High-energy muon beam dump experiments are powerful probes of new physics models beyond the Standard Model, particularly those involving flavor-dependent interactions. We demonstrate the potential of muon beam dump by placing strong constraints on three new physics models utilizing data from the recent <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>NA</mi><mrow><mn>64</mn><mi>μ</mi></mrow></mrow></math> experiment: (1) axions coupling to photons, (2) axions coupling to muons, and (3) a dark sector mediated by a massless <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>U</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>1</mn><msub><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mrow><msub><mi>L</mi><mi>μ</mi></msub><mo>−</mo><msub><mi>L</mi><mi>τ</mi></msub></mrow></msub></math> gauge boson. The new particles can be identified from the significant missing energy as the invisible channel, or the distinct energy deposition signature as the visible channel. We find that the current <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>NA</mi><mrow><mn>64</mn><mi>μ</mi></mrow></mrow></math> data do not yet probe new parameter region on axion-photon coupling, while excluding new parameter space for the axion-muon coupling <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>g</mi><mrow><mi>a</mi><mi>μ</mi><mi>μ</mi></mrow></msub><mo>≳</mo><mn>4</mn><mo>×</mo><msup><mn>10</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>3</mn></mrow></msup><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>GeV</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math> and the axion mass <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>m</mi><mi>a</mi></msub><mo>≲</mo><mn>0.2</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>GeV</mi></math>. For the dark sector, the current data provide stringent constraints that surpass existing ones by nearly one order of magnitude. The data from the 2023 <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>NA</mi><mrow><mn>64</mn><mi>μ</mi></mrow></mrow></math> run, once available, will be capable of excluding new axion-photon coupling parameter space and probing the flavor structure of new physics, with more sensitivity advancement expected in near future runs.

China

Haotian Li

Zuowei Liu

Ningqiang Song

Probing axion and flavored new physics with the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>NA</mi><mrow><mn>64</mn><mi>μ</mi></mrow></mrow></math> experiment

We study the sensitivity of COHERENT-like experiments to non-standard contributions within the so-called $\textit{ν}$WEFT framework. The latter is the most general low-energy effective field theory that includes not only the light SM fields but also additional right-handed Dirac neutrinos. Our analysis includes for the first time flavor-general New Physics effects in neutrino production (pion and muon decays) and neutrino detection (through Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering). Despite the generality, the results can be written in compact form and are easy to implement in existing or future analyses using effective nuclear charges. We use current COHERENT data to set constraints on the corresponding effective operators, and we estimate the sensitivity of future measurements.

Germany

Víctor Bresó-Pla

Spain

Sergio Cruz-Alzaga

Martín González-Alonso

Suraj Prakash

EFT analysis of new physics at COHERENT with Dirac neutrinos

We present a novel application of a qubit-coupled phonon detector to search for new physics, e.g., ultralight dark matter (DM) and high-frequency gravitational waves. The detector, motivated by recent advances in quantum acoustics, is composed of superconducting transmon qubits coupled to high-overtone bulk acoustic resonators (<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>h</mi><mi>BARs</mi></mrow></math>) and operates in the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mtext> </mtext><mi>GHz</mi><mo>−</mo><mn>10</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>GHz</mi></mrow></math> frequency range. New physics can excite <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi mathvariant="script">O</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>10</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi mathvariant="normal">μ</mi><mi>eV</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></math> phonons within the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>h</mi><mi>BAR</mi></math>, which are then converted to qubit excitations via a transducer. We detail the design, operation, backgrounds, and expected sensitivity of a prototype detector, as well as a next-generation detector optimized for new physics signals. We find that a future detector can complement current haloscope experiments in the search for both dark photon DM and high-frequency gravitational waves. Lastly, we comment on such a detector’s ability to operate as a <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi mathvariant="script">O</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>10</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi mathvariant="normal">μ</mi><mi>eV</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow></math> athermal phonon sensor for sub-GeV DM detection.

