Explore the vast range of titles available.

This text contains a summary and personal perspective on the current status and challenges of jet quenching physics as portrayed by the presentations delivered at the 12th International Conference on Hard and Electromagnetic Probes of High-Energy Nuclear Collisions (Hard Probes 2024) which took place in September 2024 in Nagasaki, Japan.

Interactions between particles can be strongly altered by their environment. We demonstrate a technique for modifying interactions between ultracold atoms by dressing the bare atomic states with light, creating an effective interaction of vastly increased range that scatters states of finite relative angular momentum at collision energies where only s-wave scattering would normally be expected. We collided two optically dressed neutral atomic Bose-Einstein condensates with equal, and opposite, momenta and observed that the usual s-wave distribution of scattered atoms was altered by the appearance of d-and g-wave contributions. This technique is expected to enable quantum simulation of exotic systems, including those predicted to support Majorana fermions.

We present a theoretical research of ion collision influence on molecular alignment regulated by the super-Gaussian laser pulse. Relevant results show that the super-Gaussian laser pulse is superior to the Gaussian laser pulse in improving the degree of collision-induced alignment. The influence of impact parameter and collisional velocity on maximal alignment degree in both the in- and post-pulse cases is discussed. As a whole, the maximal alignment degree is decreasing with the increase of the collision interaction parameters. With the increase of laser intensity and duration time, the maximal alignment degree of both in- and post-pulse cases shows the oscillation characteristic. Appropriate laser shape parameter can enhance the alignment degree, which is more obvious during the pulse. Moreover, the influence of temperature on collision-induced molecular alignment degree is also analysed. Graphical abstract

Electron and photon triggers covering transverse energies from 5  GeV to several TeV are essential for the ATLAS experiment to record signals for a wide variety of physics: from Standard Model processes to searches for new phenomena in both proton–proton and heavy-ion collisions. To cope with a fourfold increase of peak LHC luminosity from 2015 to 2018 (Run 2), to 2.1 × 10 34 cm - 2 s - 1 , and a similar increase in the number of interactions per beam-crossing to about 60, trigger algorithms and selections were optimised to control the rates while retaining a high efficiency for physics analyses. For proton–proton collisions, the single-electron trigger efficiency relative to a single-electron offline selection is at least 75% for an offline electron of 31  GeV , and rises to 96% at 60  GeV ; the trigger efficiency of a 25  GeV leg of the primary diphoton trigger relative to a tight offline photon selection is more than 96% for an offline photon of 30  GeV . For heavy-ion collisions, the primary electron and photon trigger efficiencies relative to the corresponding standard offline selections are at least 84% and 95%, respectively, at 5  GeV above the corresponding trigger threshold.

One electron exchange between the Rydberg states of ions is elaborated within the time-symmetrized framework of two-wave-function model. It was observed that in an atomic collision, the population of ionic states by electron exchange, is strongly conditioned by the structure of the subsystem itself, especially at intermediate velocities. This circumstance is particularly pronounced when determining the ion–ion distances at which the charge exchange is most likely. The specificity of the model is reflected in the fact that the determination of the electron capture distance is carried out at fixed initial and final states of the system under consideration. As an illustrative example, XeVIII was used as a target of collision process, i.e. ion Xe 8 + initially populated in Rydberg state ν B = ( n B = 8 , l B = 0 , m B = 0 ) , while argon ions Ar Z A + were used as projectiles in the core charge range Z A ∈ [ 3 , 9 ] . Graphic Abstract

The ALICE experiment was proposed in 1993, to study strongly-interacting matter at extreme energy densities and temperatures. This proposal entailed a comprehensive investigation of nuclear collisions at the LHC. Its physics programme initially focused on the determination of the properties of the quark–gluon plasma (QGP), a deconfined state of quarks and gluons, created in such collisions. The ALICE physics programme has been extended to cover a broader ensemble of observables related to Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of strong interactions. The experiment has studied Pb–Pb, Xe–Xe, p–Pb and pp collisions in the multi-TeV centre of mass energy range, during the Run 1–2 data-taking periods at the LHC (2009–2018). The aim of this review is to summarise the key ALICE physics results in this endeavor, and to discuss their implications on the current understanding of the macroscopic and microscopic properties of strongly-interacting matter at the highest temperatures reached in the laboratory. It will review the latest findings on the properties of the QGP created by heavy-ion collisions at LHC energies, and describe the surprising QGP-like effects in pp and p–Pb collisions. Measurements of few-body QCD interactions, and their impact in unraveling the structure of hadrons and hadronic interactions, will be discussed. ALICE results relevant for physics topics outside the realm of QCD will also be touched upon. Finally, prospects for future measurements with the ALICE detector in the context of its planned upgrades will also be briefly described.

