Thu·Apr 13, 2023Thursday·April 13, 2023

1. 01*

   Integrating by parts at finite density

   Juuso Österman🇫🇮 · Philipp Schicho🇫🇮 · Aleksi Vuorinen🇫🇮

   Both nonzero temperature and chemical potentials break the Lorentz symmetry present in vacuum quantum field theory by singling out the rest frame of the heat bath. This leads to complications in the application of thermal perturbation theory, including the appearance of novel infrared divergences in loop integrals and an apparent absence of four-dimensional integration-by-parts (IBP) identities, vital for high-order computations. Here, we propose a new strategy that enables the use of IBP techniques in the evaluation of Feynman integrals, in particular vacuum or bubble diagrams, in the limit of vanishing temperature $T$ but nonzero chemical potentials $\mu$. The central elements of the new setup include a contour representation for the temporal momentum integral, the use of a small but nonzero $T$ as an IR regulator, and the systematic application of both temporal and spatial differential operators in the generation of linear relations among the loop integrals of interest. The relations we derive contain novel inhomogeneous terms featuring differentiated Fermi-Dirac distribution functions, which severely complicate calculations at nonzero temperature, but are shown to reduce to solvable lower-dimensional objects as $T$ tends to zero. Pedagogical example computations are kept at the one- and two-loop levels, but the application of the new method to higher-order calculations is discussed in some detail.

   hep-phhep-thnucl-thJHEP(2023)·9 citations
2. 02*

   Hidden Supersymmetric Dark Sectors

   Giacomo Cacciapaglia🇫🇷 · Aldo Deandrea🇫🇷 · Wanda Isnard🇫🇷

   The attractive feature of supersymmetry is predictive power, due to the large number of calculable properties and to coupling non-renormalisation. This power can be fully expressed in hidden sectors where supersymmetry may be exact, as these sectors are secluded from the visible one where instead supersymmetry must be broken. This suggests a new paradigm for supersymmetric dark sectors, where supersymmetry is exact at the dark matter scale, implying that many properties of hidden supersymmetric dark sectors can be fully computed. As a proof of concept we discuss a concrete example based on $\mathcal{N}=1$ super Yang-Mills.

   hep-phhep-thPRD(2024)·5 citations
3. 03*

   Investigation of the concurrent effects of ALP-photon and ALP-electron couplings in Collider and Beam Dump Searches

   Jia Liu🇨🇳 · Yan Luo🇨🇳 · Muyuan Song🇨🇳

   Axion-like particles (ALPs) have been studied in numerous experiments to search for their interactions, but most studies have focused on deriving bounds for the single coupling. However, in ultraviolet (UV) models, these couplings can appear simultaneously, and their interplay could have important implications for collider and beam dump searches. In this study, we investigate the concurrent effects of the ALP-photon and ALP-electron couplings in a simplified model and examine how their simultaneous presence modifies existing bounds. We find that modifications to production cross-sections, decaying branching ratios, and the lifetime of the ALP are the major effects. Our results show that low-energy electron-positron colliders such as Belle-II and BaBar are primarily affected by the first two factors, while beam dump experiments such as E137 and NA64 are affected by the cross sections and lifetime. We also consider two UV models - the KSVZ model and a lepton-specific version of the DFSZ model - which have only one of the two couplings at tree-level. However, the other coupling can be generated at loops, and our analysis reveals that the simultaneous presence of the two couplings can significantly modify existing bounds on these models for $10^{-3}<m_a<10$ GeV, especially for beam dump experiments. Overall, our study highlights the importance of considering the concurrent effects of the ALP-photon and ALP-electron couplings in future collider and beam dump analyses.

   hep-phhep-exJHEP(2023)·31 citations
4. 04*

   Future leptonic $CP$ phase determination in the presence of NSI

   Luis A. Delgadillo🇲🇽 · O. G. Miranda🇲🇽

   The precise determination of the leptonic $CP$-phase is one of the major goals for future generation long Baseline experiments. On the other hand, if new physics beyond the Standard Model exists, a robust determination of such a $CP$-phase may be a challenge. Moreover, it has been pointed out that, in this scenario, an apparent discrepancy in the $CP$-phase measurement at different experiments may arise. In this work, we investigate the determination of the Dirac $CP$-phase and the atmospheric mixing angle ${\theta }_{23}$ at several long-baseline configurations: ESSnuSB, T2HKK, and a DUNE-like experiment. We use the nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSI) formalism as a framework. We found that complementary between ESSnuSB and a DUNE-like experiment will be favorable to obtain a reliable value of the $CP$-phase, within the aforementioned scenario. Moreover, the T2HKK proposal can help to constrain the matter NSI parameters.

