We investigated the effect of an isospin chemical potential ( $ \mu_{I} $ ) within the quark-meson model, which approximates quantum chromodynamics (QCD) by modeling low-energy phenomena such as chiral symmetry breaking and phase structure under varying conditions of temperature and chemical potential. Using the functional renormalization group (FRG) flow equations, we calculated the phase diagram in the chiral limit within the two-flavor quark-meson model in a finite $ \mu_{I} $ with $\textit{ρ}$ vector meson interactions. Fluctuation effects significantly decrease the critical chemical potential from the mean-field (MF) value $\mu_{I,{\rm MF}} \gt m_\rho$ to a lower value at which the $\textit{ρ}$ vector meson condensates alongside the chiral condensate once the isospin chemical potential exceeds the critical value $ \mu_{I}^{{\rm{crit}}} $ . This $\textit{ρ}$ condensation was investigated numerically for different meson coupling strengths. The $\textit{ρ}$ meson dominated region is delineated from other phases by a second-order phase transition at lower $ \mu_{I} $ and a first-order transition at slightly higher $ \mu_{I} $ .

China

Mohammed Osman

Defu Hou

Wentao Wang

United States

Hui Zhang

Functional renormalization group study of $\textit{ρ}$ meson condensate at a finite isospin chemical potential in the quark meson model * Supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFA1604900). This work is also partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (12435009, 12275104). Hui Zhang acknowledges the financial support from the Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (2020B0301030008) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12047523, 12105107)

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

Jiayin Gu

Germany

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

We study $ \cos2\phi $ azimuthal asymmetry in doubly longitudinally polarized proton-proton Drell-Yan collisions within the transverse momentum dependent factorization framework. The asymmetry arises from the convolution of the longitudinal transversity distribution $ h_{1L}^{\perp} $ for both protons. Using the Bacchetta-Delcarro-Pisano-Radici-Signori parameterization for the nonperturbative Sudakov form factor and the Wandzura-Wilczek approximation for collinear $ h_{1L}^{\perp} $ , we predict the double spin asymmetry $ A_{LL}^{\cos2\phi} $ at RHIC and NICA kinematics. Our results demonstrate sensitivity to sea quark distributions, with the asymmetry reaching up to 25% for maximal sea quark contributions. These predictions highlight the potential of polarized Drell-Yan measurements to probe sea quark dynamics and advance our understanding of nucleon structures.

Hui Li

Ting Hu

Liang-Liang Liu

Xiao-Yu Wang

Zhun Lu

Asymmetry ${{\boldsymbol A}_{\boldsymbol{LL}}^{\bf\cos2\boldsymbol\phi}} $ in the polarized proton-proton Drell-Yan process within TMD factorization * Hui Li is supported by Fundamental Research Program of Shanxi Province (202203021222224) and Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Normal University (JCYJ2023021). Xiao-Yu Wang is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (242300421377, 232300421140)

We present a comprehensive investigation of next-to-leading order (NLO) quantum chromodynamics (QCD) corrections to Higgs boson pair production and the subsequent decay into <math altimg='si1.svg'><mi>b</mi><mover accent='true'><mrow><mi>b</mi></mrow><mrow><mo stretchy='false'>&#175;</mo></mrow></mover><msup><mrow><mi>&#964;</mi></mrow><mrow><mo linebreak='badbreak' linebreakstyle='after'>+</mo></mrow></msup><msup><mrow><mi>&#964;</mi></mrow><mrow><mo linebreak='badbreak' linebreakstyle='after'>&#8722;</mo></mrow></msup></math>. We adopt the narrow-width approximation to separate the production and decay contributions and employ the dipole subtraction method to address infrared divergences inherent in perturbative QCD corrections. After applying a set of typical experimental cuts, we show that NLO QCD corrections to the decay process induce a significant reduction of the fiducial cross section and reshape important kinematic distributions at the 13.6 TeV LHC, such as the invariant mass of the Higgs boson pair and the transverse momentum of the leading <italic>b</italic>-jet. We also investigate the dependence of the kinematic distributions on the Higgs self-coupling and provide the signal acceptance as a function of the Higgs self-coupling modifier with full QCD corrections.

