We investigate the discovery potential of the $T_{bc}$ state with $J^P = 0^+$ in proton-proton ( $pp$ ) collisions at LHCb at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13~{\rm{TeV}}$ . The study focuses on the decay channel $T_{bc} \to B^- D^+$ . A phenomenological approach is employed to construct the background model based on the associated production of $\textit{B}$ and $\textit{D}$ mesons, incorporating previously published LHCb results. Background processes are simulated using ${\mathtt{MadGraph5\_aMC@NLO}}$ and ${\mathtt{Pythia8.3}}$ . We explore the parameter space of the $T_{bc}$ mass, width, production cross section, and the effective double-parton scattering cross section ( $\sigma_{{\rm{eff}}}$ ) relevant for the $B D$ meson background. The integrated luminosity required for a $5\sigma$ discovery at LHCb is evaluated under various assumptions. In particular, we consider three representative $T_{bc}$ production cross section scenarios: an optimistic estimate of $103~{\rm{nb}}$ , an intermediate value of $18~{\rm{nb}}$ obtained by scaling from the $T_{cc}^+$ production cross section, and a conservative lower bound of $0.3~{\rm{nb}}$ . We find that a $5\sigma$ observation is achievable for a production cross section of $103~{\rm{nb}}$ , which is expected to be within reach during Run4. In contrast, the more realistic cross section estimate of $18~{\rm{nb}}$ requires the full Run5 dataset ( $300~{\rm{fb}}^{-1}$ ) under the most favorable parameter choices. For the conservative scenario, no significant signal would be observable even with $300~{\rm{fb}}^{-1}$ . In addition, we estimate the minimum observable $\sigma(T_{bc}) \times {\cal{B}}(T_{bc} \to $ $ B^- D^+)$ for a $5\sigma$ discovery under different luminosity scenarios, providing guidance for future experimental searches at LHCb.

China

Mingjie Feng

Yiming Li

France

Hua-Sheng Shao

Prospects for discovering strongly decaying doubly heavy T$_{bc}$ tetraquark states at LHCb * Mingjie Feng and Yiming Li is Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (2175245, 12188102, W2443008). Hua-Sheng Shao is Supported by the European Research Council (101041109, 'BOSON') and the French National Research Agency (grant ANR-20-CE31-0015, 'PrecisOnium')

In this work, we investigate the production and decay of molecular states with quark content $cc\bar c\bar q$ and $J^P=1^+$ using a phenomenological analysis and an effective Lagrangian approach. Based on an $\textit{SU}$(3) flavor-symmetry analysis to identify golden channels, we further explore the dynamics of these processes under the molecular assumptions of ${\eta_c D^*}$ and ${J/\psi D^*}$ . Our results indicate that the production branching ratio in $B_c$ decays is sizable: it can be of order $10^{-4}$ for the molecular configuration ${{\eta}_cD^*}$ and $10^{-5}$ for the molecule ${J/\psi D^*}$ . In addition, we find that the decay widths of the two molecular configurations ${{\eta}_cD^*}$ and ${J/\psi D^*}$ are not significant, at the level of ${\cal{O}}$ ( $\text{MeV}$ ).

Na Li

Ye Xing

Jing-Rui Shi

Analysis of molecular state $\textit{η$_{c}$D}$ $^{*}$ and $\textit{J}$/$\textit{ψD}$ $^{*}$ in the effective Lagrangian approach * Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (12005294)

We report stronger evidence for the $X(7200)$ state and markedly improved measurements of the $X(6900)$ resonance parameters based on a combined analysis of the di- $J/\psi$ mass spectrum using published data from LHCb, ATLAS, and CMS. Through simultaneous fits to the datasets from all three experiments, we observe the $X(6900)$ with overwhelming significance ( $ \gt 12\sigma$ ) and determine its mass and width with improved precision. For the $X(7200)$ , we find consistent signals across multiple interference models, with significances ranging from $3.7\sigma$ to $6.6\sigma$ ; in the best-fit model (the CMS three-resonance scheme), the significance reaches $6.6\sigma$ , providing substantially stronger evidence for this state. Our results underscore the essential role of interference effects in fully charmed tetraquark spectroscopy and offer new constraints on their production mechanisms at the LHC.

