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This paper reviews recent results form the NA62 and NA48 experiments at CERN. NA62 has searched for the K → πνν ¯ with an in-flight decay technique. The analysis of 1.2 · 10 11 decays has found one event compatible with the Standard Model prediction, giving an upper limit for the branching ratio of 1.4 · 10 -9 (95% CL) in the background assumption. Prospects for improvements in the measurement are given. Results on the K l3 decay form factors from NA48/2 are presented as well as the first observation of the decay K ± → π ± π 0 e + e - and the measurement of its branching ratio from the same experiment.

Background: Renal tumors in solitary kidneys require treatments that optimize both oncological and functional outcomes. Robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) offers a balance between these needs and reduced morbidity. This study investigates the oncologic and functional outcomes of RAPN in solitary-kidney patients. Methods: We analyzed data from 1852 patients with cT1-T4N0M0 renal cell carcinoma treated by RAPN from January 2018 to June 2022. The cohort included patients with solitary kidneys based on preoperative characteristics, tumor staging and perioperative outcomes using the Trifecta criteria. Results: Of the study participants, 39 had solitary kidneys. Fifteen patients (38.6%) had an ASA score > 2, indicating a higher preoperative risk. The median PADUA score was 7 (IQR 8–9). Moreover, 28 (71.8%) patients had a chronic kidney disease stage > 2. Trifecta success was achieved in 26 (66.6%) of the cases. During a median follow-up of 36 months, tumor recurrence was observed in 12 patients (30.7%), with local recurrences in 4 (10.2%) and systemic recurrences in 8 (20.5%). A higher ASA score and global ischemic clamping were independent predictors of renal function decline at the third postoperative day and Trifecta failure. Only a higher ASA score significantly predicted a significant long-term decline in renal function. Nucleolar grade at pathological stage was the only factor significantly associated with tumor recurrence. Conclusions: RAPN is as an effective treatment for renal tumors in solitary kidneys, balancing oncological control and renal function preservation. Global ischemia and patient physical status are the most important factors influencing outcomes and highlight the importance of patient selection and tailored surgical strategies.

Objective: To evaluate the early oncological outcomes of patients treated with robot-assisted radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer with multiple PIRADS lesions at baseline mpMRI in a tertiary referral center. Methods: Data of consecutive patients undergoing robot-assisted radical prostatectomy between 2020 and 2022 at a high-volume tertiary referral center were prospectively collected. mpMRI data was evaluated by two expert uro-radiologists at our center. All patients received an MRI–ultrasound fusion biopsy. Results: Overall, 286 patients with multiple PIRADS lesions treated with robot-assisted radical prostatectomy at a tertiary referral center were included. Unilateral and bilateral nerve-sparing were achieved in 63 (22.3%) and 124 (43.1%) patients, respectively. Median age was 69 years (IQR: 64–72), while median Charlson Comorbidity Index was 3 (IQR: 2–4). The presence of two PIRADS lesions was found in the 81.8% of cases, while 18.2% presented with three or more. Bilateral lesions were observed in 67.4% of cases. The dominant lesion was PIRADS 4 in 57.3% and PIRADS 5 in 32.3% of cases, with a median diameter of 12 mm (IQR: 10–17). Pathological upstaging to pT3 occurred in 61% of patients. Overall, 9.8% of cases exhibited positive surgical margins (PSMs), most of them single and limited in extent. Postoperative major complications were recorded in 6.3% of patients. At a median follow-up of 18 months (IQR: 6–29), biochemical recurrence (BCR) occurred in 8% of patients. Patients with PIRADS 5 lesions experienced shorter BCR-free survival compared to those with PIRADS 3–4. On multivariable Cox regression, PIRADS 5 independently predicted biochemical recurrence (HR: 2.52; 95% CI: 1.10–5.80; p = 0.029), after adjustment for age, number of lesions, and nerve-sparing status, with the performance of nerve-sparing not associated with an increased risk of recurrence, including in patients with multifocal disease. Conclusions: Nerve-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy in patients with multiple PIRADS lesions achieves encouraging short-term oncologic outcomes, with biochemical recurrence-free survival exceeding 84% at 3 years, despite high rates of multifocality and pathological upstaging.

