We assess the impact of measuring deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) off protons using the planned detector at the Electron-Ion Collider in China (EicC), which is proposed as an upgrade to the High Intensity Heavy-Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF). We develop a neural-network architecture to flexibly parameterize Compton form factors (CFFs), reliably extrapolate into unmeasured kinematic regions, and provide robust uncertainty estimates using the replica method. The framework is fitted to available worldwide DVCS data using the $ {\mathrm{Gepard}}$ software. We find a significant reduction in the uncertainties of all CFFs after incorporating pseudo-data from single and double polarization asymmetries at the EicC, with particularly strong improvements in the sea-quark region.

China

Yuan-Yuan Huang

Xu Cao

Taifu Feng

Croatia

Krešimir Kumerički

Yu Lu

Assessing the impact of the Electron-Ion Collider in China on deeply virtual Compton scattering * Supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2023YFA1606703), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12547111, 12235008, 12405105) and (PK.1.1.10.0004) co-financed by the European Union and through the European Regional Development Fund - Competitiveness and Cohesion Programme 2021-2027. TF also thanks the Hebei Natural Science Foundation (A2022201017, A2023201041) and Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Autonomous Region (2022GXNSFDA035068)

The IceCube Upgrade is an extension of the existing IceCube Neutrino Observatory and will be deployed in the 2025–2026 austral summer. It will significantly improve the sensitivity of the detector to atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The existing 86-string IceCube array contains a dense in-fill known as DeepCore which is optimized to measure neutrinos with energies down to a few GeV. The IceCube Upgrade will consist of seven new densely instrumented strings placed within the DeepCore volume to further enhance the performance in the GeV energy range. The additional strings will feature new optical modules, each containing multiple photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), in contrast to the existing modules that each contain a single PMT. This will more than triple the number of PMT channels with respect to the current IceCube configuration, allowing for improved detection efficiency and reconstruction performance at GeV energies. We describe necessary updates to simulation, event selection, and reconstruction to accommodate the higher data rates observed by the upgraded detector and the addition of multi-PMT modules. We determine the expected sensitivity of the IceCube Upgrade to the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>sin</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup><msub><mrow><mi>θ</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>23</mn></mrow></msub></mrow></math> and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</mi><msubsup><mi>m</mi><mn>32</mn><mn>2</mn></msubsup></math>, the appearance of tau neutrinos and the neutrino mass ordering. The IceCube Upgrade will provide neutrino oscillation measurements that are of similar precision to those from accelerator experiments, while providing complementarity by probing higher energies and longer baselines, and with different sources of systematic uncertainties.

