We re-examine by numerical simulation the phase structure of the (3+1)-dimensional SU(2) lattice gauge theory (LGT) with gauge fields coupled to Higgs fields at finite temperature. Concretely, we explore two different order parameters which are able to distinguish the three phases of the theory: (i) the Fredenhagen-Marcu operator used to discriminate between deconfinement and confinement/Higgs phases and (ii) the Greensite-Matsuyama overlap operator proposed recently to distinguish confinement and Higgs phases.

We investigate the axial anomaly in Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory. The definition of axial charge operators is ambiguous, especially between conserved and nonconserved axial charges. While these charges appear to differ only by a higher-order term in lattice spacing, they do not coincide in the continuum limit. We demonstrate, through analytical and numerical calculations in 1+1 dimensions, that the conserved axial charge correctly reproduces the axial anomaly relation in continuous spacetime. Our finding would serve as a valuable lesson about doubler artifact in Hamiltonian time evolution of lattice gauge theory.

We study the S-wave interactions between the nucleon ($N$) and the triply charmed Omega baryon ($\Omega_{\mathrm{ccc}}$) using (2+1)-flavor lattice QCD with a physical pion mass ($m_\pi \simeq 137.1$ MeV) on a lattice volume $\simeq (8.1~\mathrm{fm})^3$. The charm quark is implemented with a relativistic heavy-quark action at its physical mass. Employing the time-dependent HAL QCD method, the $N$-$\Omega_{\mathrm{ccc}}$ potentials in the spin-1 ($^3\mathrm{S}_1$) and spin-2 ($^5\mathrm{S}_2$) channels are extracted. In both channels, overall attraction is found with the scattering parameters, $a_0 = 0.56(0.13)\left(^{+0.26}_{-0.03}\right)$ fm and $r_{\mathrm{eff}} = 1.60(0.05)\left(^{+0.04}_{-0.12}\right)$ fm for the $^3\mathrm{S}_1$ channel, and $a_0 = 0.38(0.12)\left(^{+0.25}_{-0.00}\right)$ fm and $r_{\mathrm{eff}} = 2.04(0.10)\left(^{+0.03}_{-0.22}\right)$ fm for the $^5\mathrm{S}_2$ channel, indicating the absence of a dibaryon bound state. The extracted potentials are further decomposed into spin-independent and spin-dependent components. The spin-independent potential is a dominant component and features a short-range attractive core and a long-range attractive tail, while the spin-dependent potential shows short-range attraction (repulsion) in the spin-1 (spin-2) channel. Qualitative comparisons with previous studies of the $N$-$J/\psi$ and $N$-$\Omega_{\rm{sss}}$ systems at $m_\pi \simeq 146$ MeV are provided, emphasizing the role of heavy-hadron chromo-polarizability arising from soft-gluon exchange between the nucleon and flavor-singlet hadrons. The charm quark mass dependence of the $N$-$\Omega_{\rm ccc}$ potential is investigated as well.

Nucleation rate computations are of broad importance in particle physics and cosmology. Perturbative calculations are often used to compute the nucleation rate $\Gamma$, but these are incomplete. We perform nonperturbative lattice simulations of nucleation in a scalar field theory with a tree-level barrier, computing a final result extrapolated to the thermodynamic and continuum limits. Although the system in question should be well-described by a complete one-loop perturbative calculation, we find only qualitative agreement with the full perturbative result, with a 20% discrepancy in $|\log \Gamma|$. Our result motivates further testing of the current nucleation paradigm.

The gravitational form factors of pions, kaons and the nucleons are investigated by employing modern dispersive techniques and chiral perturbation theory. We determine the gravitational form factors of pions and kaons, extending our analysis to explore the pion mass dependence of these form factors at several unphysical pion masses up to 391 MeV, for which lattice results exist for the meson-meson scattering phase shifts. We also review our analysis on the nucleon gravitational form factors at the physical pion mass, and then systematically calculate various three-dimensional spatial and two-dimensional transverse density distributions for the nucleons. These results provide new insights into the mass distribution inside nucleons. As a by-product, we match our dispersion relation results and those obtained from chiral perturbation theory with external gravitational source at the next-to-next-to-leading order, yielding values for the low-energy constants $c_8=-4.28_{-0.38}^{+0.37} ~\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$ and $c_9=-0.68_{-0.05}^{+0.06} ~\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$. These results offer a robust benchmark for future experimental and theoretical studies.