arXiv subjects

Cheuk-Yin Wong

Publications and source records attributed to Cheuk-Yin Wong.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Possible Evidence for Neutral Color-Singlet $q\bar q$ Quark Matter from High-Energy Pb-Emulsion Collisions

The invariant mass spectrum of $e^+e^-$ pairs produced in high-energy Pb-emulsion collisions at 160 A GeV at CERN SPS exhibits a highly complex structure of a broad enhancement at 11$\pm$1 MeV with a full width of about 10 MeV, and additional many narrow resonances within the experimental bin width of 2 MeV, including a prominent narrow resonance at 19 $\pm$1 MeV that provides an independent support for the hypothetical X17 particle. We show that the highly complex spectrum may be coherently described as the signatures for the neutral color-singlet $q\bar q$ quark matter in both its deconfined phase as well as its confined phase. That is, the broad enhancement at 11$\pm$1 MeV may arise from thermal annihilation of QED(U(1))-deconfined quarks and antiquarks into $e^+e^-$ pairs at the phase transition temperature $T_c$(QED), which can be theoretically estimated to be 4.75 $\pm$ 1.04 MeV from the transitional equilibrium condition. The observed narrow resonances at 3$\pm$1 and 7$\pm$1 MeV may correspond to the QED(U(1))-deconfined $u\bar u$ and $d\bar d$ Coulomb bound states near their quark rest masses, respectively, whereas the observed narrow resonance at 19 $\pm$ 1 MeV may correspond to the QED(U(1))-confined isoscalar QED meson. The approximate agreement between the theoretical and the experimental spectrum suggests tentatively that both QED(U(1))-confined and QED(U(1))-deconfined neutral color-singlet $q\bar q$ quark matter may have been produced in these high-energy Pb-emulsion collision, pending confirmation of the Pb-emulsion collision data. We propose future experiments to confirm or refute these findings.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Fusion and reactions of $α$+$^8$Be in the Hoyle resonance and associated resonances region

The fusion of $α$ and $^8$Be to produce a $^{12}$C nucleus is a crucial process in nucleosynthesis. In the laboratory, this process can only be studied theoretically as a $^8$Be target or projectile cannot be prepared experimentally. We use the potential scattering theory in the coupled-channel formalism to study such a process in terms of the collision between the $α$ particle on a deformed $^8$Be nucleus, both on resonance and off resonance in the Hoyle resonance and associated resonances region. The experimental $^{12}$C energy levels and widths constrain the nuclear potential to suggest the need to include a parity-dependent surface potential component that is more attractive for even-$L$ positive-parity partial waves than for odd-$L$ negative-parity partial waves. As a consequence, the radial dependence of the total potentials for the set of \{0$^+$, 2$^+$, 4$^+$\} resonances of ${}^{12}$C exhibit a double-hump behavior, possessing two local energy minima and a doublet of each of the ${}^{12}$C \{0$^+$, 2$^+$, 4$^+$\} resonances in the Hoyle and associated resonances region. We examine the approximate agreement of the theoretical results with experiment and suggest the search for the as-yet unobserved lower-energy 2${}^+_2$ and 4${}_1^+$ resonances to test the double-hump potential description. In addition, for practical astrophysical applications, we evaluate and estimate the astrophysical $S(E_{\rm c.m.})$-factor for the $α$+$^8$Be $\to$ $^{12}$C$(0^{+*})$ $\to$ $^{12}$C$(2_1^+)$ + $γ$ reaction for $E_{\rm c.m.}$ $<$ 1.0 MeV.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2026

Color-Singlet and Color-Octet Quark Matters

Quarks and antiquarks carry color and electric charges and belong to the color-triplet $3$ group and the color-antitriplet $\bar 3$ group respectively. The product groups of $3$ and $\bar 3$ consist of the color-singlet $1$ and the color-octet $8$ subgroups. Therefore, quarks and antiquarks combine to form color-singlet $[q \bar q]^1$ quark matter and color-octet $[q \bar q]^8$ quark matter. The color-octet quark matter corresponds to the $q\bar q$ quark matter as envisaged in the realm of present knowledge but the color-singlet quark matter is as yet unexplored and now submitted for exploration. The color-singlet quark matter with two flavors can be separated into charged and neutral color-singlet quark matters. In the neutral color-singlet quark matter, the quark and the antiquark interacting only in the QED interaction may form stable and confined colorless QED mesons non-perturbatively at about 17 MeV and 38 MeV (PRC81,064903(2010) and JHEP(2020(8),165). It is proposed that the possible existence of the QED mesons may be a signature of the neutral color-singlet quark matter at $T=0$. The observations of the anomalous soft photons at CERN, and the anomalous bosons with mass about 17 MeV at ATOMKI, DUBNA, and HUS, and mass about 38 MeV at DUBNA hold promising experimental evidence for the existence of such QED mesons, pending further confirmations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Mini-jet Clustering Algorithm Using Transverse-momentum Seeds in High-energy Nuclear Collisions

