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1. Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays Accelerated by Magnetically Dominated Turbulence

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad955f  

   Comisso, Luca; Farrar, Glennys R; Muzio, Marco S (December 2024, The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   Abstract Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), particles characterized by energies exceeding 10¹⁸eV, are generally believed to be accelerated electromagnetically in high-energy astrophysical sources. One promising mechanism of UHECR acceleration is magnetized turbulence. We demonstrate from first principles, using fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, that magnetically dominated turbulence accelerates particles on a short timescale, producing a power-law energy distribution with a rigidity-dependent, sharply defined cutoff well approximated by the form $f_{\mathrm{cut}}\left(E,E_{\mathrm{cut}}\right)=\mathrm{sech}\left({\left(E/E_{\mathrm{cut}}\right)}^2\right)$. Particle escape from the turbulent accelerating region is energy dependent, witht_esc∝E^−δandδ∼ 1/3. The resulting particle flux from the accelerator follows $\mathit{dN}/\mathit{dEdt}\propto E^{-s}\mathrm{sech}\left({\left(E/E_{\mathrm{cut}}\right)}^2\right)$, withs∼ 2.1. We fit the Pierre Auger Observatory’s spectrum and composition measurements, taking into account particle interactions between acceleration and detection, and show that the turbulence-associated energy cutoff is well supported by the data, with the best-fitting spectral index being $s={2.1}_{-0.13}^{+0.06}$. Our first-principles results indicate that particle acceleration by magnetically dominated turbulence may constitute the physical mechanism responsible for UHECR acceleration. 

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2. Bounds on eigenfunctions of quantum cat maps

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1402-4896/ad0331  

   Kim, Elena; Koirala, Robert (October 2023, Physica Scripta)

   Abstract We studyℓ^∞norms ofℓ²-normalized eigenfunctions of quantum cat maps. For maps with short quantum periods (constructed by Bonechi and de Biévre in F Bonechi and S De Bièvre (2000,Communications in Mathematical Physics,211, 659–686)) we show that there exists a sequence of eigenfunctionsuwith $\parallel u{\parallel }_{\infty }\gtrsim {\left(\log N\right)}^{-1/2}$. For general eigenfunctions we show the upper bound $\parallel u{\parallel }_{\infty }\lesssim {\left(\log N\right)}^{-1/2}$. Here the semiclassical parameter is $h={\left(2\pi N\right)}^{-1}$. Our upper bound is analogous to the one proved by Bérard in P Bérard (1977,Mathematische Zeitschrift,155, 249-276) for compact Riemannian manifolds without conjugate points. 

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3. Compression Acceleration of Protons and Heavier Ions at the Heliospheric Current Sheet

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad6e80  

   Murtas, Giulia; Li, Xiaocan; Guo, Fan (October 2024, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract Recent observations by the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) suggest that protons and heavier ions are accelerated to high energies by magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet (HCS). By solving the energetic particle transport equation in large-scale MHD simulations, we study the compression acceleration of protons and heavier ions in the reconnecting HCS. We find that the acceleration of multispecies ions results in nonthermal power-law distributions with a spectral index consistent with the PSP observations. Our study shows that the high-energy cutoff of protons can reach $E_{\max }\sim 0.1$–1 MeV depending on the particle diffusion coefficients. We also study how the high-energy cutoff of different ion species scales with the charge-to-mass ratio $E_{\max }\propto {\left(Q/M\right)}^{\alpha }$. When determining the diffusion coefficients from the quasi-linear theory with a Kolmogorov magnetic power spectrum, we find thatα∼ 0.4, which is somewhat smaller thanα∼ 0.7 observed by PSP. 

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4. Search for $h_b\left(2P\right)\to \gamma {\chi }_{bJ}\left(1P\right)$ at $\sqrt{s}=10.860\mathrm{GeV}$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.111.L011102  

   Boschetti, A; Mussa, R; Tamponi, U; Adachi, I; Aihara, H; Asner, D M; Aushev, T; Ayad, R; Banerjee, Sw; Belous, K; et al (January 2025, Physical Review D)

   In the bottomonium sector, the hindered magnetic dipole transitions between P-wave states $h_b\left(2P\right)\to {\chi }_{bJ}\left(1P\right)\gamma$, $J=0$, 1, 2, are expected to be severely suppressed according to the relativized quark model, due to the spin flip of the $b$quark. Nevertheless, a recent model following the coupled-channel approach predicts the corresponding branching fractions to be enhanced by orders of magnitude. In this Letter, we report the first search for such transitions. We find no significant signals and set upper limits at 90% confidence level on the corresponding branching fractions: $\mathcal{B}\left[h_b\right(2P)\to \gamma {\chi }_{b0}(1P\left)\right]<2.7\times {10}^{-1}$, $\mathcal{B}\left[h_b\right(2P)\to \gamma {\chi }_{b1}(1P\left)\right]<5.4\times {10}^{-3}$and $\mathcal{B}\left[h_b\right(2P)\to \gamma {\chi }_{b2}(1P\left)\right]<1.3\times {10}^{-2}$. These values help to constrain the parameters of the coupled-channel models. The results are obtained using a $121.4{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$data sample taken around $\sqrt{s}=10.860\mathrm{GeV}$with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^{+}{e}^{-}$collider. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

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5. First Evidence for Direct $CP$ Violation in Beauty to Charmonium Decays

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.101801  

   Aaij, R; Abdelmotteleb, A_S W; Abellan_Beteta, C; Abudinén, F; Ackernley, T; Adefisoye, A A; Adeva, B; Adinolfi, M; Adlarson, P; Agapopoulou, C; et al (March 2025, Physical Review Letters)

   The $CP$asymmetry and branching fraction of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa-suppressed decay $B^{+}\to J/\psi {\pi }^{+}$are precisely measured relative to the favored decay $B^{+}\to J/\psi K^{+}$using a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $5.4{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV during 2016–2018. The results of the $CP$asymmetry difference and branching fraction ratio are $\mathrm{\Delta }{\mathcal{A}}^{CP}\equiv {\mathcal{A}}^{CP}(B^{+}\to J/\psi {\pi }^{+})-{\mathcal{A}}^{CP}(B^{+}\to J/\psi K^{+})=(1.29\pm 0.49\pm 0.08)\times {10}^{-2}$, ${\mathcal{R}}_{\pi /K}\equiv \left[\mathcal{B}\right(B^{+}\to J/\psi {\pi }^{+})/\mathcal{B}(B^{+}\to J/\psi K^{+}\left)\right]=(3.852\pm 0.022\pm 0.018)\times {10}^{-2}$, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. A combination with previous LHCb results based on data collected at 7 and 8 TeV in 2011 and 2012 yields $\mathrm{\Delta }{\mathcal{A}}^{CP}=(1.42\pm 0.43\pm 0.08)\times {10}^{-2}$and ${\mathcal{R}}_{\pi /K}=(3.846\pm 0.018\pm 0.018)\times {10}^{-2}$. The combined $\mathrm{\Delta }{\mathcal{A}}^{CP}$value deviates from zero by 3.2 standard deviations, providing the first evidence for direct $CP$violation in the amplitudes of beauty decays to charmonium final states. © 2025 CERN, for the LHCb Collaboration2025CERN 

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