Recent anomalies observed in $ e^+e^- $ nuclear transitions of $ ^8 {{\rm{Be}}} $ , $ ^4 {\rm{He}} $ , and $ ^{12} {\rm{C}} $ by the ATOMKI collaboration may hint at the existence of a vector boson with a mass around 17 MeV, which is referred to as X17. If it exists, this boson would affect similar processes in particle physics, including the Dalitz decays of vector mesons. Recently, the BESIII collaboration measured the Dalitz decay $ D^{*0}\to D^0e^+e^- $ for the first time and reported a $ 3.5\sigma $ excess over the theoretical prediction based on the vector meson dominance (VMD) model. This excess may be another signal of X17. In this study, we investigate the possible effects of X17 on the Dalitz decays $ D^*_{(s)}\to D_{(s)}e^+e^- $ , $ B^*_{(s)}\to B_{(s)}e^+e^- $ , and $ J/\psi\to \eta_ce^+e^- $ . The required hadronic form factors are calculated within the framework of our covariant confined quark model without relying on heavy quark effective theory or the VMD model. We present predictions for the Dalitz decay widths and the ratios $ R_{ee}(V)\equiv \Gamma(V\to Pe^+e^-)/\Gamma(V\to P\gamma) $ within the standard model and in several new physics scenarios involving modifications attributed to X17. Our results are compared with other theoretical calculations.

Vietnam

C.T. Tran

Russia

M.A. Ivanov

A.T.T. Nguyen

Probing the ATOMKI X17 vector boson using Dalitz decays $\textit{V}$ → $\textit{Pe}$ $^{+}$ $\textit{e}$ $^{−}$ * Supported by Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education (T2024-65)

Vector-like quarks (VLQs) feature in new physics models beyond the standard model (SM) to address certain problems it faces. In this study, we investigate the pair production of TeV-scale vector-like $\textit{B}$ quark (VLQ-$\textit{B}$) at the proposed 3 TeV compact linear collider (CLIC) using a simplified effective lagrangian framework. We consider the decay modes of $ B\rightarrow bZ $ and $ B\rightarrow bh $ , coupled with the hadronic decay of $\textit{Z}$ and $\textit{h}$ bosons. The large mass of VLQ-$\textit{B}$ results in highly boosted $\textit{Z}$ or $\textit{h}$ bosons, which tend to form fat-jets. Using detector simulation of the signal and background events, along with jet clustering employing a large radius $\textit{R}$, we conduct signal-background analyses. Exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level and 5 $ \sigma $ discovery prospects are obtained assuming an integrated luminosity of 5 ab$^{−1}$.

China

Shuo Yang

Yi-Hang Wang

Peng-Bo Zhao

Ji-Long Ma

Search for heavy vector-like $\textit{B}$ quark via pair production in fully hadronic channels at CLIC * Supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12147214, 11905093), Basic Research Project of Liaoning Provincial Department of Education for Universities (LJKMZ20221431), and Teaching Reform Research Project for graduates of Liaoning Normal University

The rigorous calculation of the spin-orbit terms in a three-quark system is realized based on the Gaussian expansion method and the infinitesimally-shifted Gaussian basis functions in the framework of the relativized quark model, by ignoring the mixing between different excited states. Then, the complete mass spectra of the singly heavy baryons are obtained rigorously, under the heavy-quark dominance mechanism. Accordingly, systematical analyses are performed for the reliability and predictive power of the model, the fine structure of the singly heavy baryon spectra, the assignments of the excited baryons, and some important topics about heavy baryon spectroscopy, such as the missing states, 'spin-orbit puzzle,' and clustering effect. The results confirm that, under the heavy-quark dominance mechanism, the relativized quark model can describe the excitation spectra and the fine structures of the singly heavy baryons correctly and precisely.

Zhen-Yu Li

Guo-Liang Yu

Zhi-Gang Wang

Jian-Zhong Gu

Hong-Tao Shen

Mass spectra of singly heavy baryons in the relativized quark model with heavy-quark dominance * Supported by the Open Project of Guangxi Key Lab of Nuclear Physics and Technology (NLK2023-04), the Central Government Guidance Funds for Local Scientific and Technological Development in China (Guike ZY22096024), the Natural Science Foundation of Guizhou Province-ZK[2024](General Project)650, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11675265, 12175068), the Continuous Basic Scientific Research Project (WDJC-2019-13) and the Leading Innovation Project (LC 192209000701)

