This document summarises discussions on future directions in theoretical neutrino physics, which are the outcome of a neutrino theory workshop held at CERN in February 2025. The starting point is the realisation that neutrino physics offers unique opportunities to address some of the most fundamental questions in physics. This motivates a vigorous experimental programme which the theory community fully supports. \textbf{A strong effort in theoretical neutrino physics is paramount to optimally take advantage of upcoming neutrino experiments and to explore the synergies with other areas of particle, astroparticle, and nuclear physics, as well as cosmology.} Progress on the theory side has the potential to significantly boost the physics reach of experiments, as well as go well beyond their original scope. Strong collaboration between theory and experiment is essential in the precision era. To foster such collaboration, \textbf{we propose to establish a CERN Neutrino Physics Centre.} Taking inspiration from the highly successful LHC Physics Center at Fermilab, the CERN Neutrino Physics Centre would be the European hub of the neutrino community, covering experimental and theoretical activities.

We study the transverse energy--energy correlator (TEEC) observable in photon--hadron and photon--jet production in p+p and p+A collisions at small $x$. We derive the relevant expressions in the high-energy limit of the scattering where the dipole picture is applicable and show how the dependence on the fragmentation function of the hadron cancels due to the momentum-sum rule. The nonperturbative scattering with the target nucleus is expressed in terms of the dipole amplitude, which also describes nonlinear gluon saturation effects. The TEEC observable is computed in the RHIC and LHC kinematics, and we show that it can be sensitive to the dipole amplitude, making it a potentially good observable for studying saturation effects.

We explore the mass resonance structure that naturally arises from extra-dimensional models. The resonance can enhance the dark matter annihilation as well as self-interaction. We demonstrate such a resonance structure by considering the fermionic dark matter and dark photon models on an $S^1/(Z_2 \times Z_2')$ orbifold. We also note that this model embeds dark matter axial vector coupling to the dark photon, which opens up the viable dark matter parameter space. We then present the unique predictions for direct-detection experiments and accelerator searches.

We explore the detection prospects for a minimal secluded dark matter model, where a fermionic dark matter particle interacts with the Standard Model (SM) via a kinetically mixed dark photon. We focus on scenarios where the dark photon decays visibly, making it a prime target for beam-dump experiments. In this model, the dark matter relic abundance can be achieved by a variety of mechanisms: freeze-in, out-of-equilibrium freeze-out, and secluded freeze-out. We demonstrate that the secluded freeze-out regime in the considered mass range is now entirely excluded by a combination of direct and indirect detection constraints. Moreover, we show that future direct detection and intensity frontier experiments offer complementary sensitivity to this minimal model in the parameter space where the hidden sector never enters equilibrium with the SM. In out-of-equilibrium freeze-out scenarios, nuclear-recoil direct detection experiments can still access signals above the neutrino fog that are mediated by dark photons that are too weakly coupled to be detected in future beam dump experiments. Meanwhile, future beam dump experiments provide a powerful probe of the freeze-in parameter space in this model, which is largely inaccessible to direct detection experiments. Notably, even in the absence of a future observation in direct detection experiments, a dark photon discovery remains possible at SHiP, DUNE, LHCb, and DarkQuest within this minimal dark matter model.

The International Axion Observatory (IAXO) is a next-generation axion helioscope designed to search for solar axions with unprecedented sensitivity. IAXO holds a unique position in the global landscape of axion searches, as it will probe a region of the axion parameter space inaccessible to any other experiment. In particular, it will explore QCD axion models in the mass range from meV to eV, covering scenarios motivated by astrophysical observations and potentially extending to axion dark matter models. Several studies in recent years have demonstrated that IAXO has the potential to probe a wide range of new physics beyond solar axions, including dark photons, chameleons, gravitational waves, and axions from nearby supernovae. IAXO will build upon the two-decade experience gained with CAST, the detailed studies for BabyIAXO, which is currently under construction, as well as new technologies. If, in contrast to expectations, solar axion searches with IAXO ``only'' result in limits on new physics in presently uncharted parameter territory, these exclusions would be very robust and provide significant constraints on models, as they would not depend on untestable cosmological assumptions.

The discovery of the lepton number violation would be a smoking gun signal for physics beyond the Standard Model, and its most sensitive probe is the search for neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$). Working in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), we show that one-loop effects can remarkably improve the tree-level bounds on the new-physics scales for several dimension-7 operators across different flavours. Using ultraviolet model examples, we then showcase the competition among $0\nu\beta\beta$ contributions induced by dimension-7 and loop-level dimension-5 SMEFT operators.

Some of the most astonishing and prominent properties of Quantum Mechanics, such as entanglement and Bell nonlocality, have only been studied extensively in dedicated low-energy laboratory setups. The feasibility of these studies in the high-energy regime explored by particle colliders was only recently shown, and has gathered the attention of the scientific community. For the range of particles and fundamental interactions involved, particle colliders provide a novel environment where quantum information theory can be probed, with energies exceeding, by about 12 orders of magnitude, the laboratory setups typically used in the field. Furthermore, collider detectors have inherent advantages in performing certain quantum information measurements, and allow for the reconstruction the state of the system under consideration via quantum state tomography. Here, we elaborate on the potential, challenges, and goals of this innovative and rapidly evolving line of research, and discuss its expected impact on both quantum information theory and high-energy physics.

