Wed·Sep 21, 2022Wednesday·September 21, 2022

1. 01*

   $D^{\ast }$ and $D_s^{\ast }$ distribution amplitudes from Bethe-Salpeter wave functions

   Fernando E. Serna🇧🇷 · Roberto Correa da Silveira🇧🇷 · Bruno El-Bennich🇧🇷

   We report on the first calculation of the longitudinal and transverse light front distribution amplitudes of the $D^{\ast }$ and $D_s^{\ast }$ mesons and their first four moments. As a byproduct, we also obtain these distribution amplitudes for the $\rho$, $\varphi$, $K^{\ast }$ and $J/\Psi$ mesons and confirm a prediction of lattice QCD for the vector kaon: while the longitudinal distribution amplitude is almost symmetric, the transverse one is oblique implying that the strange quark carries more momentum.

   hep-phhep-latnucl-thPRD(2022)·16 citations
2. 02*

   High Quality Axion in Supersymmetric Models

   Gongjun Choi🇨🇭 · Tsutomu T. Yanagida🇨🇳

   In this work, we discuss how the use of the symmetries well motivated in physics beyond the Standard model (BSM) can guarantee the high quality axions. We avoid to introduce symmetries only useful for addressing the axion quality problem. Rather, we rely on symmetries well motivated by other issues in BSM: supersymmetry, $U(1{)}_{\mathrm{B}-\mathrm{L}}$ and the discrete R-symmetry $Z_{NR}$. We show that the interplay among these guarantees the high quality of the axion even for the gravitino mass and axion decay constant as large as $m_{3/2}=\mathcal{O}(10)\mathrm{TeV}$ and $F_a=\mathcal{O}(10^{15})\mathrm{GeV}$ respectively. The key point of this work relies on the observation that the MSSM contribution to the mixed anomalies $Z_{NR}-[SU(2{)}_L{]}^2$ and $Z_{NR}-[SU(3{)}_c{]}^2$ is not enough for gauging $Z_{NR}$ for $N\ne 6$, which necessitates the introduction of new matter fields. We make the introduction to achieve zero mixed anomalies, which logically supports a desired large enough $N$ for $Z_{NR}$. This mechanism effectively makes $Z_{NR}$ equal to $U(1{)}_R$ and thus offers a logically complete solution to the axion quality problem.

   hep-phhep-thJHEP(2022)·16 citations
3. 03*

   Anisotropic photon emission from gluon fusion and splitting in a strong magnetic background I: The two-gluon one-photon vertex

   Alejandro Ayala🇲🇽 · Jorge David Castaño-Yepes🇨🇱 · L. A. Hernández🇲🇽 · Ana Julia Mizher🇧🇷 · María Elena Tejeda-Yeomans🇲🇽 · R. Zamora🇨🇱

   Having in mind the pre-equilibrium stage in peripheral heavy-ion collisions as a possible scenario for the production of electromagnetic radiation, we compute the two-gluon one-photon vertex in the presence of an intense magnetic field at one-loop order. The quarks in the loop are taken such that two of them occupy the lowest Landau level, with the third one occupying the first exited Landau level. When the field strength is the largest of the energy (squared) scales, the tensor basis describing this vertex corresponds to two of the three vector particles polarized in the longitudinal direction whereas the third one is polarized in the transverse direction. However, when the photon energy is of order or larger than the field strength, the explicit one-loop computation contains extra tensor structures that spoil the properties of the basis, compared to the case when the field strength is the largest of the energy scales, which signals that the calculation is incomplete. Nevertheless, by projecting the result onto the would-be basis, we show that the squared amplitude for processes involving two gluons and one photon exhibits the expected properties such as a preferred in-plane photon emission and a slightly decreasing strength for an increasing magnetic field strength. We comment on possible venues to improve the one-loop calculation that include accounting for progressive occupation of the three quarks of the lowest and first excited Landau levels such that, still working in the large field limit, a more complete description can be achieved when the photon energy increases.

