XIII International Conference on New Frontiers in Physics 2024

26 Aug 2024, 09:00 → 4 Sept 2024, 18:00 Europe/Athens

Orthodox Academy of Crete, Kolymbari, Crete, Greece

 

The International Conference on New Frontiers in Physics aims to promote scientific exchange and the development of novel ideas in science, with a particular emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration. The conference will bring together experts from around the world, as well as promising young scientists working on experimental and theoretical aspects of particle, nuclear, heavy ion, and astroparticle physics and cosmology, along with colleagues from other disciplines, such as solid-state physics, mathematics, mathematical physics, quantum optics, and more.

The conference will be hosted at the Conference Center of the Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC), which is situated in an exceptionally beautiful location just a few meters from the Mediterranean Sea.

Arrival day: 25 August 2024
Departure day: 5 September 2024.

Bulletins ICNFP_2024_Bulletin_1.pdf

Conference Poster

• ICNFP_24_Poster_A3_for_printer.pdf
• ICNFP_24_Poster_A3_for_printing_house_with_bleeds.pdf
• ICNFP_24_Poster_A4_for_printer.pdf
• ICNFP_24_Poster_A4_for_printing_house_with_bleeds.pdf
• ICNFP_24_Poster_A4_for_web.pdf

Cultural programs Kolymbari_Lyrical Gala 2024 Petrou-Dorigo_v19july2024.pptx.pdf

Monday, 26 August

09:00 Opening of the ICNFP Conference (Organizers of ICNFP 2024)

09:15 Welcome talk from the Director of OAC (Dr. Konstantinos Zormpas)

Workshop on Astro-Cosmo-Gravity

1 Multimessenger astrophysics of compact stars with exotic cores

Relativistic density functionals based on baryon-meson Lagrangians can
be used to describe effectively dense matter in compact stars
including hyperonic and Delta-resonance degrees of
freedom. These can be supplemented with a first-order phase transition
to quark matter at high densities to describe hybrid compact stars.
I will discuss how the mass-radius and tidal deformability inferences
from electromagnetic and gravitational wave observations constrain the
current models of hypernuclear and hybrid stars. I will briefly review
recent results on the bulk viscosity of dense nucleonic matter in hot
compact stars, which emerged in recent years as the leading dissipative
channel in binary-neutron star merger simulations.

Speaker: Prof. Armen Sedrakian

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

2 Mystery of the highest energy cosmic rays

It is generally accepted that the sources of high-energy cosmic rays with energies below $10^{19}$ eV could be catastrophic astrophysical processes. However, the origin of the observed events with higher energies is not yet understood. We propose a mechanism for ultra-high-energy cosmic ray production through the decay and annihilation of superheavy dark matter particles. Such particles are naturally created in $R^2$-modified gravity via the decay of the scalaron.

Speaker: Elena Arbuzova (Dubna State University and Novosibirsk State University)

10:30 Coffee break

High Energy Particle Physics

3 Lepton Flavour Universality tests using semileptonic b-hadron decays

The Standard Model states that interactions between electroweak bosons and leptons are independent of lepton flavour, a principle known as lepton flavour universality. However, recent studies of b-hadron decays involving leptons have revealed intriguing hints of deviations from lepton flavour universality. This talk reviews recent results and future prospects of lepton flavour universality tests in b→cℓν decays at LHCb

Speaker: Bogdan Kutsenko (Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, France)

4 Recent measurement of CP violation and mixing with wrong-sign and right-sign D0 -> Kpi decays

Studying flavor oscillations and CP violation in charm mesons provides a complementary and unique probe of possible interactions beyond the Standard Model with beauty mesons, and allows exploring even higher energy scales. The LHCb experiment collected the largest sample of charm hadrons ever, and in 2019 reported the first observation of CP violation in and decays, marking a milestone in flavour physics. However, the compatibility of this observation with the Standard Model is still debated, and providing complementary experimental results is a crucial step towards clarifying whether we are facing new interactions or an enhancement of non-perturbative QCD effects beyond expectations. In this talk, we present a new measurement of mixing and CP-violating parameters using wrong-sign to right-sign yield ratio for D0-> Kpi decays, using the data sample collected by the LHCb experiment during LHC Run 2. New analysis methods are used to achieve world-best results, drastically reducing the systematic uncertainties and paving the way for future measurements with larger data samples.

Speaker: Mateusz Kmiec (National Centre for Nuclear Research (PL))

5 STAR Spin Physics Highlight

Highlight talk on the results of STAR spin physics

Speaker: Ting Lin

6 Recent spin physics results from PHENIX

Situated at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the PHENIX experiment has for almost two decades been at the forefront of investigations into spin structure and dynamics in high energy nuclear physics. Although decommissioned in 2016, the PHENIX collaboration has released a number of new results over the past several years that continue to inform the field. Recent longitudinal spin measurements uncover the role of gluon and sea quark polarization in the proton. Transverse spin measurements probe the transverse momentum dependent (TMD) distributions and higher-twist multiparton correlators that are needed to fully explain partonic dynamics in the initial and final state. Additionally, the effects of heavy ions on spin have been studied by comparing transverse spin measurements between p+p and p+A collisions. In this talk, I will present these recent results and the status of the final PHENIX spin analyses as the field begins its transition to the future Electron-Ion Collider.

Speaker: Devon Loomis (University of Michigan)

Workshop on Astro-Cosmo-Gravity

Convener: Prof. Armen Sedrakian

7 Directional dark matter searches with the NEWSdm Experiment

The nature of dark matter is one of the most relevant open problems both in cosmology and particle physics. Many different experimental techniques have been designed and built to detect Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs) as dark matter candidates via their scattering with detector atoms. The NEWSdm experiment, located in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy, is based on a novel nuclear emulsion technology with nanometric resolution and new emulsion scanning microscopy that can detect recoil track lengths down to one hundred nanometers. Therefore, it is the most promising technique with nanometric resolution to disentangle the dark matter signal from the neutrino background, with a directional approach meant to overcome the background from neutrinos. The experiment has carried out measurements of neutrons and a run with equatorial telescope is in progress. In this talk we discuss the status of the experiment and we report the first analysis of data taken at Gran Sasso. We also discuss its sensitivity to boosted dark matter, achievable with a 10 kg emulsion module, exposed for one year at the Gran Sasso surface laboratory.

Speaker: Dr Andrey Alexandrov (University Federico II and INFN, Naples (IT))

8 An overview of CTAO Science

The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) will be the next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory. CTAO is an array of Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) with sites in the northern and southern hemisphere covering the entire sky. Spanning the energy range from 20 GeV to 300 TeV and offering a one order of magnitude better sensitivity to the current-generation Imaging Cherenkov telescopes, CTAO will shed light on three main topics: osmic particle acceleration; Extreme Astrophysical Environments and Fundamental Physics Frontiers. This presentation will highlight CTAO's scientific objectives and expected contributions to these fields.

Speaker: Prof. Francesco Longo (University of Trieste and INFN, Trieste)

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Break

15:30 Coffee break

High Energy Particle Physics

9 Exotic searches at ATLAS

Many theories beyond the Standard Model (SM) have been proposed to address several of the SM shortcomings, such as explaining why the Higgs boson is so light, the origin of neutrino masses, or the observed pattern of masses and mixing angles in the quark and lepton sectors. Many of these beyond-the-SM extensions predict new particles or interactions directly accessible at the LHC. This talk will present some highlights on recent searches based on the full Run 2 data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC with a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV.

Speaker: Gokhan Unel (University of California Irvine (US))

10 Heavy-flavour results from ATLAS

ATLAS experiment has a wide program in heavy-flavour physics. This talks summarizes the recent results on measurements of charmonium and open charm production and various b hadron decay properties, including the B meson lifetime measurements.

Speaker: Umberto De Sanctis (INFN e Universita Roma Tor Vergata (IT))

Heavy Ion Collisions and Critical Phenomena

11 PHENIX Heavy Ion Overview

TBA

Speaker: Tamas Novak (MATE Institute of Technology Karoly Robert Campus (HU))

12 Heavy Ions Physics at ATLAS - highlights

General highlight of Heavy Ion Physics at ATLAS.

Speaker: Dr Nicolas Viaux Maira (Federico Santa Maria Technical University (CL))

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

13 New perspectives from record-high numbers of trapped antiprotons in the AEgIS experiment

The AEgIS (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) collaboration uses antiprotons from CERN’s Antiproton Decelerator (AD)/Extra Low ENergy Antiproton decelerator (ELENA) complex to produce bound antimatter systems, with a focus on neutral antihydrogen and positronium atoms, and perform experiments on their properties to draw conclusions on fundamental concepts such as CPT symmetry and the Weak Equivalence Principle.

Following extensive upgrades, including the design and implementation of a novel experimental control system and several significant hardware modifications, AEgIS has successfully developed a procedure to routinely accumulate record numbers of well above tens of millions of cold antiprotons in one of their Penning-Malmberg traps in 2023. In addition to enabling more efficient antihydrogen production for precision studies, this achievement opens the door to a vast variety of research areas, including for example the formation and study of antiprotonic atoms and antiproton spectroscopy experiments, as well as applications in areas such as dark matter investigations.

This contribution gives an overview over the recent achievements in AEgIS, focusing on the antiproton accumulation, and outlines the progress towards precision gravity measurements on antihydrogen and more exotic physics goals involving antiprotons.

Speaker: Saiva Huck (Hamburg University (DE))

20:00 Dinner

Tuesday, 27 August

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

14 Seeding of cosmic structures and anti-structures by primordial black holes

It is argued, based on 1993 year suggestion, that galaxies, superheavy black holes, or quasars, are seeded by massive primordial black holes, not only in the early universe but in the present day universe as well. This idea is now rediscovered in several recent publications, though the basic features are different. The observational data in favor of this conjecture are presented.

Speaker: Alexander Dolgov

15 An overview of the LIGO-Virgo-Kagra observational science and results

The LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration has significantly advanced our understanding of the universe by detecting gravitational waves from a variety of astrophysical sources. This talk will provide an overview of the most recent observations and discoveries made by the LVK detectors. Highlights will include the detection of binary black hole and neutron star mergers, insights into the population properties of these compact objects, and the implications for our understanding of stellar evolution and cosmology. Additionally, the talk will explore ongoing searches for yet-to-be-discovered sources, offering a window into the future of gravitational wave astronomy.

Speaker: Luca D'Onofrio (INFN Napoli)

Heavy Ion Collisions and Critical Phenomena

16 Effective Lagrangian for the macroscopic motion of fermionic matter

We consider macroscopic motion of quantum field systems. The Zubarev statistical operator allows us to describe several types of motion of such systems in thermal equilibrium. We formulate the corresponding effective theory on the language of a functional integral. The effective Lagrangian is calculated explicitly for the fermionic systems interacting with dynamical gauge fields. Possible applications to physics of quark-gluon plasma are discussed.

Speaker: Prof. Mikhail Zubkov (Ariel University, Israel)

10:30 Coffee break

Heavy Ion Collisions and Critical Phenomena

17 Casimir effect in magnetized dense QCD

One of the most important question in modern nuclear physics is what kind of matter phases are realised in dense QCD. While there have been many studies of spatially homogeneous matter phases, inhomogeneous chiral condensed phases have attracted much attention in recent years. One of these inhomogeneous chiral condensed phases is the dual chiral density wave (DCDW) phase, in which both scalar and pseudoscalar condensation is position-dependent. Such inhomogeneous phases can be realised inside neutron stars because the magnetic field inside the neutron star makes the inhomogeneous phases more robust by breaking rotational and isospin symmetries. In this talk, we will discuss several fundamental physical quantities in quark matter under magnetic fields, including the DCDW phase, e.g. the Casimir effect.

Speaker: Daisuke Fujii (Japan Atomic Energy Agency)

18 System size analysis of the fireball produced in heavy-ion collisions

Recently, a large amount of experimental data has been collected in high-energy physics for studying the properties of nuclear matter. The main interest is to study the phase diagram and localize phase transitions from hadronic to the quark-gluonic matter. There are different technics to study the hot matter. One of these is femtoscopy, which uses two-particle correlations to extract spatio-temporal characteristics of the emission source. Another approach is to obtain thermodynamic parameters from the momentum distributions of produced particles based on various theoretical models. In this research, we perform a comparative analysis of femtoscopic volumes and volumes obtained using the Tsallis statistical fit. This will allow us to estimate system size at the time of kinetic freeze-out and its dependence on collision centrality and energy. We observe that at high energies the volume values diverge significantly, while at low energies, they are more consistent. In the future, these results can help to combine these two different methods and get a more comprehensive picture of the fireball produced at the heavy ion collisions.

Speaker: Egor Nedorezov (JINR)

High Energy Particle Physics

19 Recent results from SND@LHC experiment

The Scattering and Neutrino Detector at the LHC -- SND@LHC is a compact and stand-alone experiment to perform measurements with neutrinos produced at the LHC in a hitherto unexplored pseudo-rapidity region of $7.2 < \eta < 8.4$, complementary to all the other experiments at the LHC. The experiment is located 480 m downstream of IP1 in the unused TI18 tunnel. The detector target region is composed of bricks of emulsion cloud chambers, made of alternating layers of tungsten absorber and nuclear emulsion films, for a total target mass of $\sim$800 kg. The emulsion cloud chambers bricks are interleaved scintillating fiber tracker layers, which allow to identify candidates for neutrino interactions in the emulsions, to assign a timestamp to the events and act as a sampling electromagnetic calorimeter. The target followed downstream by a calorimeter and a muon system. This configuration allows efficiently distinguishing between all three neutrino flavors, opening a unique opportunity to probe physics of heavy flavor production at the LHC in the region that is not accessible to ATLAS, CMS and LHCb. This region is of particular interest also for future circular colliders and for predictions of very high-energy atmospheric neutrinos. The detector concept is also well suited to searching for Feebly Interacting Particles via signatures of scattering in the detector target. The first phase aims at operating the detector throughout LHC Run 3 to collect a total of 150 fb$^{−1}$. The presentation will focus on the results of the data taken in 2022-2023 and report the status of the analysis of 2024 data.

Speaker: Valeri Tioukov (University Federico II and INFN, Naples (IT))

20 Search for long lived particles (CMS)

Many scenarios beyond the standard model predict the existence of new particles with long lifetimes. These long-lived particles (LLPs) decay significantly displaced from their initial production vertex, leading to unconventional signatures within the detector. Dedicated data streams and innovative usage of the CMS detector are exploited in this context to significantly boost the sensitivity of such searches at CMS. We present the results of recent LLP searches obtained using data recorded by the CMS experiment during the completed Run-2 and the ongoing Run-3 of the LHC.

Speaker: Daniel Guerrero (Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (US))

21 Prediction for the Anomalous $ZZ\gamma$ and $Z\gamma\gamma$ Couplings at Future Muon Collider

The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics features a non-Abelian $SU(2)_{L} \times U(1)_{Y}$ gauge structure, necessitating the existence of triple and quartic interactions among the gauge bosons, known as triple gauge couplings (TGC) and quartic gauge couplings (QGC). These interactions are pivotal for testing the SM and exploring potential physics beyond it. The SM allows triple gauge boson interactions like $WWV$, $ZV\gamma$, and $ZZV$ ($V = \gamma, Z$). However, at the tree level, $ZZ\gamma$ and $Z\gamma\gamma$ couplings are zero due to the $Z$-boson's no electric charge. Deviations from SM predictions in these interactions can indicate new physics. This study aims to investigate these deviations using an effective theory approach, focusing on anomalous neutral triple gauge couplings (aNTGC) involving $ZZ\gamma$ and $Z\gamma\gamma$ vertices. The process $\mu^- \gamma \rightarrow \mu^- \gamma Z$ at a center-of-mass energy of 10 TeV has studied at the Muon Collider. Here, the photon in the initial state has chosen from the antimuon beam under Weizacker-Williams approximation(WWA). On the other hand, the decay of the $Z$-boson into a neutrino pair has considered in the final state($Z \rightarrow \nu_{l} \bar{\nu_{l}}$). This study emphasizes the examination of CP-violating couplings $C_{BB}/\Lambda^{4}$, $C_{WW}/\Lambda^{4}$, $C_{BW}/\Lambda^{4}$, and the CP-conserving coupling $C_{\tilde{B}W}/\Lambda^{4}$. A cut-based method is applied, and various kinematic variables are used to optimize signal and background events. The sensitivities are obtained at 95\% Confidence Level (C.L.) with an integrated luminosity of ${\cal L}_{int} = 10$ ab$^{-1}$. The sensitivities on the aNTGC surpass the latest experimental limits by a factor of 10-30 and are comparable with findings from existing phenomenological studies.

Speaker: Dr Emre Gürkanlı

22 Azimuthal transverse single-spin asymmetries of hadrons within jets from polarized ${pp}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 510 GeV

The examination of the origins of transverse single-spin asymmetries has catalyzed the advancement of twist-3 formalism and transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs). The azimuthal distribution measurements of identified hadrons within a jet in transversely polarized hadronic interactions offer crucial insights into TMD physics, particularly the Collins effect, which involves quark transversity and the Collins fragmentation functions.
The STAR collaboration has reported on the measurements of Collins asymmetries from jet + $\pi^{\pm}$ production in transversely polarized proton-proton (${pp}$) collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 500 GeV. These results are derived from data collected in 2011, with an integrated luminosity of 23 $\mathrm{pb}^{-1}$. Additionally, comprehensive measurements of azimuthal transverse single-spin asymmetries of hadrons within jets from transversely polarized ${pp}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV were performed using data from 2012 and 2015.
In 2017, STAR acquired a substantially larger ${pp}$ dataset with an integrated luminosity of 320 $\mathrm{pb}^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}$ = 510 GeV. This large dataset is expected to significantly enhance the precision of transverse single-spin asymmetry measurements, particularly in the high jet transverse momentum region.
This talk presents preliminary results on azimuthal transverse single-spin asymmetries for charged pions within jets from transversely polarized ${pp}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 510 GeV. The comparison of Collins asymmetries in $pp$ collisions at 200 GeV and 510 GeV can provide constraints on the evolution effect of Collins function. Simultaneously, comparing the experimental results from $pp$ collisions with theoretical models obtained by global fits based on semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering and $e^+e^-$ annihilation data can test the universality of Collins asymmetries.

Speaker: Mr Yixin Zhang (Shandong University)

23 Precision measurements of (anti)neutrinos interactions with the SAND detector at the DUNE near site

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation, long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment with the aim of determining the neutrino mass ordering, the possible CP-violating phase in the neutrino mixing matrix as well as the observation of proton decay and the detection of supernova neutrinos. The System for on-Axis Neutrino Detection (SAND) is one of the three detectors of the DUNE Near Detector complex. It is permanently located on-axis and its primary goals are to monitor the beam, perform measurements to control systematic uncertainties for the oscillation analysis, precision measurements of neutrino cross-sections and short-baseline neutrino physics. SAND is composed of a 0.6 T superconducting magnet and an electromagnetic calorimeter made of alternating lead/scintillating fibers layers, both refurbished from the KLOE experiment, a 1 t novel liquid Argon detector - GRAIN - designed to image neutrino interactions using scintillation light produced in Argon by charged particles, and a low-density target/tracker system which allows precise control over the chemical composition and mass of the (anti)neutrino targets. In this talk, the current status of the detector and its performance will be discussed. Preliminary results on momentum and vertex position reconstruction of simulated neutrino events exploiting the different components are also presented.

Speaker: Valerio Pia (INFN Bologna)

24 The HIBEAM experiment

The violation of baryon number is an essential ingredient for baryogenesis - the preferential creation of matter over antimatter - needed to account for the observed baryon asymmetry in the Universe. However, such a process has yet to be experimentally observed.
The HIBEAM/NNBAR program is a proposed two-stage experiment at the European Spallation Source to search for baryon number violation. The program will include high-sensitivity searches for processes that violate baryon number by one or two units: free neutron–antineutron oscillation via mixing, neutron-antineutron oscillation via regeneration from a sterile neutron state and neutron disappearance; the effective process of neutron regeneration is also possible. The program can be used to discover and characterize mixing in the neutron, antineutron and sterile neutron sectors. The experiment addresses topical open questions such as the origins of baryogenesis and the nature of dark matter, and is sensitive to scales of new physics substantially in excess of those available at colliders. A goal of the program is to open a discovery window to neutron conversion probabilities (sensitivities) by up to three orders of magnitude compared with previous searches, which is a rare opportunity. A conceptual design report, funded by European Union and national funding agency grants, has recently been prepared and is available.

Speaker: Dr John Alexander Burgman

Workshop on Instruments and Methods

25 Upgrade of the LAr ATLAS calorimeters – an overview

A new era of hadron collisions will start around 2029 with the High-Luminosity LHC which will allow to collect ten times more data than what has been collected during 10 years of operation at LHC. This will be achieved by higher instantaneous luminosity at the price of a higher number of collisions per bunch crossing.
In order to withstand the high expected radiation doses and the harsher data taking conditions, the ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter readout electronics will be upgraded.
The electronic readout chain is composed of four main components.
1: New front-end boards will allow to amplify, shape and digitise the calorimeter’s ionisation signal on two gains over a dynamic range of 16 bits and 11 bit precision. Low noise below Minimum Ionising Particle (MIP), i.e. below 120 nA for 45 ns peaking time, and maximum non-linearity of two per mille is required. Custom preamplifiers and shapers are being developed to meet these requirements using 65 nm and 130 nm CMOS technologies. They shall be stable under irradiation until 1.4kGy (TID) and 4.1x10^13 new/cm^2 (NIEL). Two concurrent preamp-shaper ASICs were developed and, “ALFE”, the best one has been chosen. The test results of the latest version of this ASIC will be presented. “COLUTA”, a new ADC chip is also being designed. A production test setup is being prepared and integration tests of the different components (including lpGBT links developed by CERN) on a 32-channels front-end board are ongoing, and results of this integration will be shown.
2: New calibration boards will allow the precise calibration of all 182468 channels of the calorimeter over a 16 bits dynamic range. A non-linearity of one per mille and non-uniformity between channels of 0.25% with a pulse rise time smaller than 1ns shall be achieved. In addition, the custom calibration ASICs shall be stable under irradiation with same levels as preamp-shaper and ADC chips. The HV SOI CMOS XFAB 180nm technology is used for the pulser ASIC, “CLAROC”, while the TSMC 130 nm technology is used for the DAC part, “LADOC”. The latest versions of those 2 ASICs which recently passed the production readiness review (PDR) with their respective performances will be presented.
3: New ATCA compliant signal processing boards (“LASP”) will receive the detector data at 40 MHz where FPGAs connected through lpGBT high-speed links will perform energy and time reconstruction. In total, the off-detector electronics receive 345 Tbps of data via 33000 links at 10 Gbps. For the first time, online machine learning techniques are considered to be used in these FPGAs. A subset of the original data is sent with low latency to the hardware trigger system, while the full data are buffered until the reception of trigger accept signals. The latest development status of the board as well as the firmware will be shown.
4: A new timing and control system, “LATS”, will synchronise with the aforementioned components. Its current design status will also be shown.