R. Abbasi

M. Ackermann

J. Adams

S.K. Agarwalla

J.A. Aguilar

M. Ahlers

J.M. Alameddine

S. Ali

N.M. Amin

K. Andeen

C. Argüelles

Y. Ashida

S. Athanasiadou

S.N. Axani

R. Babu

X. Bai

J. Baines-Holmes

A. Balagopal V.

S.W. Barwick

S. Bash

V. Basu

R. Bay

J.J. Beatty

J. Becker Tjus

P. Behrens

J. Beise

C. Bellenghi

B. Benkel

S. BenZvi

D. Berley

E. Bernardini

D.Z. Besson

E. Blaufuss

L. Bloom

S. Blot

I. Bodo

F. Bontempo

J.Y. Book Motzkin

C. Boscolo Meneguolo

S. Böser

O. Botner

J. Böttcher

J. Braun

B. Brinson

Z. Brisson-Tsavoussis

R.T. Burley

D. Butterfield

M.A. Campana

K. Carloni

J. Carpio

S. Chattopadhyay

N. Chau

Z. Chen

D. Chirkin

S. Choi

B.A. Clark

A. Coleman

P. Coleman

G.H. Collin

D.A. Coloma Borja

A. Connolly

J.M. Conrad

R. Corley

D.F. Cowen

C. De Clercq

J.J. DeLaunay

D. Delgado

T. Delmeulle

S. Deng

P. Desiati

K.D. de Vries

G. de Wasseige

T. DeYoung

J.C. Díaz-Vélez

S. DiKerby

M. Dittmer

A. Domi

L. Draper

L. Dueser

D. Durnford

K. Dutta

M.A. DuVernois

T. Ehrhardt

L. Eidenschink

A. Eimer

P. Eller

E. Ellinger

D. Elsässer

R. Engel

H. Erpenbeck

W. Esmail

S. Eulig

J. Evans

P.A. Evenson

K.L. Fan

K. Fang

K. Farrag

A.R. Fazely

A. Fedynitch

N. Feigl

Physics potential of the IceCube Upgrade for atmospheric neutrino oscillations

I present a calculation of the ratio <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><mfrac><msub><mi>σ</mi><mi>r</mi></msub><msub><mi>F</mi><mn>2</mn></msub></mfrac><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>x</mi><mo>,</mo><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></math> in a momentum-space approach using the Block-Durand-Ha parametrization of the proton structure function <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><msub><mi>F</mi><mn>2</mn></msub><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>x</mi><mo>,</mo><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></math>. The results are compared with the H1 data and extended to high inelasticity. I also examine the ratio <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><mfrac><msub><mi>σ</mi><mi>r</mi></msub><msub><mi>F</mi><mn>2</mn></msub></mfrac><mrow><mo>(</mo><mfrac><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mi>s</mi></mfrac><mo>,</mo><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></math> obtained at a fixed <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><msqrt><mi>s</mi></msqrt></math> and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></math> to the minimum value of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mi>x</mi></math> given by <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>/</mo><mi>s</mi></mrow></math>, comparing them with both the HERA data and the color dipole model bounds. These results and comparisons with HERA data demonstrate that the suggested method for the ratio <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mfrac><msub><mi>σ</mi><mi>r</mi></msub><msub><mi>F</mi><mn>2</mn></msub></mfrac></math> can be applied in analyses of the CERN Large Hadron Collider and Future Circular Collider projects. The effect of adding a simple higher twist term of the form <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><msub><mi>F</mi><mn>2</mn></msub><mo>*</mo><msub><mi>H</mi><mn>2</mn></msub><mo>/</mo><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></math> to the description of the ratio <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><mfrac><msub><mi>σ</mi><mi>r</mi></msub><msub><mi>F</mi><mn>2</mn></msub></mfrac><mrow><mo>(</mo><mfrac><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mi>s</mi></mfrac><mo>,</mo><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></math> at low-<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mi>x</mi></math> and low-<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></math> values for comparison with the color dipole bounds and the HERA data is investigated.

G.R. Boroun

Investigation of the ratio <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><mfrac><msub><mi>σ</mi><mi>r</mi></msub><msub><mi>F</mi><mn>2</mn></msub></mfrac><mrow><mo>(</mo><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>/</mo><mi>s</mi><mo>,</mo><msup><mi>Q</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></math> in the momentum-space approach

We explore black hole solutions in the context of Born-Infeld- <italic>f</italic>( <italic>R</italic>) gravity, a modified gravitational framework that extends both Born-Infeld and <italic>f</italic>( <italic>R</italic>) theories. By adopting a static, spherically symmetric spacetime ansatz, we derive an exact black hole solution and investigate its geometrical structure. We proceed to analyze the thermodynamic properties of the solution, including the Hawking temperature, entropy, and specific heat, with particular emphasis on their dependence on the model parameters. Our results reveal novel thermodynamic behavior that deviates significantly from the standard predictions of general relativity. A comparative study with the Schwarzschild-AdS black holes is also presented, showing how Born-Infeld- <italic>f</italic>( <italic>R</italic>) corrections alter black hole thermodynamics.

Türkiye

Salih Kibaroğlu

Born–Infeld- <italic>f</italic>( <italic>R</italic>) black holes

The ACT data have severely constrained the single scalar field models. Known models of inflation, like the Starobinsky model, the Higgs model and the <italic>a</italic>-attractors are at least 2 <italic>&#963;</italic> off the ACT data. In this work we aim to provide a top-to-bottom approach in single scalar field inflationary cosmology compatible with the ACT data. Specifically, inspired by the fact that the Starobinsky model, the Higgs model and the <italic>a</italic>-attractors, all being plateau potentials, result to the same attractor relation between the spectral index of scalar perturbations and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, which is of the form <math altimg='si7.svg'><mrow><msub><mi>n</mi><mi>s</mi></msub><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>r</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow><mo linebreak='goodbreak'>=</mo><mn>1</mn><mo linebreak='goodbreak'>&#8722;</mo><mi>&#945;</mi><msup><mi>r</mi><mrow><mn>1</mn><mo>/</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math>, in this work we seek for attractors of the form <math altimg='si8.svg'><mrow><msub><mi>n</mi><mi>s</mi></msub><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>r</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow><mo linebreak='goodbreak'>=</mo><mi>f</mi><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>r</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></math> that may lead to ACT-compatible inflation. Specifically, we fix the function <italic>f</italic>( <italic>r</italic>) to have a specific desirable form and then solve the differential equation <math altimg='si8.svg'><mrow><msub><mi>n</mi><mi>s</mi></msub><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>r</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow><mo linebreak='goodbreak'>=</mo><mi>f</mi><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>r</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></math> to find the potential which results to the relation <math altimg='si8.svg'><mrow><msub><mi>n</mi><mi>s</mi></msub><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>r</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow><mo linebreak='goodbreak'>=</mo><mi>f</mi><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>r</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></math>. We discovered analytically three classes of potentials which are variants of the general form <math altimg='si9.svg'><mrow><msub><mi>n</mi><mi>s</mi></msub><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>r</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow><mo linebreak='goodbreak'>=</mo><mi>&#947;</mi><mo>&#177;</mo><mi>&#946;</mi><mi>r</mi><mo>&#177;</mo><msup><mi>r</mi><mrow><mn>1</mn><mo>/</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math> and all these models are found to be compatible with the ACT data.