   hep-phPRC(2022)·16 citations
4. 04*

   Further understanding the nature of $\Omega (2012)$ within a chiral quark model

   Hui-Hua Zhong🇨🇳 · Ru-Hui Ni🇨🇳 · Mu-Yang Chen🇨🇳 · Xian-Hui Zhong · Ju-Jun Xie🇨🇳

   In our previous works, we have analyzed the two-body strong decays of the low-lying $\Omega$ baryon states within a chiral quark model. The results show that the $\Omega (2012)$ resonance favors the three-quark state with $J^P=3/2^{-}$ classified in the quark model. With this assignment, in the present work we further study the three-body strong decay $\Omega (2012)\to {\Xi }^{\ast }(1530)\bar{K}\to \Xi \pi \bar{K}$ and coupled-channel effects on $\Omega (2012)$ from nearby channels $\Xi \bar{K}$, $\Omega \eta$ and ${\Xi }^{\ast }(1530)\bar{K}$ within the chiral quark model as well. It is found that the $\Omega (2012)$ resonance has a sizeable decay rate into the three-body final state $\Xi \pi \bar{K}$. The predicted ratio $R_{\Xi \bar{K}}^{\Xi \pi \bar{K}}=\mathcal{B}[\Omega (2012)\to {\Xi }^{\ast }(1530)\bar{K}\to \Xi \pi \bar{K}]/\mathcal{B}[\Omega (2012)\to \Xi \bar{K}]\simeq 12\%$ is close to the up limit $11\%$ measured by the Belle Collaboration in 2019, however, our predicted ratio is too small to be comparable with the recent data $0.97\pm 0.31$. Furthermore, our results show that the coupled-channel effects on the $\Omega (2012)$ is not large, its components should be dominated by the bare three-quark state, while the proportion of the molecular components is only $\sim 16\%$. To clarify the nature of $\Omega (2012)$, the ratio $R_{\Xi \bar{K}}^{\Xi \pi \bar{K}}$ is expected to be tested by other experiments.

   hep-phhep-exnucl-thCPC(2023)·19 citations
5. 05*

   The Axion Quality and Fifth Force

   Yue Zhang🇨🇦

   We investigate what it takes for the axion to address the strong CP problem in the presence of explicit Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry breaking effects besides the strong interaction. In cases where the PQ-Higgsing scalar field directly couples to the Standard Model sector, it is pointed out that existing fifth force experiments can set better constraints on the axion quality over neutron electric dipole moment.

   hep-phPRD(2023)·8 citations
6. 06*

   How the Blast-Wave Model Describes PID Hadron Spectra from 5 TeV p-Pb Collisions

   Thomas A. Trainor🇺🇸

   The blast-wave (BW) spectrum model has been applied extensively to nucleus-nucleus collision data with the intention to demonstrate formation of a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in more-central A-A collisions. More recently the BW model has been applied to p-p, d-Au and p-Pb collisions. Such results are interpreted to indicate that ``collectivity'' (flows) and QGP appear in smaller systems. I consider variations of the BW model and supporting assumptions. In this talk I review BW analysis of identified-hadron spectra from 5 TeV p-Pb collisions and examine the shape evolution of model spectra with collision centrality. I evaluate data-model fit quality using conventional statistical measures. I conclude that the BW model is not a valid data model.

   hep-phSciPost Phys.Proc.(2024)·1 citation
7. 07*

   Generation Function For One-loop Tensor Reduction

   Bo Feng🇨🇳

   For loop integrals, the reduction is the standard method. Having an efficient way to find reduction coefficients is an important topic in scattering amplitudes. In this paper, we present the generation functions of reduction coefficients for general one-loop integrals with arbitrary tensor rank.