This study investigates the intrinsic electric dipole moment (EDM) of the $\textit{τ}$ lepton, which is an important quantity in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). In preparation for future measurements at the Super Tau-Charm Facility (STCF), we employ Monte Carlo simulations of the $ e^+e^- \rightarrow \tau^+\tau^- $ process and optimize the analysis methodology for EDM extraction. Machine learning techniques are implemented to efficiently identify signal events ( $ \tau^\pm\rightarrow \pi^\pm\pi^0\nu_\tau $ ), which result in a significant improvement in signal-to-noise ratio. Our optimized event selection algorithm achieves 80.0% signal purity with 6.3% efficiency. We develop an analytical approach for $\textit{τ}$ lepton momentum reconstruction and derive the squared spin density matrix along with optimal observables, which maximize the sensitivity to $ d_\tau $ . The relationship between these observables and the EDM is established with the estimated sensitivity of $ |d_\tau| \lt 3.89\times 10^{-18}\,e\cdot\mathrm{cm} $ at a 68% confidence level. These results provide a foundation for future experimental measurements of the $\textit{τ}$ lepton EDM in STCF experiments.

Xulei Sun

Yongcheng Wu

Xiaorong Zhou

Sensitivity study of the tau lepton electric dipole moment at the Super Tau-Charm Facility * Supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFA1602200, 2023YFA1607200); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (12341501, 12341503, 12341504); the international partnership program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (211134KYSB20200057). Xulei Sun is supported by the Undergraduate Research Program of the University of Science and Technology of China and the Xinhe Scholar Program of the School of the Gifted Young

We discuss the landscape of flavor physics at the Circular Electron-Positron Collider (CEPC), based on the nominal luminosity outlined in its Technical Design Report. The CEPC is designed to operate in multiple modes to address a variety of tasks. At the $\textit{Z}$ pole, the expected production of 4 Tera $\textit{Z}$ bosons will provide unique and highly precise measurements of $\textit{Z}$ boson couplings, while the substantial number of boosted heavy-flavored quarks and leptons produced in clean $\textit{Z}$ decays will facilitate investigations into their flavor physics with unprecedented precision. We investigate the prospects of measuring various physics benchmarks and discuss their implications for particle theories and phenomenological models. Our studies indicate that, with its highlighted advantages and anticipated excellent detector performance, the CEPC can explore beauty and $\textit{τ}$ physics in ways that are superior to or complementary with the Belle II and Large-Hadron-Collider-beauty experiments, potentially enabling the detection of new physics at energy scales of 10 TeV and above. This potential also extends to the observation of yet-to-be-discovered rare and exotic processes, as well as testing fundamental principles such as lepton flavor universality, lepton and baryon number conservation, etc., making the CEPC a vibrant platform for flavor physics research. The $\textit{WW}$ threshold scan, Higgs-factory operation and top-pair productions of the CEPC further enhance its merits in this regard, especially for measuring the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements, and Flavor-Changing-Neutral-Current physics of Higgs boson and top quarks. We outline the requirements for detector performance and considerations for future development to achieve the anticipated scientific goals. The role of machine learning for innovative detector design and advanced reconstruction algorithms is also stressed. The CEPC flavor physics program not only develops new capabilities for exploring flavor physics beyond existing projects but also enriches the physics opportunities of this machine. It should be remarked that, given the richness of the CEPC flavor physics, this manuscript is not meant to be a comprehensive survey, but rather an investigation of representative cases. Uncovering the full potential of flavor physics at the CEPC will require further dedicated explorations in the future.

