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At least 685 records · Page 38

TwInflation

The general structure of Hybrid Inflation remains a very well-motivated mechanism for lower-scale cosmic inflation in the face of improving constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. However, as originally modeled, the “waterfall” field in this mechanism gives rise to a hierarchy problem (η–problem) for the inflaton after demanding standard effective field theory (EFT) control. We modify the hybrid mechanism and incorporate a discrete “twin” symmetry, thereby yielding a viable, natural and EFT-controlled model of non-supersymmetric low-scale inflation, “Twinflation”. Analogously to Twin Higgs models, the discrete exchange-symmetry with a “twin” sector reduces quadratic sensitivity in the inflationary potential to ultra-violet physics, at the root of the hierarchy problem. The observed phase of inflation takes place on a hilltop-like potential but without fine-tuning of the initial inflaton position in field-space. We also show that all parameters of the model can take natural values, below any associated EFT-cutoff mass scales and field values, thus ensuring straightforward theoretical control. We discuss the basic phenomenological considerations and constraints, as well as possible future directions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Conditional analysis of temperature and strain rate effects on dissipation structure in turbulent non-premixed jet flames

Here, this work presents results from simultaneous high-resolution temperature and velocity measurements in a series of turbulent non-premixed jet flames. The filtered Rayleigh scattering (FRS)-based temperature measurements demonstrate sufficient signal-to-noise (SNR) and spatial resolution to estimate the smallest scalar length scales and accurately determine dissipation rate fields. A comprehensive set of conditional statistics are used to characterize the small-scale structure, including the dependence of dissipation layer widths on Reynolds number, temperature, and dissipation magnitude. In general, the dissipation layer thickness decrease with increasing Reynolds number and increase with increasing temperature. However, dissipation layer widths show two distinct behaviors with respect to dissipation magnitude. For small dissipation values, increases in magnitude results in broadening of the dissipation layer, while for larger magnitude values of dissipation, the layer widths are thinned, highlighting the complexity of small-scale turbulent mixing. Additionally, measured ratios of the dissipation layer width to the Batchelor length scale are consistent across all Reynolds numbers and agree with previous studies in non-reacting flows. The unique aspect about the current set of measurements is the ability to examine the interaction of dissipation structure with turbulent flow parameters for the first time in turbulent non-premixed flames. Particularly, the strain rate/dissipation relationship is examined and compared to previous studies in non-reacting flows. It is found that the dissipation layers tend to align normal to the principal compressive strain axis and this tendency increases with increasing Reynolds number. For the lowest Reynolds number case, no dependence of the dissipation layer width nor dissipation rate magnitude on strain rate is found. However, for higher Reynolds numbers, a strong dependence of the dissipation layer width and dissipation rate magnitude on the principal compressive strain rate is observed. These results indicate the direct role of the compressive strain rate field on small-scale mixing structure in reacting flows.

42 ENGINEERING↗

First Search for Exclusive Diphoton Production at High Mass with Tagged Protons in Proton-Proton Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$

A search for exclusive two-photon production via photon exchange in proton-proton collisions, pp $\to$ p$\gamma\gamma$p with intact protons, is presented. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 9.4 fb$^{-1}$ collected in 2016 using the CMS and TOTEM detectors at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the LHC. Events are selected with a diphoton invariant mass above 350 GeV and with both protons intact in the final state, to reduce backgrounds from strong interactions. The events of interest are those where the invariant mass and rapidity calculated from the momentum losses of the forward-moving protons matches the mass and rapidity of the central, two-photon system. No events are found that satisfy this condition. Interpreting this result in an effective dimension-8 extension of the standard model, the first limits are set on the two anomalous four-photon coupling parameters. If the other parameter is constrained to its standard model value, the limits at 95% CL are $\lvert\zeta_1\rvert$ $\lt$ 2.9 $\times$ 10$^{-13}$ GeV$^{-4}$ and $\lvert\zeta_2\rvert$ $\lt$ 6.0 $\times$ 10$^{-13}$ GeV$^{-4}$.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

On electromagnetic field problems in inhomogeneous media

Analysis of electromagnetic fields in inhomogeneous media is of practical interest in general scattering and propagation problems and in the study of lenses. For certain types of inhomogeneities, the fields may be represented in terms of two scalars. In a general orthogonal coordinate system, these potentials satisfy second order differential equations. Exact solutions of these equations are known only for a few particular cases and in general, an approximate or numerical technique must be employed. The present work reviews and generalizes some of the main methods of attack of the problem. The results are presented in a form appropriate for numerical computation.

