Inelastic dark matter models that have two dark matter particles and a massive dark photon can reproduce the observed relic dark matter density without violating cosmological limits. The mass splitting between the two dark matter particles $\chi_{1}$ and $\chi_{2}$, with $m(\chi_{2}) > m(\chi_{1})$, is induced by a dark Higgs field and a corresponding dark Higgs boson $h^{\prime}$. We present a search for dark matter in events with two vertices, at least one of which must be displaced from the interaction region, and missing energy. Using a $365\,\mbox{fb}^{-1}$ data sample collected at Belle II, which operates at the SuperKEKB $e^+e^-$ collider, we observe no evidence for a signal. We set upper limits on the product of the production cross section $\sigma\left(e^+e^- \to h^\prime \chi_1 \chi_2\right)$, and the product of branching fractions $\mathcal{B}\left(\chi_2\to\chi_1 e^+ e^-\right)\times\mathcal{B}\left(h^\prime\to x^+x^-\right)$, where $x^+x^-$ indicates $\mu^+\mu^-, \pi^+\pi^-$, or $K^+K^-$, as functions of $h^{\prime}$ mass and lifetime at the level of $10^{-1}\,\mbox{fb}$. We set model-dependent upper limits on the dark Higgs mixing angle at the level of $10^{-5}$ and on the dark photon kinetic mixing parameter at the level of $10^{-3}$. This is the first search for dark Higgs bosons in association with inelastic dark matter.

The LEGEND collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay by operating high-purity germanium detectors enriched in $^{76}$Ge in a low-background liquid argon environment. Building on key technological innovations from GERDA and the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, LEGEND-200 has performed a first $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay search based on 61 kg yr of data. Over half of this exposure comes from our highest performing detectors, including newly developed inverted-coaxial detectors, and is characterized by an estimated background level of $0.5^{+0.3}_{-0.2}$ cts/(keV kg yr) in the $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay signal region. A combined analysis of data from GERDA, the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, and LEGEND-200, characterized by a 90% confidence level exclusion sensitivity of $2.8 \times 10^{26}$ yr on the half-life of $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay, reveals no evidence for a signal and sets a new observed lower limit at $T^{0\nu}_{1/2} > 1.9 \times 10^{26}$ yr (90% confidence level). Assuming the decay is mediated by Majorana neutrinos, this corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range $m_{\beta\beta} < 70-200$ meV, depending on the adopted nuclear matrix element.

The minimal theory in which baryon number is spontaneously broken at the low scale predicts new fermions, one of which is a dark matter candidate, from gauge anomaly cancellation. We discuss the production mechanisms and decays of these new fermions, which include channels with multi-leptons, and channels with long-lived charged fermions that can give rise to exotic signatures with 'kinked' tracks at the Large Hadron Collider. We evaluate the contraints on the theory from current LHC searches and measurements, and briefly comment on the excess in top pair production at threshold recently reported by CMS. We also discuss predictions for the $h \to \gamma Z_B$ decay, where $h$ is the SM-like Higgs and $Z_B$ is the new gauge boson associated with baryon number.

Sufficiently strong and long-lasting first-order phase transitions can produce primordial black holes (PBHs) that contribute substantially to the dark matter abundance of the Universe, and can produce large-scale primordial magnetic fields. We study these mechanisms in a generic class of conformal U(1)' models that also explain active neutrino oscillation data via the type-I seesaw mechanism. We find that phase transitions that occur at seesaw scales between $10^4$ GeV and $10^{11}$ GeV produce gravitational wave signals at LISA/ET that can be correlated with microlensing signals of PBHs at the Roman Space Telescope, while scales near $10^{11}$ GeV can be correlated with Hawking evaporation signals at future gamma-ray telescopes. LISA can probe the entire range of PBH masses between $1\times 10^{-16}M_\odot$ and $8\times 10^{-11}M_\odot$ if PBHs fully account for the dark matter abundance. For Z' masses between 40 TeV and $10^4$ TeV, and 10 TeV right-handed neutrinos, helical magnetic fields (with magnitudes $\gtrsim 0.5$ pG and coherence lengths $\gtrsim 0.008$ Mpc above current blazar lower bounds can be produced.