The measurement of an alignment between the angular momentum of a non-central collision between heavy ions and the spin of emitted particles reveals that the fluid produced in the collision is extremely vortical. Colliding ions go into a vortex When heavy ions such as gold collide in a particle collider, they form exotic states of matter that are similar to fluids. If the particles hit non-centrally, then the fluid is predicted to have vortices. However, these vortices have not yet been observed in an experiment. Here, the STAR Collaboration shows that during gold–gold collisions, spin alignment of Λ hyperons with the angular momentum of the fluid occurs. This is experimental evidence of the formation of vortices. They also show that the fluid produced in heavy-ion collisions has the highest vorticity ever observed. The results could provide general insights into how vortices form in ideal liquids. The extreme energy densities generated by ultra-relativistic collisions between heavy atomic nuclei produce a state of matter that behaves surprisingly like a fluid, with exceptionally high temperature and low viscosity 1 . Non-central collisions have angular momenta of the order of 1,000 ћ , and the resulting fluid may have a strong vortical structure 2 , 3 , 4 that must be understood to describe the fluid properly. The vortical structure is also of particular interest because the restoration of fundamental symmetries of quantum chromodynamics is expected to produce novel physical effects in the presence of strong vorticity 5 . However, no experimental indications of fluid vorticity in heavy ion collisions have yet been found. Since vorticity represents a local rotational structure of the fluid, spin–orbit coupling can lead to preferential orientation of particle spins along the direction of rotation. Here we present measurements of an alignment between the global angular momentum of a non-central collision and the spin of emitted particles (in this case the collision occurs between gold nuclei and produces Λ baryons), revealing that the fluid produced in heavy ion collisions is the most vortical system so far observed. (At high energies, this fluid is a quark–gluon plasma.) We find that Λ and hyperons show a positive polarization of the order of a few per cent, consistent with some hydrodynamic predictions 6 . (A hyperon is a particle composed of three quarks, at least one of which is a strange quark; the remainder are up and down quarks, found in protons and neutrons.) A previous measurement 7 that reported a null result, that is, zero polarization, at higher collision energies is seen to be consistent with the trend of our observations, though with larger statistical uncertainties. These data provide experimental access to the vortical structure of the nearly ideal liquid 8 created in a heavy ion collision and should prove valuable in the development of hydrodynamic models that quantitatively connect observations to the theory of the strong force.

Atomic collision processes are fundamental to numerous advanced materials technologies such as electron microscopy, semiconductor processing and nuclear power generation. Extensive experimental and computer simulation studies over the past several decades provide the physical basis for understanding the atomic-scale processes occurring during primary displacement events. The current international standard for quantifying this energetic particle damage, the Norgett−Robinson−Torrens displacements per atom (NRT-dpa) model, has nowadays several well-known limitations. In particular, the number of radiation defects produced in energetic cascades in metals is only ~1/3 the NRT-dpa prediction, while the number of atoms involved in atomic mixing is about a factor of 30 larger than the dpa value. Here we propose two new complementary displacement production estimators (athermal recombination corrected dpa, arc-dpa) and atomic mixing (replacements per atom, rpa) functions that extend the NRT-dpa by providing more physically realistic descriptions of primary defect creation in materials and may become additional standard measures for radiation damage quantification. The Norgett−Robinson−Torrens displacements per atom model is the benchmark to assess radiation damage in metals but has well-known limitations. Here, the authors use molecular dynamics to introduce material-specific modifications to describe radiation damage more realistically.

Collisions between heavy atomic nuclei at ultrarelativistic energies are carried out at particle colliders to produce the quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter where quarks and gluons are not confined into hadrons, and colour degrees of freedom are liberated. This state is thought to be produced as a transient phenomenon before it fragments into thousands of particles that reach the particle detectors. Despite two decades of investigations, one of the big open challenges 1 is to obtain an experimental determination of the temperature reached in a heavy-ion collision, and a simultaneous determination of another thermodynamic quantity, such as the entropy density, that would give access to the number of degrees of freedom. Here, we obtain such a determination, utilizing state-of-the-art hydrodynamic simulations 2 . We define an effective temperature, averaged over the spacetime evolution of the medium. Then, using experimental data, we determine this temperature and the corresponding entropy density and speed of sound in the matter created in lead–lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. Our results agree with first-principles calculations from lattice quantum chromodynamics 3 and confirm that a deconfined phase of matter is indeed produced. The quark–gluon plasma, in which quarks and gluons are deconfined, is a transient state created in collisions of heavy nuclei. By defining an effective temperature, this temperature and the system’s entropy density and speed of sound are determined.

Recognition of multifrequency microwave (MW) electric fields is challenging because of the complex interference of multifrequency fields in practical applications. Rydberg atom-based measurements for multifrequency MW electric fields is promising in MW radar and MW communications. However, Rydberg atoms are sensitive not only to the MW signal but also to noise from atomic collisions and the environment, meaning that solution of the governing Lindblad master equation of light-atom interactions is complicated by the inclusion of noise and high-order terms. Here, we solve these problems by combining Rydberg atoms with deep learning model, demonstrating that this model uses the sensitivity of the Rydberg atoms while also reducing the impact of noise without solving the master equation. As a proof-of-principle demonstration, the deep learning enhanced Rydberg receiver allows direct decoding of the frequency-division multiplexed signal. This type of sensing technology is expected to benefit Rydberg-based MW fields sensing and communication. Rydberg atoms are sensitive to microwave signals and hence can be used to detect them. Here the authors demonstrate a Rydberg receiver enhanced by deep learning, Rydberg atoms acting as antennae, to receive, extract, and decode the multi-frequency microwave signal effectively.