United States

Ryan Linehan

Tanner Trickle

Christopher R. Conner

Sohitri Ghosh

Tongyan Lin

Austria

Mukul Sholapurkar

Andrew N. Cleland

Listening for new physics with quantum acoustics

NuMI Off-axis <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>ν</mi><mi>e</mi></msub></math> Appearance (NOvA) experiment is an ongoing long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. The primary channels of interest are the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>ν</mi><mi>e</mi></msub></math>, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mover accent="true"><mi>ν</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover><mi>e</mi></msub></math> appearance, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>ν</mi><mi>μ</mi></msub></math>, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mover accent="true"><mi>ν</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover><mi>μ</mi></msub></math> disappearance channels analyzed in the energy window <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>1</mn><mo>&lt;</mo><msub><mi>E</mi><mi>ν</mi></msub><mo>&lt;</mo><mn>4</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>GeV</mi></math>. However, NOvA far detector sees nontrivial high-energy <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>ν</mi><mi>e</mi></msub></math>, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mover accent="true"><mi>ν</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover><mi>e</mi></msub></math> events in the energy range <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>4</mn><mo>&lt;</mo><msub><mi>E</mi><mi>ν</mi></msub><mo>&lt;</mo><mn>20</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>GeV</mi></math>. These high-energy events provide us with an opportunity to investigate the subleading new physics scenarios. In this context, we study the sensitivity of the NOvA experiment to constrain the nonstandard interaction (NSI) parameters and environmental decoherence parameters. We observe that by including high energy events (<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>signal</mi><mo>+</mo><mtext>background</mtext></mrow></math>) the degeneracy around <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>ε</mi><mrow><mi>e</mi><mi>τ</mi></mrow></msub><mo>∼</mo><mn>1.6</mn></math> can be removed throughout the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>δ</mi><mrow><mi>C</mi><mi>P</mi></mrow></msub></math> and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>δ</mi><mrow><mi>e</mi><mi>τ</mi></mrow></msub></math> range. Further, we examine the role of signal versus beam background events in removing this degeneracy. In addition, we constrain the decoherence parameter <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi mathvariant="normal">Γ</mi></math> considering events from <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mn>1</mn><mo>&lt;</mo><msub><mrow><mi>E</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>ν</mi></mrow></msub><mo>&lt;</mo><mn>20</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>GeV</mi></mrow></math>. Later, assuming the presence of decoherence in nature we obtain the allowed regions in <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>θ</mi><mn>23</mn></msub></math> and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>δ</mi><mrow><mi>C</mi><mi>P</mi></mrow></msub></math> plane.

India

Chinmay Bera

K.N. Deepthi

Probing new physics scenarios using high energy events at the NOvA far detector

High-precision regression of physical parameters from black hole images generated by General Relativistic Ray Tracing (GRRT) is essential for investigating spacetime curvature and advancing black hole astrophysics. However, owing to limitations in observational resolution, high observational costs, and imbalanced distributions of positive and negative samples, black hole images often suffer from data scarcity, sparse parameter spaces, and complex structural characteristics. These factors pose significant challenges to conventional regression methods based on simplified physical models. To overcome these challenges, this study introduces the Multiscale Adaptive Network (MANet), a novel regression framework grounded in deep learning. MANet integrates an Adaptive Channel Attention (ACA) module to selectively enhance features in physically informative regions. Meanwhile, a Multiscale Enhancement Feature Pyramid (MEFP) is employed to capture fine-grained spatial structures, such as photon rings and accretion disks, while alleviating information loss due to downsampling. Experimental evaluations on GRRT-simulated datasets demonstrate that MANet substantially improves parameter estimation accuracy and generalization capability in high-dimensional parameter spaces, outperforming existing baseline approaches. This framework presents a promising avenue for high-precision parameter regression in Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) data analysis and broader astrophysical imaging applications characterized by sparse and noisy data.

Jialei Wei

Ao Liu

Dejiang Li

Cuihong Wen

Physical parameter regression from black hole images using a multiscale adaptive neural network * Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province under grant No. 2023JJ30384; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants No. 12374408; the University Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program Project

Based on available experimental results on $ \chi _{cJ}(J=0,1,2) $ decays, we investigated the $ \chi_{cJ}\to PP $ , $ VV $ , $ PV $ , and $ PT $ decays using the $\textit{SU}$(3) flavor symmetry/breaking approach, where $\textit{P}$, $\textit{V}$, and $\textit{T}$ denote light pseudoscalar, vector, and tensor mesons, respectively. With the decay amplitude relations determined by $\textit{SU}$(3) flavor symmetry/breaking, we present the branching ratios for all $ \chi_{cJ}\to PP $ and $ \chi_{cJ}\to VV $ modes, including those without experimental data. While theoretical considerations strongly suppress or even forbid most $ \chi_{cJ}\to PV $ and $ PT $ decays, we also provide quantitative predictions constrained by existing experimental data. Our results are expected to be accessible in future experiments at BESIII and the planned Super Tau-Charm Facility.

