Search Results (372)

We investigate the high-energy production of tetraquark-jet systems at the LHC and its forthcoming high-luminosity upgrade. In this review, we examine the leading–power fragmentation of fully heavy tetraquarks ($T_{4Q}$) in hadronic collisions, highlighting their relevance as novel probes of multiquark dynamics in QCD. Our analysis relies on the hadron–structure–oriented TQ4Q1.1 fragmentation functions, built within a nonrelativistic QCD framework that incorporates both gluon- and heavy-quark-initiated channels. Threshold-consistent DGLAP evolution is performed through the HF-NRevo scheme, enabling a unified treatment of mass thresholds and scale variations. We also provide a systematic discussion of uncertainties arising from color-composite long-distance matrix elements (LDMEs) and from perturbative hard- and fragmentation-scale inputs (H- and F-MHOUs). Phenomenological predictions are obtained using the (sym)Jethad framework at NLL/NLO⁺ accuracy for semi-inclusive tetraquark-jet production at the LHC and beyond. This review connects the emerging spectroscopy of fully heavy exotics with modern fragmentation-based approaches to hadron structure and high-energy QCD. Full article

This study presents the development and validation of a comprehensive numerical optimisation methodology used to improve the energy efficiency of a pump with normal characteristics: volume flow rate, Q nom = 6.3 m³/h, and head, H = 20 mH₂O. The methodology was implemented in ANSYS Workbench using ANSYS CFX and optiSLang. The optimisation process is based on data from 853 RANS (SST) calculations on a sample generated by the LHC method, varying the parameters of the blades and flow path. Response surfaces (RSM) were constructed using anisotropic and classical kriging, which were optimised using an Evolutionary Algorithm (EA). The optimised geometry was verified numerically by URANS SST and experimentally. For physical validation, the wheel was manufactured using SLS technology from PA-12 Industrial powder, a strength assessment FSI was performed, and the geometry was checked by 3D scanning. 3D scanning showed a high manufacturing accuracy (deviations of 0.1–0.3 mm). The result is a geometry that increases efficiency while maintaining head, which has been confirmed by experimental validation. Full article

We investigate the leading-power fragmentation of triply heavy $\Omega$ baryons in high-energy hadronic collisions. Extending our previous work on the ${\Omega }_{3c}$ sector, we release the full OMG3Q1.0 family of collinear fragmentation functions by completing the description of the charm channel and delivering novel ${\Omega }_{3b}$ functions. These hadron-structure-oriented functions are constructed from improved proxy-model calculations for heavy-quark and gluon fragmentation, matched to a flavor-aware DGLAP evolution based on the HF-NRevo scheme. For phenomenological applications, we employ the (sym)Jethad multimodular interface to compute and analyze NLL/NLO⁺ semi-inclusive ${\Omega }_{3Q}$ plus jet distributions at the HL-LHC and FCC. This work consolidates the link between hadron structure, rare baryon production, and resummed QCD at the energy frontier. Full article

Background: Laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers (LHCs) exhibit heterogeneous outcomes after definitive radiotherapy (RT). Large language models (LLMs) may enhance prognostic stratification by integrating complex clinical and imaging data. This study validated two pre-trained LLMs—GPT-4o-2024-08-06 and Gemma-2-27b-it—for outcome prediction in LHC. Methods: Ninety-two patients with non-metastatic LHC treated with definitive (chemo)radiotherapy at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (2006–2013) were retrospectively analyzed. First-order and 3D radiomic features were extracted from intra- and peritumoral regions on pre- and mid-RT CT scans. LLMs were prompted with clinical variables, radiotherapy notes, and radiomic features to classify patients as high- or low-risk for death, recurrence, and distant metastasis. Model performance was assessed using sensitivity, specificity, AUC, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, and McNemar tests. Results: Integration of radiomic features significantly improved prognostic discrimination over clinical/RT plan data alone for both LLMs. For death prediction, pre-RT radiomics were the most predictive: GPT-4o achieved a peak AUC of 0.730 using intratumoral features, while Gemma-2-27b reached 0.736 using peritumoral features. For recurrence prediction, mid-RT peritumoral features yielded optimal performance (AUC = 0.703 for GPT-4o; AUC = 0.709 for Gemma-2-27b). Kaplan–Meier analyses confirmed statistically significant separation of risk groups: pre-RT intra- and peritumoral features for overall survival (for both GPT-4o and Gemma-2-27b, p < 0.05), and mid-RT peritumoral features for recurrence-free survival (p = 0.028 for GPT-4o; p = 0.017 for Gemma-2-27b). McNemar tests revealed no significant performance difference between the two LLMs when augmented with radiomics (all p > 0.05), indicating that the open-source model achieved comparable accuracy to its proprietary counterpart. Both models generated clinically coherent, patient-specific rationales explaining risk assignments, enhancing interpretability and clinical trust. Conclusions: This external validation demonstrates that pre-trained LLMs can serve as accurate, interpretable, and multimodal prognostic engines for LHC. Pre-RT radiomic features are critical for predicting mortality and metastasis, while mid-RT peritumoral features uniquely inform recurrence risk. The comparable performance of the open-source Gemma-2-27b-it model suggests a scalable, cost-effective, and privacy-preserving pathway for the integration of LLM-based tools into precision radiation oncology workflows to enhance risk stratification and therapeutic personalization. Full article