We consider a Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky (DFSZ) axion model extended with two right-handed neutrino fields to realize the minimal type-I seesaw. In this $\nu$DFSZ scheme we systematically determine the simplest quark and lepton flavor patterns compatible with masses, mixing and charge-parity violation data, realized by flavored U(1) Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetries. We discuss axion dark matter production in pre and post-inflationary cosmology in this context, and predictions for the axion couplings to photons and fermions. In particular, helioscopes and haloscopes are able to probe our models via their distinct axion-to-photon couplings, while in the quark sector the most stringent constraints on axion-fermion couplings are set by $K^+ \rightarrow \pi^+ + a$. Flavor-violating constraints in the lepton sector are not as relevant as those stemming from star cooling that restrict the diagonal $ee$ and $\mu\mu$ axion couplings to charged leptons. We also obtain axion mass bounds for the most interesting models and discuss how minimal flavored PQ symmetries provide a natural framework to suppress flavor-violating couplings.

Due to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, atomic electrons localized around the nucleus exhibit a characteristic momentum distribution that, in elements with high atomic number, remains significant up to relativistic values. Consequently, in fixed-target experiments, atoms can effectively act as electron accelerators, increasing the centre-of-mass energy in collisions with beam particles. In this work, we leverage this effect to explore its potential for new physics searches. We consider positrons from beams of various energies annihilating with atomic electrons in a $^{74}$W fixed target. We compute the production rates of new vector bosons and pseudoscalar particles as functions of their couplings and masses. We show that the electron-at-rest approximation significantly underestimates the mass reach for producing these new states compared to the results obtained by properly accounting for atomic electron momenta. In particular, we estimate the sensitivity for detecting these new particles using the positron beam at the Beam Test Facility linac at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, the H4 beamline in the CERN North Area, and the proposed Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility of Jefferson Laboratory.

We derive a factorization formula for inclusive jet production in heavy-ion collisions using the tools of Effective Field Theory (EFT). We show how physics at widely separated scales in this process can be systematically separated by matching to EFTs at successively lower virtualities. Owing to a strong scale separation, we recover a vacuum-like DGLAP evolution above the jet scale, while the additional low-energy scales induced by the medium effectively probe the internal structure of the jet. As a result, the cross section can be written as a series with an increasing number of subjets characterized by perturbative matching coefficients each of which is convolved with a {\it distinct} function. These functions encode broadening, medium-induced radiations as well as quantum interference such as the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect and color coherence dynamics to all orders in perturbation theory. As a first application of this EFT framework, we investigate the case of an unresolved jet and show how the cross section can be factorized and fully separate the jet dynamics from the universal physics of the medium. To compare to the existing literature, we explicitly compute the medium jet function at next-to-leading order in the coupling and leading order in medium opacity.

Axions can naturally be very light due to the protection of (approximate) shift symmetry. Because of the pseudoscalar nature, the long-range force mediated by the axion at the tree level is spin dependent, which cannot lead to observable effects between two unpolarized macroscopic objects. At the one-loop level, however, the exchange of two axions does mediate a spin-independent force. This force is coherently enhanced when there exists an axion background. In this work, we study the two-axion exchange force in a generic axion background. We find that the breaking of the axion shift symmetry plays a crucial role in determining this force. The background-induced axion force $V_{\rm bkg}$ vanishes in the shift-symmetry restoration limit. The shift symmetry can be broken either explicitly by non-perturbative effects or effectively by the axion background. When the shift symmetry is broken, $V_{\rm bkg}$ scales as $1/r$ and could be further enhanced by a large occupation number of the background axions. We investigate possible probes on this using fifth-force search and atomic spectroscopy experiments.

We propose a new extension of the Standard Model that incorporates a gauged $U(1)_{\rm B-L}$ symmetry and the type-III seesaw mechanism to explain neutrino mass generation and provide a viable dark matter (DM) candidate. Unlike the type-I seesaw, the type-III seesaw extension under $U(1)_{\rm B-L}$ is not automatically anomaly-free. We show that these anomalies can be canceled by introducing additional chiral fermions, which naturally emerge as DM candidates in the model. We thoroughly analyze the DM phenomenology, including relic density, direct and indirect detection prospects, and constraints from current experimental data. Furthermore, we explore the collider signatures of the model, highlighting the enhanced production cross-section of the triplet fermions mediated by the B-L gauge boson, as well as the potential disappearing track signatures. Additionally, we investigate the gravitational wave signals arising from the first-order phase transition during B-L symmetry breaking, offering a complementary cosmological probe of the framework.