Mohsen, A.↗

About the coupling of turbulence closure models with averaged Navier-Stokes equations

The MacCormack implicit predictor-corrector model (1981) for numerical solution of the coupled Navier-Stokes equations for turbulent flows is extended to nonconservative multiequation turbulence models, as well as the inclusion of second-order Reynolds stress turbulence closure. A scalar effective pressure turbulent contribution to the pressure field is defined to approximate the effects of the Reynolds stress in strongly sheared flows. The Jacobian matrices of the transport equations are diagonalized to reduce the required computer memory and run time. Techniques are defined for including turbulence in the diagonalization. Application of the method is demonstrated with solutions generated for transonic nozzle flow and for the interaction between a supersonic flat plate boundary layer and a 12 deg compression-expansion ramp.

Vandromme, D.↗

The importance of properties in modeling

Casting and welding of superalloys, stainless steel and titanium alloys are processes which can be improved through modeling of heat flow, fluid flow, residual stress development, and microstructural evolution. These simulations require inputs of thermophysical data, some of which involves the partially or totally liquid state. In particular, these processes involve melting, flow in the liquid, and solidification. Modeling of such processes can lead to an improved understanding of defects such as shrinkage, inclusions, cracks, incomplete filling (or penetration), macrosegregation, improper grain structure, and deviations from dimensional specifications. Effective modeling can shorten process development time and improve quality. An approach to these problems is to develop efficient models; validate through correlations with thermal, distortion, and microstructural data; run parametric studies; extract knowledge based rules; and apply to adaptive closed loop control systems. With the appropriate pre- and post-processing, such analyses can be made 'user friendly'. This would include graphical user interfaces as well as realistic images and color maps. In such form, these models can be used for sensitivity analyses, which are useful in defining appropriate sensors and in the development of control strategies. Such modeling can be done at several levels, e.g., the MARO level, modeling large scale phenomena such as heat and fluid flow or material deformation; the MICRO level, modeling the development of dendrites, grains or precipitates; or at the NANO level, modeling point defects, dislocations, stacking faults, etc. There are many computational issues associated with these simulations, e.g. computational efficiency and accuracy. In addition, there are many materials issues, not the least of which is the availability of accurate high temperature thermophysical data for complex alloys. This would include latent heat of fusion, temperature dependent heat capacity and thermal conductivity (for liquid and solid), viscosity, surface tension, thermal expansion, mechanical properties, etc. Preliminary data is frequently gathered from the literature; however, this is often not available for modern alloys. If additional data are required, measurements can be used; however, these are costly, time consuming and can be erroneous due to a lack of testing standards or impure materials. Microstructural predictors can be extracted from thermal information, e.g. cooling rate and thermal gradient; the prediction of microstructure is dependent on solidus and liquidus temperature, mushy zone permeability, the solidification curve, volume changes, phase transformations, alloying effects (such as surface tension or viscosity), mold/metal reactions, metal/environment reactions, etc. Defect maps may be needed to predict the onset of shrinkage, hot cracking or 'freckling'. Constants may be needed for stress relaxation, dendrite coarsening, vaporization, etc. Visualization was used as a tool to better comprehend complex data sets associated with the analysis of directional solidification (including crystal growth) and welding. Examples include not only isotherms, but also cooling rate, growth rate and thermal gradient. The latter two are not single valued scalars, but rather time and space dependent vector fields. Efficient models were developed for both casting and welding to predict heat flow and the relationship to dendrite and grain growth. These codes include many of the non-linear effects, e.g. radiation, which dominate these processes. The home-built FDM code(s) were designed to be useful not only to the scientist, but also to the process engineer. Special output can be requested to compare directly to experimental data. Visualization procedures were developed to visualize critical results, e.g. fusion zone width at the surface opposite that where the arc is applied ('penetration'). Both elaborate and simplified distortion analyses were carried out. It is clear that extensive mechanical property data are critical in order to accurately predict residual stress patterns. A scheme is currently being developed to integrate these modeling tools into a set of control algorithms; however, the success of this approach is critically dependent on the availability of accurate high temperature thermophysical data.

