Fri·Mar 7, 2025Friday·March 7, 2025

1. 01*

   WIMPs and new physics interpretations of the PTA signal are incompatible

   Yann Gouttenoire🇮🇱

   In order to explain the large amplitude of the nano-Hertz stochastic gravitational wave background observed in pulsar timing arrays (PTA), primordial sources must be particularly energetic. This is correlated to the generation of large density fluctuations, later collapsing into ultra-compact mini-halo (UCMHs). We demonstrate that if dark matter is made of WIMPs, then photon and neutrino fluxes from UCMHs produced by curvature peaks, first-order phase transition and domain wall interpretations of the PTA signal, exceed current bounds.

   hep-phastro-ph.COastro-ph.GAgr-qc+19 citations
2. 02*

   Constraining the light Higgs bosons in the GNMSSM with recent Higgs data

   Zhaoxia Heng🇨🇳 · Zehan Li🇨🇳 · Haijing Zhou🇨🇳

   The search for light scalar and pseudoscalar particles provides a promising avenue for probing physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). In this study, we investigated the exotic decay channels of the 125 GeV SM-like Higgs boson into pairs of light CP-odd ($a_s$) or CP-even ($h_s$) Higgs bosons within the framework of the General Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (GNMSSM). A comprehensive parameter space scan is performed using the MultiNest algorithm, incorporating constraints from $\text{HiggsSignals-2.6.2}$, $\text{HiggsBounds-5.10.2}$, and ATLAS experimental searches, under two distinct scenarios where either the lightest ($h_1$) or next-to-lightest ($h_2$) CP-even state is the observed Higgs boson ($h$). Our results demonstrate that $\text{HiggsBounds}$ imposes the most stringent exclusion limits due to its sensitivity to direct searches for non-SM Higgs bosons. In the $h_2$ scenario, $\text{HiggsSignals}$ can additionally exclude regions with suppressed exotic branching ratios (e.g., $Br(h\to a_s{a}_s\to \tau \tau bb)\le 2.5\%$), due to its sensitivity to indirect deviations caused by the kinematically enhanced decay \( h \to h_sh_s \). Under combined constraints from \( \textsf{HiggsTools} \), $h$ must retain at least 93\% SM-like component (\( V_h^\text{SM} \geq 0.93 \)) with no more than 32\% singlet admixture (\( V_h^\text{S} \leq 0.32 \)); in the $h_2$ case, the lightest scalar $h_s$ exhibits high singlet purity ($V_{h_s}^{\text{S}}\ge 0.94$). Furthermore, dark matter (DM) phenomenology indicates that singlino- or higgsino-dominated DM is viable in the $h_1$ scenario, with dominant annihilation channels including ${\tilde{\chi }}_1^0{\tilde{\chi }}_1^0\to h_s{a}_s$ for singlino-like DM and chargino co-annihilation for higgsino-like DM, whereas the $h_2$ scenario favors higgsino-dominated DM.

   hep-phChin.J.Phys.(2026)·2 citations
3. 03*

   SU(7) Grand Gauge-Higgs Unification

   Yuzuho Komori🇯🇵 · Nobuhito Maru🇯🇵

   We propose a model of six dimensional $SU(7)$ grand gauge-Higgs unification compactified on $S^1/Z_2/times{S}^1/Z_2$, which is a six dimensional extension of five dimensional $SU(4)$ gauge-Higgs unification predicting the weak mixing angle $/si{n}^2/thet{a}_W=1/4$ at the compactification scale. We investigate whether the correct pattern of electroweak symmetry breaking is realized in our model. We find some solutions providing the electroweak symmetry breaking and a realistic Higgs mass. Corresponding to each solution, the compactification scale of the fifth dimension is predicted. Furthermore, we evaluate the weak mixing angle at the weak scale by using one-loop renormalization group equation and find it to be in good agreement with the experimental data.

