The decays of $N^*$ and $\Delta^*$ resonances into $N\rho$, $\Delta\pi$ and $N\sigma$ final states are studied in a coupled-channel analysis of data on pion- and photo-induced reactions. Improvements in the fit were observed when new resonance contributions were introduced. Frequencies for the intermediate isobars $\Delta(1232)\pi$, $N\rho$, $N\sigma$ are reported.

The cumulants of the distribution of anisotropic flow are measured accurately in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC as a function of centrality classifiers (charged multiplicity and/or transverse energy). Using Bayesian inference, we reconstruct from these measurements the probability distribution of anisotropic flow in the ``theorists' frame'' where the impact parameter has a fixed magnitude and orientation, up to $\sim 70\%$ centrality. The variation of flow fluctuations with impact parameter displays direct evidence of viscous damping, which is larger for higher Fourier harmonics, in line with expectations from hydrodynamics. We use intensive measures of non-Gaussian flow fluctuations, which have reduced dependence on centrality. We infer from ATLAS data the magnitude of these intensive non-Gaussianities in each Fourier harmonic. They provide data-driven estimates of response coefficients to initial anisotropies, without resorting to any specific microscopic model of initial conditions. These estimates agree with viscous hydrodynamic calculations.

We reveal nuclear many-body effects on short range correlations by {\it ab initio} no-core shell model calculations of the scaling factor $a_2$. The factor $a_2$ characterizes the abundance of SRC pairs and is linearly related to the EMC effect. By calculating $a_2$ in light nuclei using the chiral N$^4$LO nuclear force, including the ground state and excited states, and isobaric analog states in neighboring nuclei, we find that $a_2$ is close in isobaric analog states, while it varies in excited or isomeric states. This is explained as specific nuclear states suppress the formation of deuteron-like component, impacting elaborate understandings of SRC pairs in exotic nuclei.

Nuclear ground state and collective excitation properties provide a means to probe the nuclear matter equation of state and establish connections between observables in finite nuclei and neutron stars. Specifically, the electric dipole polarizability, measured with high precision in various neutron-rich nuclei, serves as a robust constraint on the density dependence of the symmetry energy. In this Letter, we employ a class of relativistic energy density functionals in a twofold process: first, to link the electric dipole polarizability from recent experiments to the slope of the symmetry energy, and second, to translate this information into constraints on the tidal deformability and radii of neutron stars, in connection with multimessenger astrophysical observations from pulsars and binary neutron stars. We provide compelling evidence that the electric dipole polarizability represents a key nuclear observable to probe the neutron star properties. By significantly reducing the uncertainties in the mass-radius plane, our findings also align with recent multimessenger observations.

In this study, we have reported key nuclear properties of weak $\beta$-decay processes on Yttrium isotopes for the mass number range $A = 101 - 108$. This mass region is important in astrophysical $r$-process abundances. Our study might be helpful in $r$-process simulations. We have computed charge-changing strength distributions, $\beta$-decay half-lives, $\beta$-delayed neutron emission probabilities, and $\beta^{-}$ (EC) weak rates under stellar conditions. We have performed microscopic calculations based on deformed proton-neutron quasi-particle random phase approximation (pn-QRPA) over a wide temperature ($10^7 - 3 \times 10^{10}$) K and density ($10 - 10^{11}$) g/cm$^3$ domain. Unique first-forbidden (U1F) transitions have been included in the calculations in addition to the allowed transitions. A significant decrease in calculated half-lives in certain cases, e.g., in $^{107}$Y ($^{108}$Y) by about 67\% (42\%), has been observed because of the contribution from U1F transitions. We have compared present results with measured and theoretical works. A good agreement of our half-lives with experimental data is observed.

We investigate the effect of pairing correlations on the computed Gamow-Teller (GT) strength distributions and corresponding $\beta$-decay half-lives. The calculations are performed for a total of 47 sd-shell nuclei, for $20 < A < 30$, employing the pn-QRPA model. Our calculations use three different values of pairing gaps computed using three different empirical formulae. The GT strength distribution and centroid values change considerably with a change in the pairing gap values. This, in turn, leads to differences in computed half-lives. The pairing gaps computed using the mass-dependent formula result in the calculated half-lives being in better agreement with the measured data.