Xiaocong Ai

United States

Wolfgang Altmannshofer

Peter Athron

Xiaozhi Bai

Lorenzo Calibbi

Germany

Lu Cao

Yuzhi Che

Chunhui Chen

Ji-Yuan Chen

Long Chen

Mingshui Chen

Shanzhen Chen

Xuan Chen

Shan Cheng

Cheng-Wei Chiang

Switzerland

Andreas Crivellin

Hanhua Cui

France

Olivier Deschamps

Sébastien Descotes-Genon

Xiaokang Du

Shuangshi Fang

Yu Gao

Yuanning Gao

Li-Sheng Geng

Pablo Goldenzweig

Jiayin Gu

Feng-Kun Guo

Yuchen Guo

Zhi-Hui Guo

Tao Han

Hong-Jian He

Jibo He

Miao He

Xiaogang He

Yanping Huang

Gino Isidori

Quan Ji

Jianfeng Jiang

Xu-Hui Jiang

Slovenia

Jernej F. Kamenik

Tsz Hong Kwok

Gang Li

Geng Li

Haibo Li

Haitao Li

Hengne Li

Honglei Li

Liang Li

Lingfeng Li

Qiang Li

Shu Li

Xiaomei Li

Xin-Qiang Li

Yiming Li

Yubo Li

Yuji Li

Zhao Li

Hao Liang

Zhijun Liang

Libo Liao

Zoltan Ligeti

Jia Liu

Jianbei Liu

Tao Liu

Yi Liu

Yong Liu

Zhen Liu

Xinchou Lou

Peng-Cheng Lu

Italy

Alberto Lusiani

Hong-Hao Ma

Kai Ma

Farvah Mahmoudi

Yajun Mao

Yaxian Mao

David Marzocca

Juan-Juan Niu

Soeren Prell

Huirong Qi

Sen Qian

Zhuoni Qian

Qin Qin

Ariel Rock

Jonathan L. Rosner

Manqi Ruan

Dingyu Shao

Chengping Shen

Xiaoyan Shen

Haoyu Shi

United Kingdom

Liaoshan Shi

Zong-Guo Si

Cristian Sierra

Huayang Song

Shufang Su

Wei Su

Zhijia Sun

Michele Tammaro

Dayong Wang

En Wang

Flavor physics at the CEPC: a general perspective * We acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (12125507, 12047503, 12035008, 2211530479, 12475094, 12135006, 12075097, 12375086, 2022YFA1601903, 12061141007, 12375091, 12342502, 12235018, 12335003, 12105100, 12475106, 11961141015, 12188102, 12175245, 12205171, 12321005, tsqn202312052, 2024HWYQ-005, 12405121, 12447167, 12061141006, 12405102, 12125503,12305115, 12075213, 12335005, 12235008); the Chinese Academy of Sciences (YSBR-101, XDB34030000); the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFE0116900, 2023YFA1606703, 2022YFA1601901); the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFA1606300); the Excellent Postdoctoral Program of Jiangsu Province (2023ZB891); the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (202206193000001, 20220816094256002); the Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of Henan Province (242300421046); the Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation (JQ22002); the Area of Excellence (AoE/P-404/18-3) and the General Research Fund (16304321) (both grants are issued by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong S.A.R); the MOST National Key R&D Program (2023YFA1606303); the Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University

In this work, we apply the effective Lagrangian approach to investigate the two-body strong decay behaviors of the possible $ \Lambda_c K^* $ and $ \Sigma_c K^{(*)} $ molecules as predicted in our previous study [Phys. Rev. D 108 , 054011 (2023)]. Our results indicate that the decay width for the coupled $ \Sigma_c K / \Lambda_c K^* / \Sigma_c K^* $ molecule with $ I(J^P) = 1/2(1/2^-) $ is on the order of several MeV, with the $ D_s N $ channel being dominant. For the coupled $ \Lambda_c K^* / \Sigma_c K^* $ molecule with $ 1/2(1/2^-, 3/2^-) $ , the decay widths are on the order of tens of MeV, with the dominant channels being $ \Sigma_c K $ and $ \Sigma_c^* K $ , respectively. For the $ \Sigma_c K^* $ molecules with $ 1/2(1/2^-) $ , the decay width can reach one hundred MeV, with $ \Sigma_c K $ and $ \Lambda_c K $ being the dominant decay channels. The decay widths for the $ \Sigma_c K^* $ molecules with $ 1/2(3/2^-) $ and $ 3/2(1/2^-) $ are on the order of tens of MeV, with the dominant decay modes being $ \Sigma_c^* K $ and $ \Sigma_c K $ , respectively. The branching ratios for all the discussed channels exhibit slight dependence on the binding energies.

Jin-Yu Huo

Rui Chen

Exploring the two-body strong decay properties of the possible ${\boldsymbol\Lambda_{\boldsymbol c}\boldsymbol K^{*}}$ and ${\boldsymbol\Sigma_{\boldsymbol c}\boldsymbol K^{(*)}}$ molecules * Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12305139) and the Xiaoxiang Scholars Programma of Hunan Normal University

A future $ e^+e^- $ collider could run at the $\textit{Z}$-pole to perform important electroweak (EW) precision measurements, but such a run may not be viable for a future muon collider. However, this can be compensated for by measuring other EW processes utilizing the high energy and large luminosity of the muon collider. In this paper, we consider the measurements of the vector boson fusion processes of $ WW/WZ/W\gamma $ to a pair of fermions (along with a $ \nu_{\mu}\bar{\nu}_{\mu} $ or $ \nu_{\mu}\mu^+/\bar{\nu}_{\mu}\mu^- $ pair) at a high-energy muon collider and study their potential for probing EW observables. We consider two run scenarios for the muon collider with center-of-mass energies of 10 and 30 TeV, respectively, and focus on the processes involving $ f=b,c,\tau $ and the dimension-6 operators that directly modify the corresponding fermions coupling to the $ Z/W $ bosons. The invariant mass distribution of the $ f\bar{f} $ pair helps to separate the events from the $ Z/W $ and high-energy resonances, whereas the polar angle of the outing fermion provides additional information. Through a chi-squared analysis on the binned distributions and combining the information from the $\textit{WW}$ and $ WZ/W\gamma $ fusion processes, all relevant Wilson coefficients can be constrained simultaneously. The precision surpasses the current EW measurement constraints and is even competitive with future $ e^+e^- $ colliders. Our analysis can be included in a more complete framework that is required to fully determine the potential of muon colliders in EW precision measurements.