Giamei, A. F.↗

Covariant color-kinematics duality

We show that color-kinematics duality is a manifest property of the equations of motion governing currents and field strengths. For the nonlinear sigma model (NLSM), this insight enables an implementation of the double copy at the level of fields, as well as an explicit construction of the kinematic algebra and associated kinematic current. As a byproduct, we also derive new formulations of the special Galileon (SG) and Born-Infeld (BI) theory. For Yang-Mills (YM) theory, this same approach reveals a novel structure — covariant color-kinematics duality — whose only difference from the conventional duality is that 1/$\square$ is replaced with covariant 1/D 2 . Remarkably, this structure implies that YM theory is itself the covariant double copy of gauged biadjoint scalar (GBAS) theory and an F 3 theory of field strengths encoding a corresponding kinematic algebra and current. Directly applying the double copy to equations of motion, we derive general relativity (GR) from the product of Einstein-YM and F 3 theory. This exercise reveals a trivial variant of the classical double copy that recasts any solution of GR as a solution of YM theory in a curved background. Covariant color-kinematics duality also implies a new decomposition of tree-level amplitudes in YM theory into those of GBAS theory. Using this representation we derive a closed-form, analytic expression for all BCJ numerators in YM theory and the NLSM for any number of particles in any spacetime dimension. By virtue of the double copy, this constitutes an explicit formula for all tree-level scattering amplitudes in YM, GR, NLSM, SG, and BI.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Spectral evidence for stirring scales and two-dimensional turbulence in the auroral ionosphere

Electric field power spectra from two auroral sounding rocket flights show evidence of a distinct scale size regime for injection of energy into the auroral oval. The signature of this process is a broad plateau in the spectrum, with power law dependences at both shorter and longer scale sizes. We argue that the spectral properties at high k are dominated by processes occurring near the edges of inverted-V electron precipitation regions (auroral arcs). We see no compelling reason to conclude that a linear local plasma instability is occurring but rather, that nonlinear mixing and forward cascade yield the observed velocity field. The spectra of simultaneously observed density irregularities are quite different from those of the electric field, implying that the plasma density does not behave as a passive scalar in the auroral zone during active conditions. At low-k values we show that the rocket spectra are consistent with the power spectra of magnetospheric electric fields measured by the DE, AE-C, and Hilat stallites.

Earle, G. D.↗

${\tt Warm}$SPy: a numerical study of cosmological perturbations in warm inflation

We present ${\tt Warm}$SPy, a numerical code in Python designed to solve for the perturbations' equations in warm inflation models and compute the corresponding scalar power spectrum at CMB horizon crossing. In models of warm inflation, a radiation bath of temperature T during inflation induces a dissipation (friction) rate of strength Q ∝ T c /Φ m in the equation of motion for the inflaton field Φ. While for a temperature-independent dissipation rate (c = 0) an analytic expression for the scalar power spectrum exists, in the case of a non-zero value for c the set of equations can only be solved numerically. For c > 0 (c < 0), the coupling between the perturbations in the inflaton field and radiation induces a growing (decaying) mode in the scalar perturbations, generally parameterized by a multiplicative function G(Q) which we refer to as the scalar dissipation function. Using ${\tt Warm}$SPy, we provide an analytic fit for G(Q) for the cases of c = {3,1,-1}, corresponding to three cases that have been realized in physical models. Compared to previous literature results, our fits are more robust and valid over a broader range of dissipation strengths Q ϵ [10 -7 ,10 4 ]. Additionally, for the first time, we numerically assess the stability of the scalar dissipation function against various model parameters, inflationary histories as well as the effects of metric perturbations. As a whole, the results do not depend appreciably on most of the parameters in the analysis, except for the dissipation index c, providing evidence for the universal behaviour of the scalar dissipation function G(Q).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Scalar and tensor neutrino interactions

We constrain general Dirac neutrino interactions based on the Standard Model Effective Field Theory framework extended with right-handed neutrinos N (SMNEFT) using deep inelastic and coherent elastic neutrino scattering, nuclear beta decay, and meson decay data, and high energy electron-proton and proton-proton collider data. We compute the one-loop anomalous dimensions of the low-energy effective field theory (LEFT) below the electroweak scale and of SMNEFT above the electroweak scale. The tree-level matching between LEFT and SMNEFT is performed at the electroweak scale. Currently, the most stringent limits on scalar and tensor interactions arise from pseudoscalar meson decays and the LHC measurements at the per mille level. In the future, the upcoming High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) has the potential to reach the 10 -4 level and LHeC can play an important role under certain theoretical assumptions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