Greece

Azerbaijan

V.K. Oikonomou

General scalar field inflation ACT attractors: Utilizing the <italic>n<inf>s</inf></italic>( <italic>r</italic>) relation

We systematically investigate the quasinormal modes of thick branes in $\textit{f}$($\textit{R}$) gravity by numerically solving the Schrödinger-like perturbation equation of gravitational perturbations. To ensure reliability of the results, we employ three complementary methods: the asymptotic iteration method, direct integration of the wave equation, and time-domain numerical evolution. We analyze how model parameters influence the shape of the effective potential of gravitational perturbations and find that the structure of the potential barrier plays a significant role in shaping the quasinormal frequency spectrum. The results obtained from the three methods exhibit strong consistency, thereby ensuring the reliability of the calculations. In particular, real parts of the quasinormal frequencies exhibit an approximately arithmetic progression, suggesting that quasi-localized states can be understood as resonances between the barriers.

Yu-Peng E.

Chun-Chun Zhu

Yu-Xiao Liu

Quasinormal modes of thick branes in $\textit{f}$($\textit{R}$) gravity

In this paper, we derive characteristic identities for the split Casimir operator of the Lie algebra <italic>so</italic> <inf>2<italic>r</italic></inf> in tensor products of spinor representations of the same and opposite chiralities. Using these identities, we explicitly construct projectors onto invariant subspaces of this operator and compute their traces. The results obtained allow us to derive explicit expressions for the colour factors of ladder Feynman diagrams in gauge theories with gauge group Spin(2 <italic>r</italic>).In addition, we obtain a new form of a solution to the Yang-Baxter equation that is invariant under the action of the Lie algebra <italic>so</italic> <inf>2<italic>r</italic></inf> in spinor representations.

Russia

A.P. Isaev

A.A. Provorov

Split Casimir operator of the Lie algebra <italic>so</italic> <inf>2<italic>r</italic></inf> in spinor representations, colour factors, and the Yang-Baxter equation

We review the recent work by T.F. Dabash, M. Emam, and L. Schöppner (Eur. Phys. J. C 85, 1341, 2025) and identify an essential error in their analysis.

South Africa

Chile

Andronikos Paliathanasis

Comment on: “Symmetry and conserved quantities in $$f\left( R\right) $$ -gravity: Mei vs. Noether approaches”

The <italic>R</italic> 2 and the single-field-like regime of <italic>R</italic> 2-Higgs inflation are disfavored by the observed high spectral index <italic>n<inf>s</inf></italic> from the combined cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements at the &#8239;&#8764;&#8239;2 <italic>&#963;</italic> level. The addition of a dimension-six <italic>R</italic> 3 term in the action helps alleviate this tension. We show that the parameter space accounting for the observed high <italic>n<inf>s</inf></italic> also induces rapid Goldstone and Higgs preheating. The preheating, especially from Goldstone modes, helps match the CMB and inflationary scales, which in turn supports the observed <italic>n<inf>s</inf></italic>.

India

Tanmoy Modak

Echoes of <italic>R</italic> 3 modification and Goldstone preheating in the CMB-BAO landscape

This work investigates the viability of marginally deformed ( <italic>R</italic> 2) inflation within the framework of the swampland program. The analysis focuses on the Further Refined de Sitter Swampland Conjecture (FRDSSC), the Scalar Weak Gravity Conjecture (SWGC), and its strong extension, the Strong Scalar Weak Gravity Conjecture (SSWGC). By confronting theoretical predictions with observational constraints, the study examines how variations in the model parameters influence its consistency with these conjectures. The results indicate that the model remains compatible with the FRDSSC across a broad region of the parameter space and aligns well with current cosmological observations, supporting its viability as an inflationary framework. Moreover, the comparison between the SWGC and SSWGC reveals that the compatibility of the model is highly sensitive to changes in the coupling parameters, with the SSWGC generally allowing a wider range of consistency than the SWGC. This finding suggests that the stronger conjecture encompasses a broader domain of theoretical validity. Overall, the marginally deformed ( <italic>R</italic> 2) inflation model satisfies all considered swampland criteria, reinforcing its theoretical robustness and its potential as a compelling inflationary scenario within the landscape of quantum gravity-compatible models.

Iran

Saeed Noori Gashti

Mohammad Reza Alipour

Canada

Mohammad Ali S. Afshar

Behnam Pourhassan

Jafar Sadeghi

From theory to observation: Swampland conjectures and ACT constraints on marginally deformed <italic>R</italic> 2 inflation