We explore the relation between two distinct prescriptions for $\gamma_5$ in dimensional regularization -- the Breitenlohner Maison t'Hooft Veltman (BMHV) scheme and Naive Dimensional Regularisation (NDR). The BMHV scheme is the only algebraically consistent scheme, but necessitates chiral symmetry restoring counterterms and it is computationally more expensive, limiting its practical use. We show how the quantum effective action can be translated between both schemes and present these translation rules for the Wilson Coefficients of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), that can easily be implemented into automated tools for SMEFT computations. Finally, we examine how this scheme dependence manifests itself in matching calculations, identifying the cases in which the dependence cancels in the final result. To examplify this, we consider a concrete UV scenario matched onto the SMEFT at one-loop order in both schemes. Our work aims to facilitate more accurate SMEFT computations and can be considered as a first step towards a comprehensive map between the two continuation schemes.

Multidimensional phase space integrals must be calculated in order to obtain predictions for total or differential cross sections, or to simulate unweighted events of multiparticle reactions. The corresponding matrix elements, already in the leading order, receive contributions typically from dozens of thousands of the Feynman diagrams, many of which often involve strong peaks due to denominators of some Feynman propagators approaching their minima. As the number of peaks exceeds by far the number of integration variables, such integrals can practically be performed within the multichannel Monte Carlo approach, with different phase space parameterizations, each designed to smooth possibly a few peaks at a time. This obviously requires a lot different phase space parameterizations which, if possible, should be generated and combined in a single multichannel Monte Carlo procedure in a fully automatic way.A few different approaches to the calculation of the multidimensional phase space integrals have been incorporated in version 4.5 of the multipurpose Monte Carlo program carlomat. The present work illustrates how carlomat_4.5 can facilitate the challenging task of calculating the multidimensional phase space integrals.

I present a consistent way to include $\eta$-$\eta^\prime$ mixing in global analyses of two-body decays of heavy hadrons employing the approximate flavour-SU(3) symmetry of QCD. The framework is applied to $D\to P \eta^\prime$ decays, where $P$ denotes a pseudoscalar meson. The result shows that flavour-SU(3) symmetry holds in the decay rates of these modes to better than 30%. With future data we expect the branching ratios of $D_s\to K^+ \eta^\prime$ and $D \to K^+\eta^\prime$ to move upward and downward by $\sim\!\! 1\sigma$, respectively. Subsequently I discuss the implications of the LHCb measurements of the CP asymmetries in $D\to K^+K^-$ and $D\to \pi^+\pi^-$ for generic scenarios of new physics. New-physics contributions should have imprints on other CP asymmetries as well and can be tested through sum rules. Promising decays are $D_s^+\to K^0\pi^+$, $D^+\to \bar K^0K^+$, $D^0\to K^0 \bar K^{*0}$, $D^0\to \bar K^0 K^{*0}$, $D_s^+\to K^{*0}\pi^+$, and $D^+\to \bar K^{*0}K^+$.

We study general properties of confinement phase transitions in the early universe. An observable gravitational wave signal from such transitions requires significant supercooling. However, in almost all understood examples of confining gauge theories the degree of supercooling is too small to give interesting gravitational wave signals. We review and highlight the evidence why supercooling is not generic in confining gauge theories. The exceptions are Randall-Sundrum models which define a strongly coupled gauge theory holographically by a 5D gravitational theory. We construct a simple illustrative model of a 4D gauge theory inspired by features of the Randall-Sundrum model. It is a large-$N$ gauge theory in the conformal window coupled to a weakly coupled scalar field which undergoes a supercooled phase transition that breaks the conformal symmetry and triggers confinement. We show that there are interesting features in the gravitational wave spectra that can carry the imprint of the confining gauge theory.

Data from particle physics experiments are unique and are often the result of a very large investment of resources. Given the potential scientific impact of these data, which goes far beyond the immediate priorities of the experimental collaborations that obtain them, it is imperative that the collaborations and the wider particle physics community publish and preserve sufficient information to ensure that this impact can be realised, now and into the future. The information to be published and preserved includes the algorithms, statistical information, simulations and the recorded data. This publication and preservation requires significant resources, and should be a strategic priority with commensurate planning and resource allocation from the earliest stages of future facilities and experiments.

A thermal model describing hadron production in heavy-ion collisions in the few-GeV energy regime is combined with the idea of nucleon coalescence to make predictions for the $^3$H and $^3$He nuclei production. A realistic parametrization of the freeze-out conditions is used, which reproduces well the spectra of protons and pions. It also correctly predicts the deuteron yield that agrees with the experimental value. The predicted yields of $^3$H and $^3$He appear to be smaller by about a factor of two compared to the experimental results. The model predictions for the spectra can be compared with future experimental data.

Typically, the interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter is assumed to be very small. Nevertheless, in this article, I show that the effective resonant absorption of dark photon dark matter in the atmosphere is definitely possible. This might also be associated with the alleged temperature anomalies observed in our upper stratosphere. By allowing a small amount of additional energy deposition to our upper stratosphere, a narrow dark matter mass range $m_A \sim 0.0001-0.001$ eV and the corresponding range of the mixing parameter $\varepsilon$ are constrained for the first time. This proposal might overturn our usual assumption of extremely weak interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter and revive the hope of detecting dark matter directly. Some important implications of this proposal such as the heating of planets and supermassive dark stars would also be discussed.

