Gauge fixing is an essential step in lattice QCD calculations, particularly for studying gauge-dependent observables. Traditional iterative algorithms are computationally expensive and often suffer from critical slowing down and scaling bottlenecks on large lattices. We present a novel machine learning framework for lattice gauge fixing, where Wilson lines are utilized to construct gauge transformation matrices within a convolutional neural network. The model parameters are optimized via backpropagation, and we introduce a hybrid strategy that combines a neural-network-based transformation with subsequent iterative methods. Preliminary tests on SU(3) gauge theory ensembles for Coulomb gauge demonstrate the potential of this approach to improve the efficiency of lattice gauge fixing. Furthermore, we show that the model exhibits lattice size transferability, where parameters optimized on smaller lattices remain effective for larger volumes without additional training. This framework provides a scalable path toward mitigating critical slowing down in high-precision gauge fixing.

We present numerical results obtained in a finite-temperature study of the Sp(4) Yang-Mills theory on the lattice. We study its first-order confinement/deconfinement phase transition, by reconstructing the density of states via the Logarithmic Linear Relaxation (LLR) algorithm. We perform our measurements on lattices with different extents of space and time (and aspect ratios). We estimate the size of discretisation and finite-volume artefacts. We find clear signatures of a first-order transition. We determine the critical coupling, the specific heat, and the surface tension, for finite extents of the thermal circle, and use the results to set bounds for the continuum theory.

Lattice QCD simulations are computationally expensive, with the solution of the Dirac equation being the major computational bottleneck of many calculations. We introduce a novel gauge-equivariant neural-network architecture for preconditioning the Dirac equation in the regime where critical slowing down occurs. We study the behavior of this preconditioner as a function of topological charge and lattice volume and show that it mitigates critical slowing down. We also show that this preconditioner transfers to unseen gauge configurations without any retraining, therefore enabling applications not possible with competing methods.

Isospin-breaking corrections pose a significant challenge to lattice simulations, both because of the splitting between the up and down quark masses and, in particular, the need to include QED effects. The RC* collaboration has developed the openQxD code, based on openQCD, which enables fully dynamical QCD+QED simulations through the implementation of C-periodic boundary conditions. We use this code to measure baryon masses, with a special focus on the {\Omega^-} baryon mass, whose precise determination is especially important since it has been used to set the scale of lattice simulations. Due to the use of C-periodic boundary conditions, the two-point function of the {\Omega^-} baryon gets additional partially connected contributions, which vanish in the infinite-volume limit and which we are computing for the first time. We will present preliminary results for baryon masses obtained on QCD ensembles with C-periodic boundary conditions, at an unphysical pion mass of approximately 400 MeV.

We present the first lattice QCD calculation of electromagnetic form factors of a tetraquark, focusing on the $T_{bb} = bb\bar u \bar d$ with quantum numbers $I(J^P) = 0(1^+)$. The electromagnetic current probes the charge monopole, magnetic dipole and the electric quadrupole distributions within the tetraquark. From it, we find evidence that its structure consists of a compact heavy diquark $[bb]$ in spin one, color-antitriplet configuration, and a light antidiquark $[\bar u \bar d]$ in spin zero, color-triplet configuration. The computations were performed on a single CLS ensemble with $N_f = 2+1$ dynamical quarks at a lattice spacing $a\approx 0.064$ fm and with a pion mass $m_\pi \approx 290$ MeV.

In the recent Muon g-2 Theory Initiative white paper update, the hadronic vacuum polarization (HVP) contribution -- which dominates the theoretical uncertainty -- is evaluated as an average of different lattice QCD calculations. Since lattice simulations are mostly carried out in isospin symmetric QCD, corrections due to the mass difference of the up and down quarks and the coupling to photons have to be accounted for. These isospin breaking effects are of order 1\% and can be treated as corrections to the result for the HVP contribution in isospin symmetric QCD. In the current estimate of the HVP contribution, these effects are a large source of uncertainty due to the extensive computational cost to compute all occurring Wick contractions and degrading signal-to-noise behaviour especially for quark disconnected diagrams. We present the current status of the calculation of isospin breaking corrections in the HVP contribution for the RBC/UKQCD collaborations. We use a dataset of propagators computed using stochastic coordinate sampling (SCS) to construct all necessary Wick contractions for the electromagnetic and strong isospin breaking effects. We employ different versions of QED on the lattice, such as QED$_L$, QED$_r$ and QED$_\infty$ to improve our estimate of finite-volume uncertainties.