Hai Tao Li

Zong-Guo Si

Jian Wang

Xiao Zhang

Dan Zhao

QCD corrections to Higgs boson pair production and decay to the <math altimg='si1.svg'><mi>b</mi><mover accent='true'><mrow><mi>b</mi></mrow><mrow><mo stretchy='false'>&#175;</mo></mrow></mover><msup><mrow><mi>&#964;</mi></mrow><mrow><mo linebreak='badbreak' linebreakstyle='after'>+</mo></mrow></msup><msup><mrow><mi>&#964;</mi></mrow><mrow><mo linebreak='badbreak' linebreakstyle='after'>&#8722;</mo></mrow></msup></math> final state

In the static and infalling spherical-shell models of optically thin accretion on Schwarzschild black hole, the formulas for the integrated intensities observed by a distant observer are derived, and by taking the monochromatic emission pattern with a $$1/r^{2}$$ radial profile as example, the black hole images for the spherical shell with different boundaries are plotted. For these BH images, the geometric and luminosity features are summarized, and the qualitative explanations of the luminosity variations between the static and infalling spherical-shell models are provided. A notable feature of the black hole image in the infalling spherical-shell model is that when the inner boundary of the spherical shell is far from the bound photon orbit, the observed luminosity near the exterior of the shadow is enhanced. The circular-annulus models of optically and geometrically thin accretion on Schwarzschild black hole are further explored. For a lightlike geodesic, the analytical forms of the transfer functions working for all impact parameter values are first given, and the redshift factors in the static, infalling, and rotating circular-annulus models are then deduced. With these results, in the three situations, the formulas for the integrated intensities observed by a distant observer viewing the circular annulus at an inclination angle are derived, and the corresponding black hole images for each emission pattern provided in Gralla et al. (Phys Rev D 100:024018, 2019) are plotted. Finally, for the BH images of arbitrary order, the geometric and luminosity features are also summarized, and the qualitative explanations of the luminosity variations between different CA models are also given.

Bofeng Wu

En-Wei Liang

Black hole images under spherical-shell and circular-annulus accretion models in Schwarzschild spacetime: a semianalytical approach

Precise determination of the Higgs boson self-couplings is essential for understanding the mechanism underlying electroweak symmetry breaking. However, owing to the limited number of Higgs boson pair events at the LHC, only loose constraints have been established to date. Current constraints are based on the assumption that the cross section is a quadratic function of the trilinear Higgs self-coupling within the   $\kappa$   framework. Incorporating higher-order quantum corrections from virtual Higgs bosons would significantly alter this functional form, introducing new quartic and cubic power dependencies on the trilinear Higgs self-coupling. To derive this new functional form, we propose a specialized renormalization procedure that tracks all Higgs self-couplings at each calculation step. Additionally, we introduce renormalization constants for coupling modifiers within the   $\kappa$   framework to ensure the cancellation of all ultraviolet divergences. With new functional forms of the cross sections in both the gluon-gluon fusion and vector boson fusion channels, the upper limit of   $\kappa$   set by the ATLAS (CMS) collaboration is reduced from 6.6 (6.49) to 5.4 (5.37). However, extracting a meaningful constraint on the quartic Higgs self-coupling   $\kappa$   from Higgs boson pair production data remains challenging. We also present the invariant mass distributions of the Higgs boson pair at different values of the self-couplings, which could assist in setting optimal cuts for experimental analysis.

Improved constraints on Higgs boson self-couplings with quartic and cubic power dependencies of the cross section  

The Higgs boson pair production at the LHC provides a probe to the Higgs boson self-coupling. The higher-order QCD corrections in this process are sizable and must be taken into account in comparison with data. Due to the small cross section, it is necessary to consider at least one of the Higgs bosons decaying to bottom quarks. The QCD corrections to the decay processes would also be important in such cases. We present a full calculation of the total and differential cross sections for the   <math> <mi>b</mi> <mover> <mi>b</mi> <mo>¯</mo> </mover> <mi>γγ</mi> </math>  $$ b\overline{b}\gamma \gamma $$  final state with next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections. After applying typical kinematic cuts in the final state, we find that QCD NLO corrections in the decay decrease the LO result by 19% and reduce the scale uncertainties by a factor of two. The QCD corrections to the invariant mass m  jjγγ  distribution, the transverse momentum spectra of the leading bottom quark jet and photon are significant and can not be approximated by a constant factor.