   hep-phhep-exPRD(2023)·7 citations
5. 05*

   Multi-brane cosmology

   Sudhakantha Girmohanta🇨🇳 · Seung J. Lee🇰🇷 · Yuichiro Nakai🇨🇳 · Motoo Suzuki🇺🇸

   5D warped extra dimension models with multiple 3-branes can naturally realize multiple hierarchical mass scales which are ubiquitous in physics beyond the Standard Model. We discuss cosmological consequences of such multi-brane models with stabilized radions. It is confirmed that for temperatures below the scale of the IR brane at the end of the extra dimension, we recover the ordinary expansion of the Universe, with the Hubble expansion rate determined by sum of the physical energy densities on all 3-branes where they are localized. In addition, we explore the cosmology for temperatures above the scales of the intermediate and IR branes where the Universe is described by a spacetime with the 3-branes replaced by an event horizon. As the temperature of the Universe cools down, phase transitions are expected to take place, and the intermediate and IR branes come out from behind the event horizon. The Goldberger-Wise mechanism for radion stabilization has a well-known problem of having a supercooled phase transition, which typically does not get completed in time. This problem is even more severe when an intermediate brane is introduced, whose scale is well above TeV, as the corresponding Hubble rate is much larger. We circumvent the problem by employing an alternative mechanism for radion stabilization with dark Yang-Mills fields, which prevents a long supercooling epoch, but still allows the strong first order phase transitions. As a result, the phase transitions in our multi-brane Universe predict a stochastic gravitational wave background with a unique multi-peak signature, which is within the sensitivity reach of future space-based gravitational wave observers. We also show that there are $N-1$ radions for an $N$ 3-brane set-up, unlike a recent claim that there exists only one radion.

   hep-phastro-ph.COhep-thJHEP(2023)·20 citations
6. 06*

   Revisiting Affleck-Dine Leptogenesis with light sleptons

   Kazuki Enomoto🇰🇷 · Koichi Hamaguchi🇯🇵 · Kohei Kamada🇯🇵 · Juntaro Wada🇯🇵

   We revisit the Affleck-Dine leptogenesis via the $L{H}_u$ flat direction with a light slepton field. Although the light slepton field is favored in low-energy SUSY phenomenologies, such as the muon $g-2$ anomaly and bino-slepton coannihilation, it may cause a problem in the Affleck-Dine leptogenesis: it may create an unwanted charge-breaking vacuum in the Affleck-Dine field potential so that the Affleck-Dine field is trapped during the course of leptogenesis. We investigate the conditions under which such an unwanted vacuum exists and clarify that both thermal and quantum corrections are important for the (temporal) disappearance of the charge-breaking minimum. We also confirm that if the charge-breaking vacuum disappears due to the thermal or quantum correction, the correct baryon asymmetry can be produced while avoiding the cosmological gravitino problem.

   hep-phastro-ph.COJCAP(2023)·1 citation
7. 07*

   Rare Leptonic Processes Induced by Massless Dark Photon

   Xiaolong Deng🇯🇵 · Florentin Jaffredo🇮🇹 · Minoru Tanaka🇯🇵

   We introduce a dark photon considering a U(1) gauge extension of the standard model in particle physics. Provided that the extra U(1) symmetry is unbroken, the dark photon is massless and has no coupling to the standard electromagnetic current. Higher-dimensional operators describe interactions of the massless dark photon with particles in the standard model. We investigate the interactions of the massless dark photon with charged leptons via dipole operators, mainly focusing on the lepton family-violating processes. We present an improved constraint in the polarized two-body muon decay and a set of new bounds in tau decays. We also examine possible lepton family-violating signals of the massless dark photon in future lepton colliders.

   hep-phPLB(2023)·1 citation
8. 08*

   Grand Gauge-Higgs Unification on $T^2/{\mathbb{Z}}_3$ via Diagonal Embedding Method