Hadronic vacuum polarization is a key observable in low-energy QCD, and is famously the greatest contributor to the theoretical uncertainty in the muon magnetic moment. Its long-distance part in particular is a weak point of the current best lattice QCD computations. In this summary of our recent work, we present its computation to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order in chiral perturbation theory, capturing the lowest-energy hadronic contributions to unprecedented precision and opening the door for improved control over lattice finite volume effects. The result depends on a small number of low-energy constants, whose values are mostly under good control. This calculation pushes the envelope of high-order chiral perturbation theory and of the evaluation of multiloop integrals with massive propagators, thereby extending the toolbox for precision calculations in very low-energy QCD.

We present an update on our determination of the light-quark connected contribution to the hadronic vacuum polarization (HVP) of the muon anomalous magnetic moment, $a_\mu$, on a finer lattice with 2+1+1 highly-improved staggered quark (HISQ) ensemble from the MILC collaboration with physical pion mass, 0.042 fm lattice spacing, and size $144^3 \times 288$ sites. Within the low-mode averaging (LMA) framework, the HVP correlator is decomposed into low-low (LL), high-low (HL), low-high (LH) and high-high (HH) components. Since the LL part dominates the total statistical uncertainty but is also the most computationally expensive to evaluate, we implement a sparsening strategy to construct the meson fields efficiently. This approach significantly reduces the computational cost while preserving signal quality. By combining the sparsened LL contribution with HL, LH and HH components, we achieve an improved determination of the light-quark connected HVP contribution to $a_\mu$.

We give an update of our calculation of the light-quark, connected, hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment, or muon $g-2$. The update includes preliminary results on a $2 + 1 + 1$ highly-improved staggered quark (HISQ) ensemble from the MILC collaboration with physical pion mass, $0.042$ fm lattice spacing, and volume $144^3 \times 288$. We discuss code and algorithm improvements for these calculations to compute the vector-vector correlation function more efficiently.

We perform a comprehensive study of the properties of Dirac eigenvalue spectrum in QCD as a function of temperature on the lattice. In addition to effects due to interplay between interactions and disorder inherently present in a many-body system, the Dirac spectrum also contains crucial information about the effective restoration of different subgroups of almost exact two flavor chiral symmetry in QCD. We calculate the infrared eigenvalues of the overlap Dirac operator on 2+1 flavor QCD ensembles generated using domain wall fermion discretization, on a large volume lattice. From the normalized level spacing ratios we identify those eigenvalues which have intermediate level statistics, distinctly different from the majority in the bulk spectrum that follow universal level fluctuations similar to a random matrix of Gaussian unitary type. We provide an explanation of these intermediate level ratios in terms of a specific random matrix model and quantify correlation between these eigenstates and disorder in the gauge fields manifested in the renormalized Polyakov loop values. Whereas existence of these intermediate eigenmodes are intimately connected to the effective restoration of different subgroups of chiral symmetry close to chiral crossover transition, these arise due to effects of random uncorrelated disorder at higher temperatures when the $U_A(1)$ is effectively restored. We also, for the first time, calculate the Thouless conductance for the Dirac spectrum that quantifies the structural rigidity of the eigenvectors, and use it as a diagnostic tool to understand the restoration of the anomalous $U_A(1)$ subgroup of chiral symmetry and localization driven due to disorder.

