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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 847 records · Page 47
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DOE OSTI2023

Search for top squarks in the four-body decay mode with single lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV

A search for the pair production of the lightest supersymmetric partner of the top quark, the top squark ($ {\overset{\sim }{\textrm{t}}}_1 $), is presented. The search targets the four-body decay of the $ {\overset{\sim }{\textrm{t}}}_1 $, which is preferred when the mass difference between the top squark and the lightest supersymmetric particle is smaller than the mass of the W boson. This decay mode consists of a bottom quark, two other fermions, and the lightest neutralino ($ {\overset{\sim }{\chi}}_1^0 $), which is assumed to be the lightest supersymmetric particle. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{−1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. Events are selected using the presence of a high-momentum jet, an electron or muon with low transverse momentum, and a significant missing transverse momentum. The signal is selected based on a multivariate approach that is optimized for the difference between m($ {\overset{\sim }{\textrm{t}}}_1 $) and m($ {\overset{\sim }{\chi}}_1^0 $). The contribution from leading background processes is estimated from data. No significant excess is observed above the expectation from standard model processes. The results of this search exclude top squarks at 95% confidence level for masses up to 480 and 700 GeV for m($ {\overset{\sim }{\textrm{t}}}_1 $) − m($ {\overset{\sim }{\chi}}_1^0 $) = 10 and 80 GeV, respectively.[graphic not available: see fulltext]

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Search for light long-lived neutral particles that decay to collimated pairs of leptons or light hadrons in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for light long-lived neutral particles with masses in the O(MeV–GeV) range is presented. The analysis targets the production of long-lived dark photons in the decay of a Higgs boson produced via gluon–gluon fusion or in association with a W boson. Events that contain displaced collimated Standard Model fermions reconstructed in the calorimeter or muon spectrometer are selected in 139 fb -1 of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV $pp$ collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Background estimates for contributions from Standard Model processes and instrumental effects are extracted from data. The observed event yields are consistent with the expected background. Exclusion limits are reported on the production cross-section times branching fraction as a function of the mean proper decay length cτ of the dark photon, or as a function of the dark-photon mass and kinetic mixing parameter that quantifies the coupling between the Standard Model and potential hidden (dark) sectors. A Higgs boson branching fraction above 1% is excluded at 95% CL for a Higgs boson decaying into two dark photons for dark-photon mean proper decay lengths between 10 mm and 250 mm and dark photons with masses between 0.4 GeV and 2 GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Search for excited $τ$-leptons and leptoquarks in the final state with $τ$-leptons and jets in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is reported for excited $τ$-leptons and leptoquarks in events with two hadronically decaying $τ$-leptons and two or more jets. The search uses proton-proton ($pp$) collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment during the Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider in 2015–2018. The total integrated luminosity is 139 fb -1 . The excited $τ$-lepton is assumed to be produced and to decay via a four-fermion contact interaction into an ordinary $τ$-lepton and a quark-antiquark pair. The leptoquarks are assumed to be produced in pairs via the strong interaction, and each leptoquark is assumed to couple to a charm or lighter quark and a $τ$-lepton. No excess over the background prediction is observed. Excited $τ$-leptons with masses below 2.8 TeV are excluded at 95% CL in scenarios with the contact interaction scale Λ set to 10 TeV. At the extreme limit of model validity where Λ is set equal to the excited $τ$-lepton mass, excited $τ$-leptons with masses below 4.6 TeV are excluded. Leptoquarks with masses below 1.3 TeV are excluded at 95% CL if their branching ratio to a charm quark and a $τ$-lepton equals 1. The analysis does not exploit flavour-tagging in the signal region.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

A realistic theory of E6 unification through novel intermediate symmetries

Abstract We propose a non-supersymmetric E 6 GUT with the scalar sector consisting of650⨁351′ ⨁27. Making use of the first representation for the initial symmetry breaking to an intermediate stage, and the latter two representations for second-stage breaking to the Standard Model and a realistic Yukawa sector, this theory represents the minimal E 6 GUT that proceeds through one of the intermediate stages that are novel compared to SU(5) or SO(10) GUT: trinification SU(3) C × SU(3) L × SU(3) R , SU(6) × SU(2) and flipped SO(10) × U(1). We analyze these possibilities under the choice of vacuum that preserves a ℤ 2 “spinorial parity”, which disentangles the chiral and vector-like fermions of E 6 and provides a dark matter candidate in the form of a (scalar) inert doublet. Three cases are shown to consistently unify under the extended survival hypothesis (with minimal fine-tuning): trinification symmetry SU(3) C × SU(3) L × SU(3) R with eitherLRorCRparity, and SU(6) CR × SU(2) L . Although the successful cases give a large range for proton lifetime estimates, all of them include regions consistent with current experimental bounds and within reach of forthcoming experiments. The scenario investigated in this paper essentially represents the unique (potentially) viable choice in the class of E 6 GUTs proceeding through a novel-symmetry intermediate stage, since non-minimal alternatives seem to be intrinsically non-perturbative.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Leptogenesis in parity solutions to the strong CP problem and Standard Model parameters

