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1. Measurement of the inclusive isolated-photon production cross section in pp collisions at $$\mathbf {\sqrt{\textit{s}}=13}$$ TeV

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-13506-x  

   Acharya, S; Adamová, D; Agarwal, A; Aglieri_Rinella, G; Aglietta, L; Agnello, M; Agrawal, N; Ahammed, Z; Ahmad, S; Ahn, S U; et al (January 2025, The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract The production cross section of inclusive isolated photons has been measured by the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC in pp collisions at centre-of-momentum energy of$$\sqrt{s} =13$$ $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV collected during the LHC Run 2 data-taking period. The measurement is performed by combining the measurements of the electromagnetic calorimeter EMCal and the central tracking detectors ITS and TPC, covering a pseudorapidity range of$$|\eta ^{\gamma }|<0.67$$ $|{\eta }^{\gamma }|<0.67$and a transverse momentum range of$$7 $7<p_{\text{T}}^{\gamma }<200$GeV/$$c$$ $c$. The result extends to lower$$p_\textrm{T}^{\gamma }$$ $p_{\text{T}}^{\gamma }$and$$x_\textrm{T}^{\gamma } = 2p_\textrm{T}^{\gamma }/\sqrt{s} $$ $x_{\text{T}}^{\gamma }=2p_{\text{T}}^{\gamma }/\sqrt{s}$ranges, the lowest$$x_\textrm{T}^{\gamma }$$ $x_{\text{T}}^{\gamma }$of any isolated photon measurements to date, extending significantly those measured by the ATLAS and CMS experiments towards lower$$p_\textrm{T}^{\gamma }$$ $p_{\text{T}}^{\gamma }$at the same collision energy with a small overlap between the measurements. The measurement is compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and the results from the ATLAS and CMS experiments as well as with measurements at other collision energies. The measurement and theory prediction are in agreement with each other within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties. 

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2. Highly-excited Rydberg excitons in synthetic thin-film cuprous oxide

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41465-y  

   DeLange, Jacob; Barua, Kinjol; Paul, Anindya Sundar; Ohadi, Hamid; Zwiller, Val; Steinhauer, Stephan; Alaeian, Hadiseh (December 2023, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract Cuprous oxide ($$\hbox {Cu}{}_2\hbox {O}$$ $\text{Cu}{}_2\text{O}$) has recently emerged as a promising material in solid-state quantum technology, specifically for its excitonic Rydberg states characterized by large principal quantum numbers (n). The significant wavefunction size of these highly-excited states (proportional to$$n^2$$ $n^2$) enables strong long-range dipole-dipole (proportional to$$n^4$$ $n^4$) and van der Waals interactions (proportional to$$n^{11}$$ $n^{11}$). Currently, the highest-lying Rydberg states are found in naturally occurring$$\hbox {Cu}_2\hbox {O}$$ ${\text{Cu}}_2\text{O}$. However, for technological applications, the ability to grow high-quality synthetic samples is essential. The fabrication of thin-film$$\hbox {Cu}{}_2\hbox {O}$$ $\text{Cu}{}_2\text{O}$samples is of particular interest as they hold potential for observing extreme single-photon nonlinearities through the Rydberg blockade. Nevertheless, due to the susceptibility of high-lying states to charged impurities, growing synthetic samples of sufficient quality poses a substantial challenge. This study successfully demonstrates the CMOS-compatible synthesis of a$$\hbox {Cu}{}_2\hbox {O}$$ $\text{Cu}{}_2\text{O}$thin film on a transparent substrate that showcases Rydberg excitons up to$$n = 8$$ $n=8$which is readily suitable for photonic device fabrications. These findings mark a significant advancement towards the realization of scalable and on-chip integrable Rydberg quantum technologies. 

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3. Measurement of the inclusive isolated-photon production cross section in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at $$\mathbf {\sqrt{\textit{s}_{NN }} = 5.02}$$ TeV

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-13971-y  

   Acharya, S; Agarwal, A; Rinella, G Aglieri; Aglietta, L; Agnello, M; Agrawal, N; Ahammed, Z; Ahmad, S; Ahn, S U; Ahuja, I; et al (May 2025, The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract The ALICE Collaboration at the CERN LHC has measured the inclusive production cross section of isolated photons at midrapidity as a function of the photon transverse momentum ($$p_{\textrm{T}}^{\gamma }$$ $p_{\text{T}}^{\gamma }$), in Pb–Pb collisions in different centrality intervals, and in pp collisions, at centre-of-momentum energy per nucleon pair of$$\sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}}~=~5.02$$ $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV. The photon transverse momentum range is between 10–14 and 40–140 GeV/$$c$$ $c$, depending on the collision system and on the Pb–Pb centrality class. The result extends to lower$$p_{\textrm{T}}^{\gamma }$$ $p_{\text{T}}^{\gamma }$than previously published results by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the same collision energy. The covered pseudorapidity range is$$|\eta ^{\gamma } | <0.67$$ $|{\eta }^{\gamma }|<0.67$. The isolation selection is based on a charged particle isolation momentum threshold$$p_{\textrm{T}}^\mathrm{iso,~ch} = 1.5$$ $p_{\text{T}}^{\mathrm{iso},\mathrm{ch}}=1.5$ GeV/$$c$$ $c$within a cone of radii$$R=0.2$$ $R=0.2$and 0.4. The nuclear modification factor is calculated and found to be consistent with unity in all centrality classes, and also consistent with the HG-PYTHIA model, which describes the event selection and geometry biases that affect the centrality determination in peripheral Pb–Pb collisions. The measurement is compared to next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and to the measurements of isolated photons and Z$$^{0}$$ $_{}^0$bosons from the CMS experiment, which are all found to be in agreement. 