   hep-phhep-th2 citations
4. 04*

   Searching for Dark Photon Tridents Through Primordial Black Hole Signatures

   Kingman Cheung🇹🇼 · C.J. Ouseph🇰🇷 · Po-Yan Tseng🇹🇼 · Sin Kyu Kang🇰🇷

   The detection of gamma-ray signals from primordial black holes (PBHs) could provide compelling evidence for their role as a dark matter candidate, particularly through the observation of their Hawking radiation. Future gamma-ray observatories, such as e-ASTROGAM, and the next-generation telescopes, are poised to explore this possibility by measuring both Standard Model (SM) and beyond-the-SM particle emissions. A particularly promising avenue involves production of dark photons by PBHs, which is a hypothetical particle that decays into photons. In this work, we investigate the trident decay of dark photons with mass $m_{A^{\prime }}\le 1$ MeV focusing on their primary emission from asteroid-mass PBHs. We assume that the dark photons produced via Hawking radiation decay into photons well before reaching Earth, thereby enhancing the detectable gamma-ray flux. The energy spectrum of the photons decaying from the dark photons is distinct from that of direct Hawking-radiated photons due to higher degree of freedom, leading to observable modifications in the gamma-ray signal. Using the asteroid-mass PBHs as a case study, we demonstrate that future gamma-ray missions could detect dark-photon signatures and distinguish them from conventional Hawking radiation. This approach enables the exploration of previously inaccessible parameter spaces in dark photon mass $m_{A^{\prime }}\le 1$ MeV and their coupling to photons, offering a viable avenue to uncover the properties of dark sectors and the nature of asteroid-mass PBHs.

   hep-phastro-ph.COastro-ph.GAastro-ph.HE7 citations
5. 05*

   Studying Bremsstrahlung in Polarized Background Field at EIC and EicC

   Cong Li

   We present a quantum-field-theoretical study of bremsstrahlung from an electron propagating in a linearly polarized background photon field. Starting from the photon two-point correlator, the background-modified photon propagator is parameterized via transverse-momentum-dependent photon distributions. Coulomb correction is incorporated through a gauge-link formalism and soft-photon radiation is resummed with a Sudakov factor, yielding an analytic form of the polarized Bethe-Heitler spectrum. Numerical illustrations show a characteristic $\cos 2\varphi$ azimuthal modulation of a few percent in the differential distribution, with Sudakov suppression at low transverse momentum and mild Coulomb-induced enhancement at larger $q_{\perp }$.

   hep-phEPJC(2026)·0 citations
6. 06*

   Towards modeling the short-range interactions of hidden/open charm pentaquark molecular states

   Ru Xu🇨🇳 · Lu Meng🇩🇪 · Hai-Xiang Zhu🇨🇳 · Ning Li🇨🇳 · Wei Chen🇨🇳

   The hadronic ${\Sigma }_c^{(\ast )}{\bar{D}}^{(\ast )}$ and ${\Sigma }_c^{(\ast )}{D}^{(\ast )}$ interactions are revisited, with a focus on their short-range parts, motivated by a tension between the interpretations of $P_{c\bar{c}}(4312)$, $P_{c\bar{c}}(4440)$, and $P_{c\bar{c}}(4457)$ in effective field theory (EFT) frameworks and the one-boson-exchange (OBE) model. While the three states can be interpreted as ${\Sigma }_c{\bar{D}}^{(\ast )}$ molecular states within EFT frameworks, this is not feasible in the single-channel OBE model with consistent cutoff. In this work, the possibility to reconcile OBE model with EFTs by refitting the $\rho$-, $\omega$- and $\sigma$-exchange interaction is explored and ruled out. It is pointed out that the problem in OBE arises from the strong short-range spin-dependent one-pion-exchange (OPE) interaction and the fixed signs of other short-range interactions in OBE model also prevent the cancellation. To address this issue, the short-range subtraction strategies within the OBE model are revisited. Two subtraction schemes are explored: removing the delta-function from all interactions and eliminating it only from the pseudoscalar-meson-exchange component. These schemes favor different spin assignments for $P_{c\bar{c}}(4440)$ and $P_{c\bar{c}}(4457)$. Though solving the problem, there is no clear dynamical picture to support the subtraction schemes. We propose a new quark-exchange mechanism motivated by the Pauli principle. Different from the two subtraction schemes in OBE, the quark-exchange mechanism offers an explanation grounded in microscopic dynamics. It is shown that the spin-dependent quark-exchange interaction cancels those from OPE. The differences in the predictions for the spin, isospin, and open-charm partner states of the experimental $P_{c\bar{c}}$ states offer a way to distinguish between the subtracted OBE model and the OBE model with quark-exchange contributions.

   hep-phhep-exnucl-thPRD(2025)·9 citations
7. 07*

   TRANSIT your events into a new mass: Fast background interpolation for weakly-supervised anomaly searches

   Ivan Oleksiyuk🇨🇭 · Svyatoslav Voloshynovskiy🇨🇭 · Tobias Golling🇨🇭

   We introduce a new model for conditional and continuous data morphing called TRansport Adversarial Network for Smooth InTerpolation (TRANSIT). We apply it to create a background data template for weakly-supervised searches at the LHC. The method smoothly transforms sideband events to match signal region mass distributions. We demonstrate the performance of TRANSIT using the LHC Olympics R\&D dataset. The model captures non-linear mass correlations of features and produces a template that offers a competitive anomaly sensitivity compared to state-of-the-art transport-based template generators. Moreover, the computational training time required for TRANSIT is an order of magnitude lower than that of competing deep learning methods. This makes it ideal for analyses that iterate over many signal regions and signal models. Unlike generative models, which must learn a full probability density distribution, i.e., the correlations between all the variables, the proposed transport model only has to learn a smooth conditional shift of the distribution. This allows for a simpler, more efficient residual architecture, enabling mass uncorrelated features to pass the network unchanged while the mass correlated features are adjusted accordingly. Furthermore, we show that the latent space of the model provides a set of mass decorrelated features useful for anomaly detection without background sculpting.

