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At least 829 records · Page 46

Baryonic Higgs and dark matter

We discuss the correlation between dark matter and Higgs decays in gauge theories where the dark matter is predicted from anomaly cancellation. In these theories, the Higgs responsible for the breaking of the gauge symmetry generates the mass for the dark matter candidate. We investigate the Higgs decays in the minimal gauge theory for Baryon number. After imposing the dark matter density and direct detection constraints, we find that the new Higgs can have a large branching ratio into two photons or into dark matter. Furthermore, we discuss the production channels and the unique signatures at the Large Hadron Collider.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Combination of searches for heavy spin-1 resonances using 139 fb -1 of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A combination of searches for new heavy spin-1 resonances decaying into different pairings of W, Z, or Higgs bosons, as well as directly into leptons or quarks, is presented. The data sample used corresponds to 139 fb -1 of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected during 2015–2018 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Analyses selecting quark pairs (qq, bb, $t\overline{t}$, and tb) or third-generation leptons (τν and ττ) are included in this kind of combination for the first time. A simplified model predicting a spin-1 heavy vector-boson triplet is used. Cross-section limits are set at the 95% confidence level and are compared with predictions for the benchmark model. These limits are also expressed in terms of constraints on couplings of the heavy vector-boson triplet to quarks, leptons, and the Higgs boson. The complementarity of the various analyses increases the sensitivity to new physics, and the resulting constraints are stronger than those from any individual analysis considered. The data exclude a heavy vector-boson triplet with mass below 5.8 TeV in a weakly coupled scenario, below 4.4 TeV in a strongly coupled scenario, and up to 1.5 TeV in the case of production via vector-boson fusion.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Searches for new phenomena in events with two leptons, jets, and missing transverse momentum in 139 fb –1 of √s = 13 TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector

Searches for new phenomena inspired by supersymmetry in final states containing an e + e – or μ + μ – pair, jets, and missing transverse momentum are presented. These searches make use of proton–proton collision data with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb –1 , collected during 2015–2018 at a centre-of-mass energy √s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Two searches target the pair production of charginos and neutralinos. One uses the recursive-jigsaw reconstruction technique to follow up on excesses observed in 36.1 fb –1 of data, and the other uses conventional event variables. The third search targets pair production of coloured supersymmetric particles (squarks or gluinos) decaying through the next-to-lightest neutralino ($\tilde{χ}$$^{0}_{2}$) via a slepton ($\tilde{ℓ}$) or Z boson into ℓ + ℓ – $\tilde{χ}$$^{0}_{1}$ , resulting in a kinematic endpoint or peak in the dilepton invariant mass spectrum. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectations. Results are interpreted using simplified models and exclude masses up to 900 GeV for electroweakinos, 1550 GeV for squarks, and 2250 GeV for gluinos.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Observation of seasonal variations of the flux of high-energy atmospheric neutrinos with IceCube

Atmospheric muon neutrinos are produced by meson decays in cosmic-ray-induced air showers. The flux depends on meteorological quantities such as the air temperature, which affects the density of air. Competition between decay and re-interaction of those mesons in the first particle production generations gives rise to a higher neutrino flux when the air density in the stratosphere is lower, corresponding to a higher temperature. A measurement of a temperature dependence of the atmospheric νμ flux provides a novel method for constraining hadronic interaction models of air showers. It is particularly sensitive to the production of kaons. Studying this temperature dependence for the first time requires a large sample of high-energy neutrinos as well as a detailed understanding of atmospheric properties. We report the significant (> 10 σ) observation of a correlation between the rate of more than 260,000 neutrinos, detected by IceCube between 2012 and 2018, and atmospheric tem peratures of the stratosphere, measured by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA’s AQUA satellite. For the observed 10% seasonal change of effective atmospheric temperature we measure a 3.5(3)% change in the muon neutrino flux. This observed correlation deviates by about 2-3 standard deviations from the expected correla tion of 4.3% as obtained from theoretical predictions under the assumption of various hadronic interaction models.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A search for heavy Higgs bosons decaying into vector bosons in same-sign two-lepton final states in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy Higgs bosons produced in association with a vector boson and decaying into a pair of vector bosons is performed in final states with two leptons (electrons or muons) of the same electric charge, missing transverse momentum and jets. A data sample of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018 is used. The data correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 139 fb –1 . The observed data are in agreement with Standard Model background expectations. The results are interpreted using higher-dimensional operators in an effective field theory. Upper limits on the production cross-section are calculated at 95% confidence level as a function of the heavy Higgs boson’s mass and coupling strengths to vector bosons. Limits are set in the Higgs boson mass range from 300 to 1500 GeV, and depend on the assumed couplings. The highest excluded mass for a heavy Higgs boson with the coupling combinations explored is 900 GeV. Limits on coupling strengths are also provided.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Modern Muon Physics: Selected Issues