The deployment of robotic systems in hazardous and magnetically intense environments requires careful assessment of their performance under external disturbances. In particular, electromagnetic motors used for actuation may interact with strong magnetic fields, potentially impairing their functionality. This study investigates the behaviour of miniature brushed coreless Direct Current (DC) motors for small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications in magnetically harsh environments, such as underground accelerator facilities like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Experimental tests were conducted measuring four main physical quantities: the torque components acting along the axes orthogonal to the shaft, the torque about the shaft axis, variations in angular speed, and electrical current consumption. The results showed that the motors were able to operate under external magnetic field intensities up to 0.4 T, although measurable torques acted on the internal permanent magnet and on the ferromagnetic housing material. Some discrepancies and speed fluctuations were observed during operation and were attributed to mobility of the internal permanent magnet. Overall, the findings demonstrate that the tested miniature motors exhibit resilience in high magnetic fields but suffer from manufacturing variability, suggesting that higher-quality motors with more consistent characteristics would be preferable for reliable robotic operation in harsh environments. Full article

A general relativistic model of an astrophysical hypermassive extremely magnetized ultra-compact self-bound quark–gluon plasma (QGP: ALICE/LHC) object that is supported against its ultimate gravitational implosion by the simultaneous action of the vacuum polarization driven by nonlinear electrodynamics (NLED: ATLAS/LHC: light-by-light scattering)—the vacuum “awakening”—and the asymptotic freedom, a key feature of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), is presented. These QCD stars can be the final figures of the equilibrium of collapsing stellar cores permeated by magnetic fields with strengths well beyond the Schwinger threshold due to being self-bound, and for which post-supernova fallback material pushes the nascent remnant beyond its stability, forcing it to collapse into a hybrid hypermassive neutron star (HHMNS). Hypercritical accretion can drive its innermost core to spontaneously break away color confinement, powering a first-order hadron-to-quark phase transition to a sea of ever-freer quarks and gluons. This core is hydro-stabilized by the steady, endlessly compression-admitting asymptotic freedom state, possibly via gluon-mediated enduring exchange of color charge among bound states, e.g., the odderon: a glueball state of three gluons, or either quark-pairing (color superconductivity) or tetraquark/pentaquark states (LHCb Coll.). This fast—at the QGP speed of sound—but incremental quark–gluon deconfinement unbinds the HHMNS’s baryons so catastrophically that transforms it, turning it inside-out, into a neat self-bound QGP star. A solution to the nonlinear Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff (TOV) equation is obtained—that clarifies the nonlinear effects of both NLED and QCD on the compact object’s structure—which clearly indicates the occurrence of hypermassive QGP/QCD stars with a wide mass spectrum ($0\lesssim {\mathrm{M}}_{\mathrm{Star}}^{\mathrm{QGP}}\lesssim$ 7 M_⊙ and beyond), for star radii ($0\lesssim R_{\mathrm{Star}}^{\mathrm{QGP}}\lesssim 24$ km and beyond) with B-fields (${10}^{14}\le {\mathrm{B}}_{\mathrm{Star}}^{\mathrm{QGP}}\le {10}^{16}$ G and beyond). This unexpected feature is described by a novel mass vs. radius relation derived within this scenario. Hence, endowed with these physical and astrophysical characteristics, such QCD stars can definitively emulate what the true (theoretical) black holes are supposed to gravitationally do in most astrophysical settings. This color quark star could be found through a search for its eternal “yo-yo” state gravitational-wave emission, or via lensing phenomena like a gravitational rainbow (quantum mechanics and gravity interaction), as in this scenario, it is expected that the light deflection angle—directly influenced by the larger effective mass/radius (${\mathrm{M}}_{\mathrm{Star}}^{\mathrm{QGP}}\left(B\right)$, ${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{Star}}^{\mathrm{QGP}}\left(B\right)$) and magnetic field of the deflecting object—increases as the incidence angle decreases, in view of the lower values of the impact parameter. The gigantic—but not infinite—surface gravitational redshift, due to NLED photon acceleration, makes the object appear dark. Full article

