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At least 379 records · Page 21

Baryogenesis at a lepton-number-breaking phase transition

We study a scenario in which the baryon asymmetry of the universe arises from a cosmological phase transition where lepton-number is spontaneously broken. If the phase transition is first order, a lepton-number asymmetry can arise at the bubble wall, through dynamics similar to electroweak baryogenesis, but involving right-handed neutrinos. In addition to the usual neutrinoless double beta decay in nuclear experiments, the model may be probed through a variety of “baryogenesis by-products”, which include a stochastic background of gravitational waves created by the colliding bubbles. Depending on the model, other aspects may include a network of topological defects that produce their own gravitational waves, additional contribution to dark radiation, and a light pseudo-Goldstone boson (majoron) as dark matter candidate.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Observation of $t\overline{t}$ production in the lepton+jets and dilepton channels in p+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}}$ = 8.16 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports the observation of top-quark pair production in proton-lead collisions in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is performed using 165 nb -1 of p+Pb data collected at $\sqrt{^sNN}$ = 8.16 TeV in 2016. Events are categorised in two analysis channels, consisting of either events with exactly one lepton (electron or muon) and at least four jets, or events with two opposite-charge leptons and at least two jets. In both channels at least one b-tagged jet is also required. Top-quark pair production is observed with a significance over five standard deviations in each channel. The top-quark pair production cross-section is measured to be σ $t\overline{t}$ =58.1 ± 2.0(stat.)$^{+4.8}_{-4.4}$(syst.) nb, with a total uncertainty of 9%. In addition, the nuclear modification factor is measured to be R pA = 1.090 ± 0.039(stat.)$^{+0.094}_{-0.087}$(syst.). The measurements are found to be in good agreement with theory predictions involving nuclear parton distribution functions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Gauged lepton flavour

The gauging of the lepton flavour group is considered in the Standard Model context and in its extension with three right-handed neutrinos. The anomaly cancellation conditions lead to a Seesaw mechanism as underlying dynamics for all leptons; in addition, it requires a phenomenologically viable setup which leads to Majorana masses for the neutral sector: the type I Seesaw Lagrangian in the Standard Model case and the inverse Seesaw in the extended model. Within the minimal extension of the scalar sector, the Yukawa couplings are promoted to scalar fields in the bifundamental of the flavour group. The resulting low-energy Yukawa couplings are proportional to inverse powers of the vacuum expectation values of those scalars; the protection against flavour changing neutral currents differs from that of Minimal Flavour Violation. In every case, the μ - τ flavour sector exhibits rich and promising phenomenological signals.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Neutrinoless double beta decay in chiral effective field theory: lepton number violation at dimension seven

Here, we analyze neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) within the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory. Apart from the dimension-five Weinberg operator, the first contributions appear at dimension seven. We classify the operators and evolve them to the electroweak scale, where we match them to effective dimension-six, -seven, and -nine operators. In the next step, after renormalization group evolution to the QCD scale, we construct the chiral Lagrangian arising from these operators. We then develop a power-counting scheme and derive the two-nucleon 0νββ currents up to leading order in the power counting for each lepton-number-violating operator. We argue that the leading-order contribution to the decay rate depends on a relatively small number of nuclear matrix elements. We test our power counting by comparing nuclear matrix elements obtained by various methods and by different groups. We find that the power counting works well for nuclear matrix elements calculated from a specific method, while, as in the case of light Majorana neutrino exchange, the overall magnitude of the matrix elements can differ by factors of two to three between methods. We also calculate the constraints that can be set on dimension-seven lepton-number-violating operators from 0νββ experiments and study the interplay between dimension-five and -seven operators, discussing how dimension-seven contributions affect the interpretation of 0νββ in terms of the effective Majorana mass m ββ .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for e → τ charged lepton flavor violation at the EIC with the ECCE detector

The recently approved Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) will provide a unique new opportunity for searches of charged lepton flavor violation (CLFV) and other new physics scenarios. In contrast to the e ↔ μ CLFV transition for which very stringent limits exist, there is still a relatively large discovery space for the e → τ CLFV transition, potentially to be explored by the EIC. Here, with the latest detector design of ECCE (EIC Comprehensive Chromodynamics Experiment) and projected integral luminosity of the EIC, we find the τ-leptons created in the DIS process ep → τX are expected to be identified with high efficiency. A first ECCE simulation study, restricted to the 3-prong τ-decay mode and with limited statistics for the Standard Model backgrounds, estimates that the EIC will be able to improve the current exclusion limit on e → τ CLFV by an order of magnitude. As a result, the very high vertex resolution of the ECCE detector configuration plays a critical role in τ identification.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Searches for lepton number violation and resonances in K ± → πμμ decays

