EPJ ST Special Issue: Chiral Dynamics for the Standard Model and Beyond

Details

Published on 17 October 2025

Guest Editor: J.J. Sanz-Cillero

The European Physical Journal Special Topics (EPJ ST) invites submissions for a Special Volume on Chiral Dynamics for the Standard Model and Beyond. This issue aims to bring together original research and review articles that highlight recent progress in understanding chiral dynamics within the Standard Model and its possible extensions.

Chiral dynamics remains a cornerstone of particle and nuclear physics. It provides essential insights into the non-perturbative aspects of quantum chromodynamics, the dynamics of chiral symmetry breaking and restoration, the appearance of Nambu-Goldstone bosons, and their phenomenological consequences across multiple physical domains. For decades, it has been an indispensable tool for systematically studying the interactions of pions, kaons, and nucleons. Its applications are vast, ranging from hadron spectroscopy and scattering processes to nuclear forces and the properties of hadronic matter under extreme conditions. Furthermore, the synergy between chiral effective field theories and first-principles lattice QCD simulations has ushered in an era of high-precision hadron physics.

Likewise, the electroweak sector of the Standard Model shows an analogous pattern of spontaneous symmetry. Since many years ago, the frontiers of chiral dynamics have extended well beyond traditional hadronic applications. From the precise determination of low-energy constants and hadronic matrix elements to lattice QCD calculations, dispersion relations, and unitarization methods, one finds that now chiral approaches are being applied in increasingly diverse contexts: electroweak precision observables, dark sector interactions, and even early-universe cosmology. These developments reflect a growing need to connect the rich phenomenology of chiral symmetry with the broader landscape of beyond–Standard Model physics.

This special volume seeks to capture this vibrant area of research and showcase its ongoing developments, covering both formal theoretical aspects and phenomenological applications. We invite contributions that deepen the understanding of chiral symmetry and its breaking patterns in the Standard Model, and that explore new frameworks where chiral dynamics may serve as a bridge to new physics.

The special issue will cover, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• Pion, kaon, and eta dynamics, and Nambu-Goldstone boson interactions
• Chiral perturbation theory at finite temperature and density, chiral symmetry breaking and restoration in QCD
• Resummation, unitarization and non-perturbative techniques in chiral dynamics
• Lattice QCD studies related to chiral symmetry and determination of low-energy constants
• Chiral symmetry in nuclear and astrophysical environments
• Effective field theories of QCD and electroweak interactions
• Extensions of chiral dynamics beyond the Standard Model, including new physics scenarios like, e.g., dark matter models
• Anomalies, topological effects, and axion-like interactions

Articles should be submitted to the Editorial Office of EPJ ST via the submission system, and should be clearly identified as intended for the topical issue “Chiral dynamics for the Standard Model and beyond”.

Submissions should follow the guidelines of EPJ Special Topics, which can be found here. For the preparation of the manuscripts a special latex template (preferably single-column layout) is available here.

Guest Editor:

Prof. J.J. Sanz-Cillero
Universidad Complutense de Madrid and IPARCOS, Madrid 28040, Spain
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Open Access: EPJST is a hybrid journal offering Open Access publication via the Open Choice programme and a growing number of Transformative Agreements. If the institution of the CORRESPONDING AUTHOR is part of such a Transformative Agreement, the Open Access fee will be covered by the agreement partner. All agreements are listed with more details under TRANSFORMATIVE Agreements. Eligibility will be automatically verified when the corresponding author is requested to complete the relevant affiliation information after acceptance of the paper during the production process. Corresponding authors not affiliated to institutes with Transformative Agreements are redirected to proceed with “Please select your publishing model” and have to decide between paying the current Open Access fee or choosing the subscription option without any publication charges.