We study the simplest theories with exact spacetime parity that solve the strong CP problem and successfully generate the cosmological baryon asymmetry via decays of right-handed neutrinos. Lower bounds are derived for the masses of the right-handed neutrinos and for the scale of spontaneous parity breaking, v R . For generic thermal leptogenesis, v R ≳ 10 12 GeV, unless the small observed neutrino masses arise from fine-tuning. We compute v R in terms of the top quark mass, the QCD coupling, and the Higgs boson mass and find this bound is consistent with current data at 1σ. Future precision measurements of these parameters may provide support for the theory or, if v R is determined to be below 10 12 GeV, force modifications. However, modified cosmologies do not easily allow reductions in v R — no reduction is possible if leptogenesis occurs in the collisions of domain walls formed at parity breaking, and at most a factor 10 reduction is possible with non-thermal leptogenesis. Standard Model parameters that yield low values for v R can only be accommodated by having a high degree of degeneracy among the right-handed neutrinos involved in leptogenesis. If future precision measurements determine v R to be above 10 12 GeV, it is likely that higher-dimensional operators of the theory will yield a neutron electric dipole moment accessible to ongoing experiments. This is especially true in a simple UV completion of the neutrino sector, involving gauge singlet fermions, where the bound from successful leptogenesis is strengthened to v R ≳ 10 13 GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Small instanton-induced flavor invariants and the axion potential

Small instantons which increase the axion mass due to an appropriate modification of QCD at a UV scale ΛSI, can also enhance the effect of CP-violating operators to shift the axion potential minimum by an amount, θ ind, proportional to the flavorful couplings in the SMEFT. Since physical observables must be flavor basis independent, we construct a basis of determinant-like flavor invariants that arise from instanton calculations containing the effects of dimension-six CP-odd operators at the scale Λ CP . This new basis provides a more reliable estimate of the shift θ ind, that is severely constrained by neutron electric dipole moment experiments. In particular, for the case of four-quark, semi-leptonic and gluon dipole operators, these invariants are then used to provide improved limits on the ratio of scales Λ SI /Λ CP for different flavor scenarios. The CP-odd flavor invariants also provide a classification of the leading effects from Wilson coefficients, and as an example, we show that a semi-leptonic four-fermion operator is subdominant compared to the four-quark operators. More generally, the flavor invariants, together with an instanton NDA, can be used to more accurately estimate small instanton effects in the axion potential that arise from any SMEFT operator.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Leptonic scalars at the LHC

We explore the collider prospects of neutrino non-standard interaction with a Standard Model (SM) gauge-singlet leptonic scalar ϕ carrying two units of lepton-number-charge. These leptonic scalars are forbidden from interacting with the SM fermions at the renormalizable level and, if one allows for higher-dimensional operators, couple predominantly to SM neutrinos. For masses at or below the electroweak scale, ϕ decays exclusively into neutrinos. Its characteristic production signature at hadron collider experiments like the LHC would be via the vector boson fusion process and leads to same-sign dileptons, two forward jets in opposite hemispheres, and missing transverse energy, i.e., $$ pp\to {\mathrm{\ell}}_{\alpha}^{\pm }{\mathrm{\ell}}_{\beta}^{\pm } jj+{E}_T^{\mathrm{miss}}\left(\alpha, \beta =e,\mu, \tau \right) $$ pp → ℓ α ± ℓ β ± jj + E T miss α β = e μ τ . Exploiting the final states of electrons and muons, we estimate, for the first time, the sensitivity of the LHC to these lepton-number-charged scalars. We show that the LHC sensitivity is largely complementary to that of low-energy precision measurements of the decays of charged leptons, charged mesons, W , Z and the SM Higgs boson, as well as the neutrino beam experiments like MINOS, and searches for neutrino self-interactions at IceCube and in cosmological observations. For ϕ mass larger than roughly 10 GeV, our projected LHC sensitivity would surpass all existing bounds.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Heating neutron stars with GeV dark matter