In this letter, we generally analyze the $\mu - \tau$ reflection symmetry modified by small mixings of charged leptons and interpret deviations of the mixing angle $\theta_{23}$ and the Dirac CP phase $\delta$. As an approximaition, the left-handed diagonalization $U_{e}$ of charged leptons is assumed to have a similar magnitude as the CKM matrix. In other words, the 1-3 mixing is neglected and the 1-2 and 2-3 mixing are to be about $O(0.1)$. The Dirac CP phase $\delta$ of the MNS matrix is evaluated in such parameter regions. As a result, since deviations from the predictions $\sin \theta_{23} = \pi/4, \delta = \pm \pi/2$ has information on the charged lepton sector, the observation of $\delta$ gives an indication of the dominant contribution depending on a magnitude of the deviation. On the other hand, if $\d$ is not observed, such a scenario is excluded by about 5 years of observation of next-generation experiments.

The Belle II collaboration recently reported a $2.7\sigma$ excess in the rare decay $B^\pm \to K^\pm \nu \bar{\nu}$, potentially signaling new physics. We propose an axion-like particle (ALP)-portal dark matter (DM) framework to explain this anomaly while satisfying the observed DM relic abundance. By invoking a resonant annihilation mechanism ($m_a \sim 2m_\chi$), we demonstrate that the ALP-mediated interactions between the Standard Model and DM sectors simultaneously account for the $B^\pm \to K^\pm \nu \bar{\nu}$ anomaly and thermal freeze-out dynamics. Two distinct scenarios-long-lived ALPs decaying outside detectors (displaced diphotons) and ALPs decaying invisibly to DM pairs (missing energy)-are examined. While the displaced diphotons scenario is excluded by kaon decay bounds ($K^\pm \to \pi^\pm + \text{inv.}$), the invisible decay channel remains unconstrained and aligns with Belle II's missing energy signature. Using the coupled Boltzmann equation formalism, we rigorously incorporate early kinetic decoupling effects, revealing deviations up to a factor of 20 from traditional relic density predictions in resonance regions. For the missing energy scenario, the viable parameter space features ALP-SM and ALP-DM couplings: $g_{aWW} \in (7.3 \times 10^{-5} - 1.1 \times 10^{-4})\, \text{GeV}^{-1}$ (from $B^\pm \to K^\pm a$) and $g_{a\chi\chi} \in (6.1\times10^{-5} - 6.0\times 10^{-3})\, \text{GeV}^{-1}$ (for resonant annihilation), accommodating ALP masses $m_a \in (0.6, 4.8)\, \text{GeV}$. Therefore, this work establishes the ALP portal as a viable bridge between the $B^\pm \to K^\pm \nu \bar{\nu}$ anomaly and thermal DM production, emphasizing precision calculations of thermal decoupling in resonance regimes.

In this work, we study the generalized transverse momentum dependent distribution (GTMD) $E_{21}$ for proton using light-front quark-diquark model. We construct the expression of $E_{21}$ GTMD using the overlap equation in light-front wave functions obtained from the GTMD correlator with Dirac matrix structure $\Gamma=1$, in both situations of scalar and vector diquark. The $3$-dimensional plots of GTMD $E_{21}$ have been analyzed with respect to its variables by taking two variables at a time while holding others constant.

We report our results for the tensor meson pole contributions to the Hadronic Light-by-Light piece of $a_\mu$, using Resonance Chiral Theory in the purely hadronic region. Given the differences between the dispersive and holographic results for it and the resulting discussion of the corresponding uncertainty estimate for the Hadronic Light-by-Light section of the $g\, -\, 2$ theory initiative second White Paper, we consider timely to present an alternative evaluation. In our approach, in addition to the lightest tensor meson nonet, two vector meson resonance nonets are considered. We work in the chiral limit, where all parameters are determined by imposing short-distance QCD constraints, and the radiative tensor decay widths. Within this setting, only the form factor $F_1^T$ is non-vanishing, in agreement with the result put forward by the dispersive study. We obtain the following results for the different contributions (in units of $10^{-11}$): $a_\mu^{\rm a_2-pole}=-1.09(10)_{\rm stat}(^{+0.00}_{-0.11})_{\rm syst}$, $a_\mu^{\rm f_2-pole}=-3.4(3)_{\rm stat}(^{+0.4}_{-0.0})_{\rm syst}$ and $a_\mu^{\rm f_2^\prime-pole}=-0.046(14)_{\rm stat}(^{+0.008}_{-0.000})_{\rm syst}$, which add up to $a_\mu^{\rm (a_2+f_2+f_2^\prime)-pole}=-4.5^{+0.5}_{-0.3}$.