The muon was discovered almost hundred years ago, but still remains largely a mystery. For a long time, the only difference between a muon and an electron was the approximately 200 times greater mass of the muon. However, with the later discovery of the charm quantum number, the muon played a decisive role in the formulation of the Standard Model of elementary particles, determining together with muon neutrino and the strange s and the charm c quarks the second generation of particles of this model. The equality of the reaction constant of muon decay with the constant of the vector interaction of beta-decay played a decisive role in the formulation of the conservation of the vector current (CVC) of the weak interaction of elementary particles. Processes involving muons testified in favor of the partial conservation of the axial current of weak interaction (PCAC), that is, one pion exchange in the interaction of the lepton and hadron currents. It was the muon that gave a rise to hopes of creating an alternative energy source within the framework of Muon Catalyzed Fusion (μCF). The possible realization of this process in the future as the intensity of muon beams increases can revolutionired energy supply. Nuclear fission by muons and the study of heavy-nucleus mesoatoms introduced muon physics into several separate branches of physical research.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for leptophobic bosons decaying into µµ, b jets, and MET with the CMS experiment

The standard model (SM) lacks a description for dark matter, which is implied by astrophysical observations to exist but has not yet been detected directly. An extension of the SM to include a leptophobic Z’ boson allows for the production of stable weakly interacting particles that offer dark matter candidates. Signatures of this interaction that can be detected by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider are mumu, b jets, and MET. As part of a sensitivity study, an examination of Z’ boson kinematics in the low Z’ mass range is presented along with event reconstruction methods and comparisons to ttbar and Drell-Yan backgrounds.

Kong, Livia↗

Beyond standard model particles in the atmospheric flux: a long-lived stau example

We discuss fluxes of long-lived supersymmetric (SUSY) particles produced in the atmosphere from ultra-high energy cosmic-ray interactions with air nuclei. We consider long-lived particle production which proceeds first via the on-shell formation of heavier particles in the SUSY spectrum and then their decays. Specifically, we focus on the production of stau pairs from the decays of squarks produced in the initial cosmic ray-air collision under the purview of gauge-mediated symmetry breaking models that have the stau as the next-to-lightest SUSY particle. The calculation of the resulting stau flux schematically mirrors that of prompt atmospheric neutrino production, however, with the energy scale of initial hadronic collision set to EeV energy scales of the incident cosmic rays rather than the PeV energies where the prompt atmospheric neutrino fluxes dominate over neutrino fluxes from pions and kaons, and with the appropriate stau production cross section. We show the effect of accounting for the energy distribution of the staus relative to the squark energy distributions. We discuss the potential for future ultra-high energy detectors similar in scope to IceCube-Gen2 to detect atmospheric staus via tracks going through the detector volume. Current collider constraints on stau pair production within the SUSY framework considered here are more constraining than those from a detector like IceCube-Gen2 over ten years.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for pair production of scalar leptoquarks decaying into first- or second-generation leptons and top quarks in proton–proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for pair production of scalar leptoquarks, each decaying into either an electron or a muon and a top quark, is presented. This is the first leptoquark search using ATLAS data to investigate top-philic cross-generational couplings that could provide explanations for recently observed anomalies in B meson decays. This analysis targets high leptoquark masses which cause the decay products of each resultant top quark to be contained within a single high-p T large-radius jet. The full Run 2 dataset is exploited, consisting of 139 fb -1 of data collected from proton–proton collisions at √s=13 TeV from 2015 to 2018 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. In the absence of any significant deviation from the background expectation, lower limits on the leptoquark masses are set at 1480 GeV and 1470 GeV for the electron and muon channel, respectively.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for new phenomena in events with two opposite-charge leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{\mathrm{s}} $ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of top squarks and for dark matter in events with two opposite-charge leptons (electrons or muons), jets and missing transverse momentum are reported, using 139 fb –1 of integrated luminosity from proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV, collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during Run 2 (2015–2018). This search considers the pair production of top squarks and is sensitive across a wide range of mass differences between the top squark and the lightest neutralino. Additionally, spin-0 mediator dark-matter models are considered, in which the mediator is produced in association with a pair of top quarks. The mediator subsequently decays to a pair of dark-matter particles. No significant excess of events is observed above the Standard Model background, and limits are set at 95% confidence level. The results exclude top squark masses up to about 1 TeV, and masses of the lightest neutralino up to about 500 GeV. Limits on dark-matter production are set for scalar (pseudoscalar) mediator masses up to about 250 (300) GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Progress Towards an Expanded Search for Neutral-Current Delta Radiative Decays in MicroBooNE