   Kentaro Kojima🇯🇵 · Kazunori Takenaga🇯🇵 · Toshifumi Yamashita🇯🇵

   We study a novel six-dimensional gauge theory compactified on the $T^2/{\mathbb{Z}}_3$ orbifold utilizing the diagonal embedding method. The bulk gauge group is $G\times G\times G$, and the diagonal part $G^{\mathrm{diag}}$ remains manifest in the effective four-dimensional theory. Further spontaneous breaking of the gauge symmetry occurs through the dynamics of the zero modes of the extra-dimensional components of the gauge field. We apply this setup to the $SU(5)$ grand unified theory and examine the vacuum structure determined by the dynamics of the zero modes. The phenomenologically viable models are shown, in which the unified symmetry $G^{\mathrm{diag}}\cong SU(5)$ is spontaneously broken down to $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)$ at the global minima of the one-loop effective potential for the zero modes. This spontaneous breaking provides notable features such as a realization of the doublet-triplet splitting without fine tuning and a prediction of light adjoint fields.

   hep-phhep-thPRD(2023)·9 citations
9. 09*

   Assisted neutrino pair production in combined external fields

   Naser Ahmadiniaz🇩🇪 · Rashid Shaisultanov🇩🇪 · Ralf Schützhold🇩🇪

   Neutrino--antineutrino ($\nu \bar{\nu }$) pair production is one of the main processes responsible for the energy loss of stars. Apart from the collision of two ($\gamma \gamma \to \nu \bar{\nu }$) or three ($\gamma \gamma \gamma \to \nu \bar{\nu }$) real photons, pair creation from a photon and photon collisions in the presence of nuclear Coulomb fields or external magnetic fields have been considered previously. Here, we study a pair production of neutrino and antineutrino from a low-energy photon in the presence of a combined homogeneous magnetic field and the Coulomb field of a nucleus with charge number $Z$.

   hep-phhep-thPRD(2023)·2 citations
10. 10*

    Accessing the gluon GTMD ${\mathbf{F}}_{1,4}$ in exclusive ${\mathbf{\pi }}^0$ production in $\mathbf{ep}$ collisions

    Shohini Bhattacharya🇺🇸 · Duxin Zheng🇨🇳 · Jian Zhou🇨🇳

    We demonstrate that the longitudinal single target-spin asymmetry in exclusive ${\pi }^0$ production in $ep$ collisions can give access to the imaginary part of the gluon generalized transverse momentum distribution (GTMD) $F_{1,4}$. Such a longitudinal spin asymmetry that results from the Coulomb-nuclear interference effect, leads to a characteristic azimuthal angular correlation of $\sin 2\varphi$, where $\varphi$ is the azimuthal angle between the scattered lepton transverse momentum and the recoiled proton's transverse momentum. We also present a numerical estimate of the asymmetry for the kinematics accessible at EIC and EicC.

    hep-phPRD(2024)·24 citations
11. 11*

    Detecting axion dark matter with Rydberg atoms via induced electric dipole transitions

    Georg Engelhardt🇨🇳 · Amit Bhoonah🇺🇸 · W. Vincent Liu🇨🇳

    Long-standing efforts to detect axions are driven by two compelling prospects, naturally accounting for the absence of charge-conjugation and parity symmetry breaking in quantum chromodynamics, and for the elusive dark matter at ultralight mass scale. Many experiments use advanced cavity resonator setups to probe the magnetic-field-mediated conversion of axions to photons. Here, we show how to search for axion matter without relying on such a cavity setup, which opens a new path for the detection of ultralight axions, where cavity based setups are infeasible. When applied to Rydberg atoms, which feature particularly large transition dipole elements, this effect promises an outstanding sensitivity for detecting ultralight dark matter. Our estimates show that it can provide laboratory constraints in parameter space that so far had only been probed astrophysically, and cover new unprobed regions of parameter space. The Rydberg atomic gases offer a flexible and inexpensive experimental platform that can operate at room temperature. We project the sensitivity by quantizing the axion-modified Maxwell equations to accurately describe atoms and molecules as quantum sensors wherever axion dark matter is present.