   hep-phcs.LGhep-exJHEP(2025)·3 citations
8. 08*

   Spectra and azimuthal harmonic of charmed mesons in Pb+Pb collisions at LHC energies

   Jingzong Zhang🇨🇳 · Huanjing Gong🇨🇳 · Hua Zheng🇨🇳 · Wei Dai🇨🇳 · Lilin Zhu🇨🇳

   Using the recombination model (RM) extended to the heavy flavor scenario, we investigate the production of charmed mesons, i.e., $D^0$, $D_s^{+}$ and $J/\psi$, in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ and 5.02 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) including the heavy flavor energy loss inside the hot and dense medium. Soft, semihard, and hard partons all play important roles in our model and are uniformly treated for all mesons produced. The resulting transverse momentum spectra and the second azimuthal harmonic $v_2$ for these mesons are presented and compared with the available experimental data. The good agreement provides strong support again that the quark recombination mechanism is a universal scheme of hadronization.

   hep-phPRC(2025)·1 citation
9. 09*

   Super heavy dark matter origin of the PeV neutrino event: KM3-230213A

   Kazunori Kohri🇯🇵 · Partha Kumar Paul🇮🇳 · Narendra Sahu🇮🇳

   The recent observation of the ultrahigh-energy neutrino event KM3-230213A by the KM3NeT experiment offers a compelling avenue to explore physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). In this paper, we explore a simplest possibility that this event originates from the decay of a super-heavy dark matter (SHDM). We consider a minimal scenario where the SHDM decays to neutrino and SM Higgs. We derive constraints on the DM lifetime as a function of DM mass, ensuring consistency with IceCube, Auger upper limits, and the observed KM3-230213A event, along with the gamma-ray constraints. We find that KM3-230213A gives stringent constraint on the DM mass ranging from $1.5\times 10^8$ GeV to $5.2\times 10^9$ GeV with lifetime in the range: $1.42\times 10^{30}$ s to $5.4\times 10^{29}$ s. Remarkably, in our SHDM scenario, the apparent tension between the KM3NeT observation and the nonobservation of this event by IceCube and Auger can be reduced to below $1.2\sigma$. Our results are applicable to any neutrinophilic SHDM models while evading gamma-ray constraints.

   hep-phastro-ph.COastro-ph.HEhep-exPRD(2025)·49 citations
10. 10*

    Enhancing the sensitivity to ultralight bosonic dark matter using signal correlations

    Soichiro Morisaki🇯🇵 · Jun'ya Kume🇮🇹 · Takumi Fujimori🇯🇵 · Yuta Michimura🇯🇵

    In recent years, numerous experiments have been proposed and conducted to search for ultralight bosonic dark matter (ULBDM). Signals from ULBDM in such experiments are characterized by extremely narrow spectral widths. A near-optimal detection strategy is to divide the data based on the signal coherence time and sum the power across these segments. However, the signal coherence time can extend beyond a day, making it challenging to construct contiguous segments of such a duration due to detector instabilities. In this work, we present a novel detection statistic that can coherently extract ULBDM signals from segments of arbitrary durations. Our detection statistic, which we refer to as coherent SNR, is a weighed sum of data correlations, whose weights are determined by the expected signal correlations. We demonstrate that coherent SNR achieves sensitivity independent of segment duration and surpasses the performance of the conventional incoherent-sum approach, through analytical arguments and numerical experiments.

    hep-phastro-ph.COgr-qcPRD(2026)·3 citations
11. 11*

    Probing Dark Matter-Electron Interactions in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

    Rahul Dhyani🇮🇳 · Arnab Paul🇮🇳 · Arindam Chatterjee🇮🇳

    In this article, we consider Dark Matter (DM) interactions and study the same in the light of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) data. In particular, we focus on the DM-electron interactions. Assuming that such interactions are mediated by rather heavy mediators, we consider effective operators describing the relevant interaction terms in the lagrangian. The presence of such interaction terms leads to both DM annihilation and DM-electron scattering (drag). We focus on operators which lead to velocity-independent DM annihilation and DM-electron scattering cross-sections. Using the CMBR data, we study the implications of both of these effects, imposing constraints on the respective effective operators. This analysis underscores the importance of taking both scattering and annihilation processes into consideration in the study of DM interactions. We observe that the constraints on the DM annihilation and scattering cross-sections can change, up to about 13\% and 12\%, respectively, for the benchmark scenarios we considered, depending on the mass of DM, as compared to the scenario where only DM annihilation is accounted for.