Bo Lan

Qin-Ze Song

Jin-Huan Sheng

Yi Qiao

Ru-Min Wang

Study of χ$_{cJ}$ ($\textit{J}$ = 0,1,2) decays to light meson pairs based on $\textit{SU}$(3) flavor symmetry/breaking analysis * Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12175088, 12305100, 12365014) and Graduate Innovation Fund Project of Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education (YJS2024091)

The study of extra charged gauge bosons beyond the Standard Model has always been of great interest. Future muon colliders will have a significant advantage in discovering exotic particles. In this paper, by studying the $ \mu^+ \mu^- \to W^{\prime +} W^{\prime -} \to e^+ e^- n_e \bar{n}_e $ process, we explore the properties of $ W^\prime $ in the alternative left-right model. The cross section and angular distribution of the final electron are investigated in a scenario of different $ W^\prime $ masses and right-handed coupling constants. The forward-backward asymmetry is also an important observable to reflect the properties of $ W^\prime $ . We provide a method to effectively suppress the background processes by imposing constraints on the transverse momentum $ P_T $ and azimuthal angle of the final-state electrons $\textit{α}$. With cuts of $ 600 \lt P_T \lt 3500 $ GeV and $ 0.5 \lt \alpha \lt 3 $ , the significance exceeds 5$\textit{σ}$ for 4.8 TeV $ W^\prime $ at a collision energy of 10 TeV.

Liuxin Zhao

Honglei Li

Zhi-Long Han

Fei Huang

Xinyi Yan

Extra charged gauge boson $\textit{W}$′ in Alternative Left-Right Model at future muon collider * This work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2022MA065, ZR2024QA138), and University of Jinan Disciplinary Cross-Convergence Construction Project 2024 (XKJC-202404)

Based on a sample of $2.7\times10^{9}$ $\psi(3686)$ events collected by the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII collider, the decay $\psi(3686)\to\gamma\chi_{cJ}, \chi_{cJ}\to\eta\eta\eta^{\prime}$ is analyzed. The decay modes $\chi_{c1}$ and $\chi_{c2}\to\eta\eta\eta^{\prime}$ are observed for the first time, and their corresponding branching fractions are determined to be ${\cal{B}}(\chi_{c1}\to\eta\eta\eta^{\prime}) = $ $ (1.40\, \pm 0.13\, (\text{stat.}) \pm 0.09\, (\text{sys.})) \times 10^{-4}$ and ${\cal{B}}(\chi_{c2}\to\eta\eta\eta^{\prime}) = (4.18\, \pm 0.84\, (\text{stat.}) \pm 0.48\, (\text{sys.})) \times 10^{-5}$ . An upper limit on the branching fraction of $\chi_{c0}\to\eta\eta\eta^{\prime}$ is set as $2.59 \times 10^{-5}$ at a 90% confidence level (CL). A partial wave analysis (PWA) of the decay $\chi_{c1}\to\eta\eta\eta^{\prime}$ is performed to search for the $1^{-+}$ exotic state $\eta_1(1855)$ . The PWA result indicates that the structure in the $\eta\eta^{\prime}$ mass spectrum is attributed to $f_0(1500)$ , while in the $\eta\eta$ mass spectrum, it is attributed to the $0^{++}$ phase space. The upper limit of ${\cal{B}}(\chi_{c1}\to\eta_{1}(1855)\eta) \cdot {\cal{B}}(\eta_{1}(1855)\to\eta\eta^{\prime}) \lt $ $ 9.79 \times 10^{-5}$ is set based on the PWA at 90% CL.