    hep-phcond-mat.quant-gasphysics.atom-phPRResearch(2024)·22 citations
12. 12*

    Dispersive determination of electroweak-scale masses

    Hsiang-nan Li🇹🇼

    We demonstrate that the Higgs boson mass can be extracted from the dispersion relation obeyed by the correlation function of two $b$-quark scalar currents. The solution to the dispersion relation with the input from the perturbative evaluation of the correlation function up to next-to-leading order in QCD and with the $b$ quark mass $m_b=4.43$ GeV demands a specific Higgs mass 114 GeV. Our observation offers an alternative resolution to the long-standing fine-tuning problem of the Standard Model (SM): the Higgs mass is determined dynamically for the internal consistency of the SM. The similar formalism, as applied to the correlation function of two $b$-quark vector currents with the same $m_b$, leads to the $Z$ boson mass 90.8 GeV. This solution exists only when the $Z$ and $W$ boson masses are proportionate, conforming to the Higgs mechanism of the electroweak symmetry breaking. We then consider the mixing between the $Q\bar{u}$ and $\bar{Q}u$ states for a fictitious heavy quark $Q$ and a $u$ quark through the $b\bar{b}$ channel, inspired by our earlier analysis of neutral meson mixing. Its dispersion relation, given the perturbative input from the responsible box diagrams and the same $m_b$, fixes the top quark mass 176 GeV. It is highly nontrivial to predict the above electroweak-scale masses with at most 9\% deviation from their measured values using the single parameter $m_b$. More accurate results are expected, as more precise perturbative inputs are adopted.

    hep-phPRD(2023)·12 citations
13. 13*

    Self-resonant Dark Matter

    Hyun Min Lee🇰🇷

    We present a review on the self-resonant dark matter scenarios where multiple components of dark matter give rise to a resonant condition in the $u$-channel diagrams for their comparable masses. In this case, there is no need of lighter mediators for enhancing the self-scattering and annihilation cross sections for dark matter. We discuss the velocity-dependent self-scattering for the small-scale problems, the relic density of self-resonant dark matter, and the observable signatures in indirect and detection experiments.

    hep-phastro-ph.COhep-th2 citations
14. 14*

    Modular flavour symmetry and orbifolds

    Francisco J. de Anda🇲🇽 · Stephen F. King🇬🇧

    We develop a bottom-up approach to flavour models which combine modular symmetry with orbifold constructions. We first consider a 6d orbifold ${\mathbb{T}}^2/{\mathbb{Z}}_N$, with a single torus defined by one complex coordinate $z$ and a single modulus field $\tau$, playing the role of a flavon transforming under a finite modular symmetry. We then consider 10d orbifolds with three factorizable tori, each defined by one complex coordinate $z_i$ and involving the three moduli fields ${\tau }_1,{\tau }_2,{\tau }_3$ transforming under three finite modular groups. Assuming supersymmetry, consistent with the holomorphicity requirement, we consider all 10d orbifolds of the form $({\mathbb{T}}^2{)}^3/({\mathbb{Z}}_N\times {\mathbb{Z}}_M)$, and list those which have fixed values of the moduli fields (up to an integer). The key advantage of such 10d orbifold models over 4d models is that the values of the moduli are not completely free but are constrained by geometry and symmetry. To illustrate the approach we discuss a 10d modular seesaw model with $S_4^3$ modular symmetry based on $({\mathbb{T}}^2{)}^3/({\mathbb{Z}}_4\times {\mathbb{Z}}_2)$ where ${\tau }_1=i,{\tau }_2=i+2$ are constrained by the orbifold, while ${\tau }_3=\omega$ is determined by imposing a further remnant $S_4$ flavour symmetry, leading to a highly predictive example in the class CSD$(n)$ with $n=1-\sqrt{6}$.

    hep-phJHEP(2023)·17 citations
15. 15*

    HighTEA: High energy Theory Event Analyser

    Michał Czakon🇩🇪 · Zahari Kassabov🇬🇧 · Alexander Mitov🇬🇧 · Rene Poncelet🇬🇧 · Andrei Popescu🇬🇧

    We introduce HighTEA, a new paradigm for deploying fully-differential next-to-next-to leading order (NNLO) calculations for collider observables. In principle, any infrared safe observable can be computed and, with very few restrictions, the user has complete freedom in defining their calculation's setup. For example, one can compute generic n-dimensional distributions, can define kinematic variables and factorization/renormalization scales, and can modify the strong coupling and parton distributions. HighTEA operates on the principle of analyzing precomputed events. It has all the required hardware and software infrastructure such that users only need to request their calculation via the internet before receiving the results, typically within minutes, in the form of a histogram. No specialized knowledge or computing infrastructure is required to fully utilize HighTEA, which could be used by both experts in particle physics and the general public. The current focus is on all classes of LHC processes. Extensions beyond NNLO, or to $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ colliders, are natural next steps.

