^{ZS} \gt 0.10 $ and $ \gt 0.12 $ . At $ \sqrt{s}=210 $ GeV (240 GeV), the $ 5\sigma $ coverage of all N2HDM-Flipped samples with $ \chi^2_{h_{95}} \lt 7.82 $ requires $ L=800\ \mathrm{fb}^{-1} $ (1.22 $ \mathrm{ab}^{-1} $ ). These results establish a 210 GeV run, augmented by machine-learning selection, as the most efficient strategy to confirm or refute the 95 GeV excess at future lepton colliders.

Yabo Dong

Manqi Ruan

Kun Wang

Haijun Yang

Jingya Zhu

Testing a 95 GeV Scalar at the CEPC with Machine Learning * This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 12275066 and by the startup research funds of Henan University. The work of K. Wang was also supported by the Open Project of the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Cosmology under Grant No. 22DZ2229013-3. The work of M. Ruan was also supported by the National Key Program for S&T Research and Development under Contract No. 2024YFA1610603. The work of H. Yang was also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. W2441004.

Heavy Majorana neutrinos ($\textit{N}$) are predicted in many models of physics beyond the Standard Model. In this work, we explore the production and detection prospects of TeV-scale heavy neutrinos ( $ m_N \gtrsim 1 $ TeV) at a future 3 TeV Compact Linear Collider (CLIC). We focus on two distinct decay topologies: (i) $ N \to \ell^\pm W^\mp $ with hadronic $\textit{W}$ boson decay, leading to a final state with one charged lepton and a hadronic fat jet $ J_W $ ; and (ii) $ N \to \nu h $ with subsequent Higgs decay $ h \to b\bar{b} $ , yielding a Higgs-tagged fat jet $ J_h $ and $\not {E}_T$ . Based on comprehensive detector-level simulations and background analysis, we present both $ 2\sigma $ exclusion limits and $ 5\sigma $ discovery reaches in the $ m_N $ – $ |V_{\ell N}|^2 $ plane. We further extract 95% confidence level upper limits on the mixing parameter $ |V_{\ell N}|^2 $ and perform a detailed comparison with existing constraints from direct searches at future colliders and indirect global fits. Our findings demonstrate that a 3 TeV CLIC can improve the sensitivity to $ |V_{\ell N}|^2 $ by about two orders of magnitude compared with the projected reaches of future hadron colliders while remaining competitive with other CLIC search channels.

Yao-Bei Liu

Jing-Wei Lian

Searches for heavy neutrinos at a 3 TeV CLIC in fat jet final states * Yao-Bei Liu is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province, China (252300421988), Jing-Wei Lian is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12447140) and the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province, China (252300421771)

The 2HDM+S is the singlet extension of the two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM). The singlet field and its mixing with the 2HDM Higgs sector lead to new contributions to the electroweak precision observables, in particular, the oblique parameters. In this study, we performed a systematic investigation of the impacts of each mixing angle on the oblique parameters. We adopted the mixing angles and physical Higgs masses as our parameters, which allow a mapping when a specific symmetry structure of the Higgs potential and various theoretical considerations are taken into account. We identified five benchmark cases, where at most one mixing angle was nonzero, and analyzed the 95% C.L. allowed parameter space using the oblique parameters. In the alignment limit of the 2HDM, we find that, other than the usual mass relations of $m_H\sim m_{H^\pm}$ or $m_A\sim m_{H^\pm}$ , electroweak precision measurements also impose an upper limit on the neutral Higgs masses. In the cases with nonzero singlet mixing with the 2HDM Higgses $\textit{H}$ or $\textit{A}$, we find approximate mass relations of $c^2_{\alpha_{HS}} m_{H} + s^2_{\alpha_{HS}}m_{h_S} = m_{H^\pm}$ or $c^2_{\alpha_{AS}} m_{A} + s^2_{\alpha_{AS}}m_{A_S} = m_{H^\pm}$ . These relations are universal to the 2HDM+S models, with or without further symmetry assumption. We also studied the non-alignment limit of the 2HDM+S, which typically has tighter constraints on the masses and mixing angles. Finally, we examined the complementarity between the electroweak precision analyses and the Higgs coupling precision measurements.

Cheng Li

Juxiang Li

Shufang Su

Wei Su

Electroweak precision constraints of the 2HDM+S * Cheng Li, Juxiang Li, and Wei Su are supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (12305115), Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (202206193000001, 20220816094256002), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Gamma-Gamma Collider and Its Comprehensive Applications (2024KSYS001), and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Particle Detection Technology (2024B1212010005). Juxiang Li is also supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Sun Yat-sen University Science Foundation. Shufang Su is supported by the Department of Energy (DEFG02-13ER41976/DE-SC0009913)