Reef-building corals and their aragonite (CaCO3) skeletons support entire reef ecosystems, yet their formation mechanism is poorly understood. Here we used synchrotron spectromicroscopy to observe the nanoscale mineralogy of fresh, forming skeletons from six species spanning all reef-forming coral morphologies: Branching, encrusting, massive, and table. In all species, hydrated and anhydrous amorphous calcium carbonate nanoparticles were precursors for skeletal growth, as previously observed in a single species. The amorphous precursors here were observed in tissue, between tissue and skeleton, and at growth fronts of the skeleton, within a low-density nano- or microporous layer varying in thickness from 7 to 20 µm. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller measurements, however, indicated that the mature skeletons at the microscale were space-filling, comparable to single crystals of geologic aragonite. Nanoparticles alone can never fill space completely, thus ion-by-ion filling must be invoked to fill interstitial pores. Such ion-by-ion diffusion and attachment may occur from the supersaturated calcifying fluid known to exist in corals, or from a dense liquid precursor, observed in synthetic systems but never in biogenic ones. Concomitant particle attachment and ion-by-ion filling was previously observed in synthetic calcite rhombohedra, but never in aragonite pseudohexagonal prisms, synthetic or biogenic, as observed here. Models for biomineral growth, isotope incorporation, and coral skeletons’ resilience to ocean warming and acidification must take into account the dual formation mechanism, including particle attachment and ion-by-ion space filling.

Spin correlations of Λ-hyperons, extracted from their self-analyzing weak decays, provide unique insight into Bell-type locality tests within the QCD strings formed in high-energy collider experiments. We show from very general considerations that the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality test is typically less stringent for the states produced in QCD strings; however they provide a benchmark for quantum-to-classical transitions induced by varying i) the associated hadron multiplicity, ii) the spin of nucleons, iii) the separation in rapidity between pairs, and iv) the kinematic regimes accessed. These studies also enable the extraction of quantitative measures of quantum entanglement. We explore such questions within a simple model of a QCD string comprised of singlets of two partial distinguishable fermion flavors and compare analytical results to those obtained on quantum hardware. We further discuss a class of spin Hamiltonians that model the complex quantum dynamics of Λ spin correlations embedded in the QCD string . Prospects for extracting quantum information from Λ measurements at current and future colliders are outlined.

The Precision Proton Spectrometer (PPS) of the CMS and TOTEM experiments collected 107.7 fb-1 in proton-proton (pp) collisions at the LHC at 13 TeV (Run 2). This paper describes the key features of the PPS alignment and optics calibrations, the proton reconstruction procedure, as well as the detector efficiency and the performance of the PPS simulation. The reconstruction and simulation are validated using a sample of (semi)exclusive dilepton events. The performance of PPS has proven the feasibility of continuously operating a near-beam proton spectrometer at a high luminosity hadron collider.

The first measurement of the top quark pair ($$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}} $$ t t ¯ ) production cross section in proton-proton collisions at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 13.6 TeV is presented. Data recorded with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in Summer 2022, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.21 fb−1, are analyzed. Events are selected with one or two charged leptons (electrons or muons) and additional jets. A maximum likelihood fit is performed in event categories defined by the number and flavors of the leptons, the number of jets, and the number of jets identified as originating from b quarks. An inclusive $$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}} $$ t t ¯ production cross section of 881 ± 23 (stat + syst) ± 20 (lumi) pb is measured, in agreement with the standard model prediction of $$ {924}_{-40}^{+32} $$ 924 − 40 + 32 pb.

A measurement of the top quark pole mass $$ {m}_{\textrm{t}}^{\textrm{pole}} $$ m t pole in events where a top quark-antiquark pair ($$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}} $$ t t ¯ ) is produced in association with at least one additional jet ($$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}} $$ t t ¯ +jet) is presented. This analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 36.3 fb−1. Events with two opposite-sign leptons in the final state (e+e−, μ+μ−, e±μ∓) are analyzed. The reconstruction of the main observable and the event classification are optimized using multivariate analysis techniques based on machine learning. The production cross section is measured as a function of the inverse of the invariant mass of the $$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}} $$ t t ¯ +jet system at the parton level using a maximum likelihood unfolding. Given a reference parton distribution function (PDF), the top quark pole mass is extracted using the theoretical predictions at next-to-leading order. For the ABMP16NLO PDF, this results in $$ {m}_{\textrm{t}}^{\textrm{pole}} $$ m t pole = 172.93 ± 1.36 GeV.