    hep-phhep-exJ.Phys.G(2024)·18 citations
16. 16*

    GRANIITTI: towards a deep learning-enhanced Monte Carlo event generator for high-energy diffraction

    Mikael Mieskolainen🇬🇧

    We introduce GRANIITTI, a new Monte Carlo event generator designed especially to solve the enigma of glueballs at the LHC. We discuss the available physics processes, compare the simulations against STAR data from RHIC and span ambitious future directions towards the first diffractive event generator with a deep learning-enhanced computational engine.

    hep-phhep-exActa Phys.Polon.Supp.(2023)·1 citation
17. 17*

    Primary Observables for Top Quark Collider Signals

    Layne Bradshaw🇺🇸 · Spencer Chang🇺🇸

    At the HL-LHC and future high energy colliders, a sample of a billion top quarks will be produced, allowing precision searches for new physics in top quark decay and production. To aid in this endeavor, we characterize the independent three and four point on-shell amplitudes involving top quarks, under the assumption of $SU(3{)}_c\times U(1{)}_{em}$ invariance. The four point amplitudes factorize into primary and descendent amplitudes, where descendants are primaries multiplied by Mandelstam variables. By enumerating the allowed amplitudes, we can check for amplitude redundancies to find the number of independent terms and convert those into a Lagrangian which parameterizes these amplitudes. These results are then cross checked by utilizing the Hilbert series to count the number of independent Lagrangian operators. Interestingly, we find situations where the Hilbert series has cancellations which, if naïvely interpreted, would lead to the incorrect conclusion that that there are no primary operators at a given mass dimension. We characterize the four fermion ($ffff$) and two fermion, two gauge boson ($ffVV$) operators respectively up to dimension 12 and 13. Finally, by combining unitarity bounds on the coupling strengths and simple estimates of the branching ratio sensitivities, we highlight interesting amplitudes for top quark decay that should be studied more closely at the HL-LHC. Of those highlighted, there are both new charge current and flavor changing neutral current decays that occur at dimension 8 and 10 in SMEFT.

    hep-phhep-exPRD(2023)·10 citations
18. 18*

    Stellar Signals of a Baryon-Number-Violating Long-Range Force

    Hooman Davoudiasl🇺🇸

    We entertain the novel possibility that long range forces may lead to violations of accidental symmetries, in particular baryon number. Employing an ultralight scalar, with a mass $\ll$ eV, we illustrate that this scenario can lead to vastly disparate nucleon lifetimes, in different astronomical objects. Such a long range interaction can yield a number of potentially observable effects, such as a flux of neutrinos at $\gtrsim 10$ MeV from the Sun and heating of old neutron stars. We examine the prospects for constraining this scenario, with current and future astrophysical data, and find that neutron star heating provides the strongest present and near term bounds. Simple extensions of our setup allow for the ultralight scalar to constitute the dark matter of the Universe. This suggests that matter-enhanced baryon number violation can be a signal of ultralight dark matter, which has apparently been overlooked, so far.

    hep-phastro-ph.COastro-ph.HEhep-exPRD(2023)·9 citations
19. 19*

    Inelastic Freeze-in

    Saniya Heeba🇨🇦 · Tongyan Lin🇺🇸 · Katelin Schutz🇨🇦

    Dark matter (DM) could be a nonthermal relic that freezes in from extremely weak, sub-Hubble annihilation and decay of Standard Model (SM) particles. The case of Dirac DM freezing in via a dark photon mediator is a well-studied benchmark for DM direct detection experiments. Here, we extend prior work to take into account the possibility that DM is pseudo-Dirac with a small mass splitting. If the mass splitting is greater than twice the electron mass but less than the dark photon mass, there will be distinct cosmological signatures. The excited state ${\chi }_2$ is initially produced in equal abundance to the ground state ${\chi }_1$. Subsequently, the excited state population decays at relatively late cosmological times, primarily via the three-body process ${\chi }_2\to {\chi }_1{e}^{+}{e}^{-}$. This process injects energetic electrons into the ambient environment, providing observable signatures involving Big Bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave background spectral distortions and anisotropies, and the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest. Furthermore, the ground state particles that are populated from the three-body decay receive a velocity kick, with implications for DM clustering on small scales. We find that cosmological probes and accelerator experiments are highly complementary, with future coverage of much of the parameter space of the model.