We propose an algorithm to detect mini-jet clusters in high-energy nuclear collisions, by selecting a high-transverse-momentum ($p_T$) particle as a seed and assigning a clustering radius ($R$) in the pseudorapidity and azimuthal-angle space. Our PYTHIA simulations for $p$+$p$ collisions show that a scheme with a seeding $p_T$ of around 0.5 GeV/$c$ and $R$ of approximately 0.6 satisfactorily identifies mini-jet clusters. The correlation between clusters obtained in PYTHIA calculations using the algorithm exhibits the proper behavior of hard-scattering-like processes, suggesting its usefulness in isolating mini-jet-like clusters from non-hard-scattering soft processes when applied to actual nuclear-collision data, thereby allowing a closer examination of both the mini-jet and the soft mechanisms.

physics.data-an↗

arXiv2024

QED meson description of the anomalous particles at ~17 and ~38 MeV

The Schwinger confinement mechanism stipulates that a massless fermion and a massless antifermion are confined as a massive boson when they interact in the Abelian QED interaction in (1+1)D. If we approximate light quarks as massless and apply the Schwinger confinement mechanism to quarks, we can infer that a light quark and a light antiquark interacting in the Abelian QED interaction are confined as a QED meson in (1+1)D. Similarly, a light quark and a light antiquark interacting in the QCD interaction in the quasi-Abelian approximation will be confined as a QCD meson in (1+1)D. The QED and QCD mesons in (1+1)D can represent physical mesons in (3+1)D when the flux tube radius is properly taken into account. Such a theory leads to a reasonable description of the masses of $π^0, η$, and $ η'$, and its extrapolation to the unknown QED sector yields an isoscalar QED meson at about 17 MeV and an isovector QED meson at about 38 MeV. The observations of the anomalous soft photons, the hypothetical X17 particle, and the hypothetical E38 particle bear promising evidence for the possible existence of the QED mesons. Pending further confirmation, they hold important implications on the properties on the quarks and their interactions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Dynamics of quarks and gauge fields in the lowest-energy states in QCD and QED

We examine the dynamics of quarks and gauge fields in the lowest energy states in the QED and QCD interactions by combining Schwinger's longitudinal confinement in (1+1)D with Polyakov's transverse confinement in (2+1)D in a ``stretch (2+1)D'' flux tube model in (3+1)D. For such QED and QED systems in the flux tube configuration with cylindrical symmetry, we separate out the transverse and longitudinal degrees of freedom, approximate the non-Abelian QCD in the quasi-Abelian approximation, and solve the derived equations to study the collective excitations. We find stable collective QED and QCD excitations showing up as confined QED and QCD mesons, in support of previous theoretical studies and recent observations of the anomalous hypothetical X17 and E38 particles. Future theoretical lattice gauge calculations of QED in (3+1)D with the inclusion of the Schwinger longitudinal confinement mechanism and experimental confirmation of the hypothetical X17 and E38 particles will shed definitive light on quark confinement in the QED interaction in (3+1)D.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