Recent studies \cite{1,2} predicted the sensitivity of the Gamow-Teller (GT) strength distributions to nuclear deformation in neutron-deficient Hg isotopes. Motivated by this work, we investigate nuclear ground-state properties and GT strength distributions for neutron-deficient Hg isotopes ($^{177\hbox{-}193}$Hg). The nuclear deformation ($\beta(E2)$) values were calculated using the **Relativistic Mean Field (RMF)** model. The RMF approach, with different density-dependent interactions (**DD-ME2** and **DD-PC1**), was employed to compute nuclear shape parameters. These computed deformation values were then used within the framework of the **deformed proton-neutron quasi-particle random phase approximation (pn-QRPA)** model, with a separable interaction, to calculate the allowed GT strength distributions for these Hg isotopes. Our calculations validate the findings of \cite{1} and confirm the effect of deformation on GT strength distributions. This study may further provide a complementary signature for nuclear shape isomers. Noticeable differences are highlighted between our results and previous calculations. The study of \cite{1} suggests that $^{177\hbox{-}182}$Hg possess prolate shapes, while $^{184\hbox{-}196}$Hg exhibit oblate shapes. In contrast, our calculations predict **prolate** shapes for $^{177\hbox{-}188}$Hg and **oblate** shapes for $^{189\hbox{-}193}$Hg isotopes.

We study the effect of rotation on the confining and chiral properties of QCD using the Polyakov-enhanced linear sigma model coupled to quarks. Working in the homogeneous approximation, we obtain the phase diagram at finite temperature, baryon density and angular frequency, taking into account the causality constraint enforced by the spectral boundary conditions at a cylindrical surface. We explicitly address various limits with respect to system size, angular frequency and chemical potential. We demonstrate that, in this model, the critical temperatures of both transitions diminish in response to the increasing rotation, being in contradiction with the first-principle lattice results. In the limit of large volume, the thermodynamics of the model is consistent with the Tolman-Ehrenfest law. We also compute the mechanical characteristics of rotating plasma such as the moment of inertia and the $K_4$ shape coefficient.

Virtual Majorana neutrinos are indispensable for neutrinoless double-beta (0$\nu\beta\beta$) decay. In this study, we demonstrate that the overlap of the virtual Majorana neutrino wavefunction, predominantly composed of a right-handed antineutrino component with a strongly suppressed left-handed component (with amplitude proportional to the effective Majorana neutrino mass, $|m_{\beta\beta}|$, is crucial for triggering this decay process. This effective mass, derived from the minimum neutrino mass, offers valuable insights into the absolute neutrino mass scale. Using best-fit parameters from neutrino oscillation experiments, the minimum neutrino mass is determined from the sum of the three neutrino mass eigenstates, $\Sigma = m_1 + m_2 + m_3,$ which is represented by two narrow bands centered at approximately 0.06 eV/c$^2$ for the normal hierarchy (NH) and 0.102 eV/c$^2$ for the inverted hierarchy (IH). Under these constraints, the minimum neutrino mass is found to be 0.001186 eV/c$^2$ for NH and 0.002646 eV/c$^2$ for IH, thereby establishing a potential absolute neutrino mass scale for both scenarios. From these values, we calculate $|m_{\beta\beta}|$, which plays a central role in $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay. By combining $|m_{\beta\beta}|$ with decay phase-space factors, nuclear matrix elements, and the absorption probability of the virtual Majorana neutrino, we estimate the $0\nu\beta\beta$ half-life for key isotopes, namely, $^{76}$Ge, $^{130}$Te, and $^{136}$Xe, using two independent methods. The results are in good agreement, and we also discuss the uncertainties in the nuclear matrix elements that may affect these calculations.

The shear $\eta$ and bulk $\zeta$ viscous coefficients have been calculated in a hot and chirally asymmetric quark matter quantified in terms of a chiral chemical potential (CCP) using the two-flavor Nambu-Jona--Lasinio (NJL) model. This is done by employing the one-loop Green-Kubo formalism where the viscous coefficients have been extracted from the long-wavelength limit of the in-medium spectral function corresponding to the energy momentum tensor (EMT) current correlator calculated using the real time formalism of finite temperature field theory. The momentum dependent thermal width of the quark/antiquark that enters into the expression of the viscosities as a dynamical input containing interactions, has been obtained from the $2\to2$ scattering processes mediated via the collective mesonic modes in scalar and pseudoscalar chanels encoded in respective in-medium polarization functions having explicit temperature and CCP dependence. Several thermodynamic quantities such as pressure, energy density, entropy density $(s)$, specific heat and isentropic speed of sound have also been calculated at finite CCP. The temperature and CCP dependence of the viscosity to entropy density ratios $\eta/s$ and $\zeta/s$ have also been studied.