    hep-phastro-ph.COPRD(2023)·28 citations
20. 20*

    Explicit parametrization of more than one vector-like quark of Nelson-Barr type

    G. H. S. Alves🇧🇷 · A. L. Cherchiglia🇧🇷 · C. C. Nishi🇧🇷

    Nelson-Barr models solve the strong CP problem based on spontaneous CP violation and generically requires vector-like quarks (VLQs) mixing with standard quarks to transmit the CP violation. We devise an explicit parametrization for the case of two VLQs of either down-type or up-type and quantitatively study several aspects including the hierarchy of the VLQ Yukawas and their irreducible contribution to $\bar{\theta }$. In particular, with the use of the parametrization, we show that a big portion of the parameter space for two up-type VLQs at the TeV scale is still allowed by the constraint on $\bar{\theta }$, although this case had been previously shown to be very restricted based on estimates.

    hep-phPRD(2023)·7 citations
21. 21*

    Large lepton number violation at colliders: predictions from the minimal linear seesaw mechanism

    Aditya Batra🇮🇳 · Praveen Bharadwaj🇮🇳 · Sanjoy Mandal🇰🇷 · Rahul Srivastava🇮🇳 · José W. F. Valle🇪🇸

    Small neutrino masses can be sourced by a tiny vacuum expectation value of a leptophilic Higgs doublet, and mediated by Quasi-Dirac heavy neutrinos. In such simplest linear seesaw picture the neutrino mass mediators can be accessible to colliders. We describe novel charged Higgs and heavy neutrino production mechanisms that can be sizeable at $e^{+}{e}^{-}$, $e^{-}\gamma$, $pp$, or muon colliders and discuss some of the associated signatures. The oscillation length of the heavy neutrino mediators is directly related to the light neutrino mass ordering. Moreover, lepton number violation can be large despite the smallness of neutrino masses, and may shed light on the Majorana nature of neutrinos and the significance of basic symmetries in weak interaction.

    hep-phhep-exPLB(2025)·18 citations
22. 22*

    Cosmological constraints from standardized non-CMB observations

    Shulei Cao🇨🇳

    The current expansion of the Universe has been observed to be accelerating, and the widely accepted spatially-flat concordance model of general relativistic cosmology attributes this phenomenon to a constant dark energy, a cosmological constant, which is measured to comprise about 70% of the total energy budget of the current Universe. However, observational discrepancies and theoretical puzzles have raised questions about this model, suggesting that alternative cosmological models with non-zero spatial curvature and/or dark energy dynamics might provide better explanations. To explore these possibilities, we have conducted a series of studies using standardized, lower-redshift observations to constrain six different cosmological models with varying degrees of flatness and dark energy dynamics. Through comparing these observations with theoretical predictions, we aim to deepen our understanding of the evolution of the Universe and shed new light on its mysteries. Our data provide consistent cosmological constraints across all six models, with some suggesting the possibility of mild dark energy dynamics and slight spatial curvature. However, these joint constraints do not rule out the possibility of dark energy being a cosmological constant and the spatial hypersurfaces being flat. Overall, our findings contribute to the ongoing efforts to refine our understanding of the Universe and its properties, and suggest that multiple cosmological models remain viable.

    ↳ astro-ph.COgr-qchep-phhep-th1 citation
23. 23*

    Cosmic Strings from Thermal Inflation

    Robert Brandenberger🇨🇦 · Aline Favero🇨🇦

    Thermal inflation was proposed as a mechanism to dilute the density of cosmological moduli. Thermal inflation is driven by a complex scalar field possessing a large vacuum expectation value and a very flat potential, called a `flaton'. Such a model admits cosmic string solutions, and a network of such strings will inevitably form in the symmetry breaking phase transition at the end of the period of thermal inflation. We discuss the differences of these strings compared to the strings which form in the Abelian Higgs model. Specifically, we find that the upper bound on the symmetry breaking scale is parametrically lower than in the case of Abelian Higgs strings, and that the lower cutoff on the string loop distribution is determined by cusp annihilation rather than by gravitational radiation (for the value of the transition temperature proposed in the original work on thermal inflation).