Speaker: Antonio Carbone (Università degli Studi e INFN Milano (IT))

26 An overview of the CMS High Granularity Calorimeter

Calorimetry at the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) faces two enormous challenges, particularly in the forward direction: radiation tolerance and unprecedented in-time event pileup. To meet these challenges, the CMS Collaboration is preparing to replace its current endcap calorimeters for the HL-LHC era with a high-granularity calorimeter (HGCAL), featuring a previously unrealized transverse and longitudinal segmentation, for both the electromagnetic and hadronic compartments, with 5D information (space-time-energy) read out. The proposed design uses silicon sensors for the electromagnetic section and high-irradiation regions (with fluences above 10¹⁴ neq/cm²) of the hadronic section , while in the low-irradiation regions of the hadronic section plastic scintillator tiles equipped with on-tile silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are used. The full HGCAL will have approximately 6 million silicon sensor channels and about 240 thousand channels of scintillator tiles. This will facilitate particle-flow-type calorimetry, where the fine structure of showers can be measured and used to enhance particle identification, energy resolution and pileup rejection. In this talk we present the ideas behind the HGCAL, the current status of the project, the lessons that have been learnt, in particular from beam tests as well as the design and operation of vertical test systems and the challenges that lie ahead.

Speaker: Bora Akgun (Bogazici University (TR))

27 Precision Timing with the CMS MIP Timing Detector for High-Luminosity LHC

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is undergoing an extensive Phase 2 upgrade program to prepare for the challenging conditions of the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC). A new timing detector for CMS will measure minimum ionizing particles (MIPs) with a time resolution of ~30-40 ps. The precise timing information from the MIP timing detector (MTD) will reduce the effects of the high levels of pileup expected at the HL-LHC, bringing new capabilities to CMS. The MTD will be composed of an endcap timing layer (ETL), instrumented with low-gain avalanche diodes and read out with the ETROC chip, and a barrel timing layer (BTL), based on LYSO:Ce crystals coupled to SiPMs and read out with the TOFHIR2 chip. This contribution will provide an overview of the MTD design and its expanded physics capabilities, describe the latest progress towards prototyping and production, and show the ultimate results demonstrating the achieved target time resolution.

Speaker: Soham Bhattacharya (California Institute of Technology (US))

28 Technical challenges and performance of the new ATLAS LAr Calorimeter Trigger

The Liquid Argon Calorimeters are employed by ATLAS for all electromagnetic calorimetry in the pseudo-rapidity region |η| < 3.2, and for hadronic and forward calorimetry in the region from |η| = 1.5 to |η| = 4.9. They also provide inputs to the first level of the ATLAS trigger. In 2022 the LHC started its Run-3 period with an increase in luminosity and pile-up of up to 60 interactions per bunch crossing.
To cope with these harsher conditions, a new trigger readout path has been installed. This new path significantly improved the triggering performances on electromagnetic objects with lower pT thresholds, but also lower rates. This was achieved by increasing the granularity of the objects available at trigger level by up to a factor of ten.
The installation of this new trigger readout chain also required the update of the legacy system. More than 1500 boards of the precision readout have been extracted from the ATLAS cavern, refurbished and re-installed. The legacy analog trigger readout that will remain during the LHC Run-3 as a backup of the new digital trigger system has also been updated.
For the new system, 124 new on-detector boards have been added. Those boards that are operating in a radiative environment are digitizing the calorimeter trigger signals at 40MHz. The digital signal is sent to the off-detector system and processed online to provide the
measured energy value for each unit of readout. In total up to 31Tbps are analyzed by the processing system and more than 62Tbps are generated for downstream reconstruction. To minimize the triggering latency the processing system had to be installed underground. The limited available space imposed a very compact hardware structure. To achieve a compact system, large FPGAs with high throughput have been mounted on ATCA mezzanine cards. In total no more than 3 ATCA shelves are used to process the signal from approximately 34000 channels.
Given that modern technologies have been used compared to the previous system, all the monitoring and control infrastructure is being adapted and commissioned as well.
This contribution will present the challenges of the commissioning and operation, the performance and the milestones still to be achieved towards the full operation of the new digital trigger system.

Speaker: Marcos Vinicius Silva Oliveira (Brookhaven National Laboratory (US))

29 The High-Granularity Timing Detector for ATLAS at HL-LHC

The increased particle flux expected at the HL-LHC poses a serious challenge for the ATLAS detector performance, especially in the forward region which has reduced detector granularities. The High-Granularity Timing Detector (HGTD), featuring novel Low-Gain Avalanche Detector silicon technology, will provide pile-up mitigation and luminosity measurement capabilities, and augment the new all-silicon Inner Tracker in the pseudo-rapidity range from 2.4 to 4.0. Two double-sided layers will provide a timing resolution better than 50 ps/track for MIPs throughout the HL-LHC running period, and provide a new timing-based handle to assign particles to the correct vertex. The LGAD
technology provides suitable gain to reach the required signal-to-noise ratio, and a granularity of 1.3 × 1.3 mm2 (3.7M channels in total). Requirements, specifications, technical designs, recent updates, and the project status will be presented, including the on-going R&D efforts on sensors, the readout ASIC, etc.

Speaker: Joaquim Pinol Bel (IFAE)

30 Testbeam performance of ALTIROC3 hybrid assemblies with LGAD sensors for the ATLAS HGTD Upgrade

Timing measurements are critical for the detectors at the future HL-LHC, to resolve reconstruction ambiguity when the number of simultaneous interactions reaches up to 200 per bunch crossing. The ATLAS collaboration therefore builds a new High Granularity Timing detector (HGTD) for the forward region. A customized ASIC - ALTIROC - has been developed, to read out fast signals from low gain avalanche detectors (LGAD), which has 50 ps time resolution for signals from minimum ionising particles. To meet these requirements, a custom-designed pre-amplifier, discriminator, and TDC circuits with minimal jitter have been implemented in a series of prototype ASICs. The latest version, ALTIROC3, is designed to contain full functionality. Hybrid assemblies with ALTIROC3 ASICs and LGAD sensors have been characterized with charged-particle beams at DESY and CERN-SPS and with laser-light injection. The time-jitter contributions of the sensor, pre-amplifier, discriminator, TDC and digital readout are evaluated. The poster will introduce the HGTD project and present preliminary results from laboratory and test-beam measurements.

Speaker: Salah El Dine Hammoud (Université Paris-Saclay (FR))

School on Machine Learning

The school is aimed at giving a wide view of modern machine learning, from theoretical foundations to state-of-the-art applications. The school will consist of lectures mixing the theoretical aspect and hands-on examples. Furthermore, there will be exercise sessions where participants will go through longer exercises at their own pace, with the assistance of the lecturer and of facilitators.

Covered topics:
1. Mathematical foundations of ML | Vapnik’s theory of statistical learning | Early methods from statistics to ML: PCA, SVM, decision trees
2. Supervised learning: neural networks, gradient descent | Technical foundations: automatic differentiation | Hardware foundations: from CPUs to GPUs, TPUs, FPGAs, ASIC, neuromorphic circuits | Practical techniques (e.g. hyperparameters optimization, regularization)
3. 
Transformers, large language models | Spiking networks | Unsupervised learning | Quantum machine learning

Convener: Dr Pietro Vischia (Universidad de Oviedo and Instituto de Ciencias y Tecnologías Espaciales de Asturias (ICTEA))

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Break

15:30 Coffee break

High Energy Particle Physics

31 Towards the implementation of the ENUBET neutrino cross section experiment at CERN

The NP06/ENUBET experiment concluded its ERC funded R&D program demonstrating that the monitoring of charged leptons from meson decays in an instrumented decay tunnel can constrain the systematics on the resulting neutrino flux to 1%, opening the way for a cross section measurement with unprecedented precision. The two milestones of this phase, the end-to-end simulation of a site independent beamline optimized for the DUNE energy range and the testbeam characterization of a large scale prototype of the tunnel instrumentation, will be discussed. We will also present studies for a site dependent implementation at CERN carried out in the framework of Physics Beyond Colliders. This work is based on a more efficient version of the beamline able to cover the HK energy region as well and will include radioprotection and civil engineering studies, with the goal of proposing a cross section experiment in the North Area with the two protoDUNEs as neutrino detectors, to be run after CERN LS3.

Speaker: Dr Daniele Guffanti (University & INFN Milano-Bicocca)

32 Results from Cryo-PoF project: power over fiber at cryogenic temperature for fundamental and applied physics.

Cryo-PoF project is an R&D funded by the Italian Insitute for Nuclear Research (INFN) in Milano-Bicocca (Italy). The technology at the basis of the project is the Power over Fiber (PoF), which delivers electrical power by sending laser light through an optical fiber to a photovoltaic power converter, to power sensors or electrical devices.
This solution offers several advantages: removal of noise induced by power lines, robustness in a hostile environment, spark free operation when electric fields are present and no interference with electromagnetic fields. R&D for the application of PoF for the DUNE Vertical Drift detector started at Fermilab in 2020, motivated by the need to operate the Photon Detector System on the high-voltage cathode surface.
Cryo-PoF developed a single laser input line cryogenic system to power both the electronic amplifier and the Photon Detection devices, tuning their bias by means the input laser power.
In this talk the results obtained in Milano Bicocca will be discussed, presenting the tests performed to power photosensors at liquid nitrogen temperature. The performances of the system at temperature below the liquid nitrogen one will be also presented, for Cryo-PoF potential application in the field of applied physics.

Speaker: Andrea Falcone (Universita e INFN, Milano Bicocca(IT))

33 The CUPID neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment

The search for neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay is ongoing and aims to determine whether the neutrino is Majorana in nature. Discovery of such a process would immediately imply lepton number violation and represent new physics beyond the standard model. This search has been ongoing for a few decades with multiple experimental strategies and choices of isotope. CUPID (CUORE Upgrade with Particle ID) is a next generation experiment searching for 0νββ decay in 100Mo using enriched scintillating lithium molybdate (LMO) crystals and profiting from several years of experience gained with its predecessor, CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events). CUPID will consist of 1596 LMO crystals operated as bolometers, coupled to 1710 light detectors allowing for the simultaneous readout of both heat and light energy. This strategy allows for the rejection of alpha events, a dominant source of background in CUORE, by exploiting the different ratio of heat to light energy for beta/gamma induced events compared to alpha events. With this CUPID can reach a sensitivity greater than 1e27 yr. At present ongoing studies, simulations, and R&D projects are all working towards the finalization of the CUPID detector design and to assess its performance and physics reach. In this presentation we will provide an overview of the CUPID program and highlight upcoming milestones towards the construction of the experiment.

Speaker: Mathieu Pageot (CEA/IRFU/DPhP)

School on Machine Learning

The school is aimed at giving a wide view of modern machine learning, from theoretical foundations to state-of-the-art applications. The school will consist of lectures mixing the theoretical aspect and hands-on examples. Furthermore, there will be exercise sessions where participants will go through longer exercises at their own pace, with the assistance of the lecturer and of facilitators.

Covered topics:
1. Mathematical foundations of ML | Vapnik’s theory of statistical learning | Early methods from statistics to ML: PCA, SVM, decision trees
2. Supervised learning: neural networks, gradient descent | Technical foundations: automatic differentiation | Hardware foundations: from CPUs to GPUs, TPUs, FPGAs, ASIC, neuromorphic circuits | Practical techniques (e.g. hyperparameters optimization, regularization)
3. 
Transformers, large language models | Spiking networks | Unsupervised learning | Quantum machine learning

Convener: Dr Pietro Vischia (Universidad de Oviedo and Instituto de Ciencias y Tecnologías Espaciales de Asturias (ICTEA))

Workshop on Instruments and Methods

34 The Next Upgrade of the ALICE Inner Tracking System: ITS3

The ALICE experiment, optimized to study the collisions of nuclei at the ultra-relativistic energies provided by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is approaching a new upgrade phase, foreseen during the third Long Shutdown (LS3) of the accelerator (2026-2028). This upgrade includes the replacement of the 3 innermost layers of the current Inner Tracking System (ITS), the detector closest to the interaction point, which is made of 7 layers of Monolithic Active Pixels (MAPS). The new vertex detector, named ITS3, will be made of newly developed wafer-scale monolithic pixel sensors in a 65 nm CMOS technology, thinned down to 50 μm, bent into truly cylindrical layers and held in place by light mechanics made from carbon foam. Thanks to these features, the ITS3 will achieve unprecedentedly low values of material budget (only 0.07%X 0 per layer) and closeness to the interaction point (19 mm). As a consequence, the tracking performance, especially at low transverse momenta ( ∼ 0.1 GeV/c), will be improved. This contribution will review the ALICE ITS3 detector concept and will cover the R&D activity, from the development of the sensor to the mechanics, cooling, and integration. Particular attention will be given to the results on the sensor characterization of small test devices (Multi-Layer Reticle 1 submission) and wafer-scale sensor sensors (Engineering Run 1) from beam tests and laboratory setup.

Speaker: Francesco Barile (Universita e INFN, Bari (IT))

35 The ATLAS ITk Strip Detector System for the Phase-II LHC Upgrade

ATLAS is currently preparing for the HL-LHC upgrade, with an all-silicon Inner Tracker (ITk) that will replace the current Inner Detector. The ITk will feature a pixel detector surrounded by a strip detector, with the strip system consisting of 4 barrel layers and 6 endcap disks. After completion of final design reviews in key areas, such as Sensors, Modules, Front-End electronics and ASICs, a large scale prototyping program has been completed in all areas successfully. We present an overview of the Strip System, and highlight the final design choices of sensors, module designs and ASICs. We will summarize results achieved during prototyping and the current status of production and pre-production on various detector components, with an emphasis on QA and QC procedures.

Speaker: Emily Rose Duden (Brandeis University (US))

36 Micromegas: a versatile device for radiation detection and imaging applications

Micromegas (MICRO-MEsh GAseous Structure) gaseous detectors are under development for the past three decades. The specific technology has emerged as a versatile platform for radiation detection and imaging, offering good detection efficiency and spatial resolution, excellent timing properties, radiation hardness and reasonable production and operation costs. This talk will present an overview of the current status of Micromegas detectors, highlighting their diverse applications in areas, including high energy physics experiments, nuclear physics and environmental monitoring. The review mainly will cover aspects related to the principle of operation, detector design, and latest advancements, while will provide more details on specific reference photocathode studies conducted for the use of Micromegas as a solar blind UV sensor.

Speaker: Christos Lampoudis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR))

High Energy Particle Physics

37 Measurements of Higgs boson properties (mass, width, and Spin/CP) with the ATLAS detector

This talk presents precise measurement of the properties of the Higgs boson, including its mass, total width, spin, and CP quantum number. The measurements are performed in various Higgs boson production and decay modes, as well as their combinations. Observation of deviations between these measurements and Standard Model (SM) predictions would be a sign of possible new phenomena beyond the SM

Speaker: Mohamed Aly (University of Manchester (GB))

38 Measurements of the Higgs boson mass and width

Main topic of the LHC program is to determine the Higgs boson properties including its mass and its width. This presentation will
present latest measurements on the Higgs boson mass and width with data collected by the CMS experiment at a centre of mass energy of 13 TeV.

Speaker: Filippo Errico (Sapienza Universita e INFN, Roma I (IT))

39 Search for new phenomena through Higgs bosons

This talk will give the recent new phenomena search through the Higgs boson in the CMS experiment.

Speaker: Zebing Wang (Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN))

40 Beyond the Standard Model in the Higgs sector

The discovery of the Higgs boson with the mass of about 125 GeV completed the particle content predicted by the Standard Model. Even though this model is well established and consistent with many measurements, it is not capable to solely explain some observations. Many extensions of the Standard Model addressing such shortcomings introduce additional Higgs bosons, beyond-the-Standard-Model couplings to the Higgs boson, or new particles decaying into Higgs bosons. In this talk, the latest searches in the Higgs sector by the ATLAS experiment are reported, with emphasis on the results obtained with the full LHC Run 2 dataset at 13 TeV. (Resonant HH/SH searches are covered in a different talk)

Speaker: Simon Gabriel Grewe (Max Planck Society (DE))

41 Higgs Physics at Muon Collider

A multi-TeV Muon Collider produces a significant amounts of Higgs bosons allowing precise measurements of its couplings to Standard Model fundamental particles. Moreover, Higgs boson pairs are produced with a relevant cross-section, allowing the determination of the second term of the Higgs potential by measuring the double Higgs production cross section and therefore the trilinear self-coupling term.
This contribution aims to give an overview of the Higgs measurements accuracies expected for the initial stage of the Muon Collider at $\sqrt{s} = 3 \ TeV$ with an integrated luminosity of $1\ ab^{-1}$ and for the target center-of-mass energy at $10\ TeV$ with $10 \ ab^{-1}$ integrated luminosity.
The results are obtained using the full detector simulations which include both physical and machine backgrounds.

Speaker: Luca Castelli

20:00 Dinner

Wednesday, 28 August

Workshop on Astro-Cosmo-Gravity

Convener: Prof. Armen Sedrakian

42 Formation of twin stars in low-mass X-ray binaries and in supernova explosions

We explore the conditions under which a first-order deconfinement phase transition in cold and warm neutron star cores would lead to the formation of a third family of compact stars and thus to cold and thermal twin stars. When this transition occurs in a low-mass X-ray binary system, possibly coupled with secondary kick mechanisms such as neutrino or electromagnetic rocket effects, it may provide a formation path for isolated and eccentric millisecond pulsars (MSPs) [1].
We find that in compact binary systems (Porb = 8 days) the accretion-induced phase transition occurs towards the end of mass transfer, specifically during the spin equilibrium phase. In contrast, in binary systems with wider orbits (Porb ≃ 22 days), this transition takes place during the subsequent spin-down phase, leading to a delayed collapse. We find that a gravitational mass loss of approximately ∆M ∼ 0.01 M⊙ suffices to produce an eccentricity of the order of 0.1 without the need of a secondary kick mechanism. Wider systems are more prone to yielding highly eccentric orbits in comparison to those with shorter orbital periods, even with relatively small kick velocities. Alternatively, they may be disrupted, leading to the formation of an isolated MSP. In both scenarios, the phase transition leads to a more compact object, situated on the third family branch. We show that at finite temperature, like in protoneutron stars, the twin star transition is more likely to occur than in cold systems and it may contribute to the supernova explodability of massive blue supergiant stars [2].

[1] S. Chanlaridis et al., in preparation (2024)
[2] J.P. Carlomagno et al., arXiv:2406.17193

Speaker: David Blaschke

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

Convener: Prof. Armen Sedrakian

43 Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory

In this presentation, we will present the latest results from the Pierre Auger Observatory. We will discuss the major contributions of the Observatory to the understanding of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. Recently, the scenario composed by the flux and type of particles and by the arrival direction maps has evolved significantly. The Pierre Auger Observatory data have shown structures in the energy spectrum of these particles, non-trivial arrival direction maps and an unexpected mass composition. In this talk, we will review the published data and discuss its implications. We will also highlight the construction of the AugerPrime phase of the Observatory which will provide very valuable information towards the solution of the remaining puzzles.

Speaker: Vitor de Souza (Instituto de Fisica de Sao Carlos, Universidade de Sao Paulo)

44 DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 results and its empowered stage

The DAMA/LIBRA experiment (about 250 kg of highly radio-pure NaI(Tl)) at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) of the I.N.F.N. is presented. DAMA/LIBRA–phase2, with improved experimental configuration and lower software energy threshold with respect to the phase1, confirms a signal that meets all the requirements of the model independent Dark Matter (DM) annual modulation signature, at high C.L.. No systematic or side reaction able to mimic the exploited DM signature has been found. The obtained DAMA model independent result is compatible with a wide set of scenarios regarding the nature of the DM candidate and related astrophysical, nuclear and particle physics models. A new configuration of DAMA/LIBRA–phase2 (dubbed "empowered") is now running with a further lowered energy threshold. This last phase of measurement is ongoing. In the talk, a summary of the results obtained so far by DAMA/LIBRA will be released and the perspectives of the present new running configuration will be presented.

Speaker: Pierluigi Belli

10:30 Coffee break

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

45 Template-free method to constrain Lorentz Invariance violation during the 2014 extraordinary Mrk421 flare

Some candidates for the theory of quantum gravity allow for Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). If Lorentz's invariance is violated, it may cause an observable effect on the light curve and spectra of very high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) photons coming from cosmic sources. One of the possible consequences of the LIV is in-vacuo dispersion which implies that the photon group velocity is energy dependent. In searches for the energy-dependent time delay likelihood analysis is often used. Traditionally, this approach requires the definition of Light Curve (LC) templates, which are challenging to estimate accurately. Furthermore, the bias introduced by this choice is often not evaluated statistically. This issue must be tackled when analyzing data from the flaring states of astrophysical sources, where the time distribution of gamma-ray events eludes approximation with any analytical function. To tackle these approximations, we introduce a novel method that incorporates these uncertainties into the likelihood analysis. Our approach segments the LC into small time bins, replacing the true (unknown) LC function with a step-function approximation that returns the average flux intensity within each bin over its duration. We applied this method to analyze the notable flare from the blazar Mrk421, observed at energies above 100 GeV by the MAGIC telescopes on the night of April 25 to 26, 2014. For the linear and quadratic scenario, we set $95\%$ lower limits $E_\mathrm{QG}>3\times10^{17}$\,GeV and $E_\mathrm{QG}> 2 \times10^{10}$\, GeV, respectively.