The multiplicity distributions measured in proton–proton collisions at the LHC exhibit appealing new features. One of them is the appearance of a substructure—the so-called “shoulder”—at relatively large multiplicities. The most natural interpretation of this behavior is the existence of two particle-production mechanisms. The final result is then a superposition of two distributions. In our recent paper, we assumed that the two production mechanisms are soft and semihard partonics scatterings. In this paper, we further discuss this assumption, and, in particular, we study the dependence of the results on the scale that separates soft from hard events. Full article

Lignin-derived hard carbon (LHC) has emerged as a highly promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), owing to its renewable nature, structural tunability, and notable electrochemical properties. Although considerable advancements have been made in the development of LHCs in recent years, the absence of a comprehensive and critical review continues to impede further innovation in the field. To address this deficiency, the present review begins by examining the intrinsic characteristics of lignin and hard carbon (HC) to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of LHC microstructure formation. It then systematically categorizes the synthesis strategies, structural attributes, and performance influences of various LHCs, focusing particularly on how feedstock characteristics and fabrication parameters dictate final material behavior. Furthermore, optimization methodologies such as feedstock pretreatment, controlled processing, and post-synthesis modifications are explored in detail to provide a practical framework for performance enhancement. Finally, informed recommendations and future research directions are proposed to facilitate the integration of LHCs into next-generation SIB systems. This review aspires to deepen scientific understanding and guide rational design for improved LHC applications in energy storage. Full article

Gluons within the proton may accumulate near a critical momentum due to nonlinear QCD effects, leading to a gluon condensation. Surprisingly, the pion distribution predicted by this gluon distribution could answer two puzzles in astronomy and high-energy physics. During ultra-high-energy cosmic ray collisions, gluon condensation may abruptly produce a large number of low-momentum pions, whose electromagnetic decays have the typical broken power law. On the other hand, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) shows weak but recognizable signs of gluon condensation, which had been mistaken for BEC pions. Symmetry is one of the fundamental laws in natural phenomena. Conservation of energy stems from time symmetry, which is one of the most central principles in nature. In this study, we reveal that the connection between the above two apparently unrelated phenomena can be fundamentally explained from the fundamental principle of conservation of energy, highlighting the deep connection and unifying role symmetry plays in physical processes. Full article

Blue fescue (Festuca glauca) is a widely used ornamental grass worldwide. Drought is an important limiting factor for the growth and development of blue fescue; therefore, cultivating new strains of blue fescue with a strong drought tolerance is of great significance for its production practice. To investigate the drought tolerance mechanism of ds-1, this study subjected both ds-1 and “Festina” to a natural drought treatment and measured their physiological and biochemical indicators. A transcriptomic analysis was also conducted to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. The results showed that, after the drought treatment, the relative water content (RWC), water use efficiency (WUE), and photosynthetic rate (Pn) of ds-1 leaves were significantly higher than those of “Festina”; in addition, the contents of H₂O₂ and O₂⁻, the relative electrical conductivity (REC), the malondialdehyde (MDA) content, the gas conductance (Gs), and the transpiration rate (Tr) were significantly lower than those of “Festina”. The peroxidase (POD) activity of ds-1 was significantly higher than that of “Festina”, while the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity of ds-1 was significantly lower than that of “Festina”. The transcriptome data analysis showed that there were a total of 9475 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between ds-1 and “Festina”. A Venn plot analysis showed 692 DEGs between ds-1—8d vs. “Festina”—8d and ds-1—16d vs. “Festina”—16d. A KEGG enrichment analysis showed that these 692 genes were mainly enriched in 86 pathways, including those related to the photosynthesis antenna protein, plant hormone signal transduction, MAPK signaling, starch and sucrose metabolism, and arginine and proline metabolism. Further screening identified genes that may be associated with drought stress, including PYL, PP2C, SnRK2, ABF, BRI1, JAZ, MYC2, Lhc, and MPK6. The qRT-PCR results indicated that the expression trends of the DEGs were consistent with the transcriptome sequencing results. Our research results can provide a basis for exploring candidate genes for drought tolerance in blue fescue. In addition, our research results provide valuable genetic resources for the development of drought-resistant ornamental grass varieties, which can help reduce water consumption in cities and decrease labor and capital investment. Full article