    ↳ astro-ph.COgr-qchep-phhep-thUniverse(2024)·0 citations
24. 24*

    Confronting fuzzy dark matter with the rotation curves of nearby dwarf irregular galaxies

    Andrés Bañares-Hernández🇪🇸 · Andrés Castillo🇪🇸 · Jorge Martin Camalich🇪🇸 · Giuliano Iorio🇮🇹

    We investigate phenomenologically the viability of fuzzy dark matter (FDM). We do this by confronting the predictions of the model, in particular, the formation of a solitonic core at the center of dark matter halos, with a homogeneous and robust sample of high-resolution rotation curves from the "LITTLE THINGS in 3D" catalog. This comprises a collection of isolated, dark matter dominated dwarf-irregular galaxies that provides an optimal benchmark for cosmological studies. We use a statistical framework based on Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques that allows us to extract relevant parameters such as the axion mass, the mass of the solitonic core, the mass of the dark matter halo and its concentration parameter with a rather loose set of priors except for the implementation of a core-halo relation that is predicted by simulations. The results of the fits are used to perform various diagnostics on the predictions of the model. FDM provides an excellent fit to the rotation curves of the "LITTLE THINGS in 3D" catalog, with axion masses determined from different galaxies clustering around $m_a\approx 2\times 10^{-23}$ eV. However, we find two major problems in our analysis. First, the data follow scaling relations of the properties of the core which are not consistent with the predictions of the soliton. This problem is particularly acute in the core radius - mass relation with a tension that, at face value, has a significance $\gtrsim 5\sigma$. The second problem is related to the strong suppression of the linear power spectrum that is predicted by FDM for the axion mass preferred by the data. This can be constrained very conservatively by the galaxy counts in our sample, which leads to a tension exceeding again $5\sigma$. We estimate the effects of baryons in our analysis and discuss whether they could alleviate the tensions of the model with observations.

    ↳ astro-ph.GAastro-ph.COhep-phAstron.Astrophys.(2023)·39 citations
25. 25*

    Lensing with generalized symmetrons

    Christian Käding🇦🇹

    Generalized symmetrons are models that have qualitatively similar features to the archetypal symmetron, but have barely been studied. In this article, we investigate for what parameter values the fifth forces induced by disformally coupling generalized symmetrons can provide an explanation for the difference between baryonic and lens masses of galaxies. While it is known that the standard symmetron struggles with providing an alternative source for the lensing otherwise attributed to particle dark matter, we show that some generalized symmetron models are more suitable for complying with existing constraints on disformal couplings. This motivates future studies of these only little explored models.

    ↳ astro-ph.COastro-ph.GAgr-qchep-phAstronomy(2023)·36 citations
26. 26*

    Impact of dark matter spikes on the merger rates of Primordial Black Holes

    Pratibha Jangra🇪🇸 · Bradley J. Kavanagh🇪🇸 · J. M. Diego🇪🇸

    Mergers of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) may contribute to the gravitational wave mergers detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration. We study the dynamics of PBH binaries dressed with dark matter (DM) spikes, for PBHs with extended mass functions. We analyze the impact of DM spikes on the orbital parameters of the PBH binaries formed in the early Universe and calculate their merger rates at the age of the Universe today. We consider two possible scenarios for the dynamics of the dressed binaries: assuming that either the DM spikes are completely evaporated from the binaries before merger or they remain static until the merger. Contrary to previous studies, we find that the presence of spikes may increase or decrease the present-day PBH merger rates, in some cases dramatically. Comparing with merger rates reported by the LVK Collaboration in the third Gravitational Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-3), we derive approximate constraints on the fraction of Solar-mass PBHs in cold dark matter as $f_{\mathrm{pbh}}\le \mathcal{O}(10^{-5}-10^{-3})$, depending on the mass function. Our calculations are valid only for the idealized scenarios in which the DM spikes are either evaporated or static. However, they suggest that the impact of DM spikes on PBH merger rates may be more complicated than previously thought and motivate the development of a more general description of the merger dynamics, including feedback of the DM spikes in highly eccentric PBH binaries.