Speaker: Jelena Strišković (Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Department of Physics, Osijek, Croatia)

46 The impact on GW waveform SNR of the site dependent noise recorded at the Einstein Telescope candidate sites.

In this work we present an evaluation of how site dependent noise can affect the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of compact binary coalescence (CBC) signals in the future 3rd generation gravitational wave (GW) detector Einstein Telescope (ET). Actually, the design of ET is pushing the scientific community to study its scientific potential and to assess its sensitivity with respect to known, and possibly unexpected, GW signals using its design sensitivity. Nevertheless, local ambient noise may have an impact on the ET sensitivity and therefore affect the SNR of CBC signals at low frequency. Therefore, we study the impact of ambient noise on the ET sensitivity curve at the two sites candidate to host ET - Sardinia, in Italy, and the Euregio Meuse-Argonne (EMR) between the Netherlands and Belgium - and infer how the SNR of CBC signals at low frequencies is affected.

Speaker: Matteo Di Giovanni (La Sapienza Università di Roma)

47 Recent LST Science results

The Large-Sized Telescopes (LSTs) are an important part of the forthcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), the future cornerstone of very high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. The first LST, LST-1, was inaugurated in late 2018 on La Palma, Canary Islands, began regular gamma-ray observations in November 2019 and has so far collected more than 2000 hours of observations. The LST-1 sensitivity was assessed with 48 hours of Crab Nebula observations, which show that the performance closely matches the expectation obtained with Monte Carlo simulations.

In this talk, we will highlight key scientific achievements by LST-1 over recent years. These include the detection of several flares of active galactic nuclei, like the detection of flaring activities of the blazar BL Lac, which prompted the first Astronomical Telegrams from the CTAO era, the radio galaxy NGC 1275, and notably, the first high-energy detection of the distant flat spectrum radio quasar OP 313 (z=0.997). The current research program also includes studies of pulsars and their nebula, in particular the Geminga pulsar, as well as studies of extended Galactic sources and the pursuit of gamma-ray emissions from gamma-ray bursts. These observations not only deepen our understanding of cosmic phenomena but also serve as crucial tools for fundamental physics research, including the search for axion-like particles, dark matter, and tests for violations of Lorentz invariance.

Finally, we will share the progress on the construction of additional LSTs as well as further prospects for the core science project of the LST collaboration, including but not limited to additional AGN observations and follow-up programs of various transient phenomena.

Speaker: Jelena Strišković (Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Department of Physics, Osijek, Croatia)

48 Exploring the primordial Universe with QUBIC

The Q & U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QUBIC) is a novel kind of CMB polarimeter, installed on the Puna plateau in Argentina and inaugurated at the end of 2022. QUBIC is optimized for the measurement of the B-mode polarization of the CMB, one of the major challenges of observational cosmology. The signal is expected to be of the order of a few tens of nK, prone to instrumental systematic effects and polluted by various astrophysical foregrounds which can only be controlled through multichroic observations. QUBIC is designed to address these observational issues with a novel approach, Bolometric Interferometry, that combines the advantages of interferometry in terms of control of instrumental systematic effects with those of bolometric detectors in terms of wide-band, background-limited sensitivity. The QUBIC synthesized beam has a frequency-dependent shape that results in the ability to produce maps of the CMB polarization in multiple sub-bands within the two physical bands of the instrument (150 and 220 GHz). Alternatively, QUBIC offers the possibility to perform component separation directly at the map-making stage, incorporating external information in a modular fashion. These features make QUBIC complementary to other instruments and makes it particularly well suited to characterize and remove Galactic foreground contamination.

I will present the status of QUBIC, calibration results, the first real sky observations as well as forecasts for B-modes detection. I will insist on the specific spectral-imaging feature that allows Bolometric Interferometry to identify foreground contamination in a unique manner, even in the pessimistic case of Galactic dust exhibiting frequency domain decorrelation

Speaker: Jean-Christophe HAMILTON

49 Cosmological constraints from DESI DR1

This talk will present the latest cosmological results from the first data release (DR1) of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). DESI, with its unprecedented spectroscopic capabilities, provides a rich dataset that allows for a precise investigation of the large-scale structure of the universe. We analyze the distribution of galaxies, quasars, and the Lyman-alpha forest to extract parameters such as the Hubble constant and those for the dark energy equation of state and the matter density. We also combine DESI data with external datasets, including Cosmic Microwave Background and Supernovae, to push our constraints and identify tensions. We include a discussion of the various quality checks, including blinding, and elaborate on the implications of our results for current cosmological models.

Speaker: Dr Uendert Andrade (University of Michigan)

50 Searches for ultra-high-energy photons with the Pierre Auger Observatory: Current status and future perspectives

Despite being known for several decades now, the origin of cosmic rays in the ultra-high-energy (UHE, $E > 10^{17}\:\mathrm{eV}$) region remains uncertain, owing to the rapidly diminishing particle flux and magnetic deflection. The possibility of detecting UHE neutral particles, among them photons, produced in close proximity to the source regions of UHE cosmic rays would provide an opportunity to trace their origin and evaluate current models of their propagation. Moreover, UHE photons are also theorized to be emitted during transient events, offering an additional channel to further study these complex astrophysical processes in the context of multimessenger astronomy. Giant air shower arrays, such as the Pierre Auger Observatory, are primarily designed to effectively observe cosmic rays at the highest energies. However, they are also capable of reliably detecting UHE photons, providing an unparalleled exposure to these events. The diverse detector systems of the Observatory have been utilized to place stringent, world-leading upper limits on the diffuse, i.e. the direction-independent, unresolved, integral flux of UHE photons across several orders of magnitude in energy. In addition to these, there have also been efforts focussing on directional searches. This contribution aims to provide an overview of the most recent UHE photon searches by the Pierre Auger Collaboration, while also discussing future perspectives in view of the ongoing AugerPrime detector upgrade, which will further enhance the sensitivity of the Observatory to UHE photons.

Speaker: Mr Tim Fehler (Center for Particle Physics Siegen, University of Siegen, Germany)

Heavy Ion Collisions and Critical Phenomena

51 Investigation of sources affecting longitudinal particle production in heavy-ion collisions using spectators

Understanding the sources controlling the longitudinal distribution of produced particles in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is crucial for characterizing the shape of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Previous measurements on forward-backward multiplicity correlations, directed flow, and flow decorrelations have provided strong model-dependent constraints on emission profiles of initial state sources. Therefore, understanding the longitudinal evolution of particle production is essential for constraining various models of heavy-ion collisions.

In this talk, we will present correlation coefficient $\rho(nA_{sp}, nA_{ch,\eta})$, as a function of pseudorapidity ($\eta$), between the forward-backward asymmetry of initial-state spectators ($A_{sp}$) and final-state multiplicities ($A_{ch,\eta}$) in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV using a multi-phase transport model (AMPT) to quantify the contribution of preferential emission from initial state sources to the longitudinal distribution of produced particles. Additionally, the sensitivity of the correlator to spectator matter dynamics, such as fragmentation and evaporation, will be discussed. These findings motivate the experimental measurement of this correlator to constrain initial state sources that control the longitudinal particle production of the QGP matter.

Speaker: Dr Vipul Bairathi (Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá)

52 Underlying event characterization in 200 GeV Au+Au collisions and jet measurements with the sPHENIX detector

sPHENIX is a new experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), designed with large-acceptance, hermetic EM and hadronic calorimeters. One of the main goals of the sPHENIX experiments is the measurement of jets and their substructure in heavy ion collisions as a probe of the QGP at RHIC. Since jets in heavy ion collisions sit on top of large fluctuating backgrounds, these must be understood to carry out a precision program of jet physics.

This talk reports a detailed characterization of the underlying event and jet background fluctuations at RHIC using 200 GeV Au+Au collision data collected with the sPHENIX calorimeter system during its 2023 commissioning run. The characterization uses several approaches: unbiased sampling of calorimeter window areas and random cones, as well as methods sensitive to jet reconstruction effects such as embedding high-pT probes from data or simulation into recorded minimum-bias Au+Au data. The non-Poissionian background fluctuations for several jet background subtraction methods are also investigated. Lastly, we present highlights of the envisioned sPHENIX jet physics program.

Speaker: Tanner Austin Mengel (University of Tennessee)

53 Study of bulk properties through $\phi$-meson in Au+Au collisions at high $\mu_{B}$ using the PHSD model

Quark-gluon plasma (QGP) matter is created in heavy-ion collisions at relativistic speeds. The $\phi$-meson ($s\bar{s})$ produced during heavy-ion collisions is expected to have a small hadronic interaction cross-section and thus retain information from the early stages of the QGP medium. Therefore, the study of strangeness production and collectivity plays a significant role in understanding the properties of QGP medium in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Collectivity can be studied through the azimuthal anisotropy by the Fourier expansion of the azimuthal distributions of produced particles relative to the reaction plane.

In this talk, we will present transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) spectra and elliptic flow ($v_{2}$) of $\phi$-meson at mid-rapidity ($|\eta| < 1.0$) in Au+Au collisions at high baryonic chemical potential ($\mu_{B}$) region using the Parton Hadron String Dynamics (PHSD) model. The $\phi$-meson invariant yield and $v_{2}$ as a function of $p_{T}$ will be presented. Additionally, the beam energy dependence of particle yield ($dN/dy$), $\langle p_{T}\rangle$, and $\langle v_{2}\rangle$ will be discussed in comparison to the available published experimental results. These model calculations could provide insight for the upcoming Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) and the Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) experiment at the nuclotron-based ion collider facility (NICA).

Speaker: Dr Vipul Bairathi (Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá)

ICNFP2024_PhiMeson_Vipul_v0.pdf

High Energy Particle Physics

54 Electroweak measurements (CMS)

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Speaker: Cristina-Andreea Alexe (Scuola Normale Superiore & INFN Pisa (IT))

55 Upgrade of ATLAS Hadronic Tile Calorimeter for the High Luminosity LHC

The Tile Calorimeter (TileCal) is a sampling hadronic calorimeter covering the central region of the ATLAS experiment, with steel as absorber and plastic scintillators as active medium. The High-Luminosity phase of LHC, delivering five times the LHC nominal instantaneous luminosity, is expected to begin in 2029. TileCal will require new electronics to meet the requirements of a 1 MHz trigger, higher ambient radiation, and to ensure better performance under high pile-up conditions. Both the on- and off-detector TileCal electronics will be replaced during the shutdown of 2026-2028. PMT signals from every TileCal cell will be digitized and sent directly to the back-end electronics, where the signals are reconstructed, stored, and sent to the first level of trigger at a rate of 40 MHz. This will provide better precision of the calorimeter signals used by the trigger system and will allow the development of more complex trigger algorithms. The modular front-end electronics feature radiation-tolerant commercial off-the-shelf components and redundant design to minimise single points of failure. The timing, control and communication interface with the off-detector electronics is implemented with modern Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and high speed fibre optic links running up to 9.6 Gb/s. The TileCal upgrade program has included extensive R&D and test beam studies. A Demonstrator module with reverse compatibility with the existing system was inserted in ATLAS in August 2019 for testing in actual detector conditions. The ongoing developments for on- and off-detector systems, together with expected performance characteristics and results of test-beam campaigns with the electronics prototypes will be discussed.

Speaker: Beatriz Pereira (Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics (PT))

56 Overview of Trigger/DAQ in CMS

CMS selects interesting events using a two-tiered trigger system. The first level (L1), composed of custom hardware processors, uses information from the calorimeters and muon detectors to select events at a rate of around 110 kHz within a fixed latency of about 4 microsecond. The second level, the high-level trigger (HLT), consists of a farm of processors running a version of the full event reconstruction software optimized for fast processing and reduces the event rate to around 5 kHz before data storage. This talk will focus on the current status and performance of CMS trigger and the overall data acquisition system (DAQ).

Speaker: Swagata Mukherjee (Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur)

57 CMS Upgrades

The present and future runs of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will provide a unique opportunity to extend the physics reach of the CMS experiment. Therefore, an ambitious upgrade program of the experimental apparatus has been carried out. 
The major experimental upgrades implemented before Run3 mainly aim to improve the trigger: additional new stations have been included in the CMS muon system. The High Luminosity LHC phase will push the experimental challenges to the technology limit because of the higher radiation level and harsh environment. The key features for successful detector operation in Run4-5 are high granularity, radiation hardness, improved time precision. Therefore, CMS will be equipped with a new inner tracking detector, new high-granularity calorimeter and timing layers and additional muon stations.. 
In this contribution an overview of the mentioned upgrades will be provided, together with a description of the detector technologies and first performance studies.

Speaker: Rosamaria Venditti (Universita e INFN, Bari (IT))

58 The CMS electromagnetic calorimeter

The CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a high granularity, homogeneous detector composed of scintillating lead-tungstate crystals. Designed to provide exceptional energy resolution for electrons and photons, the ECAL was pivotal in the discovery of the Higgs boson, particularly in the two-photon and two Z boson decay channels. With the upcoming transition to the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), the CMS detector is undergoing a significant Phase-2 upgrade to handle the increased instantaneous and integrated luminosity in a more challenging environment.
This talk will review the original design considerations of the CMS ECAL, emphasizing its high energy resolution capabilities and its critical role in various physics analyses. We will briefly introduce the precise calibration methods and energy reconstruction algorithms developed and refined during LHC Run III to ensure the stability of the energy scale and resolution. Additionally, we will describe the operation details involving the trigger, handling of spikes, and data quality monitoring (DQM) with machine learning.
For the HL-LHC era, the central barrel portion of the ECAL, designed to be radiation-tolerant, will largely remain intact. However, upgrades are necessary to maintain performance, including a reduction in operating temperature and enhancements to the readout electronics. These upgrades will also facilitate precision time measurements, improving the determination of the production vertex location in di-photon events. We will present an overview of these upgrades, supported by results from recent test beam studies, highlighting the continued importance of the ECAL in future physics analyses, including the study of di-Higgs production.
Performance and upgrades will be further detailed in two other talks, providing a comprehensive view of the ECAL’s role and enhancements.

Speaker: Rajdeep Mohan Chatterjee (Tata Inst. of Fundamental Research (IN))

59 Performance of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter in Run3

The electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) of the CMS experiment at LHC plays has a crucial role in various physics analyses, spanning from Higgs measurements to the exploration of new physics phenomena. Achieving optimal resolution for electron and photon energy measurements, as well as accurately assessing the electromagnetic component of jets and quantify missing transverse energy, necessitates precise calibration of the detector and its individual channels. To maintain stable energy response over time, a laser monitoring system is utilized to detect radiation-induced alterations in the detector, compensating for them at the reconstruction stage. Moreover, each channel undergoes in-situ calibration using physics events (W and Z electrons, photons from low mass resonance decays). This contribution will describe the methodologies employed for ECAL energy and new time calibration algorithms used by CMS; in addition the new automated system designed to streamline calibration workflows during data taking will be introduced. Finally we'll present the ECAL performance during LHC Run3.

Speaker: Maria Margherita Obertino (Universita e INFN Torino (IT))

Workshop on Astro-Cosmo-Gravity

60 Observational features to distinguish Kerr black hole from their mimickers

It is evident from the literature that the final fate of a collapsing star can be a hidden or a visible singularity. The question then arises: How can these two distinct types of singularities be distinguished from one another? In this presentation, I will discuss the observational properties of compact astrophysical objects, with or without an event horizon. First, I will discuss the precession of test particles as they orbit these compact objects. Another aspect is the shadow cast by a black hole or a naked singularity. Mainly, I will discuss the mechanisms governing the energy extraction from these compact objects and the fundamental conditions for the occurrence of such phenomena. Concluding this we will discuss open questions within this domain.

Speaker: Ms vishva patel (P D Patel Institute of Applied Sciences, CHARUSAT, India)

61 Particle motion and tidal force in a non-vacuum-charged naked singularity

Our study investigates the gravitational field surrounding a charged, non-vacuum, non-rotating, spherically symmetric compact object with mass M and charge Q. Our investigation is based on a static solution to the Einstein-Maxwell field equations. We have shown the characteristics of perihelion precession within the orbits governed by the charged naked singularity spacetime. We uncover novel features of light-like geodesics in this unique gravitational environment. As well as this, we have conducted a comparative study of tidal forces in future null singularity, Schwarzschild, Reissner–Nordstrom, and charged naked singularity spacetime geometry. This comparative analysis provides valuable insights into the distinct gravitational effects associated with these singularities. By investigating these aspects, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of the gravitational dynamics surrounding charged naked singularities, shedding light on the impact of the charge on perihelion precession, light trajectories, and tidal forces. This investigation extends our comprehension of the interaction between gravity and electromagnetic fields in non-vacuum, spherically symmetric systems.

Speaker: Divyesh Viththani (PDPIAS)

62 X-ray Emission spectrum from strongly magnetized neutron stars due to axion to photon conversion

, We employ here the modified system of Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff (TOV) equations due to the presence of a magnetic field to study the emission properties of the strongly magnetized neutron stars (NSs). We have considered the distance-dependent magnetic field in the modified TOV system of equations. We used three different equations of states (EoSs), namely APR, FPS, and SLY to solve these equations. We then obtain the axions emission rate by including the Cooper-pair-breaking formation process and Bremsstrahlung process in the core of NSs using the NSCool code. We primarily focus on Magnificent seven (M7) star RXJ 1856.5-3754. We further investigate the impact of the magnetic field on the actual observables, such as axion energy spectrum and axion-converted-photon flux at an axion mass in meV range for NSs with mass 1.4 solar mass. We finally compare our prediction of axion-converted-photon flux with PN + MOS + Chandra data sets and obtained a reasonable agreement with the data. .

Speaker: Prof. Madhukar Mishra (Department of Physics, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Pilani Campus)

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

63 Anisotropy searches at the highest energy cosmic rays with the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest and most important hybrid detector designed to investigate the origin and the nature of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. The Observatory has been continuously operated since 2004, and has achieved a total detection exposure of approximately 122000 km2sr yr. During over 18 years of research, the Pierre Auger Observatory has collected a huge amount of high-quality data, which gave us knowledge about the origin of the most energetic particles ever observed in the universe. In this contribution, we will
present the main and most recent results of the arrival direction studies obtained with the Auger Phase I dataset, i.e., the one before the installation of the upgrade AugerPrime, currently under completion. These include the searches for possible sources from small to large scale: studies of dipolar and multipolar anisotropies, the search for excesses of the order of the scale of tens of degrees at the highest energies, and the search for excesses of the order of the angular resolution (∼ 1°) to look for neutral particles.

Speaker: Federico Maria Mariani

64 Dark Matter from Inflaton Field Perturbations and Primordial Spacetime Cavitation

This study examines the formation of dark matter as a result of Primordial Spacetime Cavitation, driven by Inflaton Field Perturbations. Our theoretical framework integrates early universe dynamics with quantum field theory to explain the emergence of subatomic voids within the spacetime fabric. These cavitated regions, resulting from perturbations in the inflaton field, persist as stable or metastable vacua after inflation, affecting large-scale structure formation, contributing to the formation of dark matter.

We derive the stress-energy tensor ( T_{\mu\nu}^{\text{cav}} ) for these cavitated regions, incorporate them into the Einstein field equations, and calculate the resulting gravitational effects. Quantum fluctuations during inflation, described by the Klein-Gordon equation, induce variations in the potential energy landscape, leading to distinct vacuum states in spacetime. This process modifies the power spectrum of density fluctuations, which we compute using the slow-roll approximation and inflationary potential.

[
T_{\mu\nu}^{\text{cav}} = \rho_{\text{cav}} c^2 u_\mu u_\nu + p_{\text{cav}} g_{\mu\nu}
]

where ( \rho_{\text{cav}} ) is the energy density, ( p_{\text{cav}} ) is the pressure within cavitated regions, and ( u^\mu ) is the four-velocity of the cavitated fluid element.

The energy density ( \rho_{\text{cav}} ) in these regions, derived from the Friedmann equation, aligns with observations of the primordial power spectrum of density fluctuations indicating consistency with cosmological observations on large scales. The power spectrum ( P(k) ) of density fluctuations from cavitated regions matches the nearly scale-invariant nature observed in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data, validating our theoretical model within current observational constraints.

Using parameters such as ( A_s \approx 2.2 \times 10^{-9} ), ( n_s \approx 0.96 ), ( \frac{d n_s}{d \ln k} \approx -0.03 ), and ( k_{\text{pivot}} = 0.05 \text{ Mpc}^{-1} ), our theoretical model predicts ( P(0.1) \approx 2.25 \times 10^{-9} ), aligning closely with observational constraints.

Speaker: Mr Swapnil Singh

65 The transmission muography technique for locating potential Radon gas conduits at the Temperino mine (Tuscany-Italy)

Transmission muography is an imaging technique that allows 2D and 3D images of the average target density by measuring the transmission of atmospheric muons within the target. The structures studied can be as large as volcanoes, pyramids, archaeological or mining sites, blast furnace, dams and the detectors used in this technique are muon trackers.

In this presentation the potential of the technique will be illustrated through the description of the results obtained from two muographic measurements conducted for the search for low density anomalies attributable to cavities inside the Temperino mine (Livorno – Italy). The measurements were concentrated in the tourist path in an area dating back to the Etruscan period at a depth of about 40 m from ground level where the greatest concentration of Radon gas is observed. This area has not yet been explored and the identification of overlying cavities may be linked to the greater presence of Radon gas as the cavities could represent preferential conduits into which the gas can enter the tourist route. The location of any cavities can be also important for the safety, in terms of stability, of the tourist route.

Speaker: Diletta Borselli (National Institute for Nuclear Physics INFN, Division of Florence, Via Bruno Rossi 1, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy)

Heavy Ion Collisions and Critical Phenomena

66 The study of identified charged-hadron production at PHENIX

Identified hadron production has long played an important role in studying the final state effects of relativistic ion collisions and the details of hadronization processes. The studies of various observables in both small and large collision systems are crucial to investigate the dependence of various quark gluon plasma and hadronization properties and the observability of final state effects on initial conditions of the collisions, i.e. nuclear-overlap size. In this talk, identified charged hadron production in p+Al, p/ d/³He/Cu+Au, and U+U collisions, measured by PHENIX is presented. The comparisons of obtained results to previous measurements of light hadron production are provided for better understanding of the underlying processes.