Novel multifunctional fibrous materials were prepared by simultaneous dual spinneret electrospinning of two separate solutions differing in composition. This technique allowed for the preparation of materials built of two types of fibers: fibers from poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), chitosan (Ch), and rosmarinic acid (RA), and poly(L-lactide) (PLA) fibers containing lidocaine hydrochloride (LHC). Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) analyses showed that both types of fibers are present on the surface and in the bulk of the new materials. The presence of all components and some interactions between them were proven by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. RA and LHC were in an amorphous state in the fibers, and their presence affected the temperature characteristics and the crystallinity, as detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction analyses (XRD). The presence of PVA/Ch/RA fibers enabled the hydrophilization of the surface of the multifunctional fibrous materials (the water contact angle value was 0°). The newly developed materials demonstrated adequate mechanical properties, making them suitable for use in wound dressing applications. The RA-containing fibrous mats possessed high radical-scavenging activity (ca. 93%), and the combining with LHC led to an enhancement of this effect (ca. 98.5%). RA-containing fibrous mats killed all the pathogenic bacteria S. aureus and E. coli and decreased the titer of fungi C. albicans by ca. 0.4 log for a contact time of 24 h. Therefore, the new materials are prospective as antibacterial and atraumatic functional wound dressings, as systems for local drug delivery, and in medical skincare. Full article

We review recent heavy quarkonium measurements in $pp$, $p\mathrm{P}\mathrm{b}$, and $\mathrm{PbPb}$ collisions at the LHC by the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb collaborations using Run-2 and early Run-3 data. Production studies include present differential cross-sections and polarization measurements of charmonium and bottomonium, providing precise tests of QCD theoretical calculations and unveiling symmetry relations among spin and orbital configurations. Notably, a $t\overline{t}$ quasi-bound-state has been observed at the LHC recently. Suppression analyses quantify the sequential melting of bottomonium states in $\mathrm{PbPb}$ collisions, serving as a probe of the deconfined quark–gluon plasma. Cold nuclear matter effects are constrained through comparisons of quarkonium yields in pPb and $pp$ collisions. Furthermore, multi-quarkonium investigations observe di- and tri-quarkonium production processes and resonances, exploring multi-parton interactions and the symmetry structure underlying exotic hadron states. Full article

Fourier transform-based frequency sweeping interferometry (FT-FSI) is an interferometric technique that enables absolute distance measurement by detecting the beat frequencies from the interference of reflected signals. This method allows robust, simultaneous distance measurements to multiple targets and is largely immune to variations in the reflected optical signal intensity. As a result, FT-FSI maintains accuracy even when measuring reflectors with low reflectance. FT-FSI has recently been integrated into the full remote alignment system (FRAS) developed for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) project at CERN. Designed to operate in harsh environments with electromagnetic interference, ionizing radiation and cryogenic temperatures, FRAS employs FT-FSI for the precise monitoring of the alignment of accelerator components. The system includes specialized interferometers and a range of sensors, including inclinometers, distance sensors, and leveling sensors. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the challenges associated with remote measurement and monitoring systems in harsh environments such as those of particle accelerators. It details the development and validation of the FT-FSI-based measurement system, emphasizing its critical role in enabling micrometric alignment accuracy. The developments and results presented in this work can be readily translated to other demanding metrology applications in harsh environments. Full article

Polymerization initiators are commonly used to lower the processing temperatures and accelerate the synthesis of plastic scintillators. However, these additives can reduce light output. Since plastic scintillator tiles, fibers, and bars are used in countless radiation detection instruments, from PET scanners to LHC calorimeters, any loss in light output immediately degrades the timing and energy resolution of the whole system. Understanding how the initiators alter scintillation performance is therefore important. In this study, five different plastic scintillator samples were produced with varying concentrations of two initiators, 2,2-Azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) (AIBN) and benzoyl peroxide (BPO), along with a reference sample containing no initiators. The relative light yield (RLY) was measured using four different gamma sources. Analyzing the Compton edges revealed that higher initiator concentrations consistently decrease the light output. This study shows that keeping the initiator concentration at 0.2% limits the reduction to 8%, whereas 0.5–1% loadings can lower the yield by 20–35%, providing realistic bounds on initiator levels for future plastic scintillator productions. Full article

The HEPscore benchmark, widely used for evaluating computational performance in high-energy physics, has been identified as requiring energy consumption metrics to address the increasing importance of energy efficiency in large-scale computing infrastructures. This study introduces an energy measurement extension for HEPscore, designed to operate across diverse hardware platforms without requiring administrative privileges or physical modifications. The extension utilizes the Running Average Power Limit (RAPL) interface available in modern processors and dynamically selects the most suitable measurement method based on system capabilities. When RAPL access is unavailable, the system automatically switches to alternative measurement approaches. To validate the accuracy of the software-based measurements, external hardware monitoring devices were used to collect reference data directly from the power supply circuit. Obtained results demonstrate a significant correlation across multiple test platforms running standard HEP workloads. The developed extension integrates energy consumption data into standard HEPscore reports, enabling the calculation of energy efficiency metrics such as HEPscore/Watt. This implementation meets the requirements of the HEPiX Benchmarking Working Group, providing a reliable and portable solution for quantifying energy efficiency alongside computational performance. The proposed method supports informed decision making in resource planning and hardware acquisition for HEP computing environments. Full article