    hep-phastro-ph.COJCAP(2025)·3 citations
12. 12*

    SN1987A bounds on neutrino quantum decoherence

    Christoph A. Ternes🇮🇹 · Giulia Pagliaroli🇮🇹 · Francesco L. Villante🇮🇹

    We obtain stringent bounds on neutrino quantum decoherence from the analysis of SN1987A data. We show that for the decoherence model considered here, which allows for neutrino-loss along the trajectory, the bounds are many orders of magnitude stronger than the ones that can be obtained from the analysis of data from reactor neutrino oscillation experiments or neutrino telescopes.

    hep-phastro-ph.SRhep-exPRD(2025)·6 citations
13. 13*

    Investigating the nature of $N(1535)$ and $\Lambda (1405)$ in a quenched chiral quark model

    Yue Tan🇨🇳 · Zi-Xuan Ma🇨🇳 · Xiaoyun Chen🇨🇳 · Xiaohuang Hu🇨🇳 · Youchang Yang🇨🇳 · Qi Huang🇨🇳 · Jialun Ping🇨🇳

    In this work, we systematically study $N(1440)$, $N(1535)$, and $\Lambda (1405)$ in both the quenched three-quark and five-quark frameworks using the Gaussian Expansion Method (GEM) within the chiral quark model. Our calculations show that $N(1535)$ can be reproduced as a three-quark state ($N(1P)$), while $N(1440)$ and $\Lambda (1405)$ cannot be accommodated as the three-quark candidates, ($N(2S)$ and $\Lambda (1P)$), respectively. In the five-quark framework, we find that the $\Lambda K$ state for $N(1535)$ can not form a bound state, while in the $N\bar{K}$ channel there will $\Lambda (1405)$ form a shallow bound state. Based on the complex-scaling method, we performed complete coupled-channels calculations and obtained six resonance states with energies ranging from 1.8 GeV to 2.2 GeV, in addition with one bound state located around $\Sigma \pi$ channel. However, neither molecular candidates in $\Lambda K$ channel for $N(1535)$ nor $N\bar{K}$ for $\Lambda (1405)$ are included in these states. This is because the strong coupling between $N\bar{K}$ and $\Sigma \pi$ will make the $N\bar{K}$ unbound, while the weak coupling between $\Lambda K$ and $\Sigma K$ can not help form a stable structure around $\Lambda K$ threshold. Thus, under the quenched quark model, our results support $N(1535)$ as a three-quark state, while $N(1440)$ is neither a three-quark nor a five-quark state. In addition, we find that although $\Lambda (1405)$ can be primarily a five-quark state, it requires a mixture of three-quark and five-quark components for stability. In the future, an exploration on the mixing effects between bare baryons with these relevant two-body hadronic channel components will be carried out to further test our conclusions.

    hep-phPRD(2025)·5 citations
14. 14*

    Double Narrow-Line Signatures of Dark Matter Decay and New Constraints from XRISM Observations

    Wen Yin🇯🇵 · Yutaka Fujita🇯🇵 · Yuichiro Ezoe🇯🇵 · Yoshitaka Ishisaki🇯🇵

    We investigate the indirect detection search of the two-body decay of dark matter particles into final states containing a photon, a process predicted in various promising dark matter models such as axion-like particles and sterile neutrinos. Recent and near-future photon detectors with a resolution $R\equiv \lambda /\Delta \lambda =O(1000)$ are primarily optimized for the velocity dispersion of dark matter in the Milky Way. When performing indirect detection of dark matter in objects other than the Milky Way, one should take into account the contribution from Milky Way dark matter. As a result, the dark matter signal observed by a detector is predicted to exhibit a two-peak structure in many targets, owing to the Doppler shift, differences in radial velocities and the good energy resolution. An analysis incorporating this two-peak effect was performed using the latest XRISM observation data of the Centaurus galaxy cluster~\cite{XRISM:2025axf}. Although, due to the relatively short observation time, our derived limit is weaker than some existing limits, among dark matter searches in galaxy clusters our limit is one of the most stringent (at least in certain mass ranges). We also perform the usual single-peak analysis, for considering the various scenarios, that prefer narrow-line photon from the faraway galaxy cluster. Future data releases from XRISM as well as other observatories will further strengthen our conclusions.