Speaker: Mariia Mitrankova

67 Centrality dependence of two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in sqrt(s(NN)) = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions

The PHENIX experiment measured the centrality dependence of two-pion Bose-Einstein correlation functions in sqrt(s(NN))= 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The data are well represented by Lévy-stable source distributions. The extracted source parameters are the correlation-strength parameter $\lambda$, the Lévy index of stability $\alpha$, and the Lévy-scale parameter $R$ as a function of transverse mass $m_T$ and centrality. The $\lambda$ parameter is constant at larger values of $m_T$, but decreases as $m_T$ decreases. The Lévy scale parameter $R$ decreases with $m_T$ and exhibits proportionality to the length scale of the nuclear overlap region. The Lévy exponent $\alpha$ is independent of $m_T$ within uncertainties in each investigated centrality bin, but shows a clear centrality dependence. At all centralities, the Lévy exponent $\alpha$ is significantly different from that of Gaussian or Cauchy source distributions. Comparisons to the predictions of Monte-Carlo simulations of resonance-decay chains show that in all but the most peripheral centrality class (50%–60%), the obtained results are inconsistent with the measurements, unless a significant reduction of the in-medium mass of the $\eta^\prime$ meson is included. In each centrality class, the best value of the in-medium mass is compared to the mass of the $\eta$ meson, as well as to several theoretical predictions that consider restoration of $U_A(1)$ symmetry in hot hadronic matter.

Reference:
arXiv:2407.08586

Speaker: Tamás Ferenc Csörgö (Wigner RCP Budapest and MATE Institute of Technology, Gyöngyös, Hungary)

68 Diphotons existence with the effect of finite chemical potential

We employ a phenomenological model to scrutinize the diphoton signal, a highly regarded and widely explored probe that serves as one of the premier indirect signatures of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Theoretical considerations indicate the potential existence of a finite chemical potential at RHIC, LHC, and in astrophysical environments. The existence of finite chemical potential was also confirmed by experimentalists. Diphotons, being particularly sensitive in high-temperature and chemical potential regions, play a crucial role in these scenarios. Our calculations of the diphoton mass spectrum, utilizing the quasiparticle approach with a consideration for chemical potential, reveal notable enhancements compared to scenarios with zero chemical potential. The results elucidate the significance of diphotons, especially in terms of the augmented mass spectra attributed to the presence of chemical potential. Ultimately, our model aligns well to corroborate the detection of QGP and provides insights into the properties of diphotons arising from relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

Keywords: diphoton; quark-gluon plasma, chemical potential

Speaker: Rashika Rai

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Break

15:30 Coffee break

Heavy Ion Collisions and Critical Phenomena

69 Zubarev Meets Bayes: Non-Equilibrium Pion Distribution Function in Heavy-Ion Collisions

The Zubarev approach of the non-equilibrium statistical operator [1] is used to account for the enhancement of the low-$p_T$ part of pion spectra by introducing an effective pion chemical potential [2]. This is an alternative to the explanation of the low-$p_T$ enhancement by resonance decays. We report on the first results obtained with a newly developed thermal particle generator that implements both mechanisms of low-$p_T$ enhancement and applies Bayesian inference methods for these scenarios to find the most probable sets of thermodynamic parameters at the freeze-out hypersurface for the case of the transverse momentum spectra of identified particles measured by the ALICE Collaboration. The Bayes factor is determined for these scenarios. The advantages and limitations of the Zubarev approach are discussed.

References:
[1] D.N. Zubarev et al., Statistical Mechanics of Nonequilibrium Processes, Akademie Verlag Berlin (1996), vol. I
[2] D. Blaschke et al., Particles 3, 380–393 (2020)

Speaker: Mr Oleksandr Vitiuk (University of Wroclaw (PL))

70 Probing the onset of deconfinement with the NA61/SHINE experiment

The NA61/SHINE experiment, situated at the CERN SPS, serves as a versatile fixed-target facility dedicated to probing the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. Utilizing a unique two-dimensional scan in collision energy (sqrt(s_NN) = 5.1 - 16.8/17.3 GeV) and system size, the NA61/SHINE experiment aims to elucidate the onset of deconfinement and characterize the properties of the created medium.

Recent results on identified hadron production properties within central nucleus-nucleus collisions in the NA61/SHINE experiment will be presented. This includes the analysis of the kinematic distributions of identified hadrons with novel results for the Xe+La system, alongside an examination of strangeness production. Of particular interest is the ratio of positively charged kaons to pion which is highlighted as a key observable for understanding the onset of deconfinement phenomena. Furthermore, unexpected system size dependencies in the inverse slope parameter and the K+/pi+ ratio, correlated with collision energy, will be discussed. The NA61/SHINE results will be compared with the available world data and with various theoretical predictions such as EPOS, PHSD, and UrQMD.

Speaker: Elizaveta Zherebtsova (University of Wroclaw (PL))

71 $K^*/K$ ratio and the time between freeze-outs for intermediate-mass Ar+Sc system at the SPS energy range

Bartosz Kozłowski (for the NA61/SHINE Collaboration)

NA61/SHINE is a multipurpose, fixed-target experiment located at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). The main goal of its strong interaction program is to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement and search for the critical point. 

Resonance production is one of the key observables to study the dynamics of high-energy collisions. In dense systems created in heavy nucleus-nucleus collisions, the properties of some of them (widths, masses, branching ratios) were predicted to be modified due to partial restoration of chiral symmetry. The resonance spectra and yields are also important inputs for Blast-Wave and Hadron Resonance Gas models. Finally, the analysis of strange $K^*(892)^0$ resonance allows to better understand the time evolution of high-energy nucleus-nucleus collision. Namely, the ratio of $K^*(892)^0$ to charged kaons is used to determine the time between chemical and kinetic freeze-outs.

In this talk, the first results of the analysis of $K^*(892)^0$ production in central Ar+Sc collisions at three SPS energies ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 8.8, 11.9, 16.8 GeV) will be presented. The $K^*(892)^0/K^{+/-}$ yield ratios will be compared with corresponding results in p+p collisions, allowing to estimate the time between kinetic and thermal freezouts for Ar+Sc collisions. These first results for intermediate-mass nucleus-nucleus systems at the SPS energy range will be compared with the results of heavier systems at a similar energy range.

Speaker: Bartosz Kozlowski (Warsaw University of Technology (PL))

72 The $v^{1/3}_{3}/v^{1/2}_{2}$ ratio in PbAu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = $ 17.3 GeV - a hint of a hydrodynamic behavior

The Fourier harmonics, $v_2$ and $v_3$ of negative pions are measured at center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$= 17.3 GeV around midrapidity by the CERES/NA45 experiment at the CERN SPS in 0--30\% central PbAu collisions with a mean centrality of 5.5\%. The analysis is performed in two centrality bins as a function of the transverse momentum $\mathrm{p_{\mathrm{T}}}$ from 0.05 GeV/$c$ to more than 2 GeV/$c$. This is the first measurement of the $v^{1/3}_{3}/v^{1/2}_{2}$ ratio as a function of transverse momentum at SPS energies, that reveals, independently of the hydrodynamic models, hydrodynamic behavior of the formed system. For $\mathrm{p_{\mathrm{T}}}$ above 0.5 GeV/$c$, the ratio is nearly flat in accordance with the hydrodynamic prediction and as previously observed by the ATLAS and ALICE experiments at the much higher LHC energies. The results are also compared with the SMASH-vHLLE hybrid model predictions.

Speaker: Jovan Milosevic (VINCA Institute of Nuclear Science - National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade)

73 sPHENIX at RHIC

The sPHENIX detector is the first new detector constructed at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) in twenty years, featuring cutting-edge calorimeter, tracking, and forward detectors designed to investigate the properties and behavior of the strongly coupled Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) generated in heavy-ion collisions. The sPHENIX detector at RHIC offers new capabilities for studying jet and heavy flavor intended to complement and extend those at the Large Hadron Collider.

In 2023, sPHENIX underwent commissioning with Au+Au beams, and currently a high-luminosity p+p data-taking run is underway. This talk will cover an overview of sPHENIX, the progress made in commissioning the detector subsystems including initial physics results from run 2023 Au+Au data. Additionally, we will discuss performance projections for the entire physics program.

Speaker: Dr Stacyann Nelson (sPHENIX)

74 Overview of STAR Measurements on Correlations and Fluctuations

Heavy-ion collisions with the RHIC Beam Energy Scan II (BES-II) program at STAR provided a unique opportunity to explore the QCD phase diagram at finite baryon density. Conserved charge fluctuations are believed to be sensitive to the QCD phase structure. In this talk, we will present the recent STAR highlights on fluctuation studies in search of the critical endpoint in QCD phase transition using the (net-)proton high-order moments. Besides, the multi-particle momentum correlations can be used to explore the collision dynamics (emission source size) and the final state interactions. The measurements of femtoscopic correlations of particle pairs including $\pi$-$\pi$, $K$-$K$, $p$-$p$, $p$-$d$, $d$-$d$, $p$-$\Lambda$, $p$-$\Xi$, and $d$-$\Lambda$ will also be discussed.

Speaker: Yu Hu

75 A systematic approach to studying Quark Energy Loss in Nuclei using Positive Pions

Our objective is to test published models of partonic energy loss, particularly those describing the energy loss mechanisms of quarks traversing nuclear matter, within the framework of semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering. Our methodological approach focuses on quantifying quark energy loss in cold matter by analyzing positive pions ($\pi^{+}$) produced in various nuclear targets, including deuterium, carbon, iron, and lead. Before normalizing the pion energy distribution to unity to perform a shape analysis, acceptance corrections were performed to account for the detector's efficiency and ensure accurate comparison of the spectra. By normalizing the energy spectra of $\pi^{+}$ produced from these distinct targets, and based on the Baier-Dokshitzer-Mueller-Peigné-Schiff theory, which posits that quark energy loss depends only on nuclear size, it is assumed that the energy distributions of the targets will exhibit similar behavior. For this normalization, an energy shift between these distributions, corresponding to the quark energy loss, is identified. To ensure accuracy, statistical techniques such as the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test are employed. The data used for this analysis were from the CLAS6 EG2 dataset collected using Jefferson Lab's CLAS detector.

Speaker: Mr Nicolás Zambra Gómez (UTFSM)

High Energy Particle Physics

76 ATLAS searches for non-minimal and long-lived SUSY scenarios

Supersymmetry (SUSY) provides elegant solutions to several problems in the Standard Model, and searches for SUSY particles are an important component of the LHC physics program. With increasing mass bounds on MSSM scenarios other non-minimal variations of supersymmetry become increasingly interesting. This talk will present the latest results of searches conducted by the ATLAS experiment targeting strong and electroweak production in R-parity-violating models, as well as non-minimal models.

Speaker: Risa Ushioda (Tokyo Institute of Technology (JP))

77 Tests of LFU and searches for LFV in heavy flavor decays at CMS

In this presentation, an overview of the results recently obtained from the CMS experiment regarding the search for Lepton Flavor Violation (LFV) and Lepton Flavor Universality Violation (LFUV) in proton-proton collisions at a center of mass energy of 13 TeV is presented, with a focus on heavy flavor decays. These results include the search for the LFV in the charged sector through $\tau \rightarrow \mu \mu \mu$ decay and the test of LFU in the $B^{\pm} \rightarrow K^{\pm} \ell^+\ell^-$ and $B^{\pm}_c \rightarrow J/\psi \ell^{\pm}\nu_{\ell}$ decays.

Speaker: Marco Buonsante (Universita e INFN, Bari (IT))

78 Unveiling Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay with the NEXT Detectors: Advances, Achievements, and Future Prospects

The NEXT collaboration aims to discover neutrinoless double beta decays in Xe-136 using a high-pressure gas time projection chamber using electroluminisce (HPGTPC-EL). This cutting-edge technology leverages the remarkable energy resolution (FWHM <1%) and topological event classification capabilities of electroluminescent HPGTPCs. Building on the success of its predecessor, NEXT-White, the NEXT-100 detector was successfully constructed and assembled in 2023. With commissioning underway, data collection is set to begin in July 2024. The detector, holding approximately 80$~$kg of Xenon at 15$~$bar, boasts a projected sensitivity of 6$\cdot$10$^{25}$ years after three effective years of data acquisition.
In this presentation, we will highlight the unique advantages of HPGTPC-EL detectors, provide a detailed overview of the NEXT-100 detector, and discuss its scientific objectives. We will also share the latest updates on the experiment's status, including commissioning outcomes. Looking ahead, we will explore the future goals of the NEXT collaboration, including plans for a ton-scale NEXT detector capable of achieving a half-life sensitivity exceeding 10$^{27}$ years within five years of operation.

Speaker: Helena Almazan (University of Manchester)

79 Precision measurements of $\tau$ lepton decays at Belle$~$II

The Belle$~$II experiment has collected a $424~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ sample of $e^+e^-$ collision data at centre-of-mass energies near the $\Upsilon(nS)$ resonances. This sample contains 389 million $e^+e^-\to \tau^+\tau^{-}$ events, which we use for precision tests of the standard model. We present measurements of leptonic branching fractions, lepton-flavour universality between electrons and muons, the tau mass, and the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $V_{us}$. We also present world's leading limits on searches for lepton flavor violating $\tau$ decays.

Speaker: Arthur THALLER (CPPM, CNRS/IN2P3)

80 Light readout in DarkSide-20k: from Silicon Photo Multiplier dies to the Photo Detection Units integration in the NOA packaging facility.

DarkSide-20k is the next generation multi-ton dark matter experiment in construction at Gran Sasso underground Laboratory (LNGS). Designed upon the successful operations of DS-50 detector, it exploits new key technologies for large scale experiments: the low radioactive underground Ar subsequently depleted of 39Ar; the large area cryogenic SiPMs integrated with a custom and compact electronics for light detection, an intense radio-purity assay program with several facilities worldwide to select materials with the lowest background contamination.
The detector is based on a large dual phase LAr Time Projection Chamber (TPC) that will be installed inside a cryostat membrane under construction in the LNGS cavern. Both the TPC optical planes will be equipped with more than 20 m2 of SiPM arrays integrated in 528 Photo Detection Units (PDU). The massive production of these optical units will be performed in the Nuova Officina Assergi (NOA), a large clean room of 420 m2 that has been active since 2023. The facility hosts cutting edge packaging machines and dedicated equipments and set ups for cryogenic test of SiPM arrays and the related electronics . After a brief introduction of DarkSIde-20k detector and the construction progress, this contribution will be focusing on the activities on the SiPM arrays, their packaging, test and the performance of the first PDUs assembled in NOA to validate the entire production capability workflow.

Speaker: Lucia Consiglio (INFN)

81 Semileptonic and missing energy B decays at Belle II

The Belle II experiment has collected a 364 $fb^{-1}$ sample of $e^+e^-$ collisions at the $\Upsilon (4S)$ resonance. This dataset, with its low particle multiplicity and well-constrained initial state, provides an ideal environment for studying semileptonic and missing energy $B$ decays. In this talk, I will present recent results on these decays, emphasizing their impact on the determination of CKM matrix elements and potential new physics. I will also discuss the techniques used for missing energy reconstruction and the challenges of signal-background discrimination. Future analysis prospects with larger data sets will also be highlighted.

Speaker: Giovanni Gaudino (SSM - INFN Napoli)

82 Towards Photon Counting at the ALPS II Experiment: Efficient Background Discrimination for TES-Based Single-Photon Detectors

The Any Light Particle Search II (ALPS II) experiment located at DESY Hamburg, Germany, is designed to probe the existence of axions and axion-like particles. The existence of these weakly interacting particles is motivated by a solution to the strong CP-problem and being promising dark matter candidates. The ALPS II experiment is ultimately a light-shining-through-wall experiment featuring a 1064 nm laser, where the predicted axion-photon coupling enables photons to emerge on the other side of an opaque barrier. The estimated photon reconversion rate of $10^{-5}$ Hz, corresponding on average a single photon per day, sets the upper limit for the background (dark count) rate required for statistically significant detection of axions. Such a low background rate requires a sensor with excellent energy resolution and quantum efficiency along with sufficiently short dead time. We are characterizing superconducting Transition Edge Sensors (TES) which have shown to meet the above criteria. This presentation gives an overall description of the ALPS II experiment, followed by a more detailed inspection of our two ongoing projects aimed to improve the background discrimination for the TES. These include i) physically preventing black-body photons from reaching the TES using a custom built cryogenic filter bench and ii) utilizing advanced machine learning techniques to distinguish between the 1064 nm photon induced pulses and background, such as multiple lower energy pile-up photons. The presented results should be considered interesting for a broader audience working with single-photon detection.

Speaker: Elmeri Rivasto (CP3-Origins, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark)

Workshop on "Half a Century of QCD"

83 From Quarks to Quantum Chromodynamics

I will give a historical account of the development from the invention of quarks, via the detection of partons and subsequent ideas on hadron physics until the creation of quantum chromodynamics.

Speaker: Prof. Willibald Plessas (Institute of Physics, University of Graz)

84 From QED atoms to QCD hadrons

Hadrons have been the focus of much interest in the past 50 years. The challenges of Poincaré covariance and color confinement have been addressed by various methods, including QCD theory, numerical (lattice) and model approaches. We have considerable experience with atoms and molecules. Yet the bound state principles of Quantum Field Theory are not found in textbooks.

The bound state methods of QED are based on a perturbative expansion unlike that of the perturbative S-matrix. The expansion starts from a state (given, e.g., by the Bethe-Salpeter or Schrödinger equation), whose wave function is non-polynomial in the coupling $\alpha$. An instantaneous potential is generated by the gauge-fixing of the $A^0$ or $A_L$ fields. In temporal gauge ($A^0=0$) there is a constraint on physical states which determines the instantaneous longitudinal electric field $E_L$.

Hadrons are strongly bound, yet their spectra are routinely classified as for atoms. The apparent dominance of the valence ($q\bar q$, $qqq$) components of QCD bound states is paradoxical: The strong gluon field would be expected to generate an abundance of quark and gluon constituents.

The hadronic scale $\Lambda_{QCD} \simeq 1$ fm$^{-1}$ is not in the QCD action. Solving the constraint for $E_L$ requires a boundary condition (scale) $\Lambda$, which need not vanish for QCD. $\Lambda \neq 0$ implies a linear $O(\alpha_s^0)$ potential $V(r) = \Lambda^2 r$ for $q\bar q$ states. The scale $\Lambda$ is universal, and fully determines the confining potential also of other (globally) color singlet states $(qqq,\ q\bar qg,\ gg)$.

The $O(\alpha_s^0)$ states are bound by the instantaneous potential and define the lowest order of a formally exact expansion. Higher Fock states with transverse (propagating) gluons and $q\bar q$ pairs are generated as power corrections in $\alpha_s$ by the interaction terms of $\mathcal{H}_{QCD}$. The dynamics is simplified at $O(\alpha_s^0)$ but still non-trivial, with Poincar\'e covariance dynamically realized. Mesons lie on linear Regge trajectories (at small quark masses) and there are features of parton-hadron duality and quark hadronization as observed in experiments [1,2].

[1] Paul Hoyer, Journey to the Bound States, SpringerBriefs in Physics (Springer, 2021) arXiv:2101.06721 [hep-ph].
[2] Paul Hoyer, “QCD bound states in motion,” Phys. Rev. D 108, 034031 (2023), arXiv:2304.11903 [hep-ph].

Speaker: Paul Hoyer

85 Symmetries of QCD

I will review classical chiral symmetries of QCD
and a new chiral spin symmetry, which is a symmetry
of the confining electric part of QCD. I will discuss
implication of these symmetries for hadrons and for QCD
phase diagram

Speaker: Leonid Glozman

Workshop on Instruments and Methods

86 ATLAS New Small Wheel Performance Studies with LHC Run-3 data

The most important ATLAS upgrade for LHC run-3 has been in the Muon Spectrometer, where the replacement of the two forward inner stations with the New Small Wheels (NSW) introduced two novel detector technologies: the small-strip Thin Gap Chambers (sTGC) and the resistive strips Micromegas (MM). The integration of the two NSW in the ATLAS endcaps marks the culmination of an extensive construction, testing, and installation program. The NSW actively contributes to the muon spectrometer trigger and tracking, during the concurrent finalization of the commissioning phase of this innovative system and the optimization of its performances. This presentation will offer a detailed report on the studies on the NSW system, based on the LHC run-3 dataset collected from 2022 to 2024. The report will cover the performance of the two novel detector technologies, as well as the muon trigger and reconstruction performance in the ATLAS endcaps.

Speaker: Alessandra Betti (Sapienza Università e INFN, Roma I (IT))

87 Muon Detector (CMS)

The CMS experiment at the LHC has started data taking in Run 3 at a pp collision energy of 13.6 TeV. A highly performing muon system has been crucial to achieving many of the physics results obtained by CMS. The legacy CMS muon detector system consists of Drift Tube chambers in the barrel and Cathode Strip Chambers in the endcap regions, plus Resistive Plate Chambers in both, barrel and endcap. Moreover to withstand the challenging conditions of increased luminosity and higher pileup expected during the high-luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), the Muon System will undergo specific upgrades targeting both the electronics and detectors to cope with the new challenging data-taking conditions and to improve the present tracking and triggering capabilities. These detector upgrades are based on the triple gas electron multiplier (GEM) and improved RPC (iRPC) technology, featuring improved time, spatial resolution, and enhanced rate capability. The presentation will give an overview of the Muon System operation, the upgrades, with the ongoing activities and plans.

Speaker: Gabriella Pugliese (Universita e INFN, Bari (IT))

88 Long-term ageing studies on Eco-Friendly Resistive Plate Chamber detectors

In High Energy Physics, Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) detectors operated in avalanche mode make use of a high-performance gas mixture. Its main component, Tetrafluoroethane (C2H2F4), is classified as a fluorinated high Global Warming Potential greenhouse gas.

The RPC EcoGas@GIF++ Collaboration is pursuing an intensive R&D on new gas mixtures for RPCs to explore eco-friendly alternatives complying with recent European regulations. The performance of different RPC detectors have been evaluated at the CERN Gamma Irradiation Facility with Tetrafluoropropene (C3H2F4)-CO2 based gas mixtures. A long-term ageing test campaign was launched in 2022 and since 2023 systematic long-term performance studies are carried out by means of dedicated beam tests.

In this talk, preliminary results on these studies will be presented together with their future perspectives.

Speaker: Liliana Congedo (Universita e INFN, Bari (IT))

School on Machine Learning

The school is aimed at giving a wide view of modern machine learning, from theoretical foundations to state-of-the-art applications. The school will consist of lectures mixing the theoretical aspect and hands-on examples. Furthermore, there will be exercise sessions where participants will go through longer exercises at their own pace, with the assistance of the lecturer and of facilitators.