   hep-phCommun.Theor.Phys.(2023)·24 citations
8. 08*

   The fate of the critical endpoint at large $N_c$

   Péter Kovács🇭🇺 · Győző Kovács🇭🇺 · Francesco Giacosa🇵🇱

   The phase diagram of QCD is investigated by varying number of colors $N_c$ within a Polyakov loop quark-meson chiral model. In particular, our attention is focused on the critical point(s): the critical point present for $N_c=3$ moves toward the ${\mu }_q$-axis and disappears as soon as the number of color is increased. Yet, a distinct critical point emerges along the temperature axis for $N_c=53$ and moves toward finite density when increasing $N_c$ further. Thus, the phase diagram at large $N_c$ looks specular w.r.t. the $N_c=3$ results, with the first order transition in the upper-left and crossover in the down-right regions of the the $({\mu }_q,T)$-plane. The pressure is also evaluated in dependence of $N_c$, showing a scaling with $N_c^0$ in the confined and chirally broken phase and with $N_c^2$ in the deconfined one. Moreover, the presence of a chirally symmetric but confined `quarkyonic phase' at large density and moderate temperature with a pressure proportional to $N_c$ is confirmed.

   hep-phPRD(2022)·13 citations
9. 09*

   On the $R_K$ Theory Error

   Saad Nabeebaccus🇫🇷 · Roman Zwicky🇬🇧

   To quantify the theory error on $R_K$, essentially means to quantify the uncertainty due to QED corrections since the latter breaks lepton flavour universality through the lepton masses. Since experiment uses photon shower programs, e.g. \texttt{PHOTOS}, to capture QED effects, assessing the uncertainty involves investigating effects not captured by the specific use of these tools. This includes structure-dependent corrections, potentially large non-logarithmic terms and charmonium resonances entering the lower bin by migration of radiation. We are able to close in on these loopholes. For example, using gauge invariance, we show that structure-dependent QED corrections do not lead to additional (sizeable) hard-collinear logs of the form $\mathcal{O}(\alpha )\ln m_{\ell }/m_B$. Hence, from the theory point of view $R_K$ is a safe observable.

   hep-phhep-exPoS(2023)·4 citations
10. 10*

    E- & T-Model Hybrid Inflation

    C. Pallis🇬🇷

    We consider the impact of a kinetic pole of order one or two on the non-supersymmetric model of hybrid inflation. These poles arise due to logarithmic Kaehler potentials which control the kinetic mixing of the inflaton field and parameterize hyperbolic manifolds with scalar curvature related to the coefficient (-N)<0 of the logarithm. Inflation is associated with the breaking of a local SU(2)xU(1) symmetry, which does not produce any cosmological defects after it, and remains largely immune from the minimal possible radiative corrections to the inflationary potential. For N=1 and equal values of the relevant coupling constants, lambda and kappa, the achievement of the observationally central value of ns requires the mass parameter, m, and the symmetry breaking scale, M, to be of the order of 10^12 GeV and 10^17 GeV respectively. Increasing N above unity the tensor-to-scalar ratio r increases above 0.002 and reaches its maximal allowed value for N~10-20.

    hep-phastro-ph.COhep-thEPJC(2023)·7 citations
11. 11*

    Making Digital Objects FAIR in High Energy Physics: An Implementation for Universal FeynRules Output (UFO) Models

    Mark S. Neubauer🇺🇸 · Avik Roy🇺🇸 · Zijun Wang🇺🇸

    Research in the data-intensive discipline of high energy physics (HEP) often relies on domain-specific digital contents. Reproducibility of research relies on proper preservation of these digital objects. This paper reflects on the interpretation of principles of Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability (FAIR) in such context and demonstrates its implementation by describing the development of an end-to-end support infrastructure for preserving and accessing Universal FeynRules Output (UFO) models guided by the FAIR principles. UFO models are custom-made python libraries used by the HEP community for Monte Carlo simulation of collider physics events. Our framework provides simple but robust tools to preserve and access the UFO models and corresponding metadata in accordance with the FAIR principles.