    ↳ astro-ph.COhep-phJCAP(2023)·20 citations
27. 27*

    Monomial warm inflation revisited

    Guillermo Ballesteros🇪🇸 · Alejandro Pérez Rodríguez🇪🇸 · Mathias Pierre🇩🇪

    We revisit the idea that the inflaton may have dissipated part of its energy into a thermal bath during inflation, considering monomial inflationary potentials and three different forms of dissipation rate. Using a numerical Fokker-Planck approach to describe the stochastic dynamics of inflationary fluctuations, we confront this scenario with current bounds on the spectrum of curvature fluctuations and primordial gravitational waves. We also obtain purely analytical approximations that improve over previously used ones in the small dissipation regime for the amplitude of the spectrum and its tilt. We show that only our numerical Fokker-Planck method is accurate, fast and precise enough to test these models against current data. We advocate its use in future studies of warm inflation. We also apply the stochastic inflation formalism to this scenario, finding that the resulting spectrum is the same as the one obtained with standard perturbation theory. We discuss the origin and convenience of using a commonly implemented large thermal correction to the primordial spectrum and the implications of such a term for a specific scenario. Improved bounds on the scalar spectral index will further constrain warm inflation in the near future.

    ↳ astro-ph.COgr-qchep-phhep-thJCAP(2024)·28 citations
28. 28*

    Gravitational form factors of nuclei in the Skyrme model

    Alberto García Martín-Caro🇪🇸 · Yoshitaka Hatta🇺🇸 · Miguel Huidobro🇪🇸

    We compute the gravitational form factor $D(t)$ of various nuclei in the generalized Skyrme model where nuclei are described as solitonic field configurations each with a definite baryon number $B$. We separately discuss the cases $B=1$ (nucleons), $B=2$ (deuteron), $B=3$ (helium-3 and tritium) and extrapolate to larger $B$-values. Configurations with $B>1$ are in general not spherically symmetric, and we demonstrate how group theory helps to extract the form factor. Numerical results are presented for the configurations with $B=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,32,108$. We find that the $B$-dependence is consistent with a power-law $D(0)\propto B^{\beta }$ with $\beta =1.7\sim 1.8$. Other gravitational form factors can be calculated in the same framework, and we show the result for the $J(t)$ form factor associated with angular momentum for the $B=3$ solution.

    ↳ nucl-thhep-phhep-thPRD(2023)·34 citations
29. 29*

    Probing neutrino production in high-energy astrophysical neutrino sources with the Glashow Resonance

    Qinrui Liu🇨🇦 · Ningqiang Song🇨🇳 · Aaron C. Vincent🇨🇦

    The flavor composition of high-energy neutrinos carries important information about their birth. However, the two most common production scenarios, $pp$ (hadronuclear) and $p\gamma$ (photohadronic) processes, lead to the same flavor ratios when neutrinos and antineutrinos cannot be distinguished. The Glashow resonant interaction ${\bar{\nu }}_e+e^{-}\to W^{-}$ becomes a window to differentiate the antineutrino contribution from the total diffuse neutrino flux, thus lifting this degeneracy. We examine the power of Glashow resonant events in measuring the fraction of the ${\bar{\nu }}_e$ flux with current IceCube data, and produce projected sensitivities based on the combined exposure of planned Cherenkov neutrino telescopes around the globe. We find that $pp$ and $p\gamma$ can be distinguished at a 2$\sigma$ significance level in the next decades, in both an event-wise analysis and a more conservative statistical analysis, even with pessimistic assumptions on the spectral index of the astrophysical flux. Finally, we consider the sensitivity of future experiments to mixed production mechanisms.

    ↳ astro-ph.HEhep-phPRD(2023)·15 citations
30. 30*

    Improved effective potential of Gildener-Weinberg models

    Huan Souza🇧🇷 · L. H. S. Ribeiro🇧🇷 · A. C. Lehum🇧🇷

    The Gildener-Weinberg models are of particular interest in the context of extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics. These extensions may encompass a variety of theories, including double Higgs models, Grand Unification Theories, and proposals for Dark Matter, among others. In order to rigorously test these models experimentally, obtaining precise results is of crucial importance. In this study, we employ the renormalization group equation and its one-loop functions to obtain a deeper understanding of the higher-loop effective potential. Our findings reveal that the radiatively generated mass of the light particle in the Gildener-Weinberg approach experiences a substantial correction. Furthermore, our results suggest that not all flat directions are equivalent and some may be preferred by nature.

    ↳ hep-thhep-phPRD(2023)·0 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.