We study Wilson loops with a nontrivial orientation structure in lattice gauge theory as a probe of the center vortex picture. The observable is a single Wilson loop containing two plaquettes with opposite orientations, realized in two geometries referred to as the vertical and parallel configurations. The vertical case behaves consistently with expectations from the vortex picture. In contrast, the parallel configuration shows a deviation from the naive area-law expectation which cannot be explained solely by the opposite orientations of the plaquettes. We introduce a simple qualitative vortex model which accounts for this behavior and shows that the observed effect can still be understood within the vortex framework.

Understanding a hadron's electric and magnetic polarizabilities allows one to access internal structural information. Traditionally, the external field two-point function method has been used to calculate polarizabilities. However, recent work has demonstrated the effectiveness of using four-point functions for computing polarizabilities of charged and neutral hadrons. Our previous study on the electric polarizability of the charged pion used a quenched Wilson action on a lattice with pion mass from 1100 MeV to 370 MeV. In this work, we employ a number of improvements, including a dynamical action (nHYP), smaller pion masses (220 MeV and 315 MeV), and a variable lattice size in order to extrapolate to infinite volume. Preliminary results are presented.

For Standard Model processes in which on-shell intermediate hadronic states contribute - including inclusive semileptonic decays and long-distance effects in rare exclusive decays such as $D\to \pi \ell\ell$ and $B\to K^{(\ast)}\ell\ell$ - spectral-reconstruction techniques provide a promising route to model-independent lattice QCD predictions for use in phenomenological predictions. The central ingredient is the computation of the energy-smeared spectral density. Following the continuum and infinite-volume limits, the physical amplitude is recovered as the limit of vanishing smearing width. However, achieving sufficiently small smearing for a controlled extrapolation remains a significant challenge for current lattice simulations. In this paper, we therefore propose Standard Model tests, in which both experimental results and theory predictions are smeared with finite width, similar to what has previously been done in the literature for experimental and lattice $R$-ratio data in the context of the muon $(g-2)_\mu$. As concrete examples, we discuss the cases of inclusive meson decay and long-distance contributions to rare semileptonic meson decay.

We investigate light hybrid mesons composed of a light quark-antiquark pair and two gluons within the framework of QCD sum rules. We focus on states with quantum numbers $J^{\mathrm{PC}} = 0^{++}, 0^{+-}, 0^{-+}, 0^{--}$ and $J^{\mathrm{PC}} = 1^{++}, 1^{+-}, 1^{-+}, 1^{--}$. By employing various interpolating currents constructed from valence light quarks and gluon fields, we determine the masses and current couplings of the $\bar{q}GGq$, $\bar{q}GGs$, and $\bar{s}GGs$ hybrid configurations. Nonperturbative effects are incorporated through quark and gluon condensates up to dimension twelve in the operator product expansion, improving the reliability of the numerical predictions. The results presented here may provide useful input for future experimental searches for light hybrid mesons and can also serve as a basis for studies of their decay properties and interactions with other hadronic states.

This work presents a detailed account of the Feynman integrals required for the three-loop hadronic vacuum polarization calculation performed in arXiv:2511.12885. We explain how to compute each of the three-loop integrals, and outline the mathematical framework underlying their evaluation. This culminates in a practical numerical implementation that enables fast and accurate evaluation of these integrals for arbitrary complex values of the photon virtuality.

A scattering event in a quantum field theory is a coherent superposition of all processes consistent with its symmetries and kinematics. While real-time simulations have progressed toward resolving individual channels, existing approaches rely on knowledge of the asymptotic particle wavefunctions. This work introduces an experimentally inspired method to isolate scattering channels in Matrix Product State simulations based on the entanglement structure of the late-time wavefunction. Schmidt decompositions at spatial bipartitions of the post-scattering state identify elastic and inelastic contributions, enabling deterministic detection of outgoing particles of specific species. This method may be used in settings beyond scattering and is applied to detect heavy particles produced in a collision in the one-dimensional Ising field theory. Natural extensions to quantum simulations of other systems and higher-order processes are discussed.

We consider 4D $SU(N)$ gauge theories coupled to gravity in the Causal Dynamical Triangulations (CDT) approach, focusing on the topological classification of the gauge path integral over fixed triangulations. We discretize the topological charge and, after checking the emergence of topology and the continuum scaling on flat triangulations, we show that topology emerges on thermalized triangulations only in the so-called $C$-phase of CDT, thus enforcing the link between such phase and semiclassical spacetime. We also provide a tool to visualize the topological structures.

We provide the first lattice-QCD estimate of the crossover line down to $T\simeq108$~MeV. We introduce a new method that combines the Lee-Yang edge in the complex plane of baryon chemical potential $\mu_B$ with universal chiral scaling to determine the $\mu_B$ dependence of the QCD chiral critical and pseudo-critical temperatures. By performing $(2\!+\!1)$-flavor lattice QCD simulations at $T\simeq108$~MeV and purely imaginary $\mu_B$ with a single lattice spacing and two volumes, we compute $\mu_B$-dependent baryon-number susceptibilities and extract the location of the Lee-Yang edge. Together with universal scaling near the QCD chiral transition, it constrains the mapping function between $\{T,\mu_B\}$ and the scaling variable (\textit{i.e.}\ the argument of the universal scaling functions). This mapping function then yields the $\mu_B$ dependence of the critical and pseudo-critical temperatures for $T\gtrsim108$~MeV. While our calculation is performed only at a single value of low temperature without explicit input from small-$\mu_B$ expansion, the resulting $\mu_B$ dependence of the pseudo-critical temperature is consistent with established lattice-QCD determinations at small $\mu_B$ and compatible with chemical freeze-out parameters of heavy-ion collisions down to low temperatures, demonstrating the validity and robustness of the method. Application of this method can be systematically extended to additional temperatures and finer discretizations, opening a pathway to charting the QCD phase diagram in the low-$T$, high-$\mu_B$ regime.