The formation of primordial black holes (PBHs) during a first-order phase transition (FOPT) in a dark sector has been of recent interest. A quantity that characterizes a black hole is its spin. We carry out the first step towards determining the spin of such PBHs, by calculating the spin of spherical false vacuum bubbles induced by cosmological perturbations. The angular momentum is given by the product of density and velocity perturbations. We carefully track the evolution of background quantities and calculate the transfer functions during the FOPT. We find that the dimensionless spin parameter $s = J/(G_{\rm N} M^2)$ of false vacuum bubbles of mass $M$ and angular momentum $J$, take a wide range of values from ${\cal{O}}(10^{-3})$ to ${\cal{O}}(10^3)$ for FOPTs between 10 keV and 100 GeV and a dark sector that is 0.1 to 0.4 times cooler than the visible sector. We also find a scaling relation between the root-mean-square value of the spin, the FOPT time scale, the bubble wall velocity, and the dark sector-to-visible sector temperature ratio.

The arguably most promising avenue towards testing physics beyond the Standard Model in the anomalous magnetic moment of the $\tau$ proceeds via suitably constructed asymmetries in $e^+e^-\to\tau^+\tau^-$ in the presence of a polarized electron beam. Such a program, as could be realized at Belle II assuming a polarization upgrade of the SuperKEKB $e^+e^-$ collider, crucially relies on a careful consideration of radiative corrections. In this work, we present the complete one-loop result for the fully polarized $e^+e^-\to\tau^+\tau^-$ process and its implementation in the Monte-Carlo integrator McMule. As an application, we discuss projections relevant for measurements at Belle II, both with and without electron polarization, and outline the necessary steps for a generalization to next-to-next-to-leading order.

Providing accurate theoretical predictions in the Standard Model for processes with polarised electroweak bosons is crucial to understand more in-depth the electroweak-symmetry breaking mechanism and to enhance the sensitivity to potential new-physics effects. Motivated by the rapidly increasing number of polarisation analyses of di-boson processes with LHC data, we carry out a comprehensive study of the inclusive production of two polarised Z bosons in the decay channel with four charged leptons. We perform a detailed comparison of fixed-order predictions obtained with various Monte Carlo programs which rely on different signal-definition strategies, assessing non-resonant and interference effects by contrasting polarised results with unpolarised and full off-shell ones. For the first time, we accomplish the combination of NNLO QCD and NLO EW corrections, setting the new state-of-the-art perturbative accuracy for polarised Z-boson pairs at the LHC. The impact of parton-shower matching and multi-jet merging is investigated by scrutinising calculations obtained with event generators that are typically used in experimental analyses. Integrated and differential results are discussed in a realistic fiducial setup and compared to publicly available ATLAS results.

We introduce Scale Factorized-Quantum Field Theory (SF-QFT), a framework that performs path-integral factorization of ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) momentum modes at a physical scale $Q^*$ before perturbative expansion. This approach yields a UV-finite effective action whose Wilson coefficients $C_i(Q)$ and coupling $a_{\mathrm{eff}}(Q)$ are fixed by matching to experiment. Because the two-loop $\beta$-function is universal in massless QCD, $a_{\mathrm{eff}}(Q)$ evolves with a scheme-independent equation, with higher-order $\beta$-coefficients absorbed into the $C_i$. Applying SF-QFT to the inclusive ratio $R_{e^{+}e^{-}}$ gives $R^{\mathrm{SF-QFT}}(31.6\,\mathrm{GeV}) = 1.04911 \pm 0.00084$, in excellent agreement with experiment ($R^{\mathrm{exp}}(31.6\,\mathrm{GeV})= 1.0527 \pm 0.005$) while requiring orders of magnitude fewer calculations than a conventional four-loop $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$ approach. We find universal algebraic recursion relations that generate all higher-order contributions without additional Feynman diagrams, yielding scheme-invariant predictions with remarkable convergence. SF-QFT provides a rigorous proof for the existence of a positive mass gap in Yang-Mills theory, resolving one of the Millennium Prize Problems by demonstrating how non-perturbative effects emerge naturally from the path-integral factorization. For QED, the same formalism integrates out high-energy modes above $Q^*$, producing scheme-independent predictions for the electron anomalous magnetic moment with unprecedented precision ($a_e^{\text{theory}} = 0.001~159~652~183~56(76)$). SF-QFT heralds a paradigm shift in quantum field theory, replacing the pursuit of ever-higher loop orders with a unified framework that handles both perturbative and non-perturbative physics while maintaining manifest gauge invariance and eliminating renormalization ambiguities.