    hep-phastro-ph.COastro-ph.HEJCAP(2026)·10 citations
15. 15*

    New Source for QCD Axion Dark Matter Production: Curvature Induced

    Cem Eröncel🇹🇷 · Yann Gouttenoire🇮🇱 · Ryosuke Sato🇯🇵 · Géraldine Servant🇩🇪 · Peera Simakachorn🇪🇸

    We discuss a novel mechanism for generating dark matter from a fast-rolling scalar field, relevant for both inflation and rotating axion models, and apply it specifically to the (QCD) axion. Dark matter comes from scalar field fluctuations generated by the product of the curvature perturbation and the fast-rolling background field. These fluctuations can explain the totality of dark matter in a vast axion parameter space, particularly for the QCD axion, which will be targeted by upcoming experiments. We review the constraints on this mechanism and potential gravitational-wave signatures.

    hep-phastro-ph.COPRL(2025)·23 citations
16. 16*

    Improved evaluation of the electroweak contribution to muon $g-2$

    Martin Hoferichter🇨🇭 · Jan Lüdtke🇦🇹 · Luca Naterop🇨🇭 · Massimiliano Procura🇦🇹 · Peter Stoffer🇨🇭

    A precise evaluation of the electroweak contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon requires control over all aspects of the Standard Model, ranging from Higgs physics, over multi-loop computations for bosonic and (heavy-)fermion diagrams, to non-perturbative effects in the presence of light quarks. Currently, the dominant uncertainties arise from such hadronic effects in the vector-vector-axial-vector three-point function, an improved understanding of which has recently emerged in the context of hadronic light-by-light scattering. Profiting from these developments as well as new perturbative and non-perturbative input for the charm contribution, we obtain $a_{\mu }^{\text{EW}}=154.4(4)\times 10^{-11}$.

    hep-phhep-exhep-latnucl-thPRL(2025)·45 citations
17. 17*

    Acoustic Misalignment Mechanism for Axion Dark Matter

    Arushi Bodas🇺🇸 · Raymond T. Co🇺🇸 · Akshay Ghalsasi🇺🇸 · Keisuke Harigaya🇺🇸 · Lian-Tao Wang🇺🇸

    A rotation in the field space of a complex scalar field corresponds to a Bose-Einstein condensation of $U(1)$ charges. We point out that fluctuations in this rotating condensate exhibit sound-wave modes, which can be excited by cosmic perturbations and identified with axion fluctuations once the $U(1)$ charge condensate has been sufficiently diluted by cosmic expansion. We consider the possibility that these axion fluctuations constitute dark matter and develop a formalism to compute its abundance. We carefully account for the growth of fluctuations during the epoch where the complex scalar field rotates on the body of the potential and possible nonlinear evolution when the fluctuations become non-relativistic. We find that the resultant dark matter abundance can exceed the conventional and kinetic misalignment contributions if the radial direction of the complex scalar field is sufficiently heavy. The axion dark matter may also be warm enough to leave imprints on structure formation. We discuss the implications of this novel dark matter production mechanism -- {\it acoustic misalignment mechanism} -- for the axion rotation cosmology, including kination domination and baryogenesis from axion rotation, as well as for axion searches.

    hep-phastro-ph.COhep-exJHEP(2025)·20 citations
18. 18*

    Neutrino quantum kinetics in three flavors

    Shashank Shalgar🇩🇰 · Irene Tamborra🇩🇰

    The impact of neutrino flavor conversion on the supernova mechanism is yet to be fully understood. We present multi-energy and multi-angle solutions of the neutrino quantum kinetic equations in three flavors, without employing any attenuation term for the neutrino self-interaction strength and taking into account neutrino advection and non-forward collisions with the background medium. Flavor evolution is explored within a spherically symmetric shell surrounding the region of neutrino decoupling in the interior of a core-collapse supernova, relying on the output of a spherically symmetric core-collapse supernova model with a progenitor mass of $18.6M_{\odot }$. We select two representative post-bounce times: $t_{\mathrm{pb}}=0.25$ s (no angular crossings are present and flavor conversion is triggered by slow collective effects) and $t_{\mathrm{pb}}=1$ s (angular crossings trigger fast flavor instabilities). We find that flavor equipartition is achieved for the late post-bounce time ($t_{\mathrm{pb}}=1$ s), where the (anti)neutrino emission properties among different flavors tend to approach each other. In this case, ${\bar{\nu }}_e$ tends to ${\bar{\nu }}_x=({\bar{\nu }}_{\mu }+{\bar{\nu }}_{\tau })/2$ and a similar trend holds for neutrinos. However, flavor equipartition does not occur for our early post-bounce time ($t_{\mathrm{pb}}=0.25$ s). Accounting for weak-magnetism corrections, crossings in the $\mu$ and $\tau$ lepton number angular distributions arise; however, such crossings have a magnitude smaller than the one occurring in the electron sector and negligibly affect flavor evolution. Because of flavor conversion, the neutrino heating rate increases up to $30\%$ with respect to the case where flavor conversion is neglected.

