Nucl-Ex represents the dynamic frontier where scientists probe the fundamental building blocks of matter through high-energy experiments. By smashing particles together at incredible speeds or observing rare cosmic events, researchers uncover the forces that govern our universe and test the limits of our current understanding of physics.

At Gist.Science, we ensure these breakthroughs reach a broader audience by processing every new preprint in this field directly from arXiv. For each study, we provide both a clear, plain-language explanation of the core discoveries and a detailed technical summary for those seeking deeper insights. Below are the latest papers in nuclear experiment research, curated to help you stay informed on the latest developments from the lab.

Nucleon Parton Distribution Functions from Boosted Correlations in the Coulomb gauge

This study presents the first exploratory lattice QCD calculation of nucleon unpolarized, helicity, and transversity parton distribution functions using boosted correlators in the Coulomb gauge, demonstrating that the method yields results compatible with global analyses for valence-quark distributions while highlighting the need to address excited-state contamination in full-quark-channel extractions.

Xiang Gao, Jinchen He, Joshua Lin, Swagato Mukherjee, Peter Petreczky, Rui Zhang, Yong Zhao2026-02-13⚛️ nucl-ex

The NEXT-100 Detector

This paper presents a detailed description of the NEXT-100 detector's design, assembly, and radiopurity budget, alongside results from its commissioning run at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc, which demonstrated stable operation and effective monitoring using alpha decays.

NEXT Collaboration, C. Adams, H. Almazán, V. Álvarez, A. I. Aranburu, L. Arazi, I. J. Arnquist, F. Auria-Luna, S. Ayet, Y. Ayyad, C. D. R. Azevedo, K. Bailey, F. Ballester, J. E. Barcelon, M. del Barr (…)2026-02-12⚛️ nucl-ex

Search for Dark Matter via Invisible Decays in 46{}^{46}Sc Nuclear Gamma Cascades with a CsI(Tl) Detector

Using a high-statistics CsI(Tl) detector and a high-activity 46{}^{46}Sc source at Texas A&M University, this study employs a "missing-γ\gamma" technique to search for invisible decays in nuclear gamma cascades, thereby excluding specific regions of parameter space for light dark-sector particles such as axions, dark scalars, and dark photons in the 0.1–1 MeV mass range.

Sharada Sahoo, Jing-han Chen, Mahdi Mirzakhani, Harikrishnan Ramani, Rupak Mahapatra, Surjeet Rajendran2026-02-12⚛️ nucl-ex

Probing αα clustering in 12C^{12}\mathrm{C} at CSR energies using the Jet AA Microscopic Transport Model

This study utilizes the Jet AA Microscopic Transport Model to demonstrate that α\alpha-clustering in 12C^{12}\mathrm{C} nuclei enhances geometric compactness and radial observables like proton mean transverse momentum, as well as flow magnitudes at high participant numbers, thereby offering complementary probes for investigating nuclear structure in low-energy collisions at CSR and HIAF energies.

Subhash Singha2026-02-12⚛️ nucl-ex

Observation of flow vector fluctuations in p$-$Pb collisions at sNN=\mathbf{\sqrt{\textit{s}_{_{\bf NN}}}}= 5.02 TeV

This paper presents the first observation of significant transverse momentum and pseudorapidity dependent flow vector fluctuations in p$-$Pb collisions at sNN=5.02\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} = 5.02 TeV, confirming collective flow in small collision systems and providing critical constraints for theoretical models of initial geometry.

ALICE Collaboration2026-02-12⚛️ nucl-ex

Inclusive and multiplicity-dependent pseudorapidity densities of charged particles in pp collisions at s=13.6\mathbf{\sqrt{s} = 13.6} TeV

This paper presents the first measurements of inclusive and multiplicity-dependent pseudorapidity densities of charged particles in proton-proton collisions at the record center-of-mass energy of s=13.6\sqrt{s} = 13.6 TeV, revealing that particle production in high-multiplicity events follows a power-law scaling with energy and establishing a new reference for LHC physics.

ALICE Collaboration2026-02-12⚛️ nucl-ex

Application of a high-precision distributed uranium source for determining the effective mass and volume of a HPGe detector

This paper demonstrates that a high-precision, distributed 238U^{238}\text{U} source can be used to accurately verify the effective mass and volume of an HPGe detector by comparing experimental gamma-ray spectra with Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations.

A. S. Barabash, S. Evseev, D. Filosofov, V. Kazalov, T. Khussainov, A. Lubashevskiy, N. D. Mokhine, D. Ponomarev, S. Rozov, S. Vasilyev, M. Vorobyeva, E. Yakushev, V. I. Yumatov2026-02-12⚛️ nucl-ex