Covered topics:
1. Mathematical foundations of ML | Vapnik’s theory of statistical learning | Early methods from statistics to ML: PCA, SVM, decision trees
2. Supervised learning: neural networks, gradient descent | Technical foundations: automatic differentiation | Hardware foundations: from CPUs to GPUs, TPUs, FPGAs, ASIC, neuromorphic circuits | Practical techniques (e.g. hyperparameters optimization, regularization)
3. 
Transformers, large language models | Spiking networks | Unsupervised learning | Quantum machine learning

Convener: Dr Pietro Vischia (Universidad de Oviedo and Instituto de Ciencias y Tecnologías Espaciales de Asturias (ICTEA))

18:30 Visit to the Monastery Gonia and to it's Museum with paintings (with guide)

20:00 Dinner

Thursday, 29 August

Workshop on "Half a Century of QCD"

Convener: Prof. Willibald Plessas (Institute of Physics, University of Graz)

89 Quantum Chromodynamics and the Constituent-Quark Model

I will review the main achievements in hadronic physics that have been gained along constituent-quark models over about 50 years, since the creation of quantum chromodynamics. In particular, I will show that the modern relativistic constituent-quark model serves as a good effective approach to a unified description of hadron physics in the low-energy regime. There the relevant degrees of freedom of quantum chromodynamics can be well incorporated via a Poincaré-invariant Hamiltonian theory. As a result the essential phenomena of low-energy hadrons (masses and structure properties) can be described in agreement with phenomenology.

Speaker: Prof. Willibald Plessas (Institute of Physics, University of Graz)

90 Some highlights of QCD in the non-perturbative low-energy regime

In the non-perturbative regime QCD generates the masses and internal structure of the hadrons. At the deepest level it is also responsible for the structure of atomic nuclei. In this brief review we will examine some of the historical highlights in this development, as well as exciting open questions.

Speaker: Anthony Thomas

91 Inclusive Precision QCD in the High-Energy Regime

Speaker: Prof. Johannes Bluemlein

11:15 Coffee break

High Energy Particle Physics

92 Photoproduction of heavy meson pairs

In this presentation we argue that heavy quarkonia and open-charm pair photoproduction could be used as a probe of the partonic structure of the proton. At moderate energies, the exclusive production of quakronia pairs can be used for studies of the generalized parton distributions (GPDs) of gluons in the proton. For open charm pair production, the cross-section gets comparable contributions from gluons and one of the light quark flavors. At high energies (small-$x$ kinematics), the suggested channels can be used for studies of dipole and quadrupole forward scattering amplitudes, which characterize interaction with the target in the Color Glass Condensate (CGC) framework. We analyze both exclusive and inclusive production for charmonia- and bottomonia pairs and argue that these channel can be used for studies of the poorly known quadrupole
scattering amplitude. We provide numerical estimates for the cross-sections in the kinematics of the ultraperipheral collisions at LHC, and the future Electron Ion Collider.

This talk is partially based on materials published in Phys. Rev. D 107, 034037, Phys. Rev. D D 108, 096031 and Phys. Rev. D 109, 094001.

Speaker: Marat Siddikov

93 Nonperturbative contributions to the low transversal momentum Drell-Yan pair production at NLO using the Parton Branchin Method

The nonperturbative processes, the internal transverse motion of partons inside
the hadrons (intrinsic-kt) and the multiple soft gluon emissions which
have to be resummed, are dominant contributions at low transversal momentum of
the Drell-Yan (DY) pair cross section. Therefore, this part of the DY spectra
presents a powerful tool for better understanding of such processes which is a
focus of the study presented here. The study is performed using the Parton
Branching Method which describes Transverse Momentum Dependent (TMD)
parton densities and provides very precise description of DY pT distributions
in a wide range of collision energies and pair invariant masses.
The soft gluon contribution was varied by introducing minimal transversal momentum
of a parton emitted at a branching and the parton intrinsic-kT was estimated
based on the best agreement between experimental results and the prediction.
It has been observed that the reduction of the soft gluon emissions introduced by minimal
momentum at a branching, requires more intense internal transversal motion
(larger intrinsic-kt) to describe experimental
data. The intrinsic-kt increases with the minimal transversal
momentum in a branching and this rise is faster when the centre-of-mass
collision energy is larger.
In this study we also examine how for the various soft gluon contributions
the intrinsic-kt depends on DY hard scattering scale, Q, by performing the
intrinsic-kt tuning for a wide range of DY pair invariant masses at several center-of-mass
energies.
The DY transversal momentum distributions obtained with the tuned intrinsic-kt for
various contributions of the soft gluon emissions are analysed and compared in
a wide range of collision energies and DY pair invariant masses.

Speaker: Natasa Raicevic (University of Montenegro (ME))

94 Pion Gravitational Form Factors in Holographic QCD

We calculated the gravitational form factors (GFFs) of pions, $A(t)$ and $D(t)$, using a top-down holographic QCD approach with momentum transfer dependence [1]. The GFFs of hadrons have attracted attention because they contain information on the internal stress distribution, which may provide insights into the mechanisms of hadron formation by QCD. Our results show that the absolute values of $D(t)$ dumps more rapidly than that of $A(t)$, which are qualitatively consistent with the results of lattice QCD. Furthermore, we obtained the forward limit value of these GFFs, specifically the D-term, which is -1.
[1] D. Fujii, A. Iwanaka, and M. Tanaka, arXiv:2407.21113 [hep-ph] (2024).

Speaker: Mr Mitsuru Tanaka (Nagoya University)

Workshop on "Half a Century of QCD"

Convener: Prof. Willibald Plessas (Institute of Physics, University of Graz)

95 Beth-Uhlenbeck approach to quark-hadron matter and chemical freeze-out in heavy-ion collisions

We present a unified approach to the transition from hadronic matter to quark matter where hadrons are treated as bound states of quarks which dissociate at high densities due to quark Pauli blocking. We demonstrate that a sudden switch of the quark mass from a sufficiently high value to mimic quark confinement to its current mass value is compatible with a smooth crossover behavior of the chiral condensate and agrees well with the results of recent lattice QCD simulation for 2+1 flavors [1]. The newly developed approach makes use of a cluster virial expansion formulated in terms of a generalized Φ-derivable approach to multi-quark correlations with bound and continuum states in their spectrum [2]. Our model can be used to obtain thermodynamic functions, consistent with lattice QCD simulations at zero chemical potential, also at finite chemical potentials where lattice QCD simulations have the sign problem. Conclusions for the chemical freeze-out of multi-quark clusters in heavy-ion collisions are drawn [3].
[1] D. Blaschke, O. Ivanytskyi, G. Röpke, Sudden hadronization at the chiral crossover, in preparation (2024)
[2] D. Blaschke, M. Cierniak, O. Ivanytskyi, G. Röpke, Thermodynamics of quark matter with multiquark clusters in an effective Beth-Uhlenbeck type approach, Eur. Phys. J. A 60 (2024) 14
[3] D. Blaschke, G. Röpke, Cluster production and the chemical freeze-out in expanding hot dense matter, arXiv:2408.01399 [nucl-th]

Speaker: David Blaschke

96 QCD in dense media

QCD in dense media

Speaker: Sonia Kabana (Instituto De Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá (CL))

Workshop on Instruments and Methods

97 Ferrite Superconductivity

This proposal describes the arrangement based on the Einstein de-Haas experiment. An externally applied magnetic field magnetized the ferrite core by giving microwave power frequency to the coil around the ferrite core. Ferromagnetic resonance is achieved due to the effect of the interaction of spin precession magnetic moments due to Zeeman splitting on the macroscopic magnetization of the material. The core attains negative permeability at ferromagnetic resonance. Due to negative permeability, the ferrite counteracts the magnetisation due to the applied DC electric field given to one end of the ferrite core. In certain scenarios, negative permeability can lead to the expulsion of the magnetic field resulting in B equal to zero inside the material. This induced phenomenon is somewhat analogous to the Meissner effect observed in superconductors. In the case of negative permeability, the negative magnetic response effectively shields the material's interior from external magnetic fields. The curl of the magnetic field is zero resulting in a net force equal to zero on the moving charge carriers.

Speaker: Deepalakshmi chandrasekaran

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Break

15:30 Coffee break

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

98 Probing hadronic interactions at the highest energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory

The study of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays allows for the probing of hadronic interactions at energies far exceeding those achievable by human-made accelerators. The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world’s largest facility for measuring the extensive air showers that emerge from these cosmic rays. Its hybrid design enables the simultaneous measurement of the longitudinal development of the showers in the atmosphere and their lateral distribution of particles arriving at the ground. In this contribution, we provide an overview of the latest findings and ongoing efforts in studying hadronic interactions using data from the Pierre Auger Observatory, covering an energy range spanning over three decades. A significant tension exists between data and simulations, showing a measured abundance of muons that exceeds the predictions from the most current interaction models.

Speaker: Tobias Schulz

99 LONG-TERM EVOLUTIONARY LINKS BETWEEN HIGH-MAGNETIC-FIELD RADIO PULSARS AND DIM ISOLATED NEUTRON STARS

The long-term evolution of the neutron stars with fallback disks depends on their initial conditions, namely the initial period of the star, P0, the mass of the disk, Md, and the magnetic dipole field at the poles of the star, B0. There are three basic evolutionary paths characterized by the sequences of the rotational phases (weak propeller or strong propeller) that can be followed by a neutron star over its long- term evolution. For a chosen set of initial conditions, a model source can evolve following one of these basic paths. In this work, first, we have investigated how these initial conditions affect the evolutionary paths of the sources. Later, we have described the evolutionary paths and the current phases of the isolated neutron star populations based on the results obtained earlier in the fallback disk model. These populations are anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs), soft gamma repeaters (SGRs), rotating radio transients (RRATs), central compact objects (CCOs), dim isolated neutron stars (XDINs) and high-B radio pulsars (HBRPs). The radio pulsar PSR J0726–2612, discovered recently, has the rotational and X-ray properties similar to those of XDINs and HBRPs. The characteristic age of the source is about an order of magnitude smaller than those of XDINs. In the fallback disk model, XDINs are not expected to show pulsed radio emission. Nevertheless, this radio pulsar apparently seems to evolve towards the XDIN properties. In the magnetar model, the non- detection of radio pulses from XDINs are assumed to be due to narrow beaming of their radio emission. It was proposed that PSR J0726–2612 could be the first XDIN with pulsed radio emission observable due to convenient viewing geometry. In the second part of this work, through numerical simulations, we have analyzed the allowed initial conditions and the evolutionary avenues that can produce the properties of the source consistently with its radio pulsar behaviour in the fallback disk model. Our results indicate that the evolutionary path followed by this source is similar to those of HBRPs. The B0 estimated for PSR J0726–2612 places the source above the pulsar death line. The rotational properties and X-ray luminosity of the source are obtained simultaneously at an age of t ∼ 5 × 104 yr. Our model results indicate that PSR J0726–2612 will reach the ages of XDINs (several 105 yr) as a normal radio pulsar, rather than the XDIN properties.

Speaker: Şeyda Demirok (Sabancı University)

100 Latest results from the CUORE experiment

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is the first bolometric experiment searching for 0νββ decay that has successfully reached the one-tonne mass scale. The detector, located at the LNGS in Italy, consists of an array of 988 TeO2 crystals arranged in a compact cylindrical structure of 19 towers. CUORE began its first physics data run in 2017 at a base temperature of about 10 mK and has been collecting data continuously since 2019, reaching a TeO2 exposure of 2 tonne-year in spring 2023. This is the largest amount of data ever acquired with a solid state cryogenic detector, which allows for further improvement in the CUORE sensitivity to 0νββ decay in 130Te. In this talk, we will present the new CUORE data release, based on the full available statistics and on new, significant enhancements of the data processing chain and high-level analysis.

Speaker: Mr Stefano Ghislandi (Gran Sasso Science Institute, Italy)

101 Latest results from the DAMPE experiment

The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is an ongoing space-borne experiment designed for the direct detection of Cosmic Rays (CR). The instrument consists of four sub-detectors, namely: a Plastic Scintillator Detector (PSD), a Silicon TracKer-converter (STK), a deep BGO calorimeter (~32 X0 , ~1.6 λI) and a Neutron Detector (NUD). Following more than 8 years of successful operation, DAMPE has amassed a large dataset of CRs in the GeV to PeV energy range.

In this contribution, we present the latest results from the DAMPE experiment. An overview of the most recent advancements in CR flux measurements will be discussed, providing crucial insights into the acceleration and propagation mechanisms of CRs in our Galaxy. Additionally, particular focus will go to the particle physics studies enabled by DAMPE's unique dataset, including dark matter searches, hadronic cross section measurements, and constraints on fractionally charged particles.

Speaker: Paul Coppin (Universite de Geneve (CH))

102 First Results from the LEGEND Experiment

LEGEND

Speaker: Erin Engelhardt (UNC Chapel Hill)

103 The complex nature of the abnormally weak absorption of cosmic ray hadrons in lead calorimeters at superhigh energies

In the course of further processing of data from two similar cosmic ray experiments, carried out in the Tien Shan and Pamir mountains using calorimeters, represented by 2-tier X-ray emulsion chambers (XRECs) with large air gaps (2.12 and 2.5 m, respectively), were obtained distributions of numbers of blackening spots, created by electron-photon cascades (EPCs) on X-ray films, according to the hadron observation depth in the chamber.
These distributions, in principle, are in good agreement with each other, taking into account other smaller differences in the design of the two XRECs, different sensitivities of the films used, as well as different depths of the XREC location in the Earth’s atmosphere (3340 m and 4370 m, respectively).
On the other hand, the obtained experimental distributions are also well reproduced by model calculations performed within the framework of the phenomenological model of strong interactions FANSIY 1.0, which takes into account the production of charmed hadrons and the rapid increase in their production cross section with the energy of colliding particles, observed in the LHC experiments. Computer modeling of experiments also include detailed simulations of the response of XREC of a specific design. In particular, taking into account the production of charmed hadrons, which effectively decay in the air gap between two lead blocks of the calorimeter through electromagnetic channels with the emission of electrons and gammas, makes it possible to qualitatively and quantitatively describe the experimentally observed peak in the distribution curves at a depth of t_0 = 9.0 c.u. The amplitude of this peak, sensitive to the cross section for the production of charmed particles, makes it possible to conclude that the cross section σ_{pp→cc̄} ~ 8 mb at <E_{Lab} > ~ 75 TeV and at x_{Lab} > 0.1.
An unexpected result of both experiments was an excess of blackening spots, apparently formed by some un{Lab}￿conventional hadrons (possibly strangelets), at great depths of the lower lead blocks (in particular, at t_0 = 29.0 c.u. and t_0 = 54.0 c.u., respectively). This result needs more careful study and analysis.

Speaker: Alexander Borisov (LPI RAS)

Workshop on "Half a Century of QCD"

Convener: Prof. Willibald Plessas (Institute of Physics, University of Graz)

104 Chiral Dynamics of Nuclear Systems

Speakers: Evgeny Epelbaum (Ruhr-University Bochum), UNKNOWN UNKNOWN

105 Progress on solving QCD with lattice QCD

In this talk, I will overview some of the major achievements from the lattice QCD front in solving QCD in the recent years.

Speaker: Dr Padmanath Madanagopalan (The Institute of mathematical Sciences Chennai)

106 Proton structure using state-of-the-art lattice QCD simulations

Lattice QCD has recently seen theoretical and computational advancements. These developments are allowing us to both compute hadron structure to unprecedented accuracy and to explore quantities that were thought impossible to calculate within lattice QCD for many years. In the first category belong hadrons charges and form factors and higher Mellin moments that can shed light on spin carried by quarks and gluons. In the second category are generalised parton distributions and transverse momentum distributions that contain rich information on the three dimensional structure of hadrons. I will discuss recent results on both classes of observables.

Speaker: Constantia Alexandrou

107 TBA

Speakers: Stanley Brodsky (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory), Stanley J. brodsky (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University)

19:00 Opera Gala Concert, OAC, Kalliopi Petrou (soprano), Tommaso Dorigo (Piano)

Room 1

20:00 Dinner

Friday, 30 August

High Energy Particle Physics

108 LHCb highlights

The Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) detector is a single-arm forward spectrometer at the LHC, designed for the study of heavy flavour physics. With the large dataset collected during Runs 1 and 2 of the LHC, combined with an extensive physics program, LHCb has been successful in producing world-leading measurements in the field of flavour physics. This talk will give an overview of selected recent measurements from LHCb, particularly focusing on the rare processes program. Additionally, it will highlight the performance results from the upgraded LHCb detector in Run 3.

Speaker: Lais Soares Lavra (The University of Edinburgh (GB))

109 CMS Highlights

Speaker: John Strologas (University of Ioannina (GR))

110 Physics Highlight (excluding HI) at ATLAS

A general highlight talk of the physics at ATLAS results(excluding Heavy Ions).

Speaker: Stefano Passaggio (INFN e Universita Genova (IT))

10:30 Coffee break

High Energy Particle Physics

111 Measurements of Higgs boson production and decay rates with the ATLAS experiment

The event rates and kinematics of Higgs boson production and decay processes at the LHC are sensitive probes of possible new phenomena beyond the Standard Model (BSM). This talk presents precise measurements of Higgs boson production and decay rates, obtained using the full Run 2 and partial Run 3 pp collision dataset collected by the ATLAS experiment at 13 TeV and 13.6 TeV. These include total and fiducial cross-sections for the main Higgs boson processes as well as branching ratios into final states with bosons and fermions. Differential cross-sections in a variety of observables are also reported, as well as a fine-grained description of the Higgs boson production kinematics within the Simplified Template Cross-section (STXS) framework.

Speaker: Eva Guilloton (University of Warwick (GB))

112 Highlights on top quark physics with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC

The large top quark samples collected with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC have yielded measurements of the production cross section of unprecedented precision and in new kinematic regimes. They have also enabled new measurements of top quark properties that were previously inaccessible, enabled the observation of many rare top quark production processes predicted by the Standard Model and boosted searches in the Top sector. In this contribution the highlights of the ATLAS top quark physics program are presented.

Speaker: Jialin Li (Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN))

113 ATLAS searches for electroweak supersymmetry with compressed spectra

Supersymmetry (SUSY) models with featuring small mass splittings between one or more particles and the lightest neutralino could solve the hierarchy problem as well as offer a suitable dark matter candidate consistent with the observed thermal-relic dark matter density. However, the detection of SUSY higgsinos at the LHC remains challenging especially if their mass-splitting is O(1 GeV) or lower. Searches are developed using 140 fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS Detector at a center-of-mass energy \sqrt{s}=13 TeV to overcome the challenge. Novel techniques are developed exploiting machine-learning techniques, low-momentum tracks with large transverse impact parameters, or topologies consistent with VBF production of the supersymmetric particles. Results are interpreted in terms of SUSY simplified models and, for the first time since the LEP era, several gaps in different ranges of mass-splittings are excluded.

Speaker: Hammad Rasheed (Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering (RO))

114 Performance of the CMS Tracker during LHC Run 3

The CMS tracker, comprised of Silicon Pixel and Silicon Strip detectors, is designed for the precise measurement of charged particle trajectories. The pixel and strip detectors have demonstrated effective and reliable operation during LHC Run 1 and Run 2, significantly contributing to the quality of the experimental data. Since the start of LHC Run 3, both detectors have been operating efficiently, successfully collecting data from 13.6 TeV collisions. This talk will review the performance of the CMS pixel and silicon strip detectors during Run 3, highlighting their operational metrics. Additionally, it will discuss the tracker alignment techniques, which correct the position, rotation, and curvature of each module to ensure precise trajectory reconstruction.

Speaker: Lakshmi Pramod (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DE))

115 Progress of the Super Tau Charm Facility

The Super Tau Charm Facility (STCF), a planned symmetric electron-positron collider in China, aims to facilitate $e^+e^−$ collisions across a center-of-mass energy range of 2 to 7 GeV, targeting a peak luminosity of $0.5×10^{35}\mathrm{cm}^{−2}\mathrm{s}^{−1}$. With an anticipated annual integrated luminosity exceeding $1~ab^{−1}$, the STCF is poised to generate vast datasets. These will enable precision measurements of XYZ particles' properties, exploration of new CP violation sources within strange-hyperon and tau-lepton sectors, and accurate Cabibbo angle ($\theta_c$) measurements to test the unitarity of the CKM matrix; search for anomalous decays with sensitivities extending down to the level of SM-model expectations, among other objectives. This talk will cover the STCF's physics goals and outline the latest advancements in the project’s R&D.

Speaker: Lailin Xu (University of Science and Technology of China (CN))

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Break

15:00 Coffee break

15:30 Excursion to Chania

Saturday, 31 August

09:00 Free day

Sunday, 1 September

06:00 Conference Excursions

Monday, 2 September

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

116 16 years of gamma rays discoveries and AGNs observations with Fermi LAT

In june 2024, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has celebrated its $16^{th}$ year of operations. The Large Area Telescope (LAT) is the main instrument onboard the Fermi satellite and is designed to be sensitive to gamma rays in the energy range from about $\unit[20]{MeV}$ up to the $\unit{TeV}$ regime. From its launch, the LAT has collected more than 4.53 billion photon events, providing crucial information to improve our understanding of particle acceleration and gamma-ray production phenomena in astrophysical sources. The most abundant in the last Fermi LAT source catalog (4FGL-DR4) and powerful, persistent gamma-ray emitters in the sky are Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs), extremely luminous galaxy cores powered by supermassive black holes with a mass ranging from millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun. In this talk, some of the main results obtained by the Fermi LAT collaboration will be reviewed, with a particular focus on AGNs science, with examples of long-term multi-wavelength variability observations of blazars across different states of activity.

Speaker: Fausto Casaburo

117 THE EFFECT OF GRAVITY ON ANTIMATTER - THE ALPHA EXPERIMENT

Although the gravitational interaction between matter and antimatter has been the subject of theoretical speculation since the discovery of the latter in 1928, only recently the ALPHA experiment at CERN was able to observe, for the first time, the effects of gravity on antimatter atoms, namely on anti-hydrogen. After an introduction of the concept of antimatter, along with its still unresolved mysteries, details about how anti hydrogen is produced at the antimatter factory at CERN will be given. Finally, the measurement of the acceleration of gravity of anti hydrogen atoms falling in the Earth gravitational field will be presented.