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4. Measurement of the production cross section for a W boson in association with a charm quark in proton–proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13\,\hbox {TeV}$$

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-12258-4  

   Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Andrejkovic, J W; Bergauer, T; Chatterjee, S; Damanakis, K; Dragicevic, M; Valle, A_Escalante Del; Hussain, P S; Jeitler, M; et al (January 2024, The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract The strange quark content of the proton is probed through the measurement of the production cross section for a W boson and a charm (c) quark in proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13$$\,\text {Te}\hspace{-.08em}\text {V}$$ $\text{Te}\text{V}$. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 138$$\,\text {fb}^{-1}$$ ${\text{fb}}^{-1}$collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The W bosons are identified through their leptonic decays to an electron or a muon, and a neutrino. Charm jets are tagged using the presence of a muon or a secondary vertex inside the jet. The$$\hbox {W}+\hbox {c}$$ $\text{W}+\text{c}$production cross section and the cross section ratio$$R_\textrm{c}^{\pm }= \sigma ({\hbox {W}}^{+}+\bar{\text {c}})/\sigma (\hbox {W}^{-}+{\textrm{c}})$$ $R_{\text{c}}^{\pm }=\sigma ({\text{W}}^{+}+\overline{\text{c}})/\sigma ({\text{W}}^{-}+\text{c})$are measured inclusively and differentially as functions of the transverse momentum and the pseudorapidity of the lepton originating from the W boson decay. The precision of the measurements is improved with respect to previous studies, reaching 1% in$$R_\textrm{c}^{\pm }= 0.950 \pm 0.005\,\text {(stat)} \pm 0.010 \,\text {(syst)} $$ $R_{\text{c}}^{\pm }=0.950\pm 0.005\text{(stat)}\pm 0.010\text{(syst)}$. The measurements are compared with theoretical predictions up to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. 

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5. Lifetimes of low-lying levels in $$^{158}$$Gd

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-026-01784-w  

   Lesher, S R; Aprahamian, A; Lee, K; Fransen, C; McEwan, L; Meier, M M; Stratman, A; Warr, N; Yates, S W (January 2026, The European Physical Journal A)

   Abstract The low-lying structure of the well-deformed nucleus$$^{158}$$ $_{}^{158}$Gd has been revisited to elucidate the nature of the low-lying states in$$^{158}$$ $_{}^{158}$Gd. Earlier (p, t) studies identified numerous 0$$^+$$ $_{}^{+}$states below 4.3 MeV, prompting questions about whether these states correspond to collective vibrations or shape coexistence. New and previously reported ($$n,n^\prime \gamma $$ $n,n^{\prime }\gamma$) measurements are combined, including$$\gamma $$ $\gamma$-$$\gamma $$ $\gamma$coincidences, excitation functions, and angular distributions, to extract lifetimes and transition probabilities for 44 excited states up to 2.7 MeV, including 32 previously unmeasured levels. Our results confirm or revise$$\gamma $$ $\gamma$-ray placements and provide detailed transition strengths, revealing both weakly collective and strongly enhanced B(E2) and B(E1) transition probabilities. In particular, a tentative 0$$^+$$ $_{}^{+}$state at 2437.8 keV exhibits a strong interband B(E2) transition, which may be a candidate for a possible two-phonon ($$\beta \beta $$ $\beta \beta$) excitation. Systematic comparisons with neighboring Gd isotopes, Hartree–Fock–Bogoliubov, and interacting-boson model predictions suggest that the first excited 0$$^+$$ $_{}^{+}$state in$$^{158}$$ $_{}^{158}$Gd is predicted to be a$$\beta $$ $\beta$-vibration, although it is weakly collective. We also present results for lifetimes and transition probabilities for a number of negative parity states, including$$\hbox {K}^{\pi }=0^-,1^-,2^-$$ ${\text{K}}^{\pi }=0^{-},1^{-},2^{-}$sequences, perhaps providing insight into octupole collectivity and the interplay between quadrupole and octupole vibrations in deformed nuclei. The systematic presence of low-lying negative-parity bands and their interband transition strengths suggest that$$^{158}$$ $_{}^{158}$Gd’s potential energy surface may support both quadrupole and octupole vibrational modes, in agreement with microscopic calculations [1–3]. 

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