The diffusion of heavy quarks through the quark–gluon plasma (QGP) as produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions has long been recognized as an excellent probe of its transport properties. In addition, the experimentally observed heavy-flavor hadrons carry valuable information about the hadronization process of the transported quarks. Here we review recent progress in the theoretical developments of heavy-quark interactions in the QGP and how they relate to the nonperturbative hadronization process, and discuss the recent status of the pertinent phenomenology in heavy-ion collisions at the RHIC and the LHC. The interactions of heavy quarks in the QGP also constitute a central building block in the description of the heavy quarkonia which controls their transport parameters as well. We will thus focus on theoretical approaches that aim for a unified description of open and hidden heavy-flavor particles in medium, and discuss how they can be constrained by lattice-QCD “data” and utilized to deduce fundamental properties of the microscopic interactions and emerging spectral properties of the strongly coupled QGP.
The Thick Gas Electron Multiplier (THGEM) is a robust high-gain gas-avalanche electron multiplier – a building block of a variety of radiation detectors. It can be manufactured economically by standard printed-circuit drilling and etching technology. We present a detailed review of the THGEM and its derivatives. We focus on the physics phenomena that govern their operation and performances under different operation conditions. Technological aspects associated with the production of these detectors and their current and potential applications are discussed.
We present a review of recent applications of nonlocal chiral effective theory to hadron structure studies. Starting from a nonlocal meson–baryon effective chiral Lagrangian, we show how the introduction of a correlation function representing the finite extent of hadrons regularizes the meson loop integrals and introduces momentum dependence in vertex form factors in a gauge invariant manner. We apply the framework to the calculation of nucleon electromagnetic form factors, unpolarized and polarized parton distributions, as well as transverse momentum dependent distributions and generalized parton distributions.
Investigation into the properties and structure of unstable nuclei far from stability is a key avenue of research in modern nuclear physics. These efforts are motivated by the continual observation of unexpected structure phenomena in nuclei with unusual proton-to-neutron ratios. In recent decades, laser spectroscopy techniques have made significant contributions in our understanding of exotic nuclei in different mass regions encompassing almost the entire nuclear chart. This is achieved through determining multiple fundamental properties of nuclear ground and isomeric states, such as nuclear spins, magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole moments and charge radii, via the measurement of hyperfine structures and isotope shifts in the atomic or ionic spectra of the nuclei of interest. These properties offer prominent tests of recently developed state-of-the-art nuclear theory and help to stimulate new developments in improving the many-body methods and nucleon–nucleon interactions at the core of these models. With the aim of exploring more exotic short-lived nuclei located ever closer to the proton and neutron driplines, laser spectroscopy techniques, with their continuous technological developments towards higher resolution and higher sensitivity, are extensively employed at current- and next-generation radioactive ion beam facilities worldwide. Ongoing efforts in parallel promise to improve the availability of these even more exotic species at next-generation facilities. Very recently, an innovative application of laser spectroscopy on molecules containing short-lived nuclei has been demonstrated offering additional opportunities for several fields of research, e.g. fundamental symmetry studies and astrophysics. In this review, the basic nuclear properties measurable with laser spectroscopy will be introduced. How these observables are associated with nuclear structure and nucleon–nucleon interactions will be discussed. Following this, a general overview of different laser spectroscopy methods will be given with particular emphasis on technical advancements reported in recent years. The main focus of this article is to review the numerous highlights that have resulted from studying exotic nuclei in different mass regions with laser spectroscopy techniques since the last edition in this series. Finally, the challenges facing the field in addition to future opportunities will be discussed.