Speaker: Germano Bonomi (Universita di Brescia (IT))

High Energy Particle Physics

118 Multi-quark states at LHCb

Since the obervation of the X(3872), a large number of multi-quark candidates have been observed in the past 20 years. A thorough spectroscopic search and interpretation of these states is crucial for a profound understanding of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and the strong interactions. The LHCb experiment, with the largest dataset of beauty and charm hadrons, is uniquely positioned to explore the properties of heavy-flavored and exotic multi-quark states in both prompt and non-prompt productions.
This talk is aimed to provide an overview of some latest LHCb results on the subject of multi-quark spectroscopy. It encompasses, the observation of new open-charm tetraquarks and pentaquarks in open-charm final states, which could provide useful input for validating the di-open-charm molecular hypothesis of the known pentaquark states. This talk will also highlight the latest study of χc1(3872) using radiative decays along with observation of exotic resonances in diffractive processes and heavy ion collisions.

Speaker: Mr Salil Joshi (National Centre for Nuclear Research (PL))

10:30 Coffee break

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

119 The Archimedes experiment: can quantum vacuum feel gravity?

Among the most surprising predictions coming from General Relativity, one in particular is about the weight of material bodies. According to Einstein theory, such classical quantity should not be only due to the amount of substance in bodies, but it should also depend from the amount of stress and internal energy stored inside them. Being General Relativity a classical theory, such prediction is generally considered valid for classical energy terms (although no experiment was ever set up to test it). Nothing certain can be said for energy terms coming from Quantum Field Theory, because of its mathematical and physical incompatibility with Einstein theory.
Within this background, the Archimedes experiment aims to investigate the relationship between zero-point quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field and gravity.

Although Archimedes is a human-scale experiment in fundamental physics, it involves several other research fields: high $T_c$ superconductivity, cryogenics, precision mechanics and optical interferometry are the main field on which the experiment is based.
Without going into the details of the measurement strategy (which will be described during the talk), the general idea is to measure weight variation in special samples where vacuum energy is modulated in time by exploiting superconductive transition. The expected weight variation is so small that a highly sensitive beam-balance has been realized for the scope and placed in one of the most seismically quiet sites of all Europe: the SarGrav Laboratory at the Sos-Enattos, in Sardinia (candidate site for hosting the third-generation Gravitational Waves detector Einstein Telescope).
The tilt sensitivity of Archimedes prototype, installed in the same laboratory, is currently thermal-noise limited, and has been measured to be below $10^{-12}Nm/\sqrt{Hz}$ in the frequency band 20 mHz - 70mHz, which makes it one of the most sensitive beam-balance in the world in this frequency range. The final setup of the Archimedes experiment is now fully installed, the first sensitivity measurement in vacuum is expected by the end of 2024, while the final measurement of the vacuum fluctuations’ weight is forecast to be performed within 2026.

Speaker: Dr Luciano Errico (Università di Napoli "Federico II" - INFN Sezione di Napoli)

120 End-to-end Optimization of an Array of Cherenkov Detectors

We describe a software pipeline that models atmospheric gamma and hadron showers and their detection and reconstruction by an array of Cherenkov detectors on the ground, as well as the calculation of a utility function aligned with the scientific goals of the SWGO experiment. The variation of the utility with the position of each detector on the ground allows to perform stochastic gradient descent to an optimal layout. This epitomizes the concept of co-design for future experiments in fundamental science.

Speaker: Tommaso Dorigo (Universita e INFN, Padova (IT))

High Energy Particle Physics

121 Electroweak measurements of multiboson production with the ATLAS experiment

Measurements of multiboson production at the LHC are important probes of the electroweak gauge structure of the Standard Model and can constrain anomalous gauge boson couplings. In this talk, recent measurements of diboson and triboson production by the ATLAS experiment at 13 TeV and 13.6 TeV are presented. Studies of gauge-boson polarisation and their correlation are also presented. In WZ events, these studies have been extended to a phase space with high transverse momentum Z bosons. Measurements of diboson production in association with two additional jets at the LHC probe interactions between electroweak vector bosons predicted by the Standard Model and test contributions from anomalous quartic gauge couplings. The ATLAS experiment has recently performed such measurements in a variety of final states, amongst them semileptonic final states of W boson pairs, Z boson pairs, as well as WZ pairs, and the scattering into a massive electroweak gauge boson and a photon. The production of three massive electroweak gauge bosons will be discussed as well.

Speaker: Stefanie Andrea Gotz (Ludwig Maximilians Universitat (DE))

122 Recent results on strangeness enhancement in small collision systems with ALICE

The strangeness enhancement, defined as the increased relative production of strange hadrons in heavy-ion collisions with respect to the production rate in pp interactions, was originally proposed as a signature of the quark-gluon plasma formation. At the LHC, the ALICE experiment observed that the yield ratios of strange hadrons to charged pions increase with the charged-particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity independently of $\sqrt{s}$ and of the collision systems, starting from pp where it was unexpected, passing by p--Pb and reaching Pb—Pb.

More insightful information about the strangeness production mechanisms could be provided by measuring the (multi-)strange particle multiplicity distribution, P($\textit{n}_{S}$), using a novel method based on counting the number of strange particles event-by-event. In this contribution, ALICE results on $K^{0}_{S}$, $\Lambda$, $\Xi$ and $\Omega$ multiplicity distributions in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02 TeV as a function of the charged particle multiplicity, together with the average probability for the production multiplets are presented. This measurement extends the study of strangeness production beyond its average and represents a new test bench for production mechanisms, probing events with a large imbalance between strange and non-strange content.

In addition, a multi-differential approach has been exploited in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV measuring the production of (multi-)strange hadrons as a function of the very forward energy measured by the ALICE Zero-Degree Calorimeters. This study allows to correlate the production of strangeness with the energy deposited at forward rapidity, that is correlated to the mid-rapidity activity only in the early stages of the collision.
Another multi-differential approach has been utilized to measure the light-flavor particle production as a function of the transverse spherocity ($S_{0}^{p_{T}=1}$) in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. This observable allows for a topological selection of events that are either "isotropic" (dominated by multiple soft processes) or "jet-like" (dominated by one or few hard scatterings).

The results are compared to state-of-the-art phenomenological models implemented in commonly-used Monte Carlo event generators, drastically enhancing the sensitivity to the different processes implemented in each approach.

Speaker: Sara Pucillo (Universita e INFN Torino (IT))

123 B physics, rare decays (CMS)

The CMS experiment plays a key role in flavour physics, particularly in the search for rare decays. This is made possible by its excellent performance and dynamic trigger configurations. The most relevant and recent results on beauty and charmed mesons decaying into muons will be presented.

Speaker: Giacomo Fedi (Imperial College (GB))

124 Observation of quantum entanglement in top-quark pair production with the ATLAS detector

A new sub-field has emerged in particle physics: borrowing techniques from quantum information science, we can now probe quantum mechanics in collider experiments. The ATLAS Collaboration recently reported the first observation of quantum entanglement between free quarks, in the first dedicated quantum information experiment at a hadron collider. Spin entanglement is observed by selecting ttbar pairs produced close to their invariant mass threshold, and measuring a single angular observable related to the leptonic decay products of the top quarks. The entanglement observable is corrected back to particle-level using simulation; the result constitutes the highest energy measurement of quantum entanglement ever made. Differences between SM predictions and data motivate investigation into current modelling tools. This presentation will introduce the ATLAS measurement and show how it paves the way from further cross-pollination between high-energy physics and quantum information science.

Speaker: Zoe Olivia Earnshaw (University of Sussex (GB))

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Break

15:30 Coffee break

High Energy Particle Physics

125 Search for Higgs boson production through resonance decays (CMS)

Searches for resonances decaying to HH, YH and VH final states and their combinations are presented based on recent CMS measurements. The results are interpreted in various models including extended Higgs sectors, warped extra dimensions and heavy vector triplet models. Implications of finite width and interference effects are also discussed.

Speaker: Rainer Mankel (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DE))

126 Higgs boson cross section and coupling measurements (CMS)

After the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, one of the main tasks has been to perform precise measurements of its properties to further understand its role in the Standard Model and beyond. By probing various regions of phase space with increasing accuracy, we gain deeper insights into the Higgs boson's interactions and behavior. In this talk, we present an overview of the most recent differential and fiducial Higgs boson cross-section measurements, as well as coupling measurements, from the CMS experiment. These measurements are crucial for testing theoretical predictions and searching for signs of new physics.

Speaker: Mr Ram Krishna Sharma (Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN))

127 Di-Higgs (CMS)

Di-Higgs (CMS)

Speaker: Simona Palluotto (Università degli Studi e INFN Milano (IT))

128 Combined Higgs boson measurements and their interpretations with the ATLAS experiment

Very detailed measurements of Higgs boson coupling and kinematical properties can be performed using the data collected with the ATLAS experiment, exploiting a variety of final states and production modes, and probing different regions of the phase space with increasing precision. These measurements can then be combined to exploit the specific strength of each channel, thus providing the most stringent global measurement of the Higgs properties. This talk presents the latest combination of Higgs boson measurements by the ATLAS experiment, with results presented in terms of production modes, branching fractions, Simplified Template Cross Sections and coupling modifiers. These combined measurements are interpreted in various ways: specific scenarios of physics beyond the Standard Model are tested, as well as a generic extension in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory. The results are based on pp collision data collected at 13 during Run 2 of the LHC.

Speaker: Yifan Zhu (Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN))

Quantum Physics, Quantum Optics and Quantum Information

129 Antimatter Gravitation and positronium

Antimatter Gravitation is a subject of intense research because of its access to the physics of possible Lorentz invariance violation and its relation to CPT symmetry and the Einstein Equivalence Principle. This field of research has gained even more momentum after the first anti-hydrogen gravitation measurement at CERN. Positronium offers the advantage of being a particle-antiparticle symmetric system, composed of fundamental fermionic masses in the Standard Model. It therefore offers the possibility of testing the Standard Model Extension in an unprecedented way, which is the goal of the QUPLAS experiment.

Speaker: Marco Giammarchi (Università degli Studi e INFN Milano (IT))

130 Quantum Theory of Classical Turbulence. Decaying Energy Spectrum

This paper presents a recent advancement that transforms the problem of decaying turbulence in the Navier-Stokes equations in $3+1$ dimensions into a Number Theory challenge: finding the statistical limit of the Euler ensemble. We redefine this ensemble as a Markov chain, establishing its equivalence to the quantum statistical theory of $N$ fermions on a ring, interacting with an external field associated with random fractions of $\pi$. Analyzing this theory in the turbulent limit, where $N \to \infty$ and $\nu \to 0$, we discover the solution as a complex trajectory (instanton) that acts as a saddle point in the path integral over these fermions' density.

By computing the contribution of this instanton to the vorticity correlation function, we derive an analytic formula for the observable energy spectrum—a complete solution of decaying turbulence derived entirely from first principles without the need for approximations or fitted dimensionless parameters. Our analysis reveals the full spectrum of critical indexes in the velocity correlation function in coordinate space, determined by the poles of the Mellin transform, which we prove to be a meromorphic function. Real and complex poles are identified, with the complex poles reflecting dissipation and uniquely determined by the famous complex zeros of the Riemann zeta function.

Significantly, the theoretical predictions for the energy spectrum, energy decay rate, and the velocity correlation in the inertial range closely match the results from grid turbulence experiments \cite{GridTurbulence_1966, Comte_Bellot_Corrsin_1971} and recent DNS \cite{SreeniDecaying} within data errors. This work refutes turbulent scaling laws, replacing them with universal functions calculable by number theory methods.

Speaker: alexander migdal (NYU)

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Outreach

131 The Pierre Auger Observatory sharing science: Open Data and Outreach activities

The Pierre Auger Observatory is focused on the study of cosmic rays with
energies above 10^17 eV, also allowing for studies on cosmogeophysics
and space weather. It employs different detection techniques, such as
water-Cherenkov detectors, fluorescence telescopes, scintillators, and
radio antennas. An important part of the Pierre Auger Collaboration is
the Outreach and Education activities. Starting from the Visitor Center
located at the site of the experiment, followed by exhibitions, science
contests, science fairs, conferences, brochures, a newsletter, and
individual efforts in the countries which form part of the
Collaboration, as well as global initiatives such as the International
Masterclasses. Another aspect of sharing science at such high energies,
which is very important for the Observatory, is the concept of Open
Data. There has been a gradual process of public data release since
2007. In 2021, an Open Data Portal was set up with 10% of the cosmic-ray
events, along with the description of the detectors, notebooks and
software tools containing the analyses for some of the main results of
the Observatory to be reproduced by the public. In 2023, a catalog of
the 100 highest-energy events was included. In March 2024, a new version
of the Open Data, which extends the dataset to lower energies, was
released. In this contribution, a description of the Outreach,
Education, and Open Data efforts of the Pierre Auger Collaboration will
be shown.

Speaker: Dr Karen Salome Caballero Mora (UNACH)

19:00 Public talk

20:00 Dinner

Tuesday, 3 September

Quantum Physics, Quantum Optics and Quantum Information

132 Single-pair measurement of the Bell parameter and relativistic independence

Single-pair measurement of the Bell parameter and relativistic independence

Speaker: Eliahu Cohen (Bar-Ilan University)

Heavy Ion Collisions and Critical Phenomena

133 Simulating collectivity in dense baryon matter with multiple fluids

Fluid-dynamical modelling of heavy-ion collisions in the region of RHIC Beam Energy Scan (BES) and FAIR experiments poses notable challenges. Contraction of the incoming nuclei is much weaker, which results in a long inter-penetration phase and a complex initial-state geometry. Conventional hydrodynamic models, where the fluid phase starts at a fixed proper time τ0, therefore miss the compression stage of the collision. Hence, they miss the key sensitivity to the EoS of the dense medium.
We present a novel multi-fluid approach to simulate heavy-ion collisions in the region of RHIC BES and FAIR. In our approach, we circumvent the issue above by representing the incoming nuclei as two cold, baryon-rich fluids with appropriate energy and baryon densities. The newly produced matter is represented by a third baryon-free fluid, which is generated by the friction between the two colliding fluids. Our MUlti Fluid simulation for Fast IoN collisions (MUFFIN) model is implemented from scratch using a versatile 3+1 dimensional relativistic viscous hydrodynamic code vHLLE. We present benchmark calculations for Au-Au collisions at different RHIC BES energies, discuss the challenges in constructing the approach, and present a study [2] of flow and hyperon polarization observables at RHIC BES energies in MUFFIN. We discuss underlying vorticity development in multi-fluid approach, hyperon - anti-hyperon splitting, and compare our results to the recent data for hyperon polarization from HADES experiment at GSI, and a measurement from fixed-target program at RHIC, in addition to previous measurements within RHIC BES program. We examine directed flow observable at different collision energies, and show its equation-of-state dependence and the effects of final-state hadronic cascade, in a full-fledged dynamical model.

[1] Jakub Cimerman, Iurii Karpenko, Boris Tomášik, and Pasi Huovinen, Phys. Rev. C 107, 044902 (2023)
[2] Iu. Karpenko, J. Cimerman, arXiv:2312.11325

Speaker: Dr Iurii Karpenko (FNSPE CTU in Prague)

Workshop on Laser Fusion, a spin-off from heavy-ion collisions

134 IONIZATION DYNAMICS IN MATTER WITH GOLD NANODOPES UPON LASER PULSE IRRADIATION OF VARIOUS INTENSITIES — NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

We investigate the dynamics of ionization in matter doped by gold nanoparticles under irradiation by short infrared pulses with intensities ~10^15−10^19 W/cm². Numerical modeling of the interaction between laser radiation and the medium with nanoparticles is conducted, various nanoparticles shapes are considered as resonant nanoantennas. A kinetic model is implemented with the EPOCH numerical software. The propagation of short pulses of infrared laser radiation of ≈0.1 ps duration in such doped matter and the dynamics of its ionization are analyzed. The evolution of the electric field and the energy transfer from wave to particles in the presence of nanonantennas is studied. The momentum and energy of the resulting ionization products — protons, electrons and ions — are calculated. The effect of doping with nanoparticles of dipole, quadrupole, and spherical shapes of different sizes is explored. The comparative analysis is conducted for verious shapes of dopes and various intensities of laser pulses, aiming to determine the best energy absorption in matter and the increase of the energy of ionization products in strong laser fields.

Speakers: Prof. Konstantin Zhukovsky, Konstantin Zsukovszkij

10:30 Coffee break

High Energy Particle Physics

135 Upgrade of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter for the High-Luminosity LHC

The High Luminosity upgrade of the LHC (HL-LHC) at CERN will provide unprecedented instantaneous and integrated luminosities of around 5 x 10^34 cm-2 s-1 and 3000/fb, respectively. The expected average of 140 to 200 collisions per bunch-crossing (pileup) represents a severe challenge for the detectors. In the barrel region of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL), the lead tungstate crystals and avalanche photodiodes (APDs) will operate at a lower temperature with respect to the present and the entire readout and trigger electronics will be replaced.

Each of the 61,200 ECAL barrel crystals will be read out by two custom ASICs providing signal amplification with two gains, ADC with 160 MHz sampling rate, and lossless data compression for the transmission of all channel data to the off-detector electronics. Trigger primitive generation by updated reconstruction algorithms as well as data acquisition will be implemented on powerful FPGA processors boards. The upgrade of the ECAL electronics will allow to maintain the excellent energy resolution of the detector and, in addition, to greatly improve the time resolution of electrons and photons above 10 GeV, down to a few tens of picoseconds.

This talk will present the design and status of the individual components of the upgraded ECAL barrel detector, and the results of energy and time resolution measurements obtained with the latest ECAL readout electronics prototypes using electron beams with energies of up to 250 GeV at the CERN SPS.

Speaker: Giulia Lavizzari (Università degli Studi e INFN Milano (IT))

136 Searches for hidden sectors and lepton flavour violation in kaon decays

Rare kaon decays are among the most sensitive probes of both heavy and light new physics beyond the Standard Model description thanks to high precision of the Standard Model predictions, availability of very large datasets, and the relatively simple decay topologies. The NA62 experiment at CERN is a multi-purpose high-intensity kaon decay experiment, and carries out a broad rare-decay and hidden-sector physics programme. NA62 has collected a large sample of $K^+$ decays in flight during Run 1 in 2016-2018, and the ongoing Run 2 which started in 2021. Recent NA62 results on searches for hidden-sector mediators and searches for violation of lepton number and lepton flavour conservation in kaon decays based on the Run 1 dataset are presented. Future prospects of these searches are discussed.

Speaker: Marco Mirra (University Federico II and INFN, Naples (IT))

137 Searches of exotic decays with NA62 in beam-dump mode

The NA62 experiment at CERN took data in 2016–2018 with the main goal of measuring the $K^+ \rightarrow \pi^+ \nu \bar\nu$ decay. In this talk we report on the search for visible decays of exotic mediators from data taken in "beam-dump" mode with the NA62 experiment. NA62 can be run as a "beam-dump" experiment by removing the kaon production target and moving the upstream collimators into a "closed" position. In this configuration 400~GeV protons are dumped on an absorber and New Physics (NP) particles, including dark photons, dark scalars and axion-like particles, may be produced and reach a decay volume beginning 80~m downstream of the absorber. More than $10^{17}$ protons on target have been collected in "beam-dump" mode by NA62 in 2021. Recent results from analysis of this data, with a particular emphasis on Dark Photon and Axion-like particle Models, are presented. We also report new results on the first NA62 search for long-lived NP particles decaying in flight to hadronic final states based on a blind analysis of a sample of $1.4 \times 10^{17}$ protons on dump collected in 2021.

Speaker: Stefan Alexandru Ghinescu (Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering (RO))

138 Performance of the ICARUS Trigger System at the Booster and NuMI Neutrino Beams

The ICARUS-T600 liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) detector is taking data at shallow depth as the far detector of the Short Baseline Neutrino program at Fermilab, to search for a possible sterile neutrino signal at $\Delta m^{2} \approx 1~\text{eV}^{2}$ with the Booster (BNB) and Main Injector (NuMI) neutrino beams at $\sim 0.8 \ \text{GeV}$ and $\sim 2 \ \text{GeV}$ average energies respectively.
The ICARUS trigger system exploits the coincidence of the BNB and NuMI beams with scintillation light signals detected by 360 8" photo-multiplier tubes, and is based on a PMT-multiplicity within 6-m TPC regions along the beam direction, where tpyical neutrino interactions are expected to be contained.
The trigger efficiency measurement leverages cosmic ray minimum-bias data, collected without imposing any scintillation light requirement, and the timing from an external cosmic ray tagger system.
The efficiency measured with stopping muons saturates at $E_{\mu} \approx 300 ~ \text{MeV}$, covering most of the BNB and NuMI charged-current neutrino interactions.
For the latest ICARUS run, special adder boards, performing the analog sum of light signals, were introduced as a complementary trigger to possibly recover low-energy neutrino interactions.
Finally, the ns-scale timing resolution on the interaction times allows to reconstruct the bunched structures of the BNB and NuMI beams, with the aim of introducing an off-line time-based trigger to cut cosmogenic background in-between beam bunches.

Speaker: Riccardo Triozzi

Workshop on Instruments and Methods

139 Performance of the Small-strip Thin Gap Chambers in the New Small Wheels of ATLAS

Performance of the Small-strip Thin Gap Chambers in the New Small Wheels of ATLAS

Speaker: Michael Schernau (Instituto De Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá (CL))

140 Rate of the Small-strip Thin Gap Chambers (sTGC’s) in the New Small Wheels of ATLAS

The instantaneous luminosity of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN will be increased by about a factor of five with respect to the design value by undergoing an extensive upgrade program over the coming decade. The largest phase-1 upgrade project for the ATLAS Muon System was the replacement of the first station in the forward regions with the New Small Wheels (NSWs) which took place during the long LHC shutdown in 2019-2021. The two Small Wheels cover a positive and negative pseudorapidity acceptance in the range $| \eta |$ = 1.3 to 2.7. Both Small Wheels have been successfully installed in ATLAS in 2021 and took data from p+p collisions at 13.6 TeV in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Along with resistive strips Micromegas, the NSW's are equipped with eight layers of small-strip thin gap chambers (sTGC). The new system is designed to assure high tracking efficiency, reduction of fake trigger rates and precision measurement of muon tracks. In this presentation we will show results on the rates of the sTGC detectors.