AdS Higgs mechanism from double trace deformed CFT

Explicit breaking of a global symmetry in a conformal field theory is holographically dual to giving mass to a gauge field living in AdS via the Higgs mechanism. We show that if this breaking is induced via a double trace deformation the Higgs mechanism is induced via a scalar loop diagram. The mass can be calculated analytically in both bulk and field theory and we find perfect agreement. While representing familiar physics, the mechanism is identical to how the graviton picks up a mass in the holographic dual of a conformal field theory coupled to a bath.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Orsted Initial Field Model

Magnetic measurements taken by the Orsted satellite during geomagnetic quiet conditions around January 1, 2000 have been used to derive a spherical harmonic model of the Earth's magnetic field for epoch 2000.0. The maximum degree and order of the model is 19 for internal, and 2 for external, source fields; however, coefficients above degree 14 may not be robust. Such detailed models exist for only one previous epoch, 1980. Achieved rms misfit is 2 nT for the scalar intensity and 4 nT for the vector components perpendicular to the magnetic field. This model is of higher detail than the IGRF 2000, which for scientific purposes related to the Orsted mission it supersedes.

Olsen, N.↗

Improved visualization of flow field measurements

A capability is proposed that makes it feasible to apply to measured flow field data the visualization tools developed to display numerical solutions for computational fluid dynamic problems. The measurement monitor surface (MMS) methodology was used for the analysis of flow field measurements within a low-aspect-ratio transonic axial-flow fan rotor acquired with two-dimensional laser anemometry. It is shown that the MMS method may be utilized to generate input for the multidimensional processing and analytical tools developed for numerical flow field simulation data. Thus an experimenter utilizing an interactive graphics program could illustrate scalar quantities such as Mach number by profiles, contour lines, carpet plots, and surfaces employing various color intensities. Also, flow directionality can be shown by the display of vector fields and particle traces.

Miles, Jeffrey Hilton↗

Forbidden scalar dark matter and dark Higgses

As experimental searches for WIMP dark matter continue to yield null results, models beyond the WIMP paradigm have proliferated in order to elude ever improving observational constraints, among them that of sub-GeV dark matter mediated by a massive vector portal (a dark photon) associated with a new dark U(1) gauge symmetry. It has been previously noted that for a significant range of the parameter space of this class of models, the annihilation of dark matter particles into a pair of dark photons can dominate the freeze-out process even when this process is kinematically forbidden for dark matter at rest — this is known as the “forbidden dark matter” (FDM) regime. Prior studies of this regime, however, assume that any “dark Higgs” associated with breaking the dark U(1) and imparting mass to the dark photon is decoupled from the dark matter and as such plays no role in the freeze-out process. In this paper, we explore the effects of a dark Higgs on sub-GeV dark matter phenomenology in this FDM regime by considering the simplest possible construction in which there exist non-trivial dark matter-dark Higgs couplings: a model with a single complex scalar DM candidate coupled directly to the dark Higgs field. We find that for a wide range of parameter space, the dark Higgs can alter the resulting relic abundance by many orders of magnitude, and that this effect can remain significant even for a small dark matter-dark Higgs coupling constant. Considering measurements from direct detection and measurements of the CMB, we further find that points in this model’s parameter space which recreate the appropriate dark matter relic abundance suffer only mild constraints from other sources at present, but may become accessible in near-future direct detection experiments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The cosmological bootstrap: weight-shifting operators and scalar seeds

A key insight of the bootstrap approach to cosmological correlations is the fact that all correlators of slow-roll inflation can be reduced to a unique building block - the four-point function of conformally coupled scalars, arising from the exchange of a massive scalar. Correlators corresponding to the exchange of particles with spin are then obtained by applying a spin-raising operator to the scalar-exchange solution. Similarly, the correlators of massless external fields can be derived by acting with a suitable weight-raising operator. In this paper, we present a systematic and highly streamlined derivation of these operators (and their generalizations) using tools of conformal field theory. Our results greatly simplify the theoretical foundations of the cosmological bootstrap program.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