We present a systematic QCD sum-rule analysis of the in-medium properties of the charged kaon doublet $K^{\pm}$ over the full $(T,\rho)$ plane relevant to current and forthcoming heavy-ion experiments. Working within the QCD sum-rule framework and incorporating temperature-and density-dependent quark, gluon, and mixed condensates, we derive Borel-transformed sum rules for the effective masses $m_{K^{\pm}}$, the pseudoscalar decay constants $f_{K^{\pm}}$, and the vector self-energy $\Sigma_{v}$ of both charged states simultaneously. Our vacuum results, $m_{K^{-}} = 494.6^{+4.9}_{-6.9}$~MeV and $f_{K^{-}} = 157.3^{+4.1}_{-2.9}$~MeV (with near-degenerate $K^{+}$ values), are in excellent agreement with Particle Data Group values at the sub-percent level. In the medium, $m_{K^{\pm}}$ decreases monotonically with increasing baryon density and temperature, signalling progressive partial restoration of chiral symmetry. A pronounced mass splitting $\Delta m = m_{K^{-}} - m_{K^{+}}$ develops in baryonic matter, driven by the opposite sign of the Weinberg--Tomozawa vector interaction for the two charge states; it reaches $|\Delta m| \sim 0.35$~GeV near $\rho \simeq 3.2\,\rho_{\rm sat}$ at $T = 0$ and is partially quenched by thermal fluctuations. A central outcome of this study is the extraction of the critical onset density $\rho_c$, defined as the threshold beyond which the in-medium modifications of $K^{-}$ properties signal the onset of the transition toward the chirally restored phase. We stress that $\rho_c(T)$ should not be interpreted as a precise determination of the QCD critical point-a task beyond the reach of any current effective framework-but rather as an indicator ....

We perform a lattice QCD calculation of the $S$-wave interactions between the ground-state spin-$1/2$ doubly charmed baryons and Goldstone bosons. The lattice QCD simulations are carried out on four $2+1$ flavor Wilson-Clover ensembles generated by the CLQCD collaboration, with a lattice spacing $a=0.07746$ fm and two different pion masses, $M_\pi \sim 210$ and $\sim 300~\mathrm{MeV}$. Energy levels are extracted for four single channels, $\Omega_{cc}\bar{K}^{(-2,1/2)}$, $\Xi_{cc}K^{(1,1)}$, $\Xi_{cc}K^{(1,0)}$, and $\Xi_{cc}\pi^{(0,3/2)}$, where the superscripts $(S,I)$ denote strangeness $S$ and isospin $I$. Our results indicate that the $\Xi_{cc}K^{(1,0)}$ channel is attractive, exhibiting negative energy shifts relative to the non-interacting two-hadron thresholds, while the other three channels are repulsive. Using Lüscher's finite-volume formula, we extract the near-threshold phase shifts and determine the $S$-wave scattering lengths. Furthermore, a virtual state pole is found in the $\Xi_{cc}K^{(1,0)}$ scattering amplitude. These results provide {\it ab initio} input to enable high-precision studies of the properties and spectroscopy of doubly heavy baryons.

I consider the longstanding issue of the hermiticity of the Dirac equation in curved spacetime. Instead of imposing hermiticity by adding ad hoc terms, I renormalize the field by a scaling function, which is related to the determinant of the metric, and then regularize the renormalized field on a discrete lattice. I found that, for time-independent and diagonal (or conformally flat) coordinates, the Dirac equation returns a pseudo-Hermitian (PT-symmetric) Hamiltonian when properly regularized on the lattice. Notably, the PT-symmetry is unbroken, ensuring a real energy spectrum and unitary time evolution. This establishes stringent conditions for the existence of complex spectra in non-Hermitian (NH) models in 1D. Conversely, time-dependent spacetime coordinates break pseudohermiticity, yielding nonunitary time evolution. Similarly, space-dependent spacetime coordinates lead to the NH skin effect, i.e., the accumulation of localized states on the system boundaries. Arguably, these effects are physical: The time dependence leads to local gain and loss processes on the lattice and nonunitary growth or decay over time. Conversely, space dependence leads to the NH skin effect with spatial decay of the fields in a preferential direction. In other words, the curvature gradients induce an imaginary gauge field on the lattice, corresponding to a drift force acting in space and time, pushing the eigenmodes to the boundaries or forcing their probability density to increase or decrease over time. Hence, temporal gradients produce nonunitary gain or loss, while spatial gradients correspond to the NH skin effect, allowing for the description of these two phenomena in a unified framework. This also suggests a duality between NH phenomena and spacetime deformations, framing NH physics in purely geometric terms, and unveils an unexpected connection between the spacetime metric and NH phases of matter.