Yuan Wang

Ran Li

Bin Zhong

Ya-Qian Wang

Enhanced evidence of $\textit{X}$(7200) and improved measurements of $\textit{X}$(6900) parameters from a combined LHCb-ATLAS-CMS analysis * Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (12475077)

The Kerr/CFT correspondence establishes a correspondence between extremal black holes in higher dimensions and a chiral conformal field theory (CFT) in their near-horizon limit. A generalization of this framework, known as the EVH/CFT correspondence, has been developed for four- and five-dimensional AdS black holes. It was further proposed in [ ${\rm{AdS}}_{D=6,7}$ black holes, a generalized duality between $(D-2)$ -dimensional geometry and $(D-3)$ -dimensional field theory may emerge in a suitably defined extremal vanishing horizon (EVH) limit. In this work, we show that, in the EVH limit, the near-EVH geometries of these ${\rm{AdS}}_{D=6,7}$ black holes reduce to lower-dimensional black holes whose metrics are conformally related to solutions of Einstein-Maxwell-Maxwell-dilaton (EMMD) gravity. This structural resemblance suggests a potential route toward the microscopic counting of non-AdS black hole entropy via higher-dimensional AdS/CFT techniques.

Weichao Bu

Yang Lei

Probing decoupled throats of AdS $\textit{D}$ black holes in $\textit{D}$ = 6, 7 * Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (2305081), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), and the NSFC-Royal Society International Collaboration (W2421035)

We report the first observation of the radiative decay <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msubsup><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi><mn>0</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2317</mn><msup><mrow><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo></mrow></msup><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo><mo>+</mo></mrow></msubsup><mi>γ</mi></mrow></math> with a statistical significance exceeding 10 standard deviations. The signal is observed in the continuum <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>+</mo></msup><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>−</mo></msup><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mi>c</mi><mover accent="true"><mi>c</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover></math> process, using combined data samples of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>980.4</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><msup><mi>fb</mi><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></math> from Belle and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>427.9</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><msup><mi>fb</mi><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></math> from Belle II, collected at the KEKB and SuperKEKB asymmetric-energy <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>+</mo></msup><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>−</mo></msup></math> colliders, respectively. The branching fraction ratio <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi mathvariant="script">B</mi><mo stretchy="false">[</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi><mn>0</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2317</mn><msup><mrow><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo></mrow></msup><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo><mo>+</mo></mrow></msubsup><mi>γ</mi><mo stretchy="false">]</mo><mo>/</mo><mi mathvariant="script">B</mi><mo stretchy="false">[</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi><mn>0</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2317</mn><msup><mrow><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo></mrow></msup><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo></mrow></msubsup><msup><mrow><mi>π</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>0</mn></mrow></msup><mo stretchy="false">]</mo></mrow></math> is measured to be <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mo stretchy="false">[</mo><mn>7.13</mn><mo>±</mo><mn>0.70</mn><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mrow><mi>stat</mi></mrow><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mo>±</mo><mspace linebreak="goodbreak"></mspace><mn>0.26</mn><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mrow><mi>syst</mi></mrow><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mo stretchy="false">]</mo><mo>%</mo></mrow></math>. This result provides crucial discrimination between theoretical models of the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msubsup><mi>D</mi><mrow><mi>s</mi><mn>0</mn></mrow><mo>*</mo></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2317</mn><msup><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mo>+</mo></msup></math> structure.