Hai Li

Higgs boson pair production and decay at NLO in QCD: the   <math> <mi>b</mi> <mover> <mi>b</mi> <mo>¯</mo> </mover> <mi>γγ</mi> </math>  $$ b\overline{b}\gamma \gamma $$  final state

Geodesic equations are solved when at least two of  $$\theta $$  <math> <mi>θ</mi> </math>  ,  $$\phi $$  <math> <mi>ϕ</mi> </math>   and  $$\psi $$  <math> <mi>ψ</mi> </math>   are constant, or r is constant, on scalar flat metrics of Eguchi–Hanson type. They can also be solved also on Eguchi–Hanson metrics which are Ricci flat if only  $$\phi $$  <math> <mi>ϕ</mi> </math>   is constant. However, the explicit solution of the geodesic equations is not available yet if only  $$\psi $$  <math> <mi>ψ</mi> </math>   is constant.

Yekun Yang

Geodesics on metrics of Eguchi–Hanson type

We use the spectral lag catalog of 46 short GRBs aggregated by Xiao et al. (Astrophys J Lett 924:L29, 2022), to carry out an independent search for Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). For this purpose, we use a power-law model as a function of energy for the intrinsic astrophysical induced spectral lags. The expansion history of the universe needed for constraining LIV was obtained in a non-parametric method using cosmic chronometers. We use Bayesian model comparison to determine if the aforementioned spectral lags show evidence for LIV as compared to only astrophysically induced lags. We do not find any evidence for LIV, and obtain 95% CL lower limits on the corresponding energy scale to be  $$4 \times 10^{15}$$  <math> <mrow> <mn>4</mn> <mo>×</mo> <msup> <mn>10</mn> <mn>15</mn> </msup> </mrow> </math>   GeV and  $$6.8 \times 10^{9}$$  <math> <mrow> <mn>6.8</mn> <mo>×</mo> <msup> <mn>10</mn> <mn>9</mn> </msup> </mrow> </math>   GeV for the linear and quadratic LIV models respectively. Our results obtained by using the flat  $$\Lambda $$  <math> <mi>Λ</mi> </math>  CDM model for characterizing the cosmic expansion history are consistent with those obtained using chronometers.

India

Shantanu Desai

Rajdeep Agrawal

Haveesh Singirikonda

Search for Lorentz invariance violation using Bayesian model comparison applied to Xiao et al. GRB spectral lag catalog

In the γ-ray sky, the highest fluxes come from Galactic sources: supernova remnants (SNRs), pulsars and pulsar wind nebulae, star forming regions, binaries and micro-quasars, giant molecular clouds, Galactic center, and the large extended area around the Galactic plane. The radiation mechanisms of γ-ray emission and the physics of the emitting particles, such as the origin, acceleration, and propagation, are of very high astrophysical significance. A variety of theoretical models have been suggested for the relevant physics, and emission with energies E≥10$^{14}$ eV are expected to be crucial in testing them. In particular, this energy band is a direct window to test at which maximum energy a particle can be accelerated in the Galactic sources and whether the most probable source candidates such as Galactic center and SNRs are “PeVatrons”. Designed aiming at the very high energy (VHE, &gt;100 GeV) observation, LHAASO will be a very powerful instrument in these astrophysical studies. Over the past decade, great advances have been made in the VHE γ-ray astronomy. More than 170 VHE γ-ray sources have been observed, and among them, 42 Galactic sources fall in the LHAASO field-of-view. With a sensitivity of 10 milli-Crab, LHAASO can not only provide accurate spectra for the known γ-ray sources, but also search for new TeV-PeV γ-ray sources. In the following sub-sections, the observation of all the Galactic sources with LHAASO will be discussed in details.