    ↳ astro-ph.HEhep-phJCAP(2025)·9 citations
19. 19*

    A universal scaling of condensation temperature in quantum fluids

    S.V. Dordevic

    The phenomena of superconductivity and superfluidity are believed to originate from the same underlying physics, namely the condensation of either bosons or pairs of fermions (Cooper pairs). In this work I complied and analyzed literature data for a number of quantum fluids and showed that indeed they all follow the same simple scaling law. The critical temperature for condensation T${}_c$ is found to scale with the condensate coherence length $\xi$ and the effective mass of condensing particles m${}^{\ast }$. The scaling plot includes members of most known classes of superconductors, as well as a number of superfluids and condensates, such as ${}^3$He, ${}^4$He, dilute Bose and Fermi gases, excitons, polaritons, neutron superfluid and proton superconductor in neutron stars, nuclear pairing, quark--antiquark condensate and Higgs condensate. The scaling plot spans more that 24 orders of magnitude of critical temperatures, albeit the scaling exponent is not the one predicted by theory. The plot might help the search for a QCD axion.

    ↳ cond-mat.supr-concond-mat.quant-gasgr-qchep-ph0 citations
20. 20*

    Limitations of the paraxial beam model in the study of quantum vacuum signals

    Felix Karbstein🇩🇪 · Fabian Schütze🇩🇪

    Studies of nonlinear quantum vacuum signals often model the driving laser fields as paraxial beams. This in particular holds for analytic approaches. While this allows for reliable predictions in most situations, there are also notable exceptions. A prominent example is the overestimation of the polarization-flipped signal photon yield in the collision of two equally focused, parallel polarized laser beams by a factor of about six. In the present work, we identify the origin of this deficiency and devise a strategy to obtain accurate closed-form expressions also in cases challenging the conventional (leading order) paraxial beam model. We demonstrate the potential of our approach on the example of two linearly polarized laser pulses colliding at a generic collision angle.

    ↳ physics.opticshep-phquant-phPRD(2025)·2 citations
21. 21*

    Enhancing DUNE Physics Sensitivity with Light and Charge Calorimetry

    Jogesh Rout🇮🇳 · Suchismita Sahoo🇮🇳

    We investigate the potential of light calorimetry in liquid argon time projection chambers and its intrinsic self compensation properties, emphasizing its advantages alongside conventional charge calorimetry. Previous studies have demonstrated that light calorimetry can achieve energy resolution comparable to advanced charge based techniques, particularly for GeV scale neutrinos. In this work, we explore the complementarity of light calorimetry with charge calorimetry for precision measurements of key physics parameters in the DUNE, including CP violation (CPV) and mass hierarchy determination. While charge calorimetry provides superior resolution in CP phase measurements, light calorimetry independently offers significant insights into CPV and mass hierarchy sensitivities. Furthermore, our exposure versus CPV sensitivity studies indicate that the $5\sigma$ discovery potential is reached faster using light and charge calorimetry than with the traditional TDR based reconstruction methods. These findings highlight the promising role of light calorimetry as a simple yet effective reconstruction method, serving as a complementary approach to enhance the physics capabilities of DUNE.

    ↳ physics.ins-dethep-exhep-phPRD(2025)·2 citations
22. 22*

    Quantum energies of solitons with different topological charges

    N. Graham🇺🇸 · H. Weigel🇿🇦

    The vacuum polarization energy is the leading quantum correction to the classical energy of a soliton. We study this energy for two-component solitons in one space dimension as a function of the soliton's topological charge. We find that both the classical and the vacuum polarization energies are linear functions of the topological charge with a small offset. Because the combination of the classical and quantum offsets determines the binding energies, either all higher charge solitons are energetically bound or they are all unbound, depending on model parameters. This linearity persists even when the field configurations are very different from those of isolated solitons, and would not be apparent from an analysis of their bound state spectra alone.