We investigate general relativistic effects on the photon spectrum emitted from decaying (or annihilating) particle dark matter in the halo surrounding a primordial black hole. The spectrum undergoes significant modification due to gravitational redshifts, which induces broadening as a result of the intense gravitational field near the black hole. This characteristic alteration in the photon spectrum presents a unique observational signature. Future observations of such spectral features may provide critical evidence for a mixed dark matter scenario, involving both primordial black holes and particle dark matter.

Transition to the reflective scattering mode which has emerged at the highest LHC energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV results in a relative shrinkage with the energy of the impact parameter region responsible for the inelastic hadron collisions. Respective increasing role of the multiplicity fluctuations of quantum origin is emphasized.

The Fourier transformed chiral even generalized parton distributions $(GPDs)$ for purely transverse momentum transfer $(\Delta^+=0)$ characterize an individual parton distribution of a hyperon in a perpendicular plane at some distance from the center of momentum of the system. Further, the presence of left-right asymmetry in the distorted parton distribution gives a clue for the presence of single-spin asymmetry. In order to have a deep insight into the distortions, we have exhibited the information about asymmetries from the spin flip matrix element of a $GPD$ for hyperons by employing scalar diquark model and also compared parton distributions of different possible combinations of quark-diquark pair to get substantial structural information on hyperons.

We discuss model-independent contributions to the electron EDM, focusing on those contributions emerging from a heavy scalar sector linearly realized. To provide a concrete new physics realization, we investigate the aligned 2HDM in the decoupling limit. We point out that logarithmically enhanced contributions generated from Barr-Zee diagrams with a fermion loop are present in the aligned 2HDM, an effect encoded in the decoupling limit by effective dimension-6 operators, through the mixing of four-fermion into dipole operators. The same large logarithms are absent in specific 2HDMs where a $\mathcal Z_2$ symmetry is enforced, which thus controls the basis of effective operators relevant for calculating new physics contributions to EDMs. In other words, the $\mathcal Z_2$ symmetry acts as a suppression mechanism. In the aligned 2HDM these contributions are proportional to sources of CP violation that are potentially large, and absent in presence of the $\mathcal Z_2$ symmetry. We then investigate the impact on the electron EDM of this extended set of free parameters.

We present an improved evaluation of the two-photon exchange correction to the unpolarized lepton-proton elastic scattering process at very low-energies relevant to the MUSE experiment, where only the dominant intermediate elastic proton is considered. We employ the framework of heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory and invoke the soft-photon approximation in order to reduce the intricate 4-point loop-integrals into simpler 3-point loop-integrals. In the present work, we adopt a more robust methodology compared to an earlier work along the same lines for analytically evaluating the loop-integrations, and incorporate important corrections at next-to-next-to-leading order. These include the proton's structure effects which renormalize the proton-photon interaction vertices and the proton's propagator. Finally, our results allow a model-independent estimation of the charge asymmetry for the scattering of unpolarized massive leptons and anti-leptons.

Axion dark matter coupled via QCD induces a non-zero differential acceleration between test masses of different composition. Tests of the equivalence principle, like the recent MICROSCOPE space mission, are sensitive to such a signal. We use the final released data of the MICROSCOPE experiment, to search for this effect. We find no positive signal consistent with the dark matter model, and set upper limits on the axion-gluon coupling that improve existing laboratory bounds by up to two orders of magnitude for axion masses in the $10^{-17}$ eV to $10^{-13}$ eV range.

The transverse polarization of $\Lambda$ hyperons within unpolarized jets originates from the transverse-momentum-dependent (TMD) fragmentation function $D_{1T}^\perp (z, p_T, \mu^2)$. In the vacuum environment, the QCD evolution of this TMD fragmentation function is governed by the Collins-Soper equation. However, in the presence of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) medium, the jet-medium interaction induces a transverse-momentum-broadening effect that modifies the QCD evolution. As a result, the transverse spin polarization of $\Lambda$ hyperons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions differs from that in $pp$ collisions. We demonstrate that this difference serves as a sensitive probe for studying jet-medium interaction, offering a novel perspective through the spin degree of freedom.

We calculate two-loop renormalization group equations (RGEs) in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) with right-handed neutrinos, i.e., the so-called $\nu$SMEFT, up to dimension five. Besides the two-loop RGEs of dimension-five (dim-5) operators, we also present those of the renormalizable couplings, including contributions from dim-5 operators. We check consistency relations among the first and second poles of $\varepsilon \equiv (4-d)/2$ with $d$ being the space-time dimension for all renormalization constants and find that those for lepton doublet and right-handed neutrino wave-function renormalization constants, as well as for renormalization constants of charged-lepton and neutrino Yukawa coupling matrices, do not hold. This leads to divergent RG functions for these fields and Yuwawa coupling matrices. We figure out that such infinite RG functions arise from the non-invariance of fields and Yukawa coupling matrices under field redefinitions, considering that flavor transformations are a kind of linear field redefinitions. Those infinite RG functions will disappear once one restores contributions from the derivative of renormalization constants with respect to the Wilson coefficients of redundant operators or, alternatively, considers the RGEs of flavor invariants, which are physical quantities and remain invariant under field redefinitions.