The LHCb experiment is currently taking data with a completely renewed DAQ system, capable for the first time of performing a full real-time reconstruction of all collision events occurring at LHC point 8. The Collaboration is now pursuing a further upgrade (“LHCb Upgrade-II”), to enable the experiment to retain the same capability at luminosities an order of magnitude larger than the maximum planned for the current Run3. To this purpose, a vigorous R&D program is ongoing to boost the real-time processing capability of LHCb, needed to cope both with the luminosity increase and the adoption of correspondingly more granular and complex detectors. New heterogeneous computing solutions are being explored, with the aim of moving reconstruction and data reduction to the earliest possible stages of processing. In this talk, we describe the results obtained from a realistic demonstrator for a high-throughput reconstruction of tracking detectors, operating parasitically on real LHCb data from Run3 in a purposely-built testbed facility. This demonstrator is based on a extremely parallel, “Artificial Retina” architecture, implemented in commercial, PCIe-hosted FPGA cards interconnected by fast optical links, and encompasses a sizeable fraction of the LHCb VELO pixel detector. The implications of the results in view of potential applications in HEP are discussed.

The LHCb collaboration is planning an upgrade (LHCb “Upgrade- II”) to collect data during Run 5 at an instantaneous luminosity an order of magnitude larger than the current one (Run 3). LHCb relies on a complete realtime reconstruction of all collision events at LHC-Point 8, which will have to cope with both the luminosity increase and the introduction of correspondingly more granular and complex detectors. After an intensive R&D programme, LHCb approved a FPGA-based system to pre-reconstruct tracks in the SciFi detector at readout level during Run 4, as an intermediate step towards a system that could be extended to other tracking detectors in the future. It is based on the “artificial retina”, an extremely parallel architecture. Using simulated data, the performance of a hardware demonstrator of this architecture has been tested as a function of instantaneous luminosity and system size, and was found to have O( n ) complexity, which is a crucial feature for high luminosity applications.

A measurement of theK⁺→π⁺νν̄decay by the NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS is presented, using data collected in 2021 and 2022. This dataset was recorded, after modifications to the beamline and detectors, at a higher instantaneous beam intensity with respect to the 2016–2018 data taking. Combining NA62 data collected in 2016–2022, a measurement ofB(K⁺→π⁺νν̄) = \\left( 13.0^(+ 3.3)_(- 3.0) \\right{)}{×}{1}0⁻¹¹is reported. With51signal candidates observed and an expected background of18⁺³₋₂events,B(K⁺→π⁺νν̄)becomes the smallest branching ratio measured with a signal significance above5 σ .

Usage of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in the so called general-purpose computing is emerging as an effective approach in several fields of science, although so far applications have been employing GPUs typically for offline computations. Taking into account the steady performance increase of GPU architectures in terms of computing power and I/O capacity, the real-time applications of these devices can thrive in high-energy physics data acquisition and trigger systems. We will examine the use of online parallel computing on GPUs for the synchronous low-level trigger, focusing on tests performed on the trigger system of the CERN NA62 experiment. To successfully integrate GPUs in such an online environment, latencies of all components need analysing, networking being the most critical. To keep it under control, we envisioned NaNet, an FPGA-based PCIe Network Interface Card (NIC) enabling GPUDirect connection. Furthermore, it is assessed how specific trigger algorithms can be parallelized and thus benefit from a GPU implementation, in terms of increased execution speed. Such improvements are particularly relevant for the foreseen Large Hadron Collider (LHC) luminosity upgrade where highly selective algorithms will be essential to maintain sustainable trigger rates with very high pileup.

The NA48/2 experiment at CERN reports the first observation of the K ^(±)→ π ⁰ π ⁰ μ ^(±) ν decay based on a sample of 2437 candidates with 15% background contamination collected in 2003–2004. The decay branching ratio in the kinematic region of the squared dilepton mass above 0.03 GeV ² /c ⁴is measured to be (0.65 ± 0.03) × 10 ⁻⁶ . The extrapolation to the full kinematic space, using a specific model, is found to be (3.45 ± 0.16) × 10 ⁻⁶ , in agreement with chiral perturbation theory predictions.

A sample of1.3 × 10⁵ K⁺ → π⁰ e⁺ ν γcandidates with less than 1% background was collected by the NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS in 2017-2018. Branching fraction measurements are obtained at percent relative precision in three restricted kinematic regions, improving on existing results by a factor larger than two. An asymmetry, possibly related to T-violation, is investigated with no evidence observed within the achieved precision.

A sample of 2.8 × 10 ⁴ K ⁺→ π ⁺ μ ⁺ μ ⁻candidates with negligible background was collected by the NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS in 2017–2018. The model-independent branching fraction is measured to be (9.15 ± 0.08) × 10 ⁻⁸ , a factor three more precise than previous measurements. The decay form factor is presented as a function of the squared dimuon mass. A measurement of the form factor parameters and their uncertainties is performed using a description based on Chiral Perturbation Theory at 𝓞 (p ⁶ ).