    hep-phhep-ex1 citation
12. 12*

    Systems Dominated by Exchange Particles

    V.A. Karmanov🇷🇺

    As well known, the spectrum of a non-relativistic two-body system interacting by the Coulomb potential is the Balmer series $E_n=\frac{{\alpha }^{2}m}{4n^2}$ produced by the Schrödinger equation. In 1954, Wick and Cutkosky have found, in the Bethe-Salpeter equation framework, that for $\alpha >\frac{\pi }{4}$ the relativistic effects result in new levels (in addition to the Balmer series). However, the physical nature of these new states remained unclear and therefore their existence was being questioned. We have recently shown that these extra states are dominated by the exchange (massless) particles, moving with speed of light. That's why they did not appear in the non-relativistic (Schrödinger) framework.

    hep-phnucl-thNucl.Theor.(2022)·0 citations
13. 13*

    Floating Dark Matter in Celestial Bodies

    Rebecca K. Leane🇺🇸 · Juri Smirnov🇬🇧

    Dark matter (DM) can be captured in celestial bodies after scattering and losing sufficient energy to become gravitationally bound. We derive a general framework that describes the current DM distribution inside celestial objects, which self-consistently includes the effects of concentration diffusion, thermal diffusion, gravity, and capture accumulation. For DM with sufficient interactions, we show that a significant DM population can thermalize and sit towards the celestial-body surface. This floating distribution allows for new phenomenology for DM searches in a wide range of celestial bodies, including the Sun, Earth, Jupiter, Brown Dwarfs, and Exoplanets.

    hep-phastro-ph.EPastro-ph.HEJCAP(2023)·53 citations
14. 14*

    Entanglement between Valence and Sea Quarks in Hadrons of 1+1 Dimensional QCD

    Peter J. Ehlers🇺🇸

    The conceptual interpretation of valence- and sea-quark separation, which is a key aspect of the parton model and of an intuitive picture of hadron structure, becomes obscured by quantum effects in QCD. This suggests that there may be measures of entanglement between quark degrees of freedom that are present in QCD, but absent in the intuitive picture with a clear valence-sea (VS) separation. In this paper, we define the first rigorous measure of VS entanglement in QCD in an attempt to bring conceptual clarity to this issue, and, potentially, to find a measure of the applicability of the parton model to QCD bound states. This VS entanglement vanishes in the large-$N_c$ limit, and it remains low when finite-$N_c$ states resemble their large-$N_c$ counterparts. We perform a numerical study of VS entanglement in 1+1 dimensional discrete light-cone quantized QCD, and in the process develop a method for building the color-singlet basis of 1+1d QCD that is manifestly complete and orthogonal by construction. We calculate this VS entanglement entropy for the first time and find that it is relatively low for the first few excited states of both mesons and baryons compared to all other states in the spectrum, with the VS entropy of ground state hadrons providing a minimum. We also see that for ground state mesons the entropy is well described in the $1/N_c$ approximation. These results suggest that low energy hadrons may be the only QCD bound states for which the large-$N_c$ expansion, and perhaps the parton model, provide an accurate description. This work also provides the first evidence that the VS entanglement entropy of QCD in 3+1d, which would likely serve as an order parameter for the transition between quark and hadron degrees of freedom, may be perturbatively accessible through a large-$N_c$ expansion.

    hep-phnucl-thquant-phAnnals Phys.(2023)·29 citations
15. 15*

    Opening up a window on the postinflationary QCD axion

    Yunjia Bao🇺🇸 · JiJi Fan🇺🇸 · Lingfeng Li🇺🇸

    The QCD axion cosmology depends crucially on whether the QCD axion is present during inflation or not. We point out that contrary to the standard criterion, the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry could remain unbroken during inflation, even when the axion decay constant, $f_a$, is (much) above the inflationary Hubble scale, $H_I$. This is achieved through the heavy-lifting of the PQ scalar field due to its leading non-renormalizable interaction with the inflaton, encoded in a high-dimensional operator which respects the approximate shift symmetry of the inflaton. The mechanism opens up a new window for the post-inflationary QCD axion and significantly enlarges the parameter space, in which the QCD axion dark matter with $f_a>H_I$ could be compatible with high-scale inflation and free from constraints on axion isocurvature perturbations. There also exist non-derivative couplings, which still keep the inflaton shift symmetry breaking under control, to achieve the heavy-lifting of the PQ field during inflation. Additionally, by introducing an early matter domination era, more parameter space of high $f_a$ could yield the observed DM abundance.