M. Abumusabh

I. Adachi

L. Aggarwal

H. Ahmed

Y. Ahn

H. Aihara

N. Akopov

S. Alghamdi

M. Alhakami

A. Aloisio

N. Althubiti

K. Amos

N. Anh Ky

C. Antonioli

D.M. Asner

H. Atmacan

T. Aushev

R. Ayad

V. Babu

N.K. Baghel

S. Bahinipati

P. Bambade

Sw. Banerjee

M. Barrett

M. Bartl

J. Baudot

A. Beaubien

J. Becker

J.V. Bennett

F.U. Bernlochner

V. Bertacchi

M. Bertemes

E. Bertholet

M. Bessner

S. Bettarini

F. Bianchi

T. Bilka

D. Biswas

A. Bobrov

D. Bodrov

A. Bondar

G. Bonvicini

J. Borah

A. Boschetti

A. Bozek

M. Bračko

P. Branchini

R.A. Briere

T.E. Browder

A. Budano

S. Bussino

Q. Campagna

M. Campajola

G. Casarosa

C. Cecchi

P. Chang

P. Cheema

L. Chen

B.G. Cheon

C. Cheshta

H. Chetri

K. Chilikin

K. Chirapatpimol

H.E. Cho

K. Cho

S.J. Cho

S.K. Choi

S. Choudhury

S. Chutia

J.A. Colorado-Caicedo

I. Consigny

L. Corona

J.X. Cui

E. De La Cruz-Burelo

S.A. De La Motte

G. De Nardo

G. De Pietro

R. de Sangro

M. Destefanis

S. Dey

A. Di Canto

Z. Doležal

I. Domínguez Jiménez

T.V. Dong

X. Dong

M. Dorigo

G. Dujany

P. Ecker

J. Eppelt

R. Farkas

P. Feichtinger

T. Ferber

T. Fillinger

C. Finck

G. Finocchiaro

F. Forti

B.G. Fulsom

A. Gabrielli

E. Ganiev

M. Garcia-Hernandez

Observation of the Radiative Decay <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msubsup><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi><mn>0</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2317</mn><msup><mrow><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo></mrow></msup><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo><mo>+</mo></mrow></msubsup><mi>γ</mi></mrow></math>

The different QCD processes, which can produce a heavy quark-antiquark (<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>Q</mi><mover accent="true"><mi>Q</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover></math>) pair, induce different correlations between the heavy quarks. Employing the epos4hq event generator, we study the consequences of these correlations and compare the calculation with experimental results on open and hidden heavy flavor mesons, measured in proton-proton (<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>p</mi><mi>p</mi></math>) collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. We find that the measured correlations between heavy mesons are a direct image of the different ways in which the heavy quark pair is produced. They also contribute differently to the transverse momentum distribution of open and hidden heavy flavor mesons. The latter are calculated in a Wigner density approach, which also enables us to reproduce quantitatively the measured <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>B</mi><mi>c</mi></msub></math> spectra. This agreement allows conclusions on the spatial distribution of the heavy quark creation processes.

Germany

Jiaxing Zhao

Joerg Aichelin

Pol Bernard Gossiaux

Klaus Werner

Correlations between heavy mesons and the creation of the charmonia, bottomonia, and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>B</mi><mi>c</mi></msub></math> mesons in high energy <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>p</mi><mi>p</mi></math> collisions

Does a conformal manifold imply the existence of exactly marginal operators? We answer this question affirmatively under the assumption that there exists a conformal interface with certain properties connecting nearby conformal field theories. We show that the exactly marginal operator that connects the conformal field theories can be reconstructed from the interface displacement operator. Our construction is model independent and based on the general principles of conformal symmetry.