This review aims at giving a critical description of the theoretical researches conducted on the low-lying dipole states traditionally denoted as Pygmy Dipole Resonances (PDR). A brief survey of the experimental techniques and recent experimental findings is presented as an introduction to the main part of the paper. The presence of the PDR on stable and unstable nuclei with neutron excess is well established in theoretical and experimental studies. The theoretical approaches are reviewed starting from the macroscopic collective models to the microscopic mean-field theories. The isospin mixed nature of the PDR – reproduced by all the microscopic approaches – allows to study the excitation with isovector and isoscalar probes. To draw a better picture on the structure of this mode is therefore important to complement the theoretical studies with detailed investigation on the reaction mechanism. To this mean, this paper gives specific focus to the description of the cross section calculations. The semiclassical Coupled Channel equations are shortly reviewed with particular attention to the construction of the nuclear potential and radial form factors with the microscopic transition densities. The interplay of Coulomb and nuclear contributions, their dependence on mass, charge and incident energy are analysed with the help of few selected examples. Most of the features of the PDR are well described by the theoretical approaches even though few open question remain to be clarified. Among them a discussion on the collectivity of the mode, isospin splitting and role of deformation is presented. Most of the theoretical works and the new experimental findings on the collective properties of the PDR jeopardise the common picture of this excitation mode as related to the oscillation of the neutron skin against an inert core The question on the influence of the neutron excess on other multipolarities is also reviewed.
The microscopic quantum nature of elementary particles, chirality, leads to macroscopic phenomena like the chiral anomaly, chiral magnetic effect, and chiral plasma instability. We review recent progress of the studies of these chiral effects in high-energy astrophysics, such as pulsar kicks, magnetars, and core-collapse supernovae, and early Universe cosmology, such as the primordial magnetic field, baryogenesis, and chiral gravitational waves. We also provide a pedagogical introduction to the chiral effects and low-energy effective theories to describe them in and out of equilibrium—the chiral (magneto)hydrodynamics, chiral kinetic theory, and chiral radiation transport theory for neutrinos.
We have presented a review of the properties of neutrinos and their interactions with matter. The different (anti)neutrino processes like the quasielastic scattering, inelastic production of mesons and hyperons, and the deep inelastic scattering from the free nucleons are discussed, and the results for the scattering cross sections are presented. The polarization observables for the leptons and hadrons produced in the final state, in the case of quasielastic scattering, are also studied. The importance of nuclear medium effects in the low, intermediate, and high energy regions, in the above processes along with the processes of the coherent neutrino–nucleus scattering, coherent meson production, and trident production, has been highlighted. In some cases, the results of the cross sections are also given and compared with the available experimental data as well as with the predictions in the different theoretical models. This study would be helpful in understanding the (anti)neutrino interaction cross section with matter in the few GeV energy region relevant to the next generation experiments like DUNE, Hyper-Kamiokande, and other experiments with accelerator and atmospheric neutrinos. We have emphasized the need of better theoretical models for some of these processes for studying the nuclear medium effects in nuclei.
Herein, we review the nuclear equations of state (EOSs) and the constituent nuclei of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) and their roles in CCSN simulations. Various nuclei such as deuterons, iron, and extremely neutron-rich nuclei compose in the central engines of CCSNe. The center of a collapsing core is dominated by neutron-rich heavy nuclei prior to the occurrence of core bounce. Their weak interactions significantly affect the neutrino emission and the size of the produced proto-neutron star. After a core bounce, heavy nuclei are dissolved to protons, neutrons, and light nuclei between the expanding shock wave and the newly formed neutron star (NS). Some of the key components in determining the shock-wave dynamics and supernova explosion of outer envelopes are neutrino interactions of nucleons and light nuclei such as deuterons. An EOS provides the relations between thermodynamical properties and the nuclear composition, and is needed to simulate this explosion. Further investigations on uniform and non-uniform nuclear matter are needed to improve the understanding of the mechanism of CCSNe and the properties of supernova nuclei. The knowledge of the EOS for uniform nuclear matter is being continually improved by a combination of microscopic calculations, terrestrial experiments, and NS observations. With reference to various nuclear experiments and current theories, the finite temperature effects on heavy nuclei, formation of light nuclei in dilute nuclear matter, and transition to uniform nuclear matter should be improved in the model of the EOS for non-uniform nuclear matter.
I will review the state of the art of the equation of state for strongly interacting matter from first principles. I will discuss results at zero and finite chemical potential. For the latter, I will focus on Taylor expansion, analytical continuation from imaginary chemical potential, and a novel expansion scheme that was recently introduced, and that allowed a substantial extension of the coverage in baryonic chemical potential. I will also introduce a few lattice-based approaches, used to study the thermodynamics in the vicinity of the critical point.