    ↳ hep-thhep-phnucl-thPRD(2025)·1 citation
23. 23*

    Synthetic and cosmological axion hybridization: entangled photons, (HBT) and quantum beats

    Daniel Boyanovsky🇺🇸

    In this article it is argued that synthetic axions, emergent collective excitations in topological insulators or Weyl semimetals hybridize with the cosmological axion, a compelling dark matter candidate via a common two photon decay channel since they both couple to electromagnetic fields via a Chern-Simons term. We point out an analogy to a V-type three level system with the two upper levels identified with the synthetic and cosmological axions decaying into a two-photon state. The Weisskopf-Wigner theory of spontaneous decay in multi level atoms is complemented and extended to describe the dynamics of hybridization. The final two-photon state features both kinematic and polarization entanglement and displays quantum beats as a consequence of the interference between the decay paths. An initial population of either axion induces a population of the other via hybridization. Consequently, a dark matter axion condensate induces a condensate of the synthetic axion, albeit with small amplitude. We obtain a momentum and polarization resolved Hanbury- Brown Twiss (HBT) second order coherence describing coincident correlated two-photon detection. It exhibits quantum beats with a frequency given by the difference between the energies of the synthetic and cosmological axion and \emph{perhaps may be harnessed} to detect either type of axion excitations. The case of synthetic axions individually is obtained in the limit of vanishing coupling of the cosmological axion and features similar two-photon correlations. Hence second order (HBT) two-photon coherence \emph{may} provide an alternative detection mechanism for emergent condensed matter axionic collective excitations. Similarities and differences with parametrically down converted photons are discussed.

    ↳ cond-mat.othercond-mat.mes-hallhep-phhep-th+1PRResearch(2025)·2 citations
24. 24*

    Preference for evolving dark energy in light of the galaxy bispectrum

    Zhiyu Lu🇨🇳 · Théo Simon🇫🇷 · Pierre Zhang🇨🇭

    We analyse pre-DESI clustering data using a dark energy equation of state $w(z)$ parametrised by $(w_0,w_a)$, finding a $2.8-3.9\sigma$ preference for evolving dark energy over the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ when combined with cosmic microwave background data from \textit{Planck} and supernova data from Pantheon+, Union3, or DESY5. Our constraints, consistent with DESI Y1 results, are derived from the power spectrum and bispectrum of SDSS/BOSS galaxies using the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structure (EFTofLSS) at one loop. The evidence, estimated as the Gaussian-equivalent significance from the $\Delta {\chi }^2$-statistics to $(w_0,w_a)=(-1,0)$ for two degrees of freedom, remains robust across analysis variations but disappears without the one-loop bispectrum. When combining DESI baryon acoustic oscillations with BOSS full-shape data, while marginalising over the sound horizon in the latter to partially mitigate potential correlations, the significance increases to $3.7-4.4\sigma$, depending on the supernova dataset. Using instead a data-driven reconstruction of $w(z)$, we show that deviations from $\Lambda$ can be observed at multiple redshifts, though at a low level of significance: only when imposing the specific parametrisation implied by $(w_0,w_a)$ the above evidence emerges. In addition, our findings are interpreted within the Effective Field Theory of Dark Energy (EFTofDE), from which we explicitly track the non-standard time evolution in EFTofLSS predictions. For perturbatively stable theories in the $w<-1$ regime, the preference for $w_0{w}_a$CDM persists notably in the clustering limit $(c_s^2\to 0)$ when higher-derivative corrections are present.

    ↳ astro-ph.COgr-qchep-phhep-th46 citations
25. 25*

    Superradiance of Friedberg-Lee-Sirlin Solitons

    Guo-Dong Zhang🇨🇳 · Cheng-Hao Li🇨🇳 · Qi-Xin Xie🇬🇧 · Shuang-Yong Zhou🇨🇳

    It has recently been pointed out that rotation in internal space can induce superradiance. We explore this effect in non-topological solitons of the two-field Friedberg-Lee-Sirlin model. This renormalizable model admits very large solitons, making the perturbative scattering equations highly sensitive to boundary conditions and requiring a relaxation method for their solution. We find that the energy extraction rate is strongly influenced by the mass hierarchy of the two scalars, and solitons with lower internal frequencies lead to more peaks in the spectra of the amplification factors. Additionally, we derive absolute bounds on the amplification factors for general ingoing modes using a linear fractional optimization algorithm and establish analytical bounds near the mass gap.

    ↳ hep-thgr-qchep-phPRD(2025)·2 citations
26. 26*

    Charge dependent directed flow splitting from baryon inhomogeneity and electromagnetic field