In this note, we present progress toward an expanded search for neutral current Delta radiative decays (NC $\Delta \rightarrow N\gamma$) in MicroBooNE. We present sensitivities for several tests of the MiniBooNE Low Energy Excess (LEE) under NC $\Delta \rightarrow N\gamma$ scaling hypotheses, with significantly enhanced sensitivity relative to previous tests. These selections can also be used for additional single photon searches in the future, including searches which target more specific hadronic final states and particular regions of shower kinematic phase space.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Windows on the axion

Peccei-Quinn symmetry with attendant axion is a most compelling, and perhaps the most minimal, extension of the standard model, as it provides a very elegant solution to the nagging strong CP-problem associated with the theta vacuum structure of QCD. However, particle physics gives little guidance as to the axion mass; a priori, the plausible values span the range: 10(-12)eV is approx. less than m(a) which is approx. less than 10(6)eV, some 18 orders-of-magnitude. Laboratory experiments have excluded masses greater than 10(4)eV, leaving unprobed some 16 orders-of-magnitude. Axions have a host of interesting astrophysical and cosmological effects, including, modifying the evolution of stars of all types (our sun, red giants, white dwarfs, and neutron stars), contributing significantly to the mass density of the Universe today, and producting detectable line radiation through the decays of relic axions. Consideration of these effects has probed 14 orders-of-magnitude in axion mass, and has left open only two windows for further exploration: 10(-6)eV is approx. less than m(a) is approx. less than 10(-3)eV and 1eV is approx. less than m(a) is approx. less than 5eV (hadronic axions only). Both these windows are accessible to experiment, and a variety of very interesting experiments, all of which involve heavenly axions, are being planned or are underway.

Turner, Michael S.↗

A search for the decays of stopped long-lived particles at $ \sqrt{\mathrm{s}} $ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for long-lived particles, which have come to rest within the ATLAS detector, is presented. The subsequent decays of these particles can produce high-momentum jets, resulting in large out-of-time energy deposits in the ATLAS calorimeters. These de- cays are detected using data collected during periods in the LHC bunch structure when collisions are absent. The analysed dataset is composed of events from proton-proton collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of s = 13 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS experiment during 2017 and 2018. The dataset used for this search corresponds to a total live time of 579 hours. The results of this search are used to derive lower limits on the mass of gluino R -hadrons, assuming a branching fraction $ \mathcal{B}\left(\overset{\sim }{g}\to q\overline{q}{\chi}_1^0\right) $ B g ~ → q q ¯ χ 1 0 = 100%, with masses of up to 1 . 4 TeV excluded for gluino lifetimes of 10 - 5 to 10 3 s.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for cascade decays of charged sleptons and sneutrinos in final states with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in 𝑝⁢𝑝 collisions at $\sqrt{𝑠} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for cascade decays of charged sleptons and sneutrinos using final states characterized by three leptons (electrons or muons) and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on a dataset with 140 fb −1 of proton-proton (pp) collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{𝑠} = 13$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. This paper focuses on a supersymmetric scenario that is motivated by the muon anomalous magnetic moment observation, dark-mattter relic density abundance, and electroweak naturalness. A mass spectrum involving light Higgsinos and heavier sleptons with a bino at intermediate mass is targeted. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation is observed. This search enables us to place stringent constraints on this model, excluding at the 95% confidence level charged slepton and sneutrino masses up to 450 GeV when assuming a lightest neutralino mass of 100 GeV and mass-degenerate selectrons, smuons and sneutrinos.