On the question of quark confinement in the Abelian U(1) QED gauge interaction

If we approximate light quarks as massless and apply the Schwinger confinement mechanism to light quarks, we will reach the conclusion that a light quark $q$ and its antiquark $\bar q$ will be confined as a $q\bar q$ boson in the Abelian U(1) QED gauge interaction in (1+1)D, as in an open string. From the work of Coleman, Jackiw, and Susskind, we can infer further that the Schwinger confinement mechanism persists even for massive quarks in (1+1)D. Could such a QED-confined $q\bar q$ one-dimensional open string in (1+1)D be the idealization of a flux tube in the physical world in (3+1)D, similar to the case of QCD-confined $q\bar q$ open string? If so, the QED-confined $q\bar q$ bosons may show up as neutral QED mesons in the mass region of many tens of MeV (PRC81(2010)064903 & JHEP2020(8)165). Is it ever possible that a quark and an antiquark be produced and interact in QED alone to form a confined QED meson? Is there any experimental evidence for the existence of a QED meson (or QED mesons)? The observations of the anomalous soft photons, the X17 particle, and the E38 particle suggest that they may bear the experimental evidence for the existence of such QED mesons. Further confirmation and investigations on the X17 and E38 particles will shed definitive light on the question of quark confinement in QED in (3+1)D. Implications of quark confinement in the QED interaction are discussed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Dynamics of quarks and gauge fields in the lowest-energy states in QCD and QED

The dynamics of quarks and gauge fields in the lowest energy states in QCD and QED interactions is studied by compactifying the (3+1)D space-time to the (1+1)D space-time with cylindrical symmetry and by combining Schwinger's longitudinal confinement in (1+1)D with Polyakov's transverse confinement in (2+1)D. Using the action integral, we separate out the transverse and longitudinal degrees of freedom. By solving the derived transverse and longitudinal equations, we study the QCD and QED collective excitations. In addition to the well known QCD low-energy states, we find stable collective QED excitations showing up as massive QED-confined mesons, in support of previous studies. In particular, the masses of the recently observed X17 particle at about 17 MeV and the E38 particle at about 38 MeV are calculated in the developed approach, in good agreement with experimental results.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

On the stability of the open-string QED neutron and dark matter

We study the stability of a hypothetical QED neutron, which consists of a color-singlet system of two $d$ quarks and a $u$ quark interacting with the QED interaction. As a quark cannot be isolated, the intrinsic motion of the three quarks in the lowest-energy state may lie predominantly in 1+1 dimensions, as in a $d$-$u$-$d$ open string. The attractive $d$-$u$ and $u$-$d$ QED interactions may overcome the weaker repulsive $d$-$d$ QED interaction to bind the three quarks together. We examine the QED neutron in a phenomenological three-body problem in 1+1 dimensions with an effective interaction extracted from Schwinger's exact QED solution in 1+1 dimensions. The phenomenological model in a variational calculation yields a stable QED neutron at 44.5 MeV. The analogous QED proton with two $u$ quarks and a $d$ quark has been found to be too repulsive to be stable and does not have a bound or continuum state, onto which the QED neutron can decay via the weak interaction. Consequently, the QED neutron is stable against the weak decay, has a long lifetime, and is in fact a QED dark neutron. It may be produced following the deconfinement-to-confinement phase transition of the quark gluon plasma in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Because of the long lifetime of the QED dark neutron, self-gravitating assemblies of QED dark neutrons or dark antineutrons may be good candidates for a part of the primordial dark matter produced during the phase transition of the quark gluon plasma in the evolution of the early Universe.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

QED Meson Description of the X17 and Other Anomalous Particles

The X17 particle, the E38 particle, and the anomalous soft photons are anomalous particles because they do not appear to belong to any known Standard Model families. We propose a QED meson description of the anomalous particles as composite systems of a light quark and a light antiquark bound and confined by the compact QED interaction, by combining Polyakov's transverse confinement of opposite electric charges in compact QED in (2+1)D and Schwinger's longitudinal confinement for massless opposite electric charges in QED in (1+1)D. With predicted QED meson masses close to the observed X17 and E38 masses, QED mesons may be good candidates for the description of the anomalous particles.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

QED Mesons, the QED Neutron, and the Dark Matter

Schwinger's boson solution for massless fermions in QED in 1+1D has been applied and generalized to quarks interacting in QED and QCD interactions, leading to stable and confined open-string QED and QCD boson excitations of the quark-QCD-QED system in 1+1D. Just as the open-string QCD excitations in 1+1D can be the idealization of QCD mesons with a flux tube in 3+1D, so the open-string QED excitations in 1+1D may likewise be the idealization of QED mesons with masses in the tens of MeV region, corresponding possibly to the anomalous X17 and E38 particles observed recently. A further search for bound states of quarks interacting in the QED interaction alone leads to the examination on the stability of the QED neutron, consisting of two $d$ quarks and one $u$ quark. Theoretically, the QED neutron has been found to be stable and estimated to have a mass of 44.5 MeV, whereas the analogous QED proton is unstable, leading to a long-lived QED neutron that may be a good candidate for the dark matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Pocket resonances in low-energy antineutrons reactions with nuclei