    Tribhuban Parida🇮🇳 · Sandeep Chatterjee🇮🇳 · Subhash Singha🇨🇳

    This work aims to understand the recent experimental data from the STAR collaboration on the system size dependence of directed flow splitting between oppositely charged hadrons [arXiv:2412.18326]. Previously, we have studied the role of baryon inhomogeneity on charge dependent directed flow. We now incorporate the effects of the electromagnetic (EM) field albeit perturbatively, as implemented in Ref. [arXiv:1806.05288]. This enables us to compare the relative contributions between baryon inhomogeneity and EM field on charge dependent directed flow. Our model calculation describes the experimental data on the centrality and system size dependence of the mid-rapidity directed flow slope splitting, $\Delta d{v}_1/dy$, between protons and anti-protons. Our results indicate that in central collisions, where the EM field strength is negligible, the inclusion of EM field effects does not influence the splitting between protons and anti-protons. This suggests that the observed system size dependence of $\Delta d{v}_1/dy(p-\bar{p})$ in central collisions arises solely from enhanced baryon stopping in larger collision systems. However, in semi-central and peripheral collisions, both baryon diffusion and EM field effects contribute to the splitting. Furthermore, the centrality dependence of $\Delta d{v}_1/dy(p-\bar{p})$ is highly sensitive to the electrical conductivity of the medium, making it a potential probe for extracting this transport coefficient in the QCD medium through model-to-data comparisons. However, achieving this requires a precise determination of the background baseline originating from baryon diffusion. Additionally, further investigation is needed to understand $\Delta d{v}_1/dy$ for oppositely charged kaons and pions, particularly by incorporating the diffusion of other conserved charges.

    ↳ nucl-thhep-exhep-phnucl-ex7 citations
27. 27*

    Abundance and properties of dark radiation from the cosmic microwave background

    Murali M. Saravanan🇺🇸 · Thejs Brinckmann🇮🇹 · Marilena Loverde🇺🇸 · Zachary J. Weiner🇺🇸

    We study the cosmological signatures of new light relics that are collisionless like standard neutrinos or are strongly interacting. We provide a simple and succinct rephrasing of their physical effects in the cosmic microwave background, as well as the resulting parameter degeneracies with other cosmological parameters, in terms of the total radiation abundance and the fraction thereof that freely streams. In these more general terms, interacting and noninteracting light relics are differentiated by their respective decrease and increase of the free-streaming fraction, and, moreover, the scale-dependent interplay thereof with a common, correlated reduction of the fraction of matter in baryons. We then derive updated constraints on various dark-radiation scenarios with the latest cosmological observations, employing this language to identify the physical origin of the impact of each dataset. The "PR4" reanalyses of Planck CMB data prefer a larger primordial helium yield and therefore also slightly more radiation than the 2018 analysis; we investigate the differences between the two releases that drives these shifts. Smaller free-streaming fractions are disfavored by the excess lensing of the CMB measured in lensing reconstruction data from Planck and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. On the other hand, baryon acoustic oscillation measurements from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument drive marginal detections of new, strongly interacting light relics due to that data's preference for lower matter fractions. Finally, we forecast measurements from the CMB-S4 experiment.

    ↳ astro-ph.COhep-phJCAP(2025)·18 citations
28. 28*

    Modular Fluctuations in Cosmology

    Lars Aalsma🇺🇸 · Sang-Eon Bak🇺🇸

    Verlinde and Zurek (VZ) have proposed that quantum gravity fluctuations in causal diamonds lead to observable effects. In particular, they argued that in quantum gravity causal diamonds have an uncertainty in their size that scales as $\delta L\sim \sqrt{{\ell }_{p}L}$, i.e. fluctuations are enhanced from the Planck scale. In this work, we explore the origin of the VZ scaling by studying scalar perturbations in inflationary cosmology. We reinterpret these cosmological perturbations as fluctuations of the modular Hamiltonian associated with a causal diamond, establishing a connection between modular fluctuations and observable primordial perturbations. Independent of assumptions about the modular Hamiltonian or the background spacetime, our results show that -- whenever an (effective) spherically symmetric perturbation is quantized -- it can lead to the VZ scaling. However, whether such a mode exists in the vacuum of any theory of quantum gravity remains an open question.

    ↳ hep-thgr-qchep-phPRD(2025)·9 citations
29. 29*

    Observational constraints on generalised axion-like potentials for the late Universe

    Hsu-Wen Chiang🇨🇳 · Carlos G. Boiza🇪🇸 · Mariam Bouhmadi-López🇪🇸

    Axions have emerged as compelling candidates for describing the dark sector of the Universe. In this work, we explore quintessence models inspired by axion-like potentials as a dynamical alternative to the cosmological constant. These models naturally exhibit a tracking behaviour, reducing the need for fine-tuned initial conditions. We perform a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis on a complete cosmological dataset of Planck PR4 cosmic microwave background (CMB), DESI DR1 baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), Pantheon+ type Ia supernovae, low-$z$ Cepheid anchors, and DES Y1 large scale structure measurement. Unfortunately, neither the Hubble tension nor the $S_8$ tension is eased. The model does reach parity with $\Lambda$CDM model statistically according to DIC, WAIC and Bayesian ratio, suggesting that a quintessence model may still help with the cosmic tension by further extending the model we have investigated.

    ↳ astro-ph.COgr-qchep-phhep-thJCAP(2025)·12 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.