Speaker: Sonia Kabana (Instituto De Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá (CL))

141 The ATLAS ITk Pixel Detector: status and road map

At the High luminosity LHC, the expected instantaneous luminosity of up to 7.5 x1034 cm-2 s-1, a factor 7.5 larger with respect to the nominal LHC one, and the integrated luminosity increase by a factor 10 impose severe challenges for the ATLAS detector. The radiation is expected to reach unprecedented values, with non-ionizing fluence of 1e16 neq/cm2 and ionizing dose of 5 MGy. To cope with the resulting increase in occupancy,

bandwidth, and radiation damage, the current ATLAS Inner Detector will be replaced by an all-silicon Inner Tracker (ITk), composed by a strip and a pixel system. The ITk Pixel Detector will consist of five-barrel layers and a number of rings resulting in about 13 m2 of instrumented area with silicon hybrid detectors with angular coverage extended up to |eta| = 4. The silicon hybrid detectors are modules composed by thin planar or 3D silicon sensors bump bonded to novel front-end ASICS and featuring radiation hardness. A fine segmentation enables the requested low occupancy. The data from the modules will be driven form the front-end chip to the opto-electrical conversion system with high-speed transmission parallel lines running at 1.28 Gb/s per data link. Tracking performance will be improved due to the reduced amount of material, thanks to light carbon fiber structures, CO2-based cooling with thin Ti tubes walls, data link sharing and a novel serial powering scheme. The ITk pixel detector will operate at around -35 C and is designed also to sustain the expected large number of temperature cycles during its lifetime.
In this contribution, an overview of the ITk pixel detector project will be shown, from the design and the expected performance to prototyping, testing and qualification of the various components. The future challenges to overcome in the next years will be also presented.

Speaker: Martina Ressegotti (INFN e Universita Genova (IT))

142 Performance and calibration of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter

The Tile Calorimeter (TileCal) is a sampling hadronic calorimeter covering the central region of the ATLAS experiment, with steel as absorber and plastic scintillators as active medium. The scintillators are read-out by the wavelength shifting fibres coupled to the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). The analogue signals from the PMTs are amplified, shaped, digitized by sampling the signal every 25 ns and stored on detector until a trigger decision is received. The TileCal front-end electronics reads out the signals produced by about 10000 channels measuring energies ranging from about 30 MeV to about 2 TeV. Each stage of the signal production from scintillation light to the signal reconstruction is monitored and calibrated. During LHC Run-2, high-momentum isolated muons have been used to study and validate the electromagnetic scale, while hadronic response has been probed with isolated hadrons. The calorimeter time resolution has been studied with multi-jet events. First results using early LHC Run-3 data will be shown. A summary of the performance results, including the calibration, stability, absolute energy scale, uniformity and time resolution, will be presented.

Speaker: Tadeas Petru (Charles University (CZ))

Workshop on Laser Fusion, a spin-off from heavy-ion collisions

Convener: Dr Istvan Papp

143 Nanoplasmonics for laser assisted nuclear fusion

Surface plasmon polaritons are the light of the nanoworld, with a broad spectrum of special properties. These properties open the field for a high number of applications, both in the fields of low and high exciting laser intensities The expected effects caused by these plasmons are briefly presented. We have chosen localized plasmons (LSPP) which have been resonantly excited by ultrashort (n.10fs) , high intensity (up to n.1017 W/cm2) pulses of Ti:Sa lasers.Resonant gold nanoparticles were implanted into a transparent polymer. The intense laser pulses create craters in the studied samples. The volume of these craters is presented as the function of the exciting laser intensity for the samples with and without resonant gold nanoparticles as well as the creation of deuterium atoms in the nanoparticle seeded sample detected with Raman and LIBS spectroscopy. The preliminary data indicate significant energy production and also the nuclear trasmutation (hydrogen to deuterium), clearly proving the decisive role of the unique properties of the LSPP-s. Data obtained by other techniques ( mass spectrometry ,Thompson parabola detection) are also presented.

Speaker: Norbert Kroó

144 Advancements in plasma simulation of nanoplasmonics on the quest for laser-induced fusion at the NAPLIFE project

Rapid progress in technology of lasers and methods learned from astrophysics and relativistic heavy ion collisions led to new possibilities for fusion [1,2]. When nanoantennas are implanted into the target and resonate with the laser frequency, electrons form bunches within them. The motion of these bunches generates the nanoplasmonic wave. Particle-in-cell simulations are not typically employed to describe these interactions. However, this method allows for the consideration of additional effects beyond those traditionally used [3].

Our recently shown kinetic model with a Hydrogen target indicated that the field of these resonating electrons attracts and accelerates the surrounding protons. Now we will show the behaviour of multiple nanoantennas in array interacting with two-sided irradiation. We will show the effects of various size, orientation and shape of nanoantennas on the proton energies, we will discuss the dynamics of energy absorption under irradiation of short laser infrared pulses at above ~$10^{15}$ W/cm$^2$ intensities. These protons are then energetic enough to achieve nuclear transmutation and fusion reactions. Without resonating nanoantenna there is no such collective proton acceleration.

[1] L.P. Csernai, M. Csete, I.N. Mishustin, A. Motornenko, I. Papp, L.M. Satarov, H. Stöcker & N. Kroó, Radiation-Dominated Implosion with Flat Target, Physics and Wave Phenomena, 28 (3) 187-199 (2020).
(arXiv:1903.10896v3).
[2] L.P. Csernai, Detonation on Timelike Front for Relativistic Systems, School of Physics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 92, 397-386 (1987), & Sov. Phys. JETP 65, 219 (1987)
[3] I. Papp, L. Bravina, M. Csete et al. Kinetic model of resonant nanoantennas in polymer for laser induced fusion, Frontiers in Physics, 11, 1116023 (2023)

Speaker: Dr Istvan Papp

145 Minimizing losses in Laser-induced Nano-fusion

The NAPLIFE nano-fusion project is running already two tasks at ELI-ALPS in Szeged Hungary. This project is unique in two aspect:
(i) it is using resonant plasmonic nano-antennas to achieve a imultaneous, rapid and stable ignition of fusion fuel and
(ii) to achieve a high-energy, non-thermal ignition mechanism at all dynamical stages of ignition and burning, until the start of nuclear fusion reactions.
With the specific arrangements, orientations and scheduling we will be able to avoid thermalization and thermalization losses at all stages of the ignition process in contrast to all other present fusion energy schemes.

Speaker: Prof. Laszlo Pal Csernai (University of Bergen)

146 Crater formation in UDMA polymer embedded with plasmonic gold-nanorods irradiated by high energy single laser pulse – morphology studies

In this work the effect of the embedded gold nanoparticles was studied on the crater formation during high-intensity femtosecond laser irradiation of urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) polymers. The polymer targets were prepared without and with gold nanoparticles (in two different concentrations) and were irradiated in different spots with single femtosecond laser pulses of different laser intensities. The ablation of the polymer and crater formation was observed above a certain laser pulse length and intensity threshold. The morphology of the craters was studied by white light interferometry. It was found that the effect of plasmonic nanoparticles is especially prominent at high laser intensities, where 7 times larger craters were formed in their presence, compared to the reference polymer. The effect of gold nanoparticles on the crater morphology and size were evaluated and characterised in details.

Speaker: Agnes Nagyne Szokol

147 Evaluating the Results of Laser Crater Formation Research

This study investigates the outcomes of laser-induced crater formation experiments, focusing on data evaluation to understand the underlying physical mechanisms and material responses. By employing high-powered laser pulses on various target materials, craters of different sizes and characteristics were generated. Detailed analysis of the crater morphology was conducted using advanced imaging techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and 3D profilometry. The experimental data were further analyzed to determine the relationship between laser parameters (e.g., pulse energy, duration, and wavelength) and the resulting crater dimensions and morphology. The findings provide insights into the material ablation process, offering potential applications in fields such as material processing, microfabrication, and impact crater studies in planetary science. The results highlight the importance of precise control over laser parameters to achieve desired outcomes in laser-material interactions.

Speaker: Ms nour Abdulameer (Wigner Fizikai Kutatóközpont)

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

148 AugerPrime: Expectations and first results

With the knowledge and statistical power derived from two decades of measurements, the Pierre Auger Observatory has significantly advanced our understanding of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays whilst unearthing an increasingly complex astrophysical scenario and tensions with hadronic interaction models. The field now demands primary mass as an observable with an exposure that only the surface array of the Observatory can provide. Access to the primary mass hinges on the disentanglement of the electromagnetic and muonic components of extensive air showers. To this end, a scintillator and radio detector have been installed atop each existing water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array, whose dynamic range has also been enhanced through the installation of small area PMTs. The timing and signal resolution of all detector stations has additionally been improved with upgraded station electronics, and underground muon counters have been installed in a region of the array with denser spacing. As the commissioning of AugerPrime reaches its conclusion and the enhanced array comes fully online, we discuss expectations for its performance and the first physics results of this now multi-hybrid detector.

Speaker: David Schmidt

149 The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors that rely on joint crystal R&D activity; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system. Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes, taking into account radiation from the detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction has been completed in 2023.
The commissioning of SABRE South started in early 2024 and the first equipment including the muon detectors have been already installed in SUPL.

This talk will report on the general status of the SABRE South assembly, its expected performance, and the design of SUPL.

Speaker: Peter Charles McNamara

Session on other topics and interdisciplinary topics

150 Study of Cs$_2$MCl$_6$ (M = Hf or Zr) crystal scintillators in the search for rare processes in Hf and Zr isotopes

Recently there has been considerable interest in the development of crystal scintillators of the Cs$_2$MCl$_6$ family of metal hexachlorides (M = Hf or Zr) due to their exceptional properties: a high light yield (up to 35000 photons/ MeV ), good linearity in the energy response, excellent energy resolution ($< 3.5\%$ at 662 keV in the best configuration) and excellent ability to discriminate the pulse shape (PSD) between $\gamma$($\beta$) and $\alpha$ particles. In particular, an experiment was performed using three Cs$_2$ZrCl$_6$ (CZC) crystals and one Cs$_2$HfCl$_6$ (CHC) crystal scintillator in optimized geometry. Low-background measurements have been carried out deep underground at the DAMA/CRYS setup of LNGS. The crystal growth technique, raw material purification, and post-growth material treatment are discussed. Moreover, the three CZC crystals were grown using starting materials with different purities to study their resulting characteristics and were encapsulated using a silicone-based sealant. Result on the $\alpha$ decay to the ground state of $^{174}$Hf is also presented here together with the future perspectives of these measurements.

Speaker: Alice Leoncini (University of Rome Tor Vergata)

151 The Experimental Storage Ring ESR as a key for ILIMA experiments

The Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) at GSI, Darmstadt, Germany is a key for precise experiments with short-lived highly charged exotic nuclei. The Schottky Mass Spectrometry (SMS), Isochronous Mass Spectrometry (IMS) and combined Schottky-Isochronous Mass Spectrometry (S-IMS) which are basics for ILIMA were devloped at the ESR. Here we present recents experiments perormed at the ESR and its status.

Speaker: Dr Sergey Litvinov (GSI)

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Break

15:30 Coffee break

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

152 The CTA+ Italian Program to complement the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory South Site

CTA+ is an Italian projet of the National Program for Resilience and Resistance (PNRR in Italian), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, to complement the largest research infrastructure dedicated to the study of the very-high energy sky: the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), a ground-based gamma-ray observatory currently under construction. Specifically, CTA+ will build two Large-Sized Telescopes (LSTs) and five Small-Sized Telescopes (SSTs) to be located at the CTAO-South site.

CTA+ is coordinated by the INAF in collaboration with the INFN, the Universities of Bologna, Bari, Siena and Palermo and the Polytechnic University of Bari. The approved and fully funded program has formally started on January 1, 2023 and has a duration of 36 months.

The objectives of CTA+ include:
- the customization and construction of two LSTs (23 meters in diameter) and five SSTs (5 meters in diameter) to be placed at the CTAO-South site;
- the optimization of the electromagnetic follow-ups (optical/infrared/radio) of the sources observed by CTAO;
- strengthening the research and development of future detectors for the CTAO;
- enhance training and scientific support for the CTA+ program;
- supporting specific outreach activities and the CTAO headquarters in Bologna.
This talk will present the current status and main objectives of the project, focusing on the CTA+ progresses.

Speakers: Carla Aramo (INFN - Napoli), Dr Carla Aramo (INFN Napoli)

153 The Pierre Auger Observatory as a Test Environment

The Pierre Auger Observatory (Auger), located in Malargüe, Mendoza, Argentina, spanning 3000 km² is the largest ultra-high-energy cosmic ray observatory in the world. In recent years, the Observatory has broadened its scope by hosting detectors in collaboration with other experiments and offering a platform for the research and development (R&D) of future detectors.
Key collaborations include FAST@Auger, GRAND@Auger, and IceCube@Auger, wherein these projects utilize Auger's infrastructure and strategic location as a testing ground for their future detectors. This collaborative environment fosters significant advancements in cosmic-ray research and enhances the capabilities of associated experiments by providing them with cross-correlated cosmic-ray data, triggering assistance, and infrastructure support speeding up their development significantly.
Other test environments at Auger benefit from the modifications of the Observatories' own surface detector (SD) stations for R&D purposes. One such initiative is the Project for Extreme PeVatron Searches (PEPS) @ Auger, which employs modified SD stations to search for extreme PeVatrons by looking for their signal in gamma rays. The modification of SD stations will also be used as an early-stage test bed for new detectors for the Global Cosmic Ray Observatory (GCOS), underscoring Auger's commitment to contributing to the next generation of cosmic-ray observatories. Lastly, while not located at the Pierre Auger Observatory, but rather its counterpart in the Northern Hemisphere, the Auger-led Auger@TA project is a deployment of Auger-like detectors within the Telescope Array experiment. The goal of this cross-calibration initiative is to bridge methodologies and enhance understanding of the scientific results of the two observatories. This presentation will delve into the strategic collaborations, R&D initiatives, and cross-calibration efforts facilitated by the Pierre Auger Observatory, highlighting its role in advancing the field of ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray research.

Speaker: Sonja Mayotte (Colorado School of Mines)

154 On high energy scattering of scalar particles

I discuss a scattering of scalar particles through the gravity field. The scattering is trough a reggeized graviton, teh reggeization of teh graviton is discussed as wee as graviton onteraction with the particles.

Speaker: Mr Sergey Bondarenko (Ariel University, Israel)

155 Constraints on the extragalactic magnetic field and the nature of multi-TeV gamma-rays from the brightest of all time GRB 221009A

GRB 221009A, a relatively nearby (redshift z = 0.1505) and exceptionally bright gamma-ray burst, has been detected with the LHAASO-KM2A instrument up to the energy of \approx 13 TeV. The unprecedented fluence of TeV gamma-rays from GRB 221009A allows to set constraints on the strength B of the extragalactic magnetic field (EGMF), excluding the values of B < 10^{-18} G [Dzhatdoev et al., MNRAS Lett., 527, L95 (2024)].

Contrary to some previous studies, we show that the intrinsic (intergalactic absorption-corrected) gamma-ray spectrum of GRB 221009A reveals a surprising cutoff or a break above the energy of several TeV. The nature of the multi-TeV gamma-rays is not clear due to a possible strong influence of the Klein-Nishina effect, severely limiting the observable gamma-ray intensity at the energy in excess of several TeV. A significant part of \approx 10 TeV gamma-rays from GRB 221009A could have been produced by an unconventional mechanism. We consider one possible unconventional scenario described below.

Gamma-ray bursts are typically situated in star-forming regions. Therefore, the “near” (<100 pc) environment of GRBs is often occupied by a significant amount of gas (typical column density \sim 10^{21}--10^{23} 1/cm^{2}). Furthermore, GRBs are capable of accelerating protons and/or nuclei up to the energy of at least 1 PeV/nucleon in the fireball's rest frame. The protons/nuclei accelerated during the GRB prompt phase could interact with dense photon fields producing neutrons. These neutrons escape from the magnetic fields of the fireball freely and interact with the interstellar matter of the star-forming region, eventually resulting in an observable flux of multi-TeV gamma-rays. We show that for certain values of relevant parameters the intensity of these gamma-rays could contribute significantly to the observable spectrum at E > 10TeV.

The presented results are relevant for cosmology (constraints on the EGMF strength) as well as for new physics searches (e.g. gamma-ray --- axion-like particle oscillation search and constraints to the effects of Lorentz invariance violation). Finally, we briefly discuss the relevance of the presented findings to the models of gamma-ray production in GRBs and to intergalactic gamma-ray propagation models.

Speaker: Timur Dzhatdoev

Heavy Ion Collisions and Critical Phenomena

156 STAR (non-spin physics) Highlights

The STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) leverages the unique versatility of RHIC to collide a diverse range of species, from proton through ruthenium to gold ion collisions, offering unprecedented insights into the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Additionally, the STAR Beam Energy Scan (BES) program aims to explore the QCD phase diagram across a broad range of chemical potentials by utilizing gold ion collisions and a fixed-target mode at lower center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 3 - 27$ GeV. With the detector upgrades, the second phase of the BES (BES-II) program that has recently completed its data taking, allows it to investigate the phase diagram with greater precision.
This talk will present the latest results from the STAR experiment, related to analyses of charged and strange particles, hard probes, dielectrons, light nuclei, and hypernuclei. The outlook on measurements with the RHIC 2023-25 $p$+$p$ and Au+Au runs at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV that aim to study the microstructure of QGP will also be discussed.

Speaker: Barbara Trzeciak (Czech Technical University in Prague)

157 Overview of STAR Measurements on Flow, Chirality, and Vorticity

The STAR experiment at RHIC studies Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) via relativistic heavy ion collisions. Anisotropic flow are sensitive to the initial geometry and expansion dynamics in heavy-ion collisions, and are a valuable probe to study the Equation of State of the produced matter. Global angular momentum and anisotropic flow each can generate vorticity in QCD matter produced in heavy-ion collisions, leading to the polarization of hyperons. The strong magnetic field created by the spectator protons can cause charge separation because of the QCD chiral anomaly from vacuum fluctuations through the phenomenon known as the chiral magnetic effect. In this talk, we will present measurements by STAR experiment related to flow, chirality, and vorticity, which probe the QCD matter created in these collisions.

Speaker: Yicheng Feng (Purdue University (US))

158 Identified and strange hadron production and their flow in $O+O$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 7 TeV using various models

LHC is planning to collect oxygen-oxygen ($O+O$) data at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 7 TeV in order to investigate the particle production mechanisms and associated observables. We present predictions of various observables for identified ({$\pi^\pm$}, {$K^\pm$} and {$p(\bar p)$}) and (mutli-)strange hadrons ($\mathrm{K}^{0}_{\mathrm S}$, $\Lambda$($\overline{\Lambda}$), $\Xi^-$($\overline{\Xi}^+$), $\phi$, and $\Omega^-$($\overline{\Omega}^+$)) using the recently updated 3+1D hydrodynamics-based model EPOS4 and two versions the AMPT model. In this study, we report the transverse momentum (${p_{\rm T}}$-spectra), ${\mathrm{d}N/\mathrm{d}y}$, yield ratios relative to pions, ${p_{\rm T}}$-differential ratios for $O+O$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 7 TeV. It is observed that the AMPT model fails to adequately predict strangeness enhancement in O+O collisions, whereas EPOS4 predicts a significant enhancement. Furthermore, there are indications of stronger radial flow in EPOS4 compared to AMPT. Both models interestingly predict that the final state multiplicity overlaps with pp, p+Pb, and Pb+Pb collisions, reflecting their robustness and consistency in different experimental conditions. The results on anisotropic flow as a function of charged particle multiplicity ($N_{ch}$) will be presented. The anticipated data from $O+O$ collisions at the LHC is set to be instrumental in both fine-tuning the model parameters and deepening our understanding of these theoretical frameworks.

Speaker: Dr Jagbir Singh (Instituto de Alta Investigacion, Universidad de Tarapaca, Arica, Chile)

159 Recent jet measurements from STAR

Jets originating from hard-scattered partons in the early stages of heavy-ion collisions travel through the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) and are modified or quenched relative to a $p$+$p$ collision baseline. Jet quenching studies have evolved rapidly from measuring modification of jet-production cross-sections in heavy-ion collisions to probing jet substructure. Jet substructure measurements capture the more intricate details of intra-jet energy distribution, arising from complex interplay of perturbative and non-perturbative QCD regimes during jet evolution. The STAR collaboration's contribution in this direction has been crucial in exploring the physics of jet-quenching in various systems and in energy ranges complimentary to the LHC. Novel machine learning based techniques such as Multifold have allowed us to perform simultaneous studies of multiple variables at once, and explore new ways to quantify jet quenching. Measurement of jet acoplanarity with respect to a recoil trigger provide new qualitative insights into the nature of interactions between jets and the QGP. Measuring generalized jet angularities in $p$ + $p$ and Au + Au collisions show overall modification of jet-fragmentation and parton showering in medium. Study of spatial energy correlation within jets in $p$ + $p$ collisions explore the transition between the parton shower and hadronization in jet evolution. Extending these studies with charm-tagged jets explore the flavour dependence of jet quenching. In this talk, we will be discussing these recent studies and taking an outlook at proposed measurements from newer datasets going into 2025.

Speaker: Tanmay Pani

High Energy Particle Physics

160 Overview of the STAR forward spin physics

The unique capabilities of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) offer ideal opportunities to explore a wide range of topics in spin physics through polarized proton collisions. The STAR detectors in the forward region (approximately $2.5 < \eta < 4$) enable investigations in forward spin physics, providing deeper insights into fundamental Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD).

This overview talk will first encompass recent highlights in the forward region with the transversely polarized proton beam from the STAR experiment. It will begin with the multi-dimensional studies for transverse single-spin asymmetry ($A_{N}$) for inclusive $\pi^{0}$ and electromagnetic jet at forward rapidity, offering insights into the origin of the sizeable $A_{N}$ observed in polarized $p + p$ collisions. Additionally, the investigation of isolated $\pi^{0}$ will be discussed, providing indication that the large $A_{N}$ might originate from diffractive processes. Consequently, this talk will also cover diffractive $A_{N}$ and discuss its contribution to the inclusive $A_{N}$.

This talk will then delve into the unpolarized physics, focusing on the two-particle azimuthal correlation which has been proposed to be one of the efficient channels to access the underlying gluon dynamics. We will present the recent results of forward di-hadron correlation studies in $p + p$ and $p + A$ collisions.

The STAR Forward Upgrade, completed in 2022, enhances the tracking and calorimeter systems in the forward rapidity region. These upgrades have been successfully utilized for data taking with $p + p$ and Au + Au collisions, providing unique kinematic coverage for various physics measurements. This talk will discuss the STAR Forward Upgrade and its new physics opportunities.