Upon investigating whether the variation of the antineutron-nucleus annihilation cross-sections at very low energies satisfy Bethe-Landau's power law of $σ_{\rm ann} (p) \propto 1/p^α$ behavior as a function of the antineutron momentum $p$, we uncover unexpected regular oscillatory structures in the low antineutron energy region from 0.001 to 10 MeV, with small amplitudes and narrow periodicity in the logarithm of the antineutron energies, for large-$A$ nuclei such as Pb and Ag. Subsequent semiclassical analyses of the $S$ matrices reveal that these oscillations are pocket resonances that arise from quasi-bound states inside the pocket and the interference between the waves reflecting inside the optical potential pockets with those from beyond the potential barriers, implicit in the nuclear Ramsauer effect. They are the continuation of bound states in the continuum. Experimental observations of these pocket resonances will provide vital information on the properties of the optical model potentials and the nature of the antineutron annihilation process.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

On the clustering properties of produced particles in high-energy $pp$ collisions

Minijets provide useful information on parton interactions in the low transverse-momentum (low-$p_T$) region. Because minijets produce clusters, we study the clustering properties of produced particles in high-energy $pp$ collisions as a first step to identify minijets. We develop an algorithm to find clusters by using the k-means clustering method, in conjunction with a k-number (cluster number) selection principle in the space of pseudorapidity and azimuthal angles. We test the clustering algorithm using events generated by PYTHIA 8.1, for $pp$ collision at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV. We find that clustering of low-$p_T$ hadrons occurs in high multiplicity events. However similar clustering properties are also present for particles produced randomly in a finite pseudorapidity and azimuthal angle space. To distinguish the dynamics from random generations of events, it is necessary to examine the correlation between particles and between clusters. We find that the correlations between clusters may provide a useful tool to distinguish the underlying dynamics of the reaction mechanism.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Open string QED meson description of the X17 particle and dark matter

As a quark and an antiquark cannot be isolated, the intrinsic motion of a composite $q \bar q$ system in its lowest-energy states lies predominantly in 1+1 dimensions, as in an open string with the quark and the antiquark at its two ends. Accordingly, we study the lowest-energy states of an open string $q\bar q$ system in QCD and QED in 1+1 dimensions. We show that $π^0, η$, and $η'$ can be adequately described as open string $q\bar q$ QCD mesons. By extrapolating into the $q\bar q$ QED sector in which a quark and an antiquark interact with the QED interaction, we find an open string isoscalar $I(J^π)$=$0(0^-)$ QED meson state at 17.9$\pm$1.5 MeV and an isovector $(I(J^π)$=$1(0^-), I_3$=0) QED meson state at 36.4$\pm$3.8 MeV. The predicted masses of the isoscalar and isovector QED mesons are close to the masses of the hypothetical X17 and E38 particles observed recently, making them good candidates for these particles. The decay products of QED mesons may show up as excess $e^+e^-$ and $γγ$ pairs in the anomalous soft photon phenomenon associated with hadron productions in high-energy hadron-proton collisions and $e^+$-$e^-$ annihilations. Measurements of the invariant masses of excess $e^+e^-$ and $γγ$ pairs will provide tests for the existence of the open string $q\bar q$ QED mesons. An assembly of gravitating QED mesons are expected to emit electron-positron pairs and/or gamma rays and their decay energies and lifetimes will be modified by their gravitational binding energies. Consequently, a self-gravitating isoscalar QED meson assembly whose mass $M$ and radius $R$ satisfy $(M/M_\odot)/(R/R_\odot) \gtrsim 4.71 \times 10^5$ will not produce electron-positron pairs nor gamma rays and may be a good candidate for the primordial dark matter.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

Toroidal States of the $^{12}$C Nucleus

Among the states of $^{12}$C, there is an important subset of $K$=0 and $K$=$I$ planar intrinsic states in which the intrinsic motion of the nucleons are confined in the planar region defined by the three-alpha cluster or by their generated toroid. The intrinsic nuclear densities of these states are toroidal in nature. We study these $^{12}$C toroidal states from the generator-coordinate viewpoints in both the alpha cluster model and the toroidal shell model. Numerical solutions in the toroidal mean field approximation are examined to pave the way for future extensions and refinements.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

