Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics最新文献

The understanding of the physical processes that lead to the origin of matter in the early Universe, creating both an excess of matter over anti-matter and a dark matter abundance that survived until the present, is one of the most fascinating challenges in modern science. The problem cannot be addressed within our current description of fundamental physics and, therefore, it currently provides a very strong evidence of new physics. Solutions can either reside in a modification of the standard model of elementary particle physics or in a modification of the way we describe gravity, based on general relativity, or at the interface of both. We will mainly discuss the first class of solutions. Traditionally, models that separately explain either the matter–antimatter asymmetry of the Universe or dark matter have been proposed. However, in the last years there has also been an accreted interest and intense activity on scenarios able to provide a unified picture of the origin of matter in the early universe. In this review we discuss some of the main ideas emphasising primarily those models that have more chances to be experimentally tested during next years. Moreover, after a general discussion, we will focus on extensions of the standard model that can also address neutrino masses and mixing. Since this is currently the only evidence of physics beyond the standard model coming directly from particle physics experiments, it is then reasonable that such extensions might also provide a solution to the problem of the origin of matter in the universe.

The past few decades have seen major developments in the design and operation of cryogenic particle detectors. This technology offers an extremely good energy resolution – comparable to semiconductor detectors – and a wide choice of target materials, making low temperature calorimetric detectors ideal for a variety of particle physics applications. Rare event searches have continued to require ever greater exposures, which has driven them to ever larger cryogenic detectors, with the CUORE experiment being the first to reach a tonne-scale, mK-cooled, experimental mass. CUORE, designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay, has been operational since 2017 at a temperature of about 10 mK. This result has been attained by the use of an unprecedentedly large cryogenic infrastructure called the CUORE cryostat: conceived, designed and commissioned for this purpose.

In this article the main characteristics and features of the cryogenic facility developed for the CUORE experiment are highlighted. A brief introduction of the evolution of the field and of the past cryogenic facilities are given. The motivation behind the design and development of the CUORE cryogenic facility is detailed as are the steps taken toward realization, commissioning, and operation of the CUORE cryostat. The major challenges overcome by the collaboration and the solutions implemented throughout the building of the cryogenic facility will be discussed along with the potential improvements for future facilities.

The success of CUORE has opened the door to a new generation of large-scale cryogenic facilities in numerous fields of science. Broader implications of the incredible feat achieved by the CUORE collaboration on the future cryogenic facilities in various fields ranging from neutrino and dark matter experiments to quantum computing will be examined.

Nuclear reactions induced by photons play a vital role for very different aspects of basic research and applications in physics. They are a key ingredient for the synthesis of nuclei in the Universe and provide, due to the selectivity and the model-independence of the reaction mechanism, an extremely valuable probe for researchers. The penetrability of photons in the MeV energy range makes them, in addition, an ideal tool for meeting various societal challenges. The last two decades saw a rapid development of advanced photon sources and detection methods for photonuclear reaction products. Bremsstrahlung and quasi-monoenergetic photon beams with unprecedented intensity and quality combined with state-of-the-art detector technology paved the way for new scientific discoveries and technological applications.

This review focuses on a comprehensive overview of the most important developments since the turn of the millennium restricted to the energy range between atomic and hadronic degrees of freedom. This includes a description of the formalism of photonuclear reactions below and above the particle-separation threshold. The most important techniques used to generate photon beams in the MeV energy range are presented along with selected facilities and instrumentation for diagnostics and for the analysis of photonuclear reactions. The power of photons to probe the atomic nucleus is exemplified in a number of selected examples from fundamental and applied science. New developments, facilities, and ideas promise a vivid future for photonuclear physics.

The strong force which binds hadrons is described by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Determining the character and manifestations of QCD is one of the most important and challenging outstanding issues necessary for a comprehensive understanding of the structure of hadrons. Within the context of the QCD parton picture, the parton distribution functions (PDFs) have been remarkably successful in describing a wide variety of processes. However, these PDFs have generally been confined to the description of collinear partons within the hadron. New experiments and facilities provide the opportunity to additionally explore the transverse structure of hadrons which is described by generalized parton distributions (GPDs) and transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions (TMD PDFs). In our previous report Lin et al. (2018), we compared and contrasted the two main approaches used to determine the collinear PDFs: the first based on perturbative QCD factorization theorems, and the second based on lattice-QCD calculations. In the present report, we provide an update of recent progress on the collinear PDFs, and also expand the scope to encompass the generalized PDFs (GPDs and TMD PDFs). We review the current state of the various calculations, and consider what new data might be available in the near future. We also examine how a shared effort can foster dialog between the PDF and lattice-QCD communities, and yield improvements for these generalized PDFs.