Speaker: Xilin Liang (University of California, Riverside)

161 The BDF/SHiP experiment at the ECN3 high-intensity beam facility at the CERN SPS

The BDF/SHiP experiment is a general purpose intensity-frontier experiment for the search of feebly interacting GeV-scale particles and to perform neutrino physics measurements at the HI-ECN3 (high-intensity) beam facility at the CERN SPS, operated in beam-dump mode, taking full advantage of the available 4x10$^{19}$ protons per year at 400 GeV. CERN recently decided in favour of BDF/SHiP for the future programme of this facility. The setup consists of two complementary detector systems downstream an active muon shield. The forrmer, the scattering and neutrino detector (SND), consists of a light dark matter (LDM) / neutrino target with vertexing capability. The latter, the hidden sector decay spectrometer (HSDS), consists of a 50 m long decay volume followed by a spectrometer, timing detector, and a PID system. BDF/SHiP offers an unprecedented sensitivity to decay and scattering signatures of various new physics models and tau neutrino physics.

Speaker: Vasilisa Guliaeva (M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (RU))

162 Study of the e+e- annihilation into hadrons with the SND detector at the VEPP-2000 collider

Recent SND results on study of exclusive processes of the e+e- annihilation into hadrons below 2 GeV are presented.
The analyses are based on data collected in 2011--2023 at the VEPP-2000 collider.
The measurements of the e+ e- -> pi+ pi- pi0, e+ e- -> pi+ pi- 2pi0 eta, e+ e- -> Ks Kl, e+ e- -> eta' gamma and e+ e- -> n nbar processes are discussed.

Speaker: Alexander Botov (Budker Institute of Nuclear Physiscs)

163 Exploring coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering with the NUCLEUS experiment

Speakers: Nicole Schermer, Nicole Schermer (Technical University of Munich (TUM))

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

164 Tests and modifications of hadronic interactions in cosmic-ray showers

One of the fundamental questions in physics is the origin of the most energetic cosmic rays. This has been obscured mainly by uncertainties in their mass composition arising from the modelling of hadronic interactions in the air showers that these particles induce. For some time now, discrepancies between model predictions and measured air-shower data have been complicating our efforts. A deficit of the simulated signal relative to the measured signal in ground detectors is an inconsistency that is usually interpreted as a deficit of the muon signal induced by the hadronic component of a simulated shower. Recently, a new global method to simultaneously determine the mass composition of cosmic rays and variations in the simulated depth of the shower maximum, hadronic and electromagnetic signals on the ground has been applied to the combined data from the surface and fluorescence detectors at the Pierre Auger Observatory, providing interesting results on model deficiencies in a broader perspective.

I will review past and present attempts to test models of hadronic interactions and prospects for better understanding the origin of these discrepancies. In particular, I will focus on our recent work in the MOdified Characteristics of Hadronic Interactions (MOCHI) project, which aims to explore the phase space of combinations of modifications in the cross section, multiplicity and elasticity of hadronic interactions to find possible solutions that would explain the discrepancies between the Pierre Auger Observatory measurements and model predictions.

Speaker: Dr Jakub Vicha (Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences)

165 Evidence of the nontrivial nature of the alignment phenomenon at superhigh energies

This work presents the more profound study of the cluster structure of gamma families recorded in cosmic rays using X-ray emulsion chambers located at mountain altitudes (‘Pamir’experiment). It has been confirmed that, using the χ_ij and z_ik metrics for cluster analysis, it is possible to collect products, i.e., particles produced in the last strong interactions which directly contribute to the family, into individual separate clusters with the efficiency as high as >80%. It means that applying the given clustering procedure it is possible to “rejuvenate”gamma families and move on to analyzing the characteristics of particles from the previous generation of the nuclear-electromagnetic cascade (NEC) that generates the observed gamma families in the Earth’s atmosphere. This approach was used to study an unusual effect associated with the coplanar emission of the most energetic particles produced in nuclear interactions at ultra-high energies, leading to a linear alignment of the most energetic structures in the target gamma-ray family diagram. This effect was first discovered in the Pamir experiment, which still holds the world championship in the number of recorded aligned events. The work shows that the proposed method of clustering gamma families increases the efficiency of identifying aligned structures, thereby increasing the statistics of unusual events. An analysis of the ultimate anisotropy of the most energetic clusters, carried out using the λ parameter, allows us to confirm the nontrivial nature of the alignment effect observed in cosmic rays, which may indicate the existence of processes that go beyond the Standard Model. If the alignment observed in experimental gamma families were random in nature, it would be impossible to obtain a significant increase in the proportion of aligned events precisely at those critical values of χ_c and z_c that correspond to the optimal collection of the products of the last and penultimate strong NEC interactions, as well as the optimal collection of particles from the decay of neutral pions, respectively.

Speaker: Alexander Borisov

Quantum Physics, Quantum Optics and Quantum Information

166 Status of the Quantum Noise Reduction System in Advanced Virgo Plus

Status of the quantum noise reduction system in Advanced Virgo Plus

Speaker: Valeria Sequino

167 Entropy growth by quantum scattering

Whether the entanglement entropy in a bipartite quantum system will increase or decrease with time is heavily dependent on the initial state of the system. We show that, in elastic two-body scattering, the scattered particles are more entangled than the incoming particles only for a certain special class of incoming states. We discuss some implications of this observation.

Speaker: Gordon Semenoff

Heavy Ion Collisions and Critical Phenomena

168 Particle production in high-energy collisions and generalized non-additive distributions

Particle spectra of the hadrons produced during high-energy collisions have a power-law tail, and there are many studies showing that the distribution of the hadrons can be described using the quasi-exponential distribution derived from the non-additive (a.k.a. non-extensive) statistical mechanics proposed by C. Tsallis. Such a power-law behaviour can arise in systems (e.g. the Quark-Gluon Plasma/QGP) with fluctuations (e.g. in temperature), long range correlations, and finite system size. Such physical scenarios are manifested in the global observables like transverse momentum spectra measured at kinetic freeze-out indicating that a generalized statistical description beyond the Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics is essential.
In this report, we show how a closed, analytical form of a generalized non-additive single-particle distribution providing a description of hadrons in high-energy collisions can be obtained by considering a single-mode harmonic oscillator. This method is an improvement over the earlier results containing a series summation that diverges when arbitrarily large number number of terms are involved. Physical implications of our results while describing particle production in high-energy collisions will also be discussed.

Speaker: Trambak Bhattacharyya

169 Investigating the CME in isobaric ($^{96}_{44}Ru$+$^{96}_{44}Ru$ and $^{96}_{40}Zr$+$^{96}_{40}Zr$) collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 200 GeV using Sliding Dumbbell Method with the STAR detector at RHIC

The chiral imbalance, coupled with the presence of a strong magnetic field produced during heavy-ion collisions, results in charge separation along the magnetic field axis, a phenomenon known as the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME). A novel technique, the Sliding Dumbbell Method (SDM) [1, 2] has been developed to investigate the CME with the RHIC's isobar program. The SDM facilitates the selection of events corresponding to various charge separations ($f_{DbCS}$) across the dumbbell. A partitioning of the charge separation distributions for each collision centrality into ten percentile bins is done in order to find potential CME-like events corresponding to the highest charge separation across the dumbbell. The study reports the results on CME sensitive $\gamma$-correlator ($\gamma = \langle \cos(\phi_a+\phi_b - 2\Psi_{RP}) \rangle$) and $\delta$-correlator ($\delta = \langle \cos(\phi_a-\phi_b) \rangle$) for each bin of $f_{DbCS}$ in each collision centrality for isobaric collisions (Ru+Ru and Zr+Zr) at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 200$ GeV measured with the STAR detector. Furthermore, the background scaled ratio ($\Delta\gamma_{Ru/Zr}$/$\Delta\gamma_{Bkg}$) will be presented to check for the expected enhancement of the CME in Ru+Ru collisions as compared to Zr+Zr collisions. Overall, this research aims to understand and detect the CME through an innovative experimental method.

References:
[1] J. Singh, A. Attri, and M. M. Aggarwal, Proceedings of the DAE Symp. on Nucl. Phys. 64, 830 (2019).
[2] J. Singh (for STAR Collaboration), Springer Proc. Phys. 304, 464 (2024).

Speaker: Jagbir Singh

Special Session on Machine Learning

170 SMARTHEP: Real-Time Analysis for Science and Industry

SMARTHEP is a European Training Network that brings together scientists from the four major collaborations of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider which have been driving the development of Real-Time analysis (RTA) and key specialists from computer science and industry. By solving concrete problems as a community, SMARTHEP aims at bringing forward a more widespread use of RTA techniques, enabling future HEP discoveries and generating large-scale impact to industry.
This contribution presents the training and outreach program of the network, and is intended as an opportunity for further collaboration and feedback from the community.

Speaker: Martino Borsato (Universita & INFN, Milano-Bicocca (IT))

Poster Session

171 Exploring Anomalous Quartic Gauge Couplings in the ZZjj production channel at the HL-LHC and Beyond

A detailed study on the sensitivity of the production channel of two Z bosons in association with two jets (ZZjj) at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) and future colliders, such as the Future Circular Collider (FCC), is presented, focusing on the Quartic Gauge Couplings (QGCs) within the framework of an Effective Field Theory (EFT) with dimension-eight operators. Using Monte Carlo simulations at truth-level and kinematic criteria that mimic the ATLAS detector geometry, constraints on anomalous QGC parameters are evaluated, and the impact of increased luminosity on the sensitivity of these couplings is examined. The analysis demonstrates that higher statistics significantly enhance the ability to set tighter limits on the QGC parameters. This work enables future studies, highlighting the potential of HL-LHC to explore new physics through the precise measurement of quartic gauge interactions.

Speaker: Alexandros Marantis (Hellenic Open University (GR))

172 Imprints of clustering in multiplicity fluctuations

We investigate the multiplicity fluctuations of charged particles observed in high-energy nuclear collisions and relate them to the size of hadronizing systems which happen during such processes. We use the average multiplicities N and variances Var (N) of multiplicity distributions of charged particles produced in centrality selected collisions of relativistic heavy-ion nuclei to evaluate the dynamic variance Ω and study its dependence on the size of colliding systems. We connect the observed system-size dependence of multiplicity fluctuations with the clustering phenomena and the finiteness of the hadronizing sources and the thermal bath.

Speaker: Ali Soheilbeigi Bazgir (Jan Kochanowski University (PL))

173 Hadron-quark crossover phase transition in hybrid compact stars

Lattice simulation of QCD at small net baryon densities and high temperature have revealed that the transition to hadronic phase to the deconfined quark-gluon plasma is a crossover. Recently, the structure of neutron stars have been studied with a crossover equation of state by means of a switching function to model a smooth transition from a pure neutron matter to massless quarks [1]. The switch function parameter was constrained in order to reproduce neutron stars up to about two solar masses. Afterwards, such a study has been extended by considering the relevance of color superconducting quarks in the cold dense matter [2]. In this contribution, we investigate the crossover phase transition into an hybrid compact stars by means of an equation of state which incorporates hadronic matter, composed by nucleons, hyperons and $\Delta$-isobars degrees of freedom, and a color superconducting quark phase with massive strange quarks. In this framework, we analyze the role of the strangeness content related to the bulk properties of the compact star.

[1] J.I. Kapusta, T. Welle, Phys. Rev. C 104, L012801 (2021)
[2] D. Blaschke, E.-O. Hanu, S. Liebing, Phys. Rev. C 105, 035804 (2022)

Speaker: ANDREA LAVAGNO (Politecnico di Torino and INFN Torino)

174 AN INNOVATIVE METHOD TO MEASURE TARGET FRAGMENTATION IN DIRECT KINEMATICS WITH NANOMETRIC NUCLEAR EMULSIONS

Proton therapy, a cutting-edge cancer treatment, is currently employed successfully for treating deep-seated tumors near vital organs. However, uncertainties surrounding the Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) of proton beams pose limits to its efficacy. A significant factor contributing to these uncertainties is the production of highly-ionizing, short-ranged secondary fragments through nuclear interactions due to target fragmentation.
Addressing this issue, the DAMON (Direct meAsureMent of target fragmentatiON) project aims to pioneer a direct measurement of target fragments produced by proton beams. This groundbreaking initiative utilizes "Nano-Imaging Trackers" (NITs), a novel form of fine-grained nuclear emulsions initially designed by the NEWSdm collaboration for directional dark matter searches via induced nuclear recoils.
The NITs employ AgBr crystals with an average diameter of 70 nm dispersed in a gelatine matrix containing Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, and other elements found in the human body. Boasting an unparalleled spatial resolution of 1 sensitive element per 140 nm, NITs offer a unique advantage for detecting tracks at the micro-meter scale. Ongoing research and development are focused on optimizing NITs for the study of target fragmentation.
To read-out information from NITs, a specialized process has been devised, leveraging both a fast scanning microscope and a super-resolution optical scanning microscope.
In a groundbreaking pilot test conducted in February 2023, a bulk of NITs was exposed to protons at 211 MeV. This presentation will unveil the results of this exposure, showcasing the potential of NITs as detectors for the in-depth study of target fragmentation in proton therapy.

Speaker: Nicola D'Ambrosio

175 Quantum Perturbations in Bose-Einstein Condensate Dark Matter and Primordial Black Hole Formation

We investigate the formation mechanisms and cosmological implications of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) within the framework of superfluid dark matter (SFDM), integrating quantum field theory with numerical simulations and gravitational wave predictions. Our theoretical framework, rooted in complex scalar fields $\phi_1$ and $\phi_2$, includes self-interactions and vortex dynamics, predicting a diverse PBH mass spectrum spanning from $10^{-12}$ to $10^5$ solar masses. Numerical simulations using pseudospectral methods reveal that SFDM turbulence and quantum vortices significantly enhance small-scale density perturbations, crucial for PBH formation.

Initial simulations incorporating non-zero angular momentum configurations and vortex infusion demonstrate how SFDM dynamics modify density profiles, influencing PBH formation probabilities. The critical density threshold $\rho_{\mathrm{crit}}$ for PBH formation is altered by SFDM turbulence, which amplifies density fluctuations beyond traditional predictions.

Gravitational wave signatures originating from turbulent SFDM are examined through the transverse and traceless component of the anisotropic stress-energy tensor $\Pi_{ij}$. Utilizing Green's function techniques, we derive the gravitational wave solution contingent upon the spatial velocity distribution $\mathbf{u}(\mathbf{x})$ of the turbulent fluid.

This investigation underscores SFDM as a compelling candidate for illuminating the fundamental role of dark matter in early universe structure formation and advancing gravitational wave astronomy. Our findings contribute pivotal insights into PBH formation mechanisms and their consequential implications for observational cosmology.

Speaker: Mr Swapnil Singh

Wednesday, 4 September

High Energy Particle Physics

176 ICARUS at the Short-Baseline Neutrino program: first results

The ICARUS collaboration employed the 760-ton T600 detector in a successful three-year physics run at the underground LNGS laboratory, performing a sensitive search for LSND-like anomalous $\nu_e$ appearance in the CERN Neutrino to Gran Sasso beam, which contributed to the constraints on the allowed neutrino oscillation parameters to a narrow region around 1 eV$^2$. After a significant overhaul at CERN, the T600 detector has been installed at Fermilab. In 2020 the cryogenic commissioning began with detector cool down, liquid argon filling and recirculation. ICARUS then started its operation collecting the first neutrino events from the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) and the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam off-axis, which were used to test the ICARUS event selection, reconstruction and analysis algorithms. ICARUS successfully completed its commissioning phase in June 2022, moving then to data taking for neutrino oscillation physics, aiming at first to either confirm or refute the claim by Neutrino-4 short-baseline reactor experiment. ICARUS will also perform measurement of neutrino cross sections in LAr with the NuMI beam and several Beyond Standard Model studies. After the first year of operations, ICARUS will search for evidence of sterile neutrinos jointly with the Short-Baseline Near Detector, within the Short-Baseline Neutrino program. In this presentation, preliminary results from the ICARUS data with the BNB and NuMI beams are presented both in terms of performance of all ICARUS subsystems and of capability to select and reconstruct neutrino events.

Speaker: Maria Artero Pons

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Gravity, Mathematical Physics

177 CPTM symmetry and smallness of the cosmological constant

We consdier a model of extende manifold consists of two separated manifolds related by CPTM (charge-parity-time-mass) symmetry. A vanishing of the cosmological constant in the model is discussed as well as other possible consequences of the symmetry.

Speaker: Mr Sergey Bondarenko (Ariel University, Israel)

178 Multimessenger Studies with the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory, the world's largest ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic ray (CR) detector, plays a crucial role in multi-messenger astroparticle physics with its high sensitivity to UHE photons and neutrinos. Recent Auger Observatory studies have set stringent limits on the diffuse and point-like fluxes of these particles, enhancing constraints on dark-matter models and UHECR sources. Although no temporal coincidences of neutrinos or photons with LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave events have been observed, competitive limits on the energy radiated in these particles have been established, particularly from the GW170817 binary neutron star merger. Additionally, correlations between the arrival directions of UHECRs and high-energy neutrinos have been explored using data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, ANTARES, and the Auger Observatory, providing additional neutrino flux constraints. Efforts to correlate UHE neutron fluxes with gamma-ray sources within our galaxy continue, although no significant excesses have been found. These collaborative and multi-faceted efforts underscore the pivotal role of the Auger Observatory in advancing multi-messenger astrophysics and probing the most extreme environments of the Universe.

Speaker: Jon Paul Lundquist (University of Nova Gorica - Center for Astrophysics and Cosmology)

10:30 Coffee break

Heavy Ion Collisions and Critical Phenomena

179 HYDrodynamics with JETs (HYDJET++): Latest developments and results

HYDrodynamics with JETs (HYDJET++): Latest developments and results

Speaker: Evgeny Zabrodin

180 TBA

Speaker: Larisa Bravina

Special Session on Machine Learning

181 Advanced Neural Network Applications in Heavy-Ion Physics: From Track Search to Quark-Gluon Plasma Analysis

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years has catalyzed its exploration for data processing and analysis in high-energy and heavy-ion physics. In this presentation we investigate the properties of various neural network architectures and their potential applicability in heavy-ion physics experiments. A critical aspect of this study is the compatibility and integration of AI methods with conventional approaches currently employed in ongoing and upcoming experiments.

Focusing on the CBM (FAIR/GSI) experiment, we demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing neural networks in three key areas of data processing and analysis:
1. Identifying particle tracks in detector systems with high track multiplicity,
2. Detecting rings in a RICH detector within regions of high ring density,
3. Analyzing properties of colliding matter and the formation of quark-gluon plasma.

In the first area, we explore how neural networks can efficiently process complex data from high-multiplicity events, improving the accuracy of particle track reconstruction. Traditional algorithms often struggle under these conditions, whereas neural networks offer additional solutions by learning from large datasets.

In the second area, we address the challenges of ring detection in RICH detectors, where high ring density can complicate accurate identification. Neural networks are trained to recognize intricate patterns within the data, enhancing the precision of ring detection and reducing false positives. This improvement is crucial for experiments where high-resolution imaging is essential for accurate data interpretation.

The third area involves the analysis of colliding matter properties and the formation of quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter created under extreme conditions. By applying neural networks to this domain, we can extract subtle features and correlations from experimental data, providing deeper insights into the dynamics of heavy-ion collisions and the behavior of quark-gluon plasma.

We will present and discuss the detailed results of applying neural networks to these areas, leveraging the PHSD model within the CBM experiment. The findings highlight the potential of neural networks to enhance data analysis capabilities in high-energy and heavy-ion physics. The integration of AI not only complements existing methodologies but also paves the way for new discoveries and more efficient data processing techniques, ultimately advancing our understanding of fundamental physics.

Speaker: Prof. Ivan Kisel (Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Univ. (DE))

High Energy Particle Physics

182 Latest Results and Outlook of the Muon g-2 Measurement

Fermilab Muon g-2 Collaboration presented another measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the positive muon (a_mu) from the analysis of the data collected in 2019 and 2020. The new result agrees with the first published result from Fermilab while it also shows reduced uncertainty thanks to improved systematics and four times more statistics. Combined data brings the world average of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon to a_mu(Exp)=116592059(22)×10^-11 (0.19 ppm). This talk will cover the highlights of the measurement while also giving an outlook for the final data from Fermilab and the latest Standard Model calculations.

Speaker: Esra Barlas Yucel

183 QCD measurements with ATLAS

The ATLAS experiment has performed a range of QCD measurements in final states with jets. Jet cross-section ratios between inclusive bins of jet multiplicity are measured differentially in variables that are sensitive to either the energy-scale or angular distribution of hadronic energy flow in the final state. Several improvements to the jet energy scale uncertainties are described, which result in significant improvements of the overall ATLAS jet energy scale uncertainty. The measurements are compared to state-of-the-art NLO and NNLO predictions. Using charged particles inside jets, the Lund plane is reconstructed and measured in top quark pair production, separately for jets from hadronic decays of the W boson and for b-quark jets. A differential measurement of the sub-jet multiplicities in dijet events is presented. The measured distributions are compared to a range of hadronisation models and can be used to tune and improve them in the future. A measurement of non-perturbative jet track functions as a function of transverse momentum is presented. Finally, properties of the underlying-event are investigated via the strange hadrons reconstructed in minimum-bias collisions data, and used in the construction of underlying-event observables in azimuthal regions computed relative to the leading charged-particle jet in the event.

Speaker: Dionysios Fakoudis (Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz (DE))

13:00 Lunch

High Energy Particle Physics

184 Recent results from Belle and Belle II

The Belle II experiment has collected 424 fb$^{-1}$ sample of $e^+e^-$ collisions produced by the asymmetric SuperKEKB collider, at a centre-of-mass energy equal to or near the mass of the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance. Ninety-percent of the sample is at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance, which decays to $B$-meson pairs. The predecessor experiment, Belle, collected nearly 1~ab$^{-1}$ of data from 1999-2010, three-quarters of which was at the $\Upsilon(4S)$. From these $\Upsilon(4S)$ data, we have made measurements of rare $B$ decays and $C\!P$ violation, as well as searched for lepton-universality violation. Highlights include the first observation of $B\to K\nu\bar{\nu}$ and measurements of lepton-universality in semitauonic $B$ decays. In addition, we study charm hadron decays, tau decays and quarkonium, which are also produced in abundance at these energies. Using low multiplicity events, we search for dark sector particles and make measurements related to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon.

Speaker: Cristina Martellini (INFN-Roma Tre)

14:25 Closing of the conference