    hep-phastro-ph.COPRL(2023)·19 citations
16. 16*

    Novel Constraints on Axions Produced in Pulsar Polar-Cap Cascades

    Dion Noordhuis🇳🇱 · Anirudh Prabhu🇺🇸 · Samuel J. Witte🇳🇱 · Alexander Y. Chen🇺🇸 · Fábio Cruz🇵🇹 · Christoph Weniger🇳🇱

    Axions can be copiously produced in localized regions of neutron star magnetospheres where the ambient plasma is unable to efficiently screen the induced electric field. As these axions stream away from the neutron star they can resonantly transition into photons, generating a large broadband contribution to the neutron star's intrinsic radio flux. In this work, we develop a comprehensive end-to-end framework to model this process from the initial production of axions to the final detection of radio photons, and derive constraints on the axion-photon coupling, $g_{a\gamma \gamma }$, using observations of 27 nearby pulsars. We study the modeling uncertainty in the sourced axion spectrum by comparing predictions from 2.5 dimensional particle-in-cell simulations with those derived using a semi-analytic model; these results show remarkable agreement, leading to constraints on the axion-photon coupling that typically differ by a factor of no more than $\sim 2$. The limits presented here are the strongest to date for axion masses $10^{-8}\mathrm{eV}\lesssim m_a\lesssim 10^{-5}\mathrm{eV}$, and crucially do not rely on the assumption that axions are dark matter.

    hep-phastro-ph.COPRL(2023)·129 citations
17. 17*

    Probing the non-standard neutrino interactions using quantum statistics

    C. S. Kim🇰🇷 · Janusz Rosiek🇵🇱 · Dibyakrupa Sahoo🇵🇱

    Using the well established principles of Lorentz invariance, CP and CPT symmetry, and quantum statistics we do a model-independent study of effects of possible non-standard couplings of (Dirac and Majorana) neutrinos. The study is sensitive to the different quantum statistical properties of the Dirac and Majorana neutrinos which, contrary to neutrino-mediated processes of lepton number violation, could lead to observable effects not suppressed by the small ratios of neutrino and heavier particle masses. For processes with a neutrino-antineutrino pair of the same flavor in the final state, we formulate the ``Dirac Majorana confusion theorem (DMCT)'' showing why it is normally very difficult to observe the different behaviour of both kinds of neutrinos in experiments if they have only the standard model (SM)-like left-handed vector couplings to gauge bosons. We discuss deviations from the confusion theorem in the presence of non-standard neutrino interactions, allowing to discover or constrain such novel couplings. We illustrate the general results with two chosen examples of neutral current processes, $Z\to \nu \overline{\nu }$ and ${\mathcal{P}}_i\to {\mathcal{P}}_f\nu \overline{\nu }$ (with ${\mathcal{P}}_{i,f}$ denoting pseudoscalar mesons, such as $B,K,\pi$). Our analysis shows that using 3-body decays the presence of non-standard interactions can not only be constrained but one can also distinguish between Dirac and Majorana neutrino possibilities.

    hep-phEPJC(2023)·8 citations
18. 18*

    Dynamics of Simplest Chiral Gauge Theories

    Dan Kondo🇯🇵 · Hitoshi Murayama🇺🇸 · Cameron Sylber🇺🇸

    Arguably, the simplest chiral gauge theories are $\mathrm{SO}(10)$ with $N_f$ fermion fields in the spinor representation {\bf 16}. We study their dynamics using their supersymmetric limits perturbed by an infinitesimal anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking as a guide. We predict the theory is gapped for $N_f=1,2$, while the $\mathrm{SU}(N_f)$ global symmetry is broken to $\mathrm{SO}({\mathrm{N}}_f)$ for moderately large $N_f\ge 3$.