The NA48/2 experiment at CERN collected a large sample of charged kaon decays to final states with multiple charged particles in 2003$-$2004. A new upper limit on the rate of the lepton number violating decay $K^{\pm}\to\pi^{\mp}\mu^{\pm}\mu^{\pm}$ is reported: $\mathcal{B}(K^{\pm}\to\pi^{\mp}\mu^{\pm}\mu^{\pm})<8.6 \times 10^{-11}$ at 90% CL. Searches for two-body resonances $X$ in $K^{\pm}\to\pi\mu\mu$ decays (such as heavy neutral leptons $N_4$ and inflatons $\chi$) are also presented. Finally, in the absence of signals, upper limits are set on the products of branching fractions $\mathcal{B}(K^{\pm}\to\mu^{\pm}N_4)\mathcal{B}(N_4\to\pi\mu)$ and $\mathcal{B}(K^{\pm}\to\pi^{\pm}X)\mathcal{B}(X\to\mu^+\mu^-)$ for ranges of assumed resonance masses and lifetimes. The limits are in the $(10^{-11},10^{-9})$ range for resonance lifetimes below 100 ps.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Baryogenesis via leptonic CP-violating phase transition

Here, we propose a new mechanism to generate a lepton asymmetry based on the vacuum CP-violating phase transition (CPPT). This approach differs from classical thermal leptogenesis as a specific seesaw model, and its UV completion, need not be specified. The lepton asymmetry is generated via the dynamically realised coupling of the Weinberg operator during the phase transition. This mechanism provides a connection with low-energy neutrino observables.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in final state with two bottom quarks and two tau leptons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

A search for the nonresonant production of Higgs boson pairs (HH ) via gluon-gluon and vector boson fusion processes in final states with two bottom quarks and two tau leptons is presented. The search uses data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb -1 . Events in which at least one tau lepton decays hadronically are considered and multiple machine learning techniques are used to identify and extract the signal. The data are found to be consistent, within uncertainties, with the standard model (SM) predictions. Upper limits on the HH production cross section are set to constrain the parameter space for anomalous Higgs boson couplings. The observed (expected) upper limit at 95% confidence level corresponds to 3.3 (5.2) times the SM prediction for the inclusive HH cross section and to 124 (154) times the SM prediction for the vector boson fusion HH cross section. At 95% confidence level, the Higgs field self-coupling is constrained to be within -1.7 and 8.7 times the SM expectation, and the coupling of two Higgs bosons to two vector bosons is constrained to be within -0.4 and 2.6 times the SM expectation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for pair-production of vector-like quarks in pp collision events at s = 13 TeV with at least one leptonically decaying Z boson and a third-generation quark with the ATLAS detector

Herein a search for the pair-production of vector-like quarks optimized for decays into a Z boson and a third-generation Standard Model quark is presented, using the full Run 2 dataset corresponding to 139fb –1 of pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13TeV, collected in 2015–2018 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The targeted final state is characterized by the presence of a Z boson with high transverse momentum, reconstructed from a pair of same-flavour leptons with opposite-sign charges, as well as by the presence of b-tagged jets and high-transverse-momentum large-radius jets reconstructed from calibrated smaller-radius jets. Events with exactly two or at least three leptons are used, which are further categorized by the presence of boosted W, Z, and Higgs bosons and top quarks. The categorization is performed using a neural-network-based boosted object tagger to enhance the sensitivity to signal relative to the background. No significant excess above the background expectation is observed and exclusion limits at 95% confidence level are set on the masses of the vector-like partners T and B of the top and bottom quarks, respectively. The limits depend on the branching ratio configurations and, in the case of 100% branching ratio for T→Zt and 100% branching ratio for B→Zb, this search sets the most stringent limits to date, allowing m T >1.60TeV and m B >1.42TeV, respectively.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for pair-production of vector-like quarks in lepton+jets final states containing at least one b -tagged jet using the Run 2 data from the ATLAS experiment