In this work we shall consider the effects of a non-trivial topology on the effective potential of the Standard Model. Specifically we shall assume that the spacetime topology is $S^1\times R^3$ and we shall calculate the Standard Model effective potential for such a topological spacetime. As we demonstrate, for small values of the compact dimension radius, the electroweak symmetry is unbroken, but for a critical length and beyond, the electroweak symmetry is broken, since the configuration space of the Higgs field contains an additional energetically favorable minimum, compared to the minimum at the origin. The two minima are separated by a barrier, thus a phase transition can occur, via quantum tunnelling, which mimics a first order phase transition. This is a non-thermal phase transition, similar possibly to quantum Hall topological phase transitions, hence in the context of this scenario, the electroweak symmetry breaking does not require a high temperature to occur. The present scenario does not rely on the occurrence of the inflationary era, only on the expansion of the Universe, however we briefly discuss the freezing of the superhorizon terms in $S^1\times R^3$ spacetime, if inflation occurred. We also investigate the large scale differences of the gravitational potential due to the non-trivial topology. Finally, we briefly mention the distinct inequivalent topological field configurations that can exist due to the non-trivial topology, which are classified by the first Stieffel class which in the case at hand is $H^{1}(S^{1}{\times R}^{3},Z_{\widetilde{2}})=Z_2$, so even and odd elements can exist. We also briefly qualitatively discuss how a topologically induced electroweak phase transition can yield primordial gravitational waves.

We propose a numerical method of searching for parameters with experimental constraints in generic flavor models by utilizing diffusion models, which are classified as a type of generative artificial intelligence (generative AI). As a specific example, we consider the $S_4^\prime$ modular flavor model and construct a neural network that reproduces quark masses, the CKM matrix, and the Jarlskog invariant by treating free parameters in the flavor model as generating targets. By generating new parameters with the trained network, we find various phenomenologically interesting parameter regions where an analytical evaluation of the $S_4^\prime$ model is challenging. Additionally, we confirm that the spontaneous CP violation occurs in the $S_4^\prime$ model. The diffusion model enables an inverse problem approach, allowing the machine to provide a series of plausible model parameters from given experimental data. Moreover, it can serve as a versatile analytical tool for extracting new physical predictions from flavor models.

We present a model-independent method to study the four-body decay $B\to K^*(\to K^+\pi^-)\mu^+\mu^-$, based on extracting continuous observables with a moments approach. The method allows the observables to be determined unbinned in both the dilepton and $K^+\pi^-$ invariant masses on which the decay dynamics depend. This will allow the method to shed new light on how the observables depend on the P- and S-wave contributions to the $K^+\pi^-$ system. This approach contrasts with the state-of-the-art analyses, which bin in dilepton and $K^+\pi^-$ mass, or use a model for the dependence of the underlying decay amplitudes on these masses. The method does not require making a statistical fit, and so avoids problems of biases and poor uncertainty estimation when dealing with small samples or a large number of fit parameters. We provide the Standard Model predictions for the unbinned optimised observables, derive new geometrical bounds on their values and study the robustness of these bounds in the presence of a scalar new physics contribution. We explore the zero-crossing points of $P_2$ and $P_{4,5}^\prime$ observables as a function of a new physics contribution to the dominant vector Wilson coefficient, $C_9^{\rm NP}$. We also discuss the conditions that can be used to test the theoretical model of the amplitudes needed for an experimental amplitude analysis. Finally, as an illustration, we show how the proposed method might be used to extract the zero-crossing points, make a comparison with the bounds and test a non-trivial relation between the observable values.

Observations of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at high redshifts challenge standard seeding scenarios. We examine a dissipative self-interacting dark matter (dSIDM) model in which gravothermal collapse leads to the formation of massive BH seeds ab initio. We utilize a semi-analytical framework to predict properties of the dSIDM-seeded SMBH population. Billion solar mass quasars are reproduced along with low-mass faint active galactic nuclei (known as little red dots) with SMBH-to-galaxy stellar mass ratios consistent with recent James Webb Space Telescope observations. To match the abundance of the observed bright quasars, a percent-level duty-cycle is suggested, implying a large population of dormant SMBHs. The gravitational wave (GW) signals from mergers of these massive SMBHs can be detected by LISA while remaining within the NANOGrav constraints on the GW background. These results provide testable signatures of DM-driven SMBH formation, offering a pathway to probe hidden-sector physics through SMBH and GW observables.

By consideration of the Compact object HESS J1731-347 as a hybrid twin compact star, i.e., a more compact star than its hadronic twin of the same mass, its stellar properties are derived. Besides showing that the properties of compact stars in this work are in good agreement with state-of-the-art constraints both from measurements carried out in laboratory experiments as well as by multi-messenger astronomy observations, the realization of an early strong hadron-quark first order phase transition as implied by the twins is discussed.