CERN

Shota Komatsu

Japan

Yuya Kusuki

Italy

Marco Meineri

United States

Hirosi Ooguri

Continuous Family of Conformal Field Theories and Exactly Marginal Operators

The wavefunction coefficients of conformally coupled scalars in power-law FRW cosmologies satisfy differential equations governed by a set of simple combinatorial rules known as the $\textit{kinematic flow}$. In this paper we derive the kinematic flow, expressed using a set of differential forms referred to as the $\textit{cut basis}$, from a geometric perspective, relying solely on the cosmological hyperplane arrangement. Each element of the cut basis corresponds to the $\textit{positive geometry}$ associated to an independent cut of the physical FRW-form and can be labeled by decorating (minors of) the truncated Feynman graph with an acyclic orientation. The cut basis has a so-call canonical or $\textit{ε}$-factorized differential equation and we provide a straightforward prescription to associate a $\textit{logarithmic}$ differential form to each element of the cut basis by considering its corresponding decorated graph. Moreover, we show that the residues of the physical FRW-form are canonical forms of certain $\textit{graphical zonotopes}$ labeled by the same set of decorated graphs. These zonotopes control the cut combinatorics — $\textit{flow of cuts}$ — of the physical FRW-form and the cut basis (by construction). Using the theory of $\textit{relative twisted cohomology}$ and $\textit{intersection theory}$, we derive a closed form formula for the differential equations of the cut basis. We also introduce combinatorial rules that compute the kinematic differential of any basis element without explicit calculation. The combinatorics of our differential equations is a natural consequence of the flow of cuts and is equivalent (up to rescaling) to the kinematic flow for the recently studied time integral basis. In particular, our differential equations decouple into exponentially many sectors, one for each way of cutting a subset of edges of the graph.

United Kingdom

Ross Glew

Andrzej Pokraka

Kinematic flow from the flow of cuts

The calculation of resonance form factors in effective field theory as well as on the lattice is a highly challenging task. In a recent paper [1], we proposed a novel method based on the introduction of a background field and the Feynman-Hellmann theorem to address the problem, and applied it to a toy model. In the present work we use this method for the electromagnetic form factors of the $\textit{ρ}$-meson. By matching the results to Chiral Perturbation Theory, we provide a first, crude estimate of all three form factors of the $\textit{ρ}$-meson within the effective field theory. Contact contributions to these form factors turn out to be substantial. A procedure for lattice calculations is outlined, paving the way for an ab initio approach to the problem.

Ulf-G. Meißner

Akaki Rusetsky

Ajay Sakthivasan

Gerrit Schierholz

Jia-Jun Wu

Form factors of the $\textit{ρ}$ meson from effective field theory and the lattice

The determination of the Higgs boson trilinear self-coupling <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>λ</mi><mrow><mn>3</mn><mi>H</mi></mrow></msub></math> is a key goal of the LHC physics program. Its precise measurement will provide unique insight into the scalar potential and the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking. Higgs boson pair production in the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>g</mi><mi>g</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mi>H</mi><mi>H</mi></math> process, and particularly in the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>H</mi><mi>H</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mi>b</mi><mover accent="true"><mi>b</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover><mi>γ</mi><mi>γ</mi></math> final state, offers direct sensitivity to <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>λ</mi><mrow><mn>3</mn><mi>H</mi></mrow></msub></math>. We present the first implementation of the matrix element method (MEM) at next-to-leading order (NLO) for this process, which is publicly available. The MEM is a statistically optimal approach that maximizes information extraction from collision events. Extending it to NLO represents a major methodological challenge, which we address with a new formalism integrated into the momemta framework. Results with simulated pseudoexperiments demonstrate, in a proof-of-principle study, the strong discriminating power of the method and its ability to extract the coupling modifier <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>κ</mi><mi>λ</mi></msub><mo>=</mo><msub><mi>λ</mi><mrow><mn>3</mn><mi>H</mi></mrow></msub><mo>/</mo><msubsup><mi>λ</mi><mrow><mn>3</mn><mi>H</mi></mrow><mi>SM</mi></msubsup></math> with high precision.

Matthias Tartarin

Jan Stark

Novel implementation of the matrix element method at next-to-leading order for the measurement of the Higgs self-coupling <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>λ</mi><mrow><mn>3</mn><mi>H</mi></mrow></msub></math>