    ↳ hep-thhep-phPRD(2026)·11 citations
19. 19*

    Large-Momentum Effective Theory vs. Short-Distance Operator Expansion: Contrast and Complementarity

    Xiangdong Ji🇺🇸

    Although equivalent in the infinite-momentum limit, large-momentum effective theory (LaMET) and short-distance operator product expansion (SD-OPE) are two different approaches to extract parton distribution functions (PDFs) from coordinate-space correlation functions in large-momentum hadrons. LaMET implements a momentum-space expansion in ${\Lambda }_{\mathrm{QCD}}/[x(1-x)P^z]$ to directly calculate PDFs $f(x)$ in a middle region of Bjorken $x\in [x_{\min }\sim {\Lambda }_{\mathrm{QCD}}/P^z,x_{\max }\sim 1-x_{\min }]$. SD-OPE applies perturbative QCD at small Euclidean distances $z$ to extract a range $[0,{\lambda }_{\max }]$ of leading-twist correlations, $h(\lambda =z{P}^z)$, corresponding to the Fourier transformation of PDFs. Similar to the quantum mechanical uncertainty principle, an incomplete leading-twist correlation cannot be readily converted to a momentum-space local distribution, and the methods to solve the ``inverse problem'' involve essentially modelling of the missing information beyond ${\lambda }_{\max }$. On the other hand, short-distance correlations, along with the expected end-point asymptotics, can be used to phenomenologically fit the PDFs in the LaMET-complementary regions: $x\in [0,x_{\min }]$ and $[x_{\max },1]$. We use the recent results of the pion valence quark distribution from the ANL/BNL collaboration to demonstrate this point.

    ↳ hep-lathep-phnucl-thResearch(2025)·35 citations
20. 20*

    Considerations on the modified Maxwell electrodynamics in the presence of an electric and magnetic background

    M. J. Neves🇧🇷 · Patricio Gaete🇨🇱 · L. P. R. Ospedal🇧🇷 · J. A. Helayël-Neto🇧🇷

    The properties of the modified Maxwell electrodynamics (ModMax) are investigated in presence of external and uniform electric and magnetic fields. We expand the non-linear theory around an electromagnetic background up to second order in the propagating fields to obtain the permittivity and permeability tensors, dispersion relations, group velocity and refractive indices as functions of external fields. The case with perpendicular background fields is contemplated. The phenomenon of birefringence is discussed and the fundamental role of the ModMax parameter becomes clear. We calculate the difference of the refractive indices in terms of this parameter and the external fields. Finally, we set up a scenario where the axion is present and compute the interaction energy for the coupled axion-ModMax electrodynamics if a magnetic background field is considered. This calculation is carried out in the framework of the gauge-invariant, but path-dependent variables formalism. Our results show that the interaction energy contains a linear component, leading to the confinement of static probe charges where the interference between the ModMax parameter, the axion mass and the axion-photon coupling constant is pointed out.

    ↳ hep-thhep-phPRD(2023)·28 citations
21. 21*

    The ADM Formulation of the SME Gravity

    Carlos M. Reyes🇨🇱

    The Hamiltonian formulation of the gravitational sector of the Standard-Model Extension (SME) with nondynamical fields $u$ and $s^{\mu \nu }$ is studied. We provide the relevant Hamiltonians that describe the constrained phase space and the dynamics of the induced metric on the ADM hypersurface. The generalization of the Gibbons-Hawking-York boundary term has been crucial to preventing second time-derivatives of the metric tensor in the Hamiltonians. By extracting the dynamics and constraints from the Einstein equations we have proved the equivalence between the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations.