SBND is a 112 ton liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector located 110 meters from the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) target at Fermilab. Its main goals include searches for eV-scale sterile neutrinos as part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program, other searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, and precision studies of neutrino-argon interactions. In addition, SBND is providing a platform for LArTPC neutrino detector technology development and is an excellent training ground for the international group of scientists and engineers working towards the upcoming flagship Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). SBND began operation in July 2024, and started collecting stable neutrino beam data in December 2024 with an unprecedented rate of ~7,000 neutrino events per day. During its currently approved operation plans (2024-2027), SBND is expected to accumulate nearly 10 million neutrino interactions. The near detector dataset will be instrumental in testing the sterile neutrino hypothesis with unprecedented sensitivity in SBN and in probing signals of beyond the Standard Model physics. It will also be used to significantly advance our understanding of the physics of neutrino-argon interactions ahead of DUNE. After the planned accelerator restart at Fermilab (2029+), opportunities are being explored to operate SBND in antineutrino mode in order to address the scarcity of antineutrino-argon scattering data, or in a dedicated beam-dump mode to significantly enhance sensitivity to searches for new physics. SBND is an international effort, with approximately 40% of institutions from Europe, contributing to detector construction, commissioning, software development, and data analysis. Continued European involvement and leadership are essential during SBND's operations and analysis phase for both the success of SBND, SBN and its role leading up to DUNE.

In the present work we calculate the transition magnetic moments for the radiative decays of $\Delta$ baryon to proton $(\Delta \rightarrow p)$ in isospin asymmetric nuclear medium at finite temperature using chiral SU(3) quark mean field model. Within the framework of chiral SU(3) mean field model, the properties of baryons in asymmetric medium are modified through the exchange of scalar fields $(\sigma, \zeta, \delta)$ and vector fields $(\omega, \rho)$. The isospin asymmetry of medium is taken into account via scalar-isovector field $\delta$ and vector iso-vector field $\rho$. We calculate the in-medium masses of quarks, proton and $\Delta$ baryon in asymmetric matter within the chiral SU(3) quark mean field model and use these as input in the chiral constituent quark ($\chi$CQM) model to calculate the in-medium transition magnetic moments for $(\Delta \rightarrow p)$ transition for different values of isospin asymmetry of hot and dense medium. For calculating the magnetic moments of baryons, contributions of valence quarks, quark sea and orbital angular momentum of quark sea are considered in these calculations.

The standard paradigm of cosmology assumes two distinct dark components, namely the dark energy driving the late-universe acceleration and the dark matter that is responsible for the structure formation. However, the necessity of splitting the dark-side world into two sectors has not been experimentally or theoretically proven. It is shown in Wang et al. 2024 that cosmology with one unified dark fluid can also explain the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and late-universe data, with the fitting quality not much worse than the standard Lambda cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) model. The present work aims to provide a clearer physical interpretation of the Wang et al. 2024 results. We show that the unified dark fluid model can produce primary CMB temperature and polarization power spectra that are very close to the $\Lambda$CDM prediction (relative difference $\lesssim 10^{-4}$). The model can also mimic the $\Lambda$CDM background expansion history and linear growth factor on sub-horizon scales with percent-level accuracy. With better physical understanding of the model, we make precision tests and find a minor error in the Boltzmann code used in Wang et al. 2024. We correct the error and update the model comparison between $\Lambda$CDM and the unified dark fluid model.

We demonstrate that the liquid-gas transition of nuclear matter can be rigorously described with the quantum chromodynamics by combining the quark gap equation and the Faddeev equation of nucleon. Our investigation focuses on this transition at zero temperature and finite chemical potential, revealing a finite difference between the gas and liquid solution of the quark propagator. This difference emerges from the shift of the nucleon pole mass in medium, which is generated in the nucleon channel of the quark gap equation. We prove that such a difference is precisely the contour contribution from the shift of the nucleon pole. The resulting discontinuity manifests as a first-order phase transition and fundamentally determines both the nuclear binding energy and the saturation density. We then derive an analytical relation between the binding energy and the sigma term of the nucleon, yielding a binding energy of $E/A=15.9\,\textrm{MeV}$. Furthermore, by establishing the relation between the nuclear saturation density and the vector charge of nucleon in association with the binding energy, we determine the saturation density to be $n_{\textrm{B}}^{0}=0.15\,\textrm{fm}^{-3}$.

Three-hadron spectroscopy is a key frontier in our understanding of the hadron spectrum. In recent years, significant formal and numerical advances have paved the way for studying three-hadron processes directly from lattice QCD, with outstanding applications including the Roper resonance and the doubly charmed tetraquark. This requires theoretical frameworks that relate finite-volume energies to infinite-volume three-particle scattering amplitudes. In this contribution, I discuss recent progress in formulating such frameworks for generic three-hadron systems, and present numerical results for three-meson systems at maximal isospin with physical quark masses, as well as our recent investigation of the three-body dynamics of the doubly charmed tetraquark, $T_{\rm cc}$.