We employ an equal-velocity quark combination model to study anisotropic flows $v_{2}$, $v_{3}$ and $v_{4}$ of identified hadrons at mid-rapidity in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies. Under the equal-velocity combination mechanism of constituent quarks at hadronization, we build analytical formulas of anisotropic flows of hadrons in terms of those of quarks just before hadronization. We systematically analyze the contribution of higher order flows of quarks, and show how simple formulas of $v_{2}$, $v_{3}$ and $v_{4}$ of identified hadrons with the desired precision can be obtained by neglecting the small contribution of higher order flows of quarks. We systematically test these simple formulas of hadronic flows by the experimental data of $v_{2}$, $v_{3}$ and $v_{4}$ of identified hadrons $\phi$, $\Lambda$, $\Xi^{-}$, $\Omega^{-}$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, $\bar{\Xi}^{+}$, $\bar{\Omega}^{+}$, $p$ and $\bar{p}$ in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=$ 19.6, 54.4 and 200 GeV, and we find that the equal-velocity quark combination model can well describe the measured $v_{2}$, $v_{3}$ and $v_{4}$ of identified hadrons in Au+Au collisions at those collision energies. We further study the obtained anisotropic flows of quarks and find two scaling properties\textcolor{red}{{} }which can be qualitatively understood by the hydrodynamic evolution of thermal quark medium produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

We work out the Hopfion description of glueballs by inclusively comparing the energy spectra obtained by quantizing Hopfions with experimental data and lattice QCD. Identifying a Hopfion carrying a unit topological charge as $f_0(1500)$, the Hopfions with the topological charge two are classified as glueballonia, i.e., two glueballs are bound together. We find a tightly and a loosely bound glueballonia complying with $f_0 (2470)$ and a novel scalar particle carrying the mass around 2814 MeV, respectively, and calculate their binding energies. By the rigid body quantization of Hopfions, we predict a characteristic multiplet structure of tensor glueball states. Some of them are missing in the current experimental data and can be verified in future measurements.

This work investigates the substructure of the $\Delta(1232)$ resonance in the $p\gamma^*\to \Delta(1232)$ process through helicity transition amplitudes within the quark model framework. We consider the involved baryons composed of three quarks, and both the quark core and meson cloud contribute to the transition amplitudes. The comparison of theoretical results with experimental data reveals that, rather than the $L=0$ component of the $\Delta(1232)$ resonance, it is the $L=2$ component that significantly affects its $S_{1/2}$ amplitude. These findings indicate that the $\Delta(1232)$ resonance likely contains a substantial $L=2$ component, challenging the conventional view of the $\Delta(1232)$ resonance as an $L=0$ baryon.

In this paper, we discuss the impact of a higher number of light quark flavors, $N_f$, on the QCD phase diagram under extreme conditions. Our formalism is based on the Schwinger-Dyson equation, employing a specific symmetry-preserving vector-vector flavor-dressed contact interaction model of quarks in Landau gauge, utilizing the rainbow-Ladder truncation. We derive expressions for the dressed quark mass $M_f$ and effective potential $\Omega^{f}$ at zero, at finite temperature $T$ and the quark chemical potential $\mu$. The transition between chiral symmetry breaking and restoration is triggered by the effective potential of the contact interaction, whereas the confinement and deconfinement transition is approximated from the confinement length scale $\tilde{\tau}_{ir}$. Our analysis reveals that at $(T = \mu = 0)$, increasing $N_f$ leads to the restoration of chiral symmetry and the deconfinement of quarks when $N_f$ reaches its critical value, $N^{c}_{f} \approx 8$. At this critical value, In the chiral limit ($m_f = 0$), the global minimum of the effective potential occurs at the point where the dressed quark mass approaches zero ($M_f \rightarrow 0$). However, when a bare quark mass of $m_f = 7$ MeV is introduced, the global minimum shifts slightly to a nonzero value, approaching $M_f \rightarrow m_f$. At finite $T$ and $\mu$, we illustrate the QCD phase diagram in the $(T^{\chi,C}_{c} -\mu)$ plane, for various numbers of light quark flavors, noting that both the critical temperature $T_c$ and the critical chemical potential $\mu_c $ for chiral symmetry restoration and deconfinement decrease as $ N_f $ increases. Moreover, the critical endpoint $(T_{EP}, \mu_{EP})$ also shifts to lower values with increasing $N_f $. Our findings are consistent with other low-energy QCD approaches.

Acceptance talk for the 2024 Kenneth G. Wilson Award for Excellence in Lattice Field Theory: For key contributions to lattice QCD studies of noise reduction in nuclear systems, the structure of nuclei, and transverse-momentum dependent hadronic structure functions.