    ↳ gr-qchep-ph1 citation
22. 22*

    Searching for axion dark matter with MeerKAT Radio Telescope

    Yun-Fan Zhou (1,2)🇨🇳 · Nick Houston (3)🇨🇳 · Gyula I. G. Jozsa (4,5,6)🇩🇪 · Hao Chen (7,1,8)🇨🇳 · Yin-Zhe Ma (9,10,1)🇿🇦 · Qiang Yuan (1,2)🇨🇳 · Tao An (11)🇨🇳 · Yogesh Chandola (1)🇨🇳 · Ran Ding (12)🇨🇳 · Fujun Du (1,2)🇨🇳 · Shao-Guang Guo (11)🇨🇳 · Xiaoyuan Huang (1,2)🇨🇳 · Mengtian Li (1,2)🇨🇳 · Chandreyee Sengupta (1) ((1) Purple Mountain Observatory, CAS, (2) University of Science and Technology of China, (3) Beijing University of Technology, (4) Max-Planck-Institut fur Radioastronomie, (5) Rhodes University, (6) South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, (7) University of Cape Town, (8) Zhejiang Laboratory, (9) University of KwaZulu-Natal, (10) National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS), South Africa, (11) Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, CAS, (12) Anhui University)🇨🇳

    Axions provide a natural and well-motivated dark matter candidate, with the capability to convert directly to photons in the presence of an electromagnetic field. A particularly compelling observational target is the conversion of dark matter axions into photons in the magnetospheres of highly magnetised neutron stars, which is expected to produce a narrow spectral peak centred at the frequency of the axion mass. We point the MeerKAT radio telescope towards the isolated neutron star J0806.4$-$4123 for $10$-hours of observation and obtain the radio spectra in the frequency range $769$-$1051$ MHz. By modelling the conversion process of infalling axion dark matter (DM), we then compare these spectra to theoretical expectations for a given choice of axion parameters. Whilst finding no signal above $5\sigma$ in the data, we provide a unique constraint on the Primakoff coupling of axion DM, $g_{\mathrm{a}\gamma \gamma }\lesssim 9.3\times 10^{-12}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-1}$ at the $95\%$ confidence level, in the mass range $3.18$-$4.35\mu$eV. This result serves the strongest constraint in the axion mass range $4.20$-$4.35\mu$eV.

    ↳ astro-ph.COastro-ph.HEhep-phPRD(2022)·17 citations
23. 23*

    One never walks alone: the effect of the perturber population on subhalo measurements in strong gravitational lenses

    Adam Coogan🇨🇦 · Noemi Anau Montel🇳🇱 · Konstantin Karchev🇳🇱 · Meiert W. Grootes · Francesco Nattino · Christoph Weniger🇳🇱

    Analyses of extended arcs in strong gravitational lensing images to date have constrained the properties of dark matter by measuring the parameters of one or two individual subhalos. However, since such analyses are reliant on likelihood-based methods like Markov-chain Monte Carlo or nested sampling, they require various compromises to the realism of lensing models for the sake of computational tractability, such as ignoring the numerous other subhalos and line-of-sight halos in the system, assuming a particular form for the source model and requiring the noise to have a known likelihood function. Here we show that a simulation-based inference method calledTruncated Marginal Neural Ratio Estimation (TMNRE) makes it possible to relax these requirements by training neural networks to directly compute marginal posteriors for subhalo parameters from lensing images. By performing a set of inference tasks on mock data, we verify the accuracy of TMNRE and show it can compute posteriors for subhalo parameters marginalized over populations of hundreds of substructures, as well as lens and source uncertainties. We also find the \gls*{mlp} Mixer network works far better for such tasks than the convolutional architectures explored in other lensing analyses. Furthermore, we show that since \gls*{tmnre} learns a posterior function it enables direct statistical checks that would be extremely expensive with likelihood-based methods. Our results show that TMNRE is well-suited for analyzing complex lensing data, and that the full subhalo and line-of-sight halo population must be included when measuring the properties of individual dark matter substructures with this technique.

    ↳ astro-ph.COastro-ph.IMhep-phMNRAS(2024)·28 citations

* Reconstructed cohort: no mailing for this day survives in the archive. Papers are grouped by their submission times and arXiv's announcement cut-off, assuming announcement without delay; positions follow identifier order. Validated at ~91% exact-day agreement against the archived era.