A search is presented for the pair-production of heavy vector-like quarks in the lepton+jets final state using 140 fb -1 of proton–proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector. The search is optimised for vector-like top-quarks (T) that decay into a W boson and a b-quark, with one W boson decaying leptonically and the other hadronically. Other vector-like quark flavours and decay modes are also considered. Events are selected with one high transverse-momentum electron or muon, large missing transverse momentum, a large-radius jet identified as a W boson, and multiple small-radius jets, at least one of which is b-tagged. Vector-like T-quarks with 100% branching ratio to Wb are excluded at 95% CL for masses below 1700 GeV. These limits are also applied to vector-like Y-quarks, which decay exclusively into a W boson and a b-quark. Isospin singlets with B(T→Wb:Ht:Zt)=1/2:1/4:1/4 are excluded for masses below 1360 GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Identification of hadronic tau lepton decays using a deep neural network

A new algorithm is presented to discriminate reconstructed hadronic decays of tau leptons ($\tau_\mathrm{h}$) that originate from genuine tau leptons in the CMS detector against $\tau_\mathrm{h}$ candidates that originate from quark or gluon jets, electrons, or muons. The algorithm inputs information from all reconstructed particles in the vicinity of a $\tau_\mathrm{h}$ candidate and employs a deep neural network with convolutional layers to efficiently process the inputs. This algorithm leads to a significantly improved performance compared with the previously used one. For example, the efficiency for a genuine $\tau_\mathrm{h}$ to pass the discriminator against jets increases by 10-30% for a given efficiency for quark and gluon jets. Furthermore, a more efficient $\tau_\mathrm{h}$ reconstruction is introduced that incorporates additional hadronic decay modes. The superior performance of the new algorithm to discriminate against jets, electrons, and muons and the improved $\tau_\mathrm{h}$ reconstruction method are validated with LHC proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Identification of tau leptons using a convolutional neural network with domain adaptation

A tau lepton identification algorithm,DeepTau, based on convolutional neural network techniques, has been developed in the CMS experiment to discriminate reconstructed hadronic decays of tau leptons (τ h ) from quark or gluon jets and electrons and muons that are misreconstructed as τ h candidates. The latest version of this algorithm, v2.5, includes domain adaptation by backpropagation, a technique that reduces discrepancies between collision data and simulation in the region with the highest purity of genuine τh candidates. Additionally, a refined training workflow improves classification performance with respect to the previous version of the algorithm, with a reduction of 30–50% in the probability for quark and gluon jets to be misidentified as τ h candidates for given reconstruction and identification efficiencies. This paper presents the novel improvements introduced in theDeepTau algorithm and evaluates its performance in LHC proton-proton collision data at √(s) = 13 and 13.6 TeV collected in 2018 and 2022 with integrated luminosities of 60 and 35 fb -1 , respectively. Techniques to calibrate the performance of the τ h identification algorithm in simulation with respect to its measured performance in real data are presented, together with a subset of results among those measured for use in CMS physics analyses.

Large detector-systems performance↗

Search for charged lepton flavor violating 𝑍 and 𝑍′ boson decays in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

A search for flavor violating decays of the 𝑍 boson to charged leptons is performed using data from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ =13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1 . Each of the decays 𝑍 → 𝑒⁢𝜇, 𝑍 → 𝑒⁢𝜏, and 𝑍 → 𝜇⁢𝜏 is considered. The data are consistent with the backgrounds expected from standard model processes. For the 𝑍 → 𝑒⁢𝜇 channel the observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limit on the branching fraction is 1.9⁢(2.0) × 10 −7 , which is the most stringent direct limit to date on this process; the corresponding limits for the 𝑍 → 𝑒⁢𝜏 and 𝑍 → 𝜇⁢𝜏 channels are 13.8⁢(11.4) × 10 −6 and 12.0⁢(5.3) × 10 −6 , respectively. Additionally, the 𝑒⁢𝜇 final state is used to search for lepton flavor violating decays of 𝑍′ resonances in the mass range from 110 to 500 GeV. No significant excess is observed above the predicted background levels.

