We investigate the impact of momentum-dependent relaxation time approximation in the Boltzmann equation within the Bjorken flow framework by analyzing the moments of the single-particle distribution function. The moment equations, which form an infinite hierarchy, provide important insights about the system dynamics and the approach towards equilibrium for systems far from equilibrium. We show that a momentum-dependent collision kernel couples moments through both the energy exponents and the angular dependence via various-order Legendre polynomials, resulting in an intricate system of infinitely coupled equations that are complex and numerically challenging to solve. We outline strategies for solving the coupled system, including a novel approach to managing the infinite hierarchy and handling the non-integer moments. We show a significant influence of momentum dependent relaxation time on the time evolution of the moments, particularly for higher-order moments and system with smaller shear viscosity over entropy density, emphasizing the importance of incorporating such dependence for a more accurate description of the system dynamics with low shear viscosity such as the quark-gluon-plasma produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions.

We report on a recently proposed approach, inspired by quantum informationtheory, for calculating low-energy nuclear structure in the framework of the configuration-interaction shell-model. Empirical evidence has demonstrated that the many-proton and many-neutron partitions of nuclear configuration-interaction wave functions are weakly entangled, especially away from $N=Z$. This has been developed into a practical methodology, the Proton And Neutron Approximate Shell-model (PANASh). We review the basic ideas and present recent results. We also discuss some technical developments in calculations.

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.

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 $n_{\textrm{B}}^{0}=0.15\,\textrm{fm}^{-3}$.

The $\gamma$-ray strength function ($\gamma$SF) is essential for understanding the electromagnetic response in atomic nuclei and modeling astrophysical neutron capture rates. We introduced a microscopic description of both electric dipole (E1) and magnetic dipole (M1) $\gamma$SFs that includes finite-temperature effects within relativistic density functional theory. The temperature dependence of the total electromagnetic $\gamma$SFs shows significant modification in the low-energy region due to thermal unblocking effects, essential for agreement with recent particle-$\gamma$ coincidence data from the Oslo method. An investigation of the electric and magnetic contributions to the total $\gamma$SF in hot nuclei indicates that the M1 mode becomes more prominent in the low-energy region, different than what is known at zero temperature. This microscopic approach offers new insights into the interplay between E1 and M1 $\gamma$SFs at finite-temperature, and opens new perspectives for future studies of $(n,\gamma)$ reactions and nucleosynthesis in hot stellar environments.

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.

We investigate the impact of the $d^*$(2380) hexaquark on the equation of state (EoS) of dense matter within hybrid stars (HSs) using the Chiral Mean-Field model (CMF). The hexaquark is included as a new degree of freedom in the hadronic phase, and its influence on the deconfinement transition to quark matter is explored. We re-parametrize the CMF model to ensure compatibility with recent astrophysical constraints, including the observation of massive pulsars and gravitational wave events. Our results show that the presence of $d^*$ significantly modifies the EoS, leading to a softening at high densities and a consequent reduction in the predicted maximum stellar masses. Furthermore, we examine the possibility of a first-order deconfinement phase transition within the context of the extended stability branch of slow stable HSs (SSHSs). We find that the presence of hexaquarks can delay the deconfinement phase transition and reduce the associated energy density gap, affecting the structure and stability of HSs. Our results suggest that, as the hexaquark appearance tends to destabilize stellar configurations, fine tuning of model parameters is required to obtain both the presence of hexaquarks and quark deconfinement in these systems. In this scenario, the SSHS branch plays a crucial role in obtaining HSs with hexaquarks that satisfy current astrophysical constraints. Our work provides new insights into the role of exotic particles like $d^*$ in dense matter and the complex interplay between hadronic and quark degrees of freedom inside compact stellar objects.

The dynamics of scattering on light nuclei is numerically expensive using standard methods. Fortunately, recent developments allow one to factor the relevant quantities for a given probe into a convolution of an $n$-body Transition Density Amplitude (TDA) and the interaction kernel for a given probe. These TDAs depend only on the target, and not the probe; they are calculated once for each set of kinematics and can be used for different interactions. The kernels depend only on the probe, and not on the target; they can be reused for different targets and different kinematics. The calculation of TDAs becomes numerically difficult for more than four nucleons, but we discuss a new solution through the use of a Similarity Renormalization Group transformation, and a subsequent back-transformation. This technique allows for extending the TDA method to heavier nuclei such as 6Li. We present preliminary results for Compton scattering on 6Li and compare with available data, anticipating an upcoming, more thorough study. We also discuss ongoing extensions to pion-photoproduction and other reactions on light nuclei.

We outline the theory of spin magnetization applicable to the QGP (quark-gluon plasma) epoch of the Universe. We show that a fully spin-polarized single flavor up-quark gas could generate a cosmic magnetic fields in excess of $10^{15}$ Tesla, far in excess of a possible upper limit to the primordial field. The complete multi component ferro-magnetized primordial fermion gas we consider consists of (five) nearly free electrically charged quarks, and leptons (electrons, muons, tau). We present details of how the magnetization is obtained using a grand partition function approach and point to the role of the nonrelativistic particle component. In the range of temperature 150 MeV to 500 MeV our results are also of interest to laboratory QGP experiments. We show that the required polarization capable to explain large scale structure magnetic fields observed has $1/T$ scaling in the limit of high $T$, and could be very small, at pico-scale. In the other limit, as temperature decreases in the expanding Universe, we show that any magnetic fields present before hadronization can be carried forward to below quark confinement condition temperature by polarization of electrons and muons.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 will report recent progress on the QCD phase diagram at finite temperature and density. In particular, we discuss the universal scaling of the chiral transition in the limit of two massless quarks and one strange quark. We also discuss influence of other control parameter as chemical potentials, external magnetic field strength and number of quark flavors on the chiral transition. From calculations of Taylor expansion coefficients of the pressure w.r.t the baryon chemical potential and at imaginary chemical potential, we discuss estimates of the QCD critical point. Those estimates make use of the universal scaling ansatz of the Lee-Yang edge singularity.

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.

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.