In this review, we present the key aspects of modern thermal perturbation theory based on the hard thermal loop (HTL) approximation, including its theoretical foundations and applications within quantum electrodynamics (QED) and quantum chromodynamics (QCD) plasmas. To maintain conciseness, we focus on scenarios in thermal equilibrium, examining a variety of physical quantities and settings. Specifically, we explore both bulk thermodynamic properties and real-time observables in high-temperature domains relevant to heavy-ion physics.
The AdS/CFT correspondence, or holography, has provided numerous important insights into the behavior of strongly-coupled many-body systems. Crucially, it has provided a testing ground for the construction of new effective field theories, especially those in the low frequency, long wavelength limit known as hydrodynamics. We review the study of strongly-coupled rotating fluids using holography, and we examine the hydrodynamics emerging from the study of rotating Myers–Perry black holes. We discuss three regimes in which holographic rotating fluids display either (1) hydrodynamic behavior of a boosted fluid, (2) hydrodynamic behavior distinct from a boosted fluid, or (3) no obvious hydrodynamic behavior. We describe techniques to obtain hydrodynamic and non-hydrodynamic modes, and we compute the radius of convergence for the hydrodynamic regimes. The limitations of hydrodynamics under rotation are discussed alongside our findings.
The study of entanglement in particle physics has been gathering pace in the past few years. It is a new field that is providing important results about the possibility of detecting entanglement and testing Bell inequality at colliders for final states as diverse as top-quark, -lepton pairs and -baryons, massive gauge bosons and vector mesons. In this review, after presenting definitions, tools and basic results that are necessary for understanding these developments, we summarize the main findings—as published by the beginning of year 2024—including analyses of experimental data in meson decays and top-quark pair production. We include a detailed discussion of the results for both qubit and qutrits systems, that is, final states containing spin one-half and spin one particles. Entanglement has also been proposed as a new tool to constrain new particles and fields beyond the Standard Model and we introduce the reader to this promising feature as well.
The observed pattern of fermion masses and mixing is an outstanding puzzle in particle physics, generally known as the flavor problem. Over the years, guided by precision neutrino oscillation data, discrete flavor symmetries have often been used to explain the neutrino mixing parameters, which look very different from the quark sector. In this review, we discuss the application of non-Abelian finite groups to the theory of neutrino masses and mixing in the light of current and future neutrino oscillation data. We start with an overview of the neutrino mixing parameters, comparing different global fit results and limits on normal and inverted neutrino mass ordering schemes. Then, we discuss a general framework for implementing discrete family symmetries to explain neutrino masses and mixing. We discuss CP violation effects, giving an update of CP predictions for trimaximal models with nonzero reactor mixing angle and models with partial reflection symmetry, and constraining models with neutrino mass sum rules. The connection between texture zeros and discrete symmetries is also discussed. We summarize viable higher-order groups, which can explain the observed pattern of lepton mixing where the non-zero plays an important role. We also review the prospects of embedding finite discrete symmetries in the Grand Unified Theories and with extended Higgs fields. Models based on modular symmetry are also briefly discussed. A major part of the review is dedicated to the phenomenology of flavor symmetries and possible signatures in the current and future experiments at the intensity, energy, and cosmic frontiers. In this context, we discuss flavor symmetry implications for neutrinoless double beta decay, collider signals, leptogenesis, dark matter, as well as gravitational waves.
This article is devoted to a review of decay properties of excited 0 states in regions of the nuclear chart well known for shape coexistence phenomena. Even–even isotopes around the Z=20 (Ca), 28 (Ni), 50 (Sn), 82 (Pb) proton shell closures and along the Z=36 (Kr), Z=38 (Sr) and Z=40 (Zr) isotopic chains are mainly discussed. The aim is to identify examples of extreme shape coexistence, namely highly deformed structures, well localized in the Potential Energy Surface in the deformation space, which could lead to decays substantially hindered. This is in analogy to the 0 fission shape isomers in the actinides region and to the superdeformed (SD) states at the decay-out spin in medium/heavy mass systems. In this survey, the Hindrance Factor (HF) of the E2 transitions de-exciting 0 states or SD decay-out states is a primary quantity which is used to differentiate between types of shape coexistence. The 0 states, examined with the help of the hindrance factor, reveal a multifaceted scenario of shape coexistence. A limited number of 0 excitations (in the Ni, Sr, Zr and Cd regions) exhibit large HF values (10), some of which are associated with the clear separation of coexisting wave functions, while in most cases the decay is not hindered, due to the mixing between different configurations. Comparisons with theory predictions based on various models are also presented, some of which shed light on the microscopic structure of the considered states and the origin of the observed hindrances. The impact of shape ensembles at finite temperature on the decay properties of highly-excited states (Giant Dipole Resonances) is also discussed. This research area offers a complementary approach for identifying regions where extreme shape coexistence phenomena may appear.