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1. First Measurement of the $\left|t\right|$ Dependence of Incoherent $J/\psi$ Photonuclear Production

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.162302  

   Acharya, S; Adamová, D; Adler, A; Aglieri_Rinella, G; Agnello, M; Agrawal, N; Ahammed, Z; Ahmad, S; Ahn, S U; Ahuja, I; et al (April 2024, Physical Review Letters)

   The first measurement of the cross section for incoherent photonuclear production of $J/\psi$vector mesons as a function of the Mandelstam $\left|t\right|$variable is presented. The measurement was carried out with the ALICE detector at midrapidity, $\left|y\right|<0.8$, using ultraperipheral collisions of Pb nuclei at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$. This rapidity interval corresponds to a Bjorken- $x$range $\left(0.3–1.4\right)\times {10}^{-3}$. Cross sections are given in five $\left|t\right|$intervals in the range $0.04<\left|t\right|<1{\mathrm{GeV}}^2$and compared to the predictions by different models. Models that ignore quantum fluctuations of the gluon density in the colliding hadron predict a $\left|t\right|$dependence of the cross section much steeper than in data. The inclusion of such fluctuations in the same models provides a better description of the data. © 2024 CERN, for the ALICE Collaboration2024CERN 

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2. Search for New Resonances Decaying to Pairs of Merged Diphotons in Proton-Proton Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.041801  

   Hayrapetyan, A; Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Andrejkovic, J W; Bergauer, T; Chatterjee, S; Damanakis, K; Dragicevic, M; Hussain, P S; Jeitler, M; et al (January 2025, Physical Review Letters)

   A search is presented for an extended Higgs sector with two new particles, $X$and $\varphi$, in the process $X\to \varphi \varphi \to \left(\gamma \gamma \right)\left(\gamma \gamma \right)$. Novel neural networks classify events with diphotons that are merged and determine the diphoton masses. The search uses LHC proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$collected with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. No evidence of such resonances is seen. Upper limits are set on the production cross section for $m_X$between 300 and 3000 GeV and $m_{\varphi }/m_X$between 0.5% and 2.5%, representing the most sensitive search in this channel. © 2025 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2025CERN 

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3. QCD Predictions for Meson Electromagnetic Form Factors at High Momenta: Testing Factorization in Exclusive Processes

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.181902  

   Ding, Heng-Tong; Gao, Xiang; Hanlon, Andrew D; Mukherjee, Swagato; Petreczky, Peter; Shi, Qi; Syritsyn, Sergey; Zhang, Rui; Zhao, Yong (October 2024, Physical Review Letters)

   We report the first lattice QCD computation of pion and kaon electromagnetic form factors, $F_M\left(Q^2\right)$, at large momentum transfer up to 10 and $28{\mathrm{GeV}}^2$, respectively. Utilizing physical masses and two fine lattices, we achieve good agreement with JLab experimental results at $Q^2\lesssim 4{\mathrm{GeV}}^2$. For $Q^2\gtrsim 4{\mathrm{GeV}}^2$, our results provide QCD benchmarks for the forthcoming experiments at JLab 12 GeV and future electron-ion colliders. We also test the QCD collinear factorization framework utilizing our high- $Q^2$form factors at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbation theory, which relates the form factors to the leading Fock-state meson distribution amplitudes. Comparisons with independent lattice QCD calculations using the same framework demonstrate, within estimated uncertainties, the universality of these nonperturbative quantities. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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4. Photoproduction of $K^{+}{K}^{-}$ Pairs in Ultraperipheral Collisions

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.222303  

   Acharya, S; Adamová, D; Aglieri_Rinella, G; Agnello, M; Agrawal, N; Ahammed, Z; Ahmad, S; Ahn, S U; Ahuja, I; Akindinov, A; et al (May 2024, Physical Review Letters)

   $K^{+}{K}^{-}$pairs may be produced in photonuclear collisions, either from the decays of photoproduced $\varphi \left(1020\right)$mesons or directly as nonresonant $K^{+}{K}^{-}$pairs. Measurements of $K^{+}{K}^{-}$photoproduction probe the couplings between the $\varphi \left(1020\right)$and charged kaons with photons and nuclear targets. The kaon-proton scattering occurs at energies far above those available elsewhere. We present the first measurement of coherent photoproduction of $K^{+}{K}^{-}$pairs on lead ions in ultraperipheral collisions using the ALICE detector, including the first investigation of direct $K^{+}{K}^{-}$production. There is significant $K^{+}{K}^{-}$production at low transverse momentum, consistent with coherent photoproduction on lead targets. In the mass range $1.1<M_{KK}<1.4\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$above the $\varphi \left(1020\right)$resonance, for rapidity $\left|y_{KK}\right|<0.8$and $p_{T,KK}<0.1\mathrm{GeV}/c$, the measured coherent photoproduction cross section is $\mathrm{d}\sigma /\mathrm{d}y=3.37\pm 0.61\left(\text{stat}\right)\pm 0.15\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)\mathrm{mb}$. The center-of-mass energy per nucleon of the photon-nucleus (Pb) system $W_{\gamma \mathrm{Pb},n}$ranges from 33 to 188 GeV, far higher than previous measurements on heavy-nucleus targets. The cross section is larger than expected for $\varphi \left(1020\right)$photoproduction alone. The mass spectrum is fit to a cocktail consisting of $\varphi \left(1020\right)$decays, direct $K^{+}{K}^{-}$photoproduction, and interference between the two. The confidence regions for the amplitude and relative phase angle for direct $K^{+}{K}^{-}$photoproduction are presented. © 2024 CERN, for the ALICE Collaboration2024CERN 

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5. Systematic improvement of $x$ -dependent unpolarized nucleon generalized parton distributions in lattice-QCD calculation

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.110.034503  

   Holligan, Jack; Lin, Huey-Wen (August 2024, Physical Review D)

   We present a first study of the effects of renormalization-group resummation (RGR) and leading-renormalon resummation (LRR) on the systematic errors of the unpolarized isovector nucleon generalized parton distribution in the framework of large-momentum effective theory. This work is done using lattice gauge ensembles generated by the MILC Collaboration, consisting of $2+1+1$flavors of highly improved staggered quarks with a physical pion mass at lattice spacing $a\approx 0.09\mathrm{fm}$and a box width $L\approx 5.76\mathrm{fm}$. We present results for the nucleon $H$and $E$generalized parton distributions (GPDs) with average boost momentum $P_z\approx 2\mathrm{GeV}$at momentum transfers $Q^2=[0,0.97]{\mathrm{GeV}}^2$at skewness $\xi =0$as well as $Q^2\in 0.23{\mathrm{GeV}}^2$at $\xi =0.1$, renormalized in the modified minimal subtraction ( $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$) scheme at scale $\mu =2.0\mathrm{GeV}$, with two- and one-loop matching, respectively. We demonstrate that the simultaneous application of RGR and LRR significantly reduces the systematic errors in renormalized matrix elements and distributions for both the zero and nonzero skewness GPDs, and that it is necessary to include both RGR and LRR at higher orders in the matching and renormalization processes. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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