We propose a mechanism called sphalerogenesis to explain the baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU). The BAU is explained by a CP-violating decay of the electroweak sphaleron. We introduce a dimension-six operator constructed from weak gauge fields: $Q_{\widetilde{W}} \sim \Lambda^{-2} \epsilon_{ijk} \widetilde{W}_{\mu \nu}^{i} W^{j \nu \rho} W_{\rho}^{k\mu}$. We find that the BAU can be explained if the cutoff scale satisfies $37.8 \,{\rm TeV} < \Lambda < 38.6\,{\rm TeV}$. This scenario can be tested by electron electric dipole moment measurements in the near future.

This chapter provides a pedagogical introduction to theoretical studies of hadrons based on the fundamental theory of strong interactions - Quantum ChromoDynamics. A perturbative expansion in the strong coupling is not applicable at hadronic energy scales. Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics is the formulation of the fundamental theory on a discrete space-time grid, which enables first-principles, systematically improvable, numerical simulations of strong interaction physics. This chapter explains how the masses of strongly stable and strongly decaying hadrons are determined. The strongly decaying hadrons have to be inferred from the corresponding scattering processes. Therefore, one of the main aims is to describe how the scattering amplitudes are extracted from a lattice simulation. The examples of spectra, widths, and scattering amplitudes are shown for conventional as well as exotic hadrons.

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model (SM) that appear in many new physics scenarios, with masses spanning a broad range. In this work, we systematically study the production and detection prospects of light ALPs at future lepton colliders, including electron-positron and multi-TeV muon colliders. At lepton colliders, light ALPs can be produced in association with a photon or a $Z$ boson. For very light ALPs ($m_a < 1$ MeV), the ALPs are typically long-lived and escape detection, leading to a mono-$V$ ($V = \gamma, Z$) signature. In the long-lived limit, we find that the mono-photon channel at the Tera-$Z$ stage of future electron-positron colliders provides the strongest constraints on ALP couplings to SM gauge bosons, $g_{aVV}$, thanks to the high luminosity, low background, and resonant enhancement from on-shell $Z$ bosons. At higher energies, the mono-photon cross section becomes nearly energy-independent, and the sensitivity is governed by luminosity and background. At multi-TeV muon colliders, the mono-$Z$ channel can yield complementary constraints. For heavier ALPs ($m_a > 100$ MeV) that decay promptly, mono-$V$ signatures are no longer valid. In this case, ALPs can be probed via non-resonant vector boson scattering (VBS) processes, where the ALP is exchanged off-shell, leading to kinematic deviations from SM expectations. We analyze constraints from both light-by-light scattering and electroweak VBS, the latter only accessible at TeV-scale colliders. While generally weaker, these constraints are robust and model-independent. Our combined analysis shows that mono-$V$ and non-resonant VBS channels provide powerful and complementary probes of ALP-gauge boson interactions.

Muon Spin Rotation/Relaxation/Resonance ({\mu}SR) is a versatile and powerful non-destructive technology for investigating the magnetic properties of materials at the microscopic level. The {\mu}SR technique typically utilizes fully spin polarized beams of positive muons generated at particle accelerator facilities and measures the evolution of the muon spin polarization inside a sample to extract information about the local magnetic environment in materials. With the development of accelerator technologies, intensities of muon beams are being continuously improved, which will cause a pile-up problem to the {\mu}SR spectrometer. The first muon source in China, named MELODY, is currently under construction and will be a pulsed source of muons operated at a repetition frequency of only 1 Hz due to limitations of the accelerator system at CSNS. Consequently, there is a strong motivation to operate MELODY at significantly higher muon intensities. This necessitates an upgrade of the detector system inside the spectrometer, which should be smaller and faster to accommodate the increased intensity per pulse of muons. The Low Gain Avalanche Diode (LGAD), characterized by a typical pulse width of 2 ns and a segmentation size in the centimeters range, has the potential to significantly improve the counting rates of {\mu}SR spectrometers that utilize a high intensity pulsed muon source. Thus, it is expected that the LGAD detector is a promising candidate to enhance the performance of {\mu}SR spectrometers at the new MELODY muon source.To validate this, tests on the LGAD were conducted at the ISIS pulsed muon source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK. This paper will describe the setup of the candidate LGAD devices and the subsequent analysis of the experiment data.