Hao-Qiao Li

Hai-Ning Yan

Xiao-Ze Tan

Probing $\textit{Z}$/$\textit{W}$ pole physics at high-energy muon colliders via vector-boson-fusion processes * Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (12035008, 12375091, 12347171), and the Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology (2024ZD0300101). Xiao-Ze Tan also acknowledges the support from Helmholtz – OCPC (Office of China Postdoctoral Council) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

<p>We introduce a physics-informed neural network (PINNs) framework for modeling the spatial distribution of chromodynamic fields induced by quark-antiquark pairs, based on lattice Monte Carlo simulations. In contrast to conventional neural networks, PINNs incorporate physical laws—expressed here as differential equations governing type-II superconductivity—directly into the training objective. By embedding these equations into the loss function, we guide the network to learn physically consistent solutions. Adopting an inverse problem approach, we extract the parameters of the superconducting equations from lattice QCD data and subsequently solve them. To accommodate physical boundary conditions, we recast the system into an integrodifferential form and extend the analysis within the fractional PINNs framework. The accuracy of the reconstructed field distribution is assessed via relative <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>L</mi><mn>2</mn></msub></math>-error norms. We further extract physical observables such as the string tension and the mean width of the flux tube, offering quantitative insight into the confinement mechanism. This method enables the reconstruction of color field profiles as functions of quark-antiquark separation without recourse to predefined parametric models. Our results illuminate aspects of the dual Meissner effect and highlight the promise of data-driven strategies in addressing nonperturbative challenges in quantum chromodynamics.</p>

Wei Kou

Xiaoxuan Lin

Bing’ang Guo

Xurong Chen

Physics-informed neural network approach to quark-antiquark color flux tube

<p>While charged lepton-flavor-violating tau decays to strange mesons provide powerful probes of the underlying <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>τ</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mo>ℓ</mo><mi>d</mi><mover accent="true"><mi>s</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover></math> transition, the corresponding decay modes involving hyperons are kinematically forbidden. To address this gap, we propose the quasielastic scattering processes <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>−</mo></msup><mi>N</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><msup><mi>τ</mi><mo>−</mo></msup><mi>Y</mi></math>. Within a general low-energy effective Lagrangian, we perform a comprehensive analysis of the final-state polarizations of both the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>τ</mi></math> lepton and the hyperon <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>Y</mi></math>, systematically addressing the theoretical uncertainty driven by the model dependence of form factors. Our analysis demonstrates that while this uncertainty leads to large variations in predicted rates, the polarization observables can potentially distinguish between the form factor models, and help to determine the chiral nature of the vectorial new physics interaction. Finally, we forecast the event rates for future facilities, revealing a strong dependence on the form factor models, with predicted yields ranging from potentially observable levels to rates far below current detection thresholds.</p>

Xin-Shuai Yan

Zhen-Qing Hu

Qin Chang

Ya-Dong Yang

Polarization probes of new physics in lepton-flavor-violating hyperon production from <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>−</mo></msup><mi>N</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><msup><mi>τ</mi><mo>−</mo></msup><mi>Y</mi></math> scattering

We deploy the Hartree-Fock approximation for all-heavy quark hadrons, including quarkonium, baryons, tetraquarks, pentaquarks, dibaryons and up to the 12-body dibaryon-antidibaryon which completely fill the 1$\textit{s}$ orbital, in a unified manner, with the spinless LO Coulomb interaction and beyond. After treating the $\textit{c}$ and $\textit{b}$ quarks in various combinations, we delve a bit longer on $\textit{t}$-quark bound states. We extend the negative result of Kuchiev, Flambaum and Shuryak on the 12-body topball to now include the NLO QCD potential. We find that none of the examined multitop states should have binding energy exceeding their width in the Standard Model. Additional new-physics interactions can then be constrained by experimental searches for these bound states, assuming they are not detected, at a level somewhat less stringent than standing HEFT bounds, but with different systematics.

Spain

Alejandro Alonso-Valero

Daniel Berzal-Rozalén

Felipe Llanes-Estrada

Mario Pardo

Clara Peset

Hartree-Fock all-heavy $\textit{c}$, $\textit{b}$ multiquarks and constraints on new top-sector physics