Hayrapetyan, A. [Yerevan Physics Institute]↗

Composite quarks and leptons with embedded QCD

We construct a model of quark and lepton compositeness based on an 𝑆⁢𝑈⁡(15) gauge interaction that confines chiral preons, which are also charged under the weakly coupled 𝑆⁢𝑈⁢(4) PS ×𝑆⁢𝑈⁢(2) 𝐿 ×𝑆⁢𝑈⁢(2) 𝑅 gauge group. The breaking of the latter, down to the Standard Model group, is achieved by scalar 𝑆⁢𝑈⁡(15) bound states at a scale in the 30–100 TeV range. The embedding of the QCD gauge group in 𝑆⁢𝑈⁢(4) PS slows down the running of 𝛼 𝑠 in the UV. We estimate the effects of the strongly coupled 𝑆⁢𝑈⁡(15) dynamics on the running of the 𝑆⁢𝑈⁢(4) PS ×𝑆⁢𝑈⁢(2) 𝐿 ×𝑆⁢𝑈⁢(2) 𝑅 gauge couplings, which likely remain perturbative beyond the compositeness scale of about 10 3 –10 4 TeV, and even above a unification scale. A composite vectorlike lepton doublet acquires a mass in the TeV range probed at future colliders, and an extended Higgs sector arises from six-preon bound states.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Nonconservation of Lepton Numbers in the Neutrino Sector Could Change the Prospects for Core Collapse Supernova Explosions

We show that interactions violating the conservation of lepton numbers in the neutrino sector could significantly alter the standard low entropy picture for the presupernova collapsing core of a massive star. A rapid neutrino-antineutrino equilibration leads to entropy generation and enhanced electron capture and, hence, a lower electron fraction than in the standard model. This would affect the downstream core evolution, the prospects for a supernova explosion, and the emergent neutrino signal. If realized by lepton-number-violating neutrino self-interactions (LNV 𝜈⁢SI), the relevant mediator mass and coupling ranges can be probed by future accelerator-based experiments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Electron capture of superheavy nuclei with realistic lepton wave functions

The superheavy nuclei push the periodic table of the elements and the chart of the nuclides to their limits, providing a unique laboratory for studies of the electron-nucleus interactions. The most important weak decay mode in known superheavy nuclei is electron capture (EC). In the standard calculations of EC, the lepton wave functions are usually considered in the lowest-order approximation. In this work, we investigate the sensitivity of EC rates on the choice of the electron wave functions by (i) assuming the single-particle approximation for the electron wave functions, and (ii) carrying out Dirac-Hartree-Fock (DHF) calculations. The nuclear response is generated based on the state-of-the-art quasiparticle random phase approximation employing relativistic nuclear energy density functional theory. Here, we show that using the improved lepton wave functions reduces the EC rates up to 40% in the superheavy nucleus oganesson (𝑍=118). Interestingly, because of screening effects, the difference between the EC rates obtained with the DHF and single-particle calculations is fairly small.

Atomic orbital↗

Measurement of lepton universality parameters in B + → K + ℓ + ℓ – and B 0 → K* 0 ℓ + ℓ – decays

A simultaneous analysis of the B + → K + ℓ + ℓ – and B 0 → K* 0 ℓ + ℓ – decays is performed to test muon-electron universality in two ranges of the square of the dilepton invariant mass, q 2 . The measurement uses a sample of beauty meson decays produced in proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector between 2011 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb –1 . A sequence of multivariate selections and strict particle identification requirements produce a higher signal purity and a better statistical sensitivity per unit luminosity than previous LHCb lepton universality tests using the same decay modes. Residual backgrounds due to misidentified hadronic decays are studied using data and included in the fit model. Each of the four lepton universality measurements reported is either the first in the given q 2 interval or supersedes previous LHCb measurements. The results are compatible with the predictions of the Standard Model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Finite naturalness and quark-lepton unification

We study the implications of finite naturalness in Pati-Salam models where SU⁢(3)C is embedded in SU(4). For the minimal realization at low scale of quark-lepton unification, which employs the inverse seesaw for neutrino masses, we find that radiative corrections to the Higgs boson mass are at least δm$^{2}_{ℎ}$/m$^{2}_{ℎ}$ ~O⁡(104). The one-loop contributions to the Higgs mass are suppressed by four powers of the hypercharge gauge coupling. We find that for the vector leptoquarks the naively leading part of the two-loop corrections cancel. We assume the Dirac Yukawa couplings for neutrinos are equal to the up-type quark Yukawa couplings as predicted in the minimal theory for quark-lepton unification. Despite these findings, the two-loop corrections still dominate the finite naturalness bound. We mention a way to relax the lower bound on the vector leptoquark mass and have δm$^{2}_{ℎ}$/m$^{2}_{ℎ}$ ~O⁡(10 2 ).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