Sensors for particle tracking detectors are required to provide a maximum active area in addition to fulfilling performance criteria concerning radiation hardness, charge collection and operating conditions (e.g. leakage current, depletion voltage and breakdown voltage). While the requirement for optimised coverage within the tracking detector necessitates a slim sensor edge between active region and physical sensor edge, wider edge regions were found to be beneficial for the sensor performance during an early prototyping phase. In order to study the impact of differently sized edge regions, test structures were used to compare their individual active regions. Measurements of each diode were performed using a micro-focused X-ray beam to map its respective active area. This paper presents measurements of these test structures using AREA-X showing that the active area of a silicon particle tracking sensor does not only depend on the size of its bias ring, but also the size and configuration of its edge structure.

The photoproduction of the $^{58}\rm{Co}$ nuclei on ${^{\rm nat}\rm{Ni}}$ was studied using the induced $\gamma$-activity method and off-line $\gamma$-ray spectrometric technique. The experiment was performed at the electron linear accelerator LUE-40 NSC KIPT, Ukraine. The total flux-averaged cross-section $\langle{\sigma(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})}\rangle$ for the ${^{\rm nat}\rm{Ni}}(\gamma,{\rm p} x\rm n)^{58}\rm{Co}$ reaction has been measured in the range of bremsstrahlung end-point energies $E_{\rm{\gamma max}}$ = 35-94 MeV. The obtained $\langle{\sigma(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})}\rangle$ were compared with theoretical estimates. The theoretical values of $\langle{\sigma(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})}\rangle_{\rm th}$ were calculated using the partial cross-sections $\sigma(E)$ from the TALYS1.96 code for different level density models and gamma strength functions.

Two maximum likelihood-based algorithms for unfolding or deconvolution are considered: the Richardson-Lucy method and the Data Unfolding method with Mean Integrated Square Error (MISE) optimization [10]. Unfolding is viewed as a procedure for estimating an unknown probability density function. Both external and internal quality assessment methods can be applied for this purpose. In some cases, external criteria exist to evaluate deconvolution quality. A typical example is the deconvolution of a blurred image, where the sharpness of the restored image serves as an indicator of quality. However, defining such external criteria can be challenging, particularly when a measurement has not been performed previously. In such instances, internal criteria are necessary to assess the quality of the result independently of external information. The article discusses two internal criteria: MISE for the unfolded distribution and the condition number of the correlation matrix of the unfolded distribution. These internal quality criteria are applied to a comparative analysis of the two methods using identical numerical data. The results of the analysis demonstrate the superiority of the Data Unfolding method with MISE optimization over the Richardson-Lucy method.

In this study, we investigate the radiative transitions of predicted triple-charm molecular hexaquarks, which play a significant role in understanding their overall spectroscopic properties. As experimentally measurable quantities, the radiative decay widths provide insights into the internal structures of these triple-charm molecular hexaquarks. Additionally, we calculate their corresponding magnetic moments, which, together with the radiative decay widths, offer a comprehensive picture of the electromagnetic properties of these exotic states. This information is valuable for guiding future experimental searches and advancing our understanding of these unique hadronic systems.

We present a study of the oil-proof base Hamamatsu R5912 photomultiplier tubes that will be used in the SABRE South linear-alkylbenzene liquid scintillator veto. SABRE South is a dark matter direct detection experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory, aiming to test the DAMA/LIBRA dark matter annual modulation signal. We discuss the requirements of the liquid scintillator system and its photomultipliers, outline the methods and analysis used for the characterisation measurements, and results from initial tests. We discuss the impact of these measurements on the performance of the active veto system and explore analysis methods to allow for low threshold operation. Finally, we include results from a small scale liquid scintillator detector prototype used to assess the future performance of pulse shape discrimination in the liquid scintillator veto, and how well accommodated it is by the R5912 PMTs.

Pixel modules are currently being built for the ATLAS ITk Pixel detector upgrade. During the preproduction phase, recurring chip malfunctioning was observed during electrical testing. It was possible to bypass this issue by disabling some pixel core columns in the ITkPix readout chip. Therefore the issue is called "core column issue" which is a direct disqualifier for a pixel module. A concerning number of cases has been observed in pixel modules with ITkPix v1.1 as well as v2 chips which significantly impacts the module yield. However, the behaviour is erratic and there is not any evidence hinting at the origin of this issue. These proceedings outline the investigations of the issue, highlighting the electrical behaviour during testing, present findings from the data collected via our production database and through visual inspection, and point towards possible causes of the issue.