States of the $^{12}$C Nucleus in the Toroidal Configuration

The $^{12}$C nucleus with $N$=6 and $Z$=6 is a doubly closed-shell nucleus in a toroidal potential. In the description of the ground state and the Hoyle state of $^{12}$C in the resonating group method or the generator coordinate method, a superposition of the orientations of Wheeler's triangular cluster on the cluster plane would naturally generate an intrinsic toroidal density. A toroidal state also has a probability amplitude to overlap with a 3-alpha cluster, which is the dominant decay mode for the Hoyle state. For these reasons, we study a toroidal description of the states of $^{12}$C in the toroidal configuration both phenomenologically and microscopically. A toroidal $^{12}$C nucleus distinguishes itself by toroidal particle-hole multiplet excitations between one toroidal single-particle shell to another. From such a signature and experimental data, we find phenomenologically that the Hoyle state and many of its higher excited states may be tentatively attributed to those of the $^{12}$C nucleus in a toroidal configuration. We then study the $^{12}$C system from a microscopic mean-field approximation using variational wave functions. We find that the equidensity surfaces of the $^{12}$C ground state exhibit a dense toroidal core immersed in lower-density oblate spheroids in the surface region. Furthermore, there are prominent toroidal features of the equidensity surfaces for the state at the Hoyle excitation energy, at which previous cluster model calculations indicate the presence of a 3-alpha cluster state. A toroidal coexistence model therefore may emerge to suggest the possibility that the physical Hoyle state may have probability amplitudes to be in the toroidal configuration and the 3-alpha cluster configuration.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2018

Shells in a Toroidal Nucleus in the Intermediate Mass Region

Attention is fixed on shells in toroidal nuclei in the intermediate mass region using a toroidal single-particle potential. We find that there are toroidal shells in the intermediate mass region with large single-particle energy gaps at various nucleon numbers located at different toroidal deformations characterized by the aspect ratios of toroidal major to minor radius. These toroidal shells provide extra stability at various toroidal deformations. Relative to a toroidal core, Bohr-Mottelson spin-aligning particle-hole excitations may be constructed to occupy the lowest single-particle Routhian energies to lead to toroidal high-spin isomers with different spins. Furthermore, as a nucleon in a toroidal nucleus possesses a vorticity quantum number, toroidal vortex nuclei may be constructed by making particle-hole excitations in which nucleons of one type of vorticity are promoted to populate un-occupied single-particle orbitals of the opposite vorticity. Methods for producing toroidal high-spin isomers and toroidal vortex nuclei are discussed.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2018

Optical model potential analysis of $\bar nA$ and $nA$ interactions

We use a momentum-dependent optical model potential to analyze the annihilation cross sections of antineutron $\bar n$ on C, Al, Fe, Cu, Ag, Sn, and Pb nuclei for projectile momenta $p_{\rm lab}$ $\lesssim$ 500 MeV/$c$. We obtain good description of annihilation cross sections data of Barbina {\it et al.} [Nucl.~Phys.~A {\bf 612}, ~346~(1997)] and of Astrua {\it et al.} [Nucl.~Phys.~A {\bf 697},~209~(2002)] which exhibit an interesting dependence of the cross sections on the $p_{\rm lab}$ as well as on the target atomic mass number $A$. We also obtain the neutron ($n$) non-elastic reaction cross sections for the same targets. Contrasting the $nA$ reaction cross sections $σ^{nA}_{\rm rec}$ to the $\bar nA$ annihilation cross sections $σ^{\bar nA}_{\rm ann}$, we find the $σ^{\bar nA}_{\rm ann}$ is significantly larger than the $σ^{nA}_{\rm rec}$, that is, the $σ^{\bar nA}_{\rm ann}$/$σ^{nA}_{\rm rec}$ cross section ratio lies between the values of order 1.8 and 3.8 in the momentum region where comparison is possible. The dependence of the annihilation cross section on the projectile charge is also examined in comparison with antiproton $\bar p$. Here we predict the $\bar pA$ annihilation cross section on the simplest assumption that both $\bar pA$ and $\bar nA$ interactions have the same nuclear part of the optical model potential but differs only on the electrostatic Coulomb interaction. Deviation from such simple model extrapolation in measurements will provide new information on the difference between $\bar nA$ and $\bar pA$ potentials.

nucl-th↗