Fifty years ago the standard model offered an elegant new step towards understanding elementary fermion and boson fields, making several assumptions, suggested by experiments. The assumptions are still waiting for an explanation. There are many proposals in the literature for the next step. The spin-charge-family theory of one of us (N.S.M.B.) is offering the explanation for not only all by the standard model assumed properties of quarks and leptons and antiquarks and antileptons, with the families included, of the vectors gauge fields, of the Higgs scalar and Yukawa couplings, but also for the second quantization postulates of Dirac and for cosmological observations, like there are the appearance of the dark matter, of matter–antimatter asymmetry, making several predictions. This theory proposes a simple starting action in $d\ge (13+1)$-dimensional space with fermions interacting with the gravity only (the vielbeins and the two kinds of the spin connection fields), what manifests in $d=(3+1)$ as the vector and scalar gauge fields, and uses the odd Clifford algebra to describe the internal space of fermions, what enables that the creation and annihilation operators for fermions fulfil the anticommutation relations for the second quantized fields without Dirac’s postulates: Fermions single particle states already anticommute. We present in this review article a short overview of the spin-charge-family theory, illustrating shortly on the toy model the breaks of the starting symmetries in $d=(13+1)$-dimensional space, which are triggered either by scalar fields — the vielbeins with the space index belonging to $d>(3+1)$ — or by the condensate of the two right handed neutrinos, with the family quantum number not belonging to the observed families. We compare properties and predictions of this theory with the properties and predictions of $SO\left(10\right)$ unifying theories.

Exascale computing could soon enable a predictive theory of nuclear structure and reactions rooted in the Standard Model, with quantifiable and systematically improvable uncertainties. Such a predictive theory will help exploit experiments that use nucleons and nuclei as laboratories for testing the Standard Model and its limitations. Examples include direct dark matter detection, neutrinoless double beta decay, and searches for permanent electric dipole moments of the neutron and atoms. It will also help connect QCD to the properties of cold neutron stars and hot supernova cores. We discuss how a quantitative bridge between QCD and the properties of nuclei and nuclear matter will require a synthesis of lattice QCD (especially as applied to two- and three-nucleon interactions), effective field theory, and ab initio methods for solving the nuclear many-body problem. While there are significant challenges that must be addressed in developing this triad of theoretical tools, the rapid advance of computing is accelerating progress. In particular, we focus this review on the anticipated advances from lattice QCD and how these advances will impact few-body effective theories of nuclear physics by providing critical input, such as constraints on unknown low-energy constants of the effective (field) theories. We also review particular challenges that must be overcome for the successful application of lattice QCD for low-energy nuclear physics. We describe progress in developing few-body effective (field) theories of nuclear physics, with an emphasis on HOBET, a non-relativistic effective theory of nuclear physics, which is less common in the literature. We use the examples of neutrinoless double beta decay and the nuclear-matter equation of state to illustrate how the coupling of lattice QCD to effective theory might impact our understanding of symmetries and exotic astrophysical environments.

Theoretical prediction shows that about 9000 nuclei could be bounded, of which the properties will be hot topics in the new nuclear physics era opened by the new third generation of radioactive nuclear beam (RNB) facilities. Projectile fragmentation reactions are important to produce rare nuclei with extreme large $N/Z$ asymmetry even to the drip lines. Variety of key questions in nuclear physics, for example, the nuclear Equation of State, the extreme of nuclides at drip lines, the shell evolution, etc, are hoped to be answered. A review is presented on the topic related to projectile fragmentation reactions, including the historical review of RNB facilities, the characteristics of modern RNB facilities, the particle identification techniques for searching rare isotopes in RNB experiments and benchmark projectile fragmentation reactions. Furthermore, the theory reviews for fragment production predictions are also made, which include the empirical formula, transport models, statistical models, machine learning methods, etc. Some important probes to nuclear properties have also been presented, which are the temperature/thermometer, the isoscaling, the isobaric ratio difference scaling, the neutron-skin thickness, etc.

The growing trove of precision astrometric observations from the Gaia space telescope and other surveys is revealing the structure and dynamics of the Milky Way in ever more exquisite detail. We summarize the current status of our understanding of the structure and the characteristics of the Milky Way, and we review the emerging picture: the Milky Way is evolving through interactions with the massive satellite galaxies that stud its volume, with evidence pointing to a cataclysmic past. It is also woven with stellar streams, and observations of streams, satellites, and field stars offer new constraints on its dark matter, both on its spatial distribution and its fundamental nature. The recent years have brought much focus to the study of dwarf galaxies found within our Galaxy’s halo and their internal matter distributions. In this review, we focus on the predictions of the cold dark matter paradigm at small mass scales through precision astrometric measurements, and we summarize the modern consensus on the extent to which small-scale probes are consistent with this paradigm. We note the discovery prospects of these studies, and also how they intertwine with probes of the dynamics and evolution of the Milky Way in various and distinct ways.

Quantum Phase Transitions arising in algebraic and collective models of nuclear structure are reviewed. The concept of quantum phases and phase transitions is described as well as those of critical point symmetries and quasi-dynamical symmetries. Algebraic and collective models are compared and the connections between them are explored. Differences between even–even and odd–even systems are discussed. Several applications of critical point symmetries are given in both the even and odd sectors. Details of the spherical to $\gamma -$unstable and spherical to axially deformed quantum shape phase transition are covered in some detail as well as other transitions and alternative approaches.

We review determinations of the electric proton charge radius from a diverse set of low-energy observables. We explore under which conditions it can be related to Wilson coefficients of appropriate effective field theories. This discussion is generalized to other low-energy constants. This provides us with a unified framework to deal with a set of low-energy constants of the proton associated with its electromagnetic interactions. Unambiguous definitions of these objects are given, as well as their relation with expectation values of QCD operators. We show that the proton radius obtained from spectroscopy and lepton–proton scattering (when both the lepton and proton move with nonrelativistic velocities) is related to the same object of the underlying field theory with $O\left(\alpha \right)$ precision. The model dependence of these analyses is discussed. The prospects of constructing effective field theories valid for the kinematic configuration of present, or near-future, lepton–proton scattering experiments are explored.