extensions of Higgs sector↗

Search for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production in the $2b+2\ell +{E}_{\textrm{T}}^{\textrm{miss}}$ final state in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for non-resonant Higgs boson pair (HH) production is presented, in which one of the Higgs bosons decays to a b-quark pair ($b\bar{b}$) and the other decays to WW * , ZZ * , or τ + τ – , with in each case a final state with ℓ + ℓ – + neutrinos (ℓ = e, μ). The analysis targets separately the gluon-gluon fusion and vector boson fusion production modes. Data recorded by the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb –1 , are used in this analysis. Events are selected to have exactly two b-tagged jets and two leptons with opposite electric charge and missing transverse momentum in the final state. These events are classified using multivariate analysis algorithms to separate the HH events from other Standard Model processes. No evidence of the signal is found. The observed (expected) upper limit on the cross-section for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production is determined to be 9.7 (16.2) times the Standard Model prediction at 95% confidence level. The Higgs boson self-interaction coupling parameter κ λ and the quadrilinear coupling parameter κ 2V are each separately constrained by this analysis to be within the ranges [–6.2, 13.3] and [–0.17, 2.4], respectively, at 95% confidence level, when all other parameters are fixed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for a new scalar decaying into new spin-1 bosons in four-lepton final states with the ATLAS detector

A search is conducted for a new scalar boson S, with a mass distinct from that of the Higgs boson, decaying promptly into four leptons ( ℓ = e , μ) via an intermediate state containing two on-shell, promptly decaying new spin-1 bosons Z d : S → Z d Z d → 4 ℓ , where the Z d boson has a mass between 15 and 300 GeV, and the S boson has a mass between either 30 and 115 GeV or 130 and 800 GeV. The search uses proton–proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 at a centre-of-mass energy of s = 13 TeV. No significant excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the production cross-section times branching ratio, σ ( g g → S ) × B ( S → Z d Z d → 4 ℓ ) , as a function of the mass of both particles, m S and m Z d .

Aad, G↗

Neutrino Target-of-Opportunity Observations with Space-based and Suborbital Optical Cherenkov Detectors

Cosmic-ray accelerators capable of reaching ultra-high energies are expected to also produce very high energy neutrinos via hadronic interactions within the source or its surrounding environment. Many of the candidate astrophysical source classes are either transient in nature or exhibit flaring activity. Using the Earth as a neutrino converter, suborbital and space-based optical Cherenkov detectors, such as POEMMA and EUSO-SPB2, will be able to detect upward-moving extensive air showers induced by decaying tau-leptons generated from cosmic tau neutrinos with energies ∼ 10 PeV and above. Both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA will be able to quickly repoint, enabling rapid response to astrophysical transient events. We calculate the transient sensitivity and sky coverage for both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA, accounting for constraints imposed by the Sun and the Moon on the observation time. We also calculate both detectors’ neutrino horizons for a variety of modeled astrophysical neutrino fluences. We find that both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA will achieve transient sensitivities at the level of modeled neutrino fluences for nearby sources. We conclude with a discussion of the prospects of each mission detecting at least one transient event for various modeled astrophysical neutrino sources.

Tonia M Venters↗