M. Ablikim

Russia

M.N. Achasov

Sweden

P. Adlarson

X.C. Ai

R. Aliberti

Italy

A. Amoroso

Q. An

Y. Bai

O. Bakina

Y. Ban

H.R. Bao

Poland

V. Batozskaya

Mongolia

K. Begzsuren

N. Berger

M. Berlowski

M. Bertani

D. Bettoni

F. Bianchi

E. Bianco

A. Bortone

I. Boyko

R.A. Briere

A. Brueggemann

H. Cai

M.H. Cai

X. Cai

A. Calcaterra

G.F. Cao

N. Cao

Türkiye

S.A. Cetin

X.Y. Chai

J.F. Chang

G.R. Che

Y.Z. Che

C.H. Chen

Chao Chen

G. Chen

H.S. Chen

H.Y. Chen

M.L. Chen

S.J. Chen

S.L. Chen

S.M. Chen

T. Chen

X.R. Chen

X.T. Chen

X.Y. Chen

Y.B. Chen

Y.Q. Chen

Z. Chen

Z.J. Chen

Z.K. Chen

S.K. Choi

X. Chu

G. Cibinetto

F. Cossio

United Kingdom

J. Cottee-Meldrum

J.J. Cui

H.L. Dai

J.P. Dai

A. Dbeyssi

R.E. de Boer

D. Dedovich

C.Q. Deng

Z.Y. Deng

A. Denig

I. Denysenko

M. Destefanis

F. De Mori

B. Ding

X.X. Ding

Y. Ding

Y.X. Ding

J. Dong

L.Y. Dong

M.Y. Dong

X. Dong

M.C. Du

S.X. Du

Y.Y. Duan

P. Egorov

G.F. Fan

J.J. Fan

Y.H. Fan

J. Fang

S.S. Fang

W.X. Fang

Y.Q. Fang

R. Farinelli

L. Fava

F. Feldbauer

G. Felici

C.Q. Feng

J.H. Feng

L. Feng

Q.X. Feng

Search for $\textit{η}$ $_{1}$(1855) in $\textit{χ}$ $\textit{cJ}$ → $\textit{ηηη}$′ decays * Supported in part by National Key R&D Program of China (2023YFA1606000, 2023YFA1606704); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (11635010, 11935015, 11935016, 11935018, 12025502, 12035009, 12035013, 12061131003, 12192260, 12192261, 12192262, 12192263, 12192264, 12192265, 12221005, 12225509, 12235017, 12361141819); the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Large-Scale Scientific Facility Program; CAS (YSBR-101); 100 Talents Program of CAS; The Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics (INPAC) and Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology; Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo de Chile (ANID), Chile (ANID PIA/APOYO AFB230003); German Research Foundation DFG (FOR5327); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (2021.0174, 2021.0299); Ministry of Development of Turkey (DPT2006K-120470); National Research Foundation of Korea ( NRF-2022R1A2C1092335); National Science and Technology fund of Mongolia; National Science Research and Innovation Fund (NSRF) via the Program Management Unit for Human Resources Institutional Development, Research and Innovation of Thailand ( B50G670107); Polish National Science Centre (2024/53/B/ST2/00975); Swedish Research Council (2019.04595); U. S. Department of Energy (DE-FG02-05ER41374)

If sub-GeV dark matter (DM) annihilates into charged particles such as $$e^+ e^-$$ , $$\mu ^+ \mu ^-$$ , or $$\pi ^+ \pi ^-$$ , it generates an additional source of electrons and positrons in the cosmic ray (CR) population within our Milky Way. During propagation, these secondary electrons and positrons undergo reacceleration processes, boosting their energies to the GeV scale. Observatories like AMS-02 can detect these high-energy particles, enabling constraints on the properties of sub-GeV DM. By analyzing AMS-02 electron and positron data, the 95% upper limits on the DM annihilation cross-section have been established in the range of $$10^{-28}$$ to $$10^{-27}$$ cm $$^3\,$$ s $$^{-1}$$ , corresponding to DM masses ranging from 100 MeV to 1 GeV. Meanwhile, MeV telescopes will provide complementary constraints on DM properties by detecting photon emissions from such annihilation processes. Notably, the sensitivity of future MeV gamma-ray observatories is projected to approach or match the constraints derived from CR data.

Guan-Sen Wang

Bing-Yu Su

Lei Zu

Lei Feng

Exploring sub-GeV dark matter physics with cosmic ray and future telescopes

It has long been known that the gluon propagator in Landau-gauge QCD exhibits a mass gap; and its emergence has been ascribed to the action of the Schwinger mechanism in the gauge sector of QCD. In the present work, we relate this property to the physical mass gap of QCD by considering two observables associated with confinement and chiral symmetry breaking, namely the confinement-deconfinement transition temperature and the pion decay constant, respectively. It turns out that the first observable is linearly proportional to the gluon mass gap, a fact that allows us to assign a direct physical meaning to this scale. Moreover, we identify three distinct momentum regimes in the gluon propagator, ultraviolet, intermediate, and deep infrared, and assess their impact on the aforementioned observables. Both observables are sensitive to the first two regions of momenta, where functional approaches essentially coincide, but are insensitive to the third, deep infrared, regime. The combined information is used for a simple fit for the gluon propagator, all of whose parameters admit a clear physical interpretation. Finally, we discuss how this fit can help us access the intertwined dynamics of confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in QCD-type theories.