We find four-dimensional de Sitter (dS) vacuum solutions on probe D-branes which nucleate in an asymptotically $\text{AdS}_5\times T^{1,1}$ background, including stringy corrections. A sufficiently high chemical potential induced by the wrapped D3-brane charge, breaking supersymmetry in the bulk, is essential to lead to the nucleation of the probe D-brane. We show that stringy corrections can yield a dS vacuum on a spherical D3-brane consistent with the observations without being fine-tuned. Motivated by the fact that the matter fields propagating in the compact extra dimensions can provide solutions for problems in particle physics and cosmology, we also construct a dS vacuum on a probe D5-brane which wraps on a two-torus of the internal manifold $T^{1,1}$. This construction requires turning on a worldvolume U(1) gauge field along the wrapped part of the D5-brane and dissolving some D3-branes in it. The stringy corrections play an important role in yielding a dS vacuum and the field strength of the U(1) gauge field must be sufficiently large to produce a tiny cosmological constant.

This study investigates the impact of nucleon-nucleon correlations on heavy-ion collisions using the hadronic transport model SMASH in $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=3$ GeV $^{197}{\rm Au}$+$^{197}{\rm Au}$ collisions. We developed an innovative Monte Carlo sampling method that incorporates both single-nucleon distributions and nucleon-nucleon correlations. By comparing three initial nuclear configurations - a standard Woods-Saxon distribution (un-corr), hard-sphere repulsion (step corr), and ab initio nucleon-nucleon correlations (nn-corr)- we revealed minimal differences in traditional observables except for ultra-central collisions. When distinguishing between un-corr and nn-corr configurations, conventional attention-based point cloud networks and multi-event mixing classifiers failed (accuracy ~50%). To resolve this, we developed a novel deep learning architecture integrating multi-event statistics and high-dimensional latent space feature correlations, achieving 60\% overall classification accuracy, which improved to 70\% for central collisions. This method enables the extraction of subtle nuclear structure signals through statistical analysis in high-dimensional latent space, offering a new paradigm for studying initial-state nuclear properties and quark-gluon plasma characteristics in heavy-ion collisions. It overcomes the limitations of traditional single-event analysis in detecting subtle initial-state differences.

In the limit of small quark masses, the angle between the temperature axis and the applied magnetic field direction in the three-dimensional Ising model vanishes as $m_q^{2/5}$ when mapped onto the QCD $T-\mu_B$ phase plane. By selecting two distinct small angles and projecting the Ising model results onto QCD, we have investigated the universal critical behavior of the sixth-, eighth-, and tenth-order susceptibilities of the net-baryon number. When considering only the leading critical contribution, the negative dip in the $\mu_B$ dependence of the generalized susceptibilities is not universal, in contrast to the observation in the case where the angle is $90^{\circ}$. Its existence depends on the mapping parameters and the distance to the phase transition line. After incorporating the sub-leading critical contribution, the negative dip is enhanced to some extent but remains a non-robust feature. In contrast, the positive peak structure persists in all cases and represents a robust characteristic of generalized susceptibilities of the net-baryon number near the critical point.

Lorentz invariance violation (LV) is examined through the time delay between high-energy and low-energy photons in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Previous studies determined the LV energy scale as $E_{\rm LV} \simeq 3.60 \times 10^{17}$~GeV using Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST) data. This study updates the time-delay model and reaffirms these findings with new observations. High-energy photons from GRBs at GeV and TeV bands are analyzed, including the 99.3 GeV photon from GRB 221009A (FGST), the 1.07 TeV photon from GRB 190114C (MAGIC), and the 12.2 TeV photon from GRB 221009A (LHAASO). Our analysis, in conjunction with previous data, consistently shows that high-energy photons are emitted earlier than low-energy photons at the source. By evaluating 17 high-energy photons from 10 GRBs observed by FGST, MAGIC, and LHAASO, we estimate the LV energy scale to be $E_{\rm LV} \simeq 3.00 \times 10^{17}$ GeV. The null hypothesis of dispersion-free vacuum $E=pc$ (or, equivalently, the constant light-speed $v_{\gamma}=c$) is rejected at a significance level of 3.1$\sigma$ or higher.

Recent observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Data Release 2 (DR2) have revealed compelling evidence for dynamical dark energy, challenging the $\Lambda$CDM paradigm. In this work, we adopt a data-driven, model-independent approach to reconstruct the dark energy equation of state (EoS) and its potential interaction with dark matter using combined background cosmological datasets, including DESI DR2, cosmic chronometers, observational Hubble data, and Type Ia supernovae. Using Gaussian Process regression and a non-parametric formalism, we first confirm a $\sim 2\sigma$ indication of dynamical dark energy, featuring a phantom crossing around redshift $z \sim 0.4$, consistent with DESI results. We then explore the implications of dynamical EoS from DESI DR2 for dark sector coupling. Incorporating priors on the EoS from DESI DR2, we find a $2.2\sigma$ signal for non-zero interactions between dark energy and dark matter at low redshift. Our results suggest that if DESI's evidence for time-varying dark energy is confirmed, a coupled dark sector may be a necessary extension beyond $\Lambda$CDM.