We investigate a non-Abelian SU$(2)$ quantum link model in $2+1$ dimensions on a hexagonal lattice using tensor network methods. We determine the static quark potential for a wide range of bare coupling values and find that the theory is confining. We also probe the existence of a Lüscher term and find a clear signal with a $g^2$ dependent coefficient, in qualitative agreement with a strong coupling expansion. Correspondingly, the width of the strings scales logarithmically with the string length again for all $g^2$-values, providing evidence for a rough string, with no indication for a roughening transition.

Proton-proton fusion is the fundamental weak reaction initiating stellar energy production, and a first-principles determination of its matrix element remains a long-standing goal of nuclear theory. We present a lattice QCD calculation of the pp fusion matrix element at m_pi~432 MeV. We implement Lellouch-Luscher (LL) finite-volume (FV) corrections within a 2+J->2 framework, accounting for two-nucleon (2N) rescattering, to relate FV matrix elements to infinite-volume counterparts. Excited-state contamination is suppressed using bi-local nucleon-nucleon interpolating operators and a variational analysis with three lowest momenta. This enables determination of 2N energy spectrum and scattering parameters via Luscher's FV formalism. Before including rescattering effects in the LL factor, we obtain <d|J|pp>/g_A = 0.984(10), where g_A is the axial charge. The deviation from unity indicates a small nonvanishing 2-body current contribution. Our analysis shows that rescattering effects in LL factors substantially modify the 2-body contribution, while large uncertainties in 2N scattering parameters propagate strongly into FV corrections. Thus, precise determination of the 2-body low-energy constant L_{1,A} remains highly challenging with current lattice inputs. Despite the large uncertainty, L_{1,A}=6.0(7.1) fm^3 is compatible, at the level of naturalness, with phenomenological extractions. This work demonstrates feasibility and intrinsic challenges of ab initio lattice QCD calculations of weak 2N reactions, and establishes a foundation for future studies at or near the physical pion mass.

For a smooth map $g: X \to U(N)$, where $X$ is a three-dimensional, oriented, and closed manifold, the winding number is defined as $W_3 = \frac{1}{24\pi^2} \int_{X} \mathrm{Tr}\left[(g^{-1}dg)^3\right]$. We present a discrete formulation to compute $W_3$ based on the concept of $\theta$-gaps. Our approach provides a robust scheme that is directly applicable even to systems with accidental or symmetry-enforced degeneracies. Furthermore, we define two versions of the discrete flux: a simple unmodified flux that is highly practical and almost always quantized for fine grids, and a modified flux that strictly ensures integer quantization.

Tensor-polarized twist-3 parton distribution functions (PDFs) $f_{LT}(x)$ are calculated for the spin-1 deuteron by using twist-2 relations, which are similar to the Wandzura-Wilczek relation and the Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule in the spin-1/2 nucleon, together with tensor-polarized twist-2 PDFs $f_{1LL}(x)$. The PDFs are shown for $f_{LT}(x)$ at $Q^2 =2.5$ GeV$^2$, where the tensor-polarized PDFs $f_{1LL}(x)$ are provided. The $x$-dependence of $f_{LT}(x)$ is similar to $f_{1LL}(x)$, and the magnitude of $f_{LT}(x)$ is roughly of the order of $f_{1LL}(x)$. In experiments at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), higher-twist effects could be sizable because $Q^2$ values are not very large in comparison with the hadronic scale of 1 GeV$^2$. Therefore, the JLab experiments could provide a good opportunity to investigate the twist-3 distributions $f_{LT}(x)$ in addition to the twist-2 ones $f_{1LL}(x)$. Furthermore, these tensor-polarized PDFs could be investigated at future Electron-Ion Colliders (EICs) and hadron accelerator facilities such as the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the Nuclotron-based Ion Collider fAcility (NICA), and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) is not a Poincaré invariant quantity; so, its value is observer dependent. Notwithstanding that, in quantum chromodynamics, a Poincaré-invariant theory, OAM is part of every hadron wave function. Using continuum Schwinger function methods, we elucidate both the subjective character of in-hadron OAM and expose some of its impacts on pion and kaon structure and observables. For instance, working with light-front projections of their Bethe-Salpeter wave functions, it is found that the pion is a roughly 50/50 mix of light-front OAM zero and one components and the kaon is a 60/40 system. The overall picture is that (near) Nambu-Goldstone modes are complex bound states, each with significant intrinsic OAM, independent of the observer's reference frame. This feature must be accounted for in the calculation of observables. Inductively, the same is true for all hadrons.