An old neutron star (NS) may capture halo dark matter (DM) and get heated up by the deposited kinetic energy, thus behaving like a thermal DM detector with sensitivity to a wide range of DM masses and a variety of DM-quark interactions. Near future infrared telescopes will measure NS temperatures down to a few thousand Kelvin and probe NS heating by DM capture. We focus on GeV-mass Dirac fermion DM (which is beyond the reach of current DM direct detection experiments) in scenarios in which the DM capture rate can saturate the geometric limit. For concreteness, we study (1) a model that invokes dark decays of the neutron to explain the neutron lifetime anomaly, and (2) a framework of DM coupled to quarks through a vector current portal. In the neutron dark decay model a NS can have a substantial DM population, so that the DM capture rate can reach the geometric limit through DM self-interactions even if the DM-neutron scattering cross section is tiny. We find NS heating to have greater sensitivity than multipion signatures in large underground detectors for the neutron dark decay model, and sub-GeV gamma-ray signatures for the quark vector portal model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Spectral fluctuations in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model

We present a detailed quantitative analysis of spectral correlations in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. We find that the deviations from universal Random Matrix Theory (RMT) behavior are due to a small number of long-wavelength fluctuations (of the order of the number of Majorana fermions N ) from one realization of the ensemble to the next one. These modes can be parameterized effectively in terms of Q-Hermite orthogonal polynomials, the main contribution being due to scale fluctuations for which we give a simple analytical estimate. Our numerical results for N = 32 show that only the lowest eight polynomials are needed to eliminate the nonuniversal part of the spectral fluctuations. The covariance matrix of the coefficients of this expansion can be obtained analytically from low-order double-trace moments. We evaluate the covariance matrix of the first six moments and find that it agrees with the numerics. We also analyze the spectral correlations in terms of a nonlinear σ-model, which is derived through a Fierz transformation, and evaluate the one and two-point spectral correlation functions to two-loop order. The wide correlator is given by the sum of the universal RMT result and corrections whose lowest-order term corresponds to scale fluctuations. However, the loop expansion of the σ-model results in an ill-behaved expansion of the resolvent, and it gives universal RMT fluctuations not only for q= 4 or higher even q-body interactions, but also for the q= 2 SYK model albeit with a much smaller Thouless energy while the correct result in this case should have been Poisson statistics. In our numerical studies we analyze the number variance and spectral form factor for N = 32 and q = 4. We show that the quadratic deviation of the number variance for large energies appears as a peak for small times in the spectral form factor. After eliminating the long-wavelength fluctuations, we find quantitative agreement with RMT up to an exponentially large number of level spacings for the number variance or exponentially short times in the case of the spectral form factor.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Three exceptions to the Grossman-Nir bound

A bstract We show that the Grossman-Nir (GN) bound, Br( K L → $$ {\pi}^0\nu \overline{\nu} $$ π 0 ν ν ¯ ) ≤ 4 . 3 Br( K + → $$ {\pi}^{+}\nu \overline{\nu} $$ π + ν ν ¯ ), can be violated in the presence of light new physics with flavor violating couplings. We construct three sample models in which the GN bound can be violated by orders of magnitude, while satisfying all other experimental bounds. In the three models the enhanced branching ratio Br( K L → π 0 + inv) is due to K L → π 0 Φ 1, K L → π 0 Φ 1 Φ 1 , K L → $$ {\pi}^0{\psi}_1{\overline{\psi}}_1 $$ π 0 ψ 1 ψ ¯ 1 transitions, respectively, where Φ 1 ( ψ 1 ) is a light scalar (fermion) that escapes the detector. In the three models Br( K + → π + + inv) remains very close to the SM value, while Br( K L → π 0 + inv) can saturate the present KOTO bound. Besides invisible particles in the final state (which may account for dark matter) the models require additional light mediators around the GeV-scale.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Effective field theory interpretation of lepton magnetic and electric dipole moments

We perform a model-independent analysis of the magnetic and electric dipole moments of the muon and electron. We give expressions for the dipole moments in terms of operator coefficients of the low-energy effective field theory (LEFT) and the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT). We use one-loop renormalization group improved perturbation theory, including the one-loop matching from SMEFT onto LEFT, and one-loop lepton matrix elements of the effective-theory operators. Semileptonic four-fermion operators involving light quarks give sizable non-perturbative contributions to the dipole moments, which are included in our analysis. We find that only a very limited set of the SMEFT operators is able to generate the current deviation of the magnetic moment of the muon from its Standard Model expectation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Causality, unitarity and symmetry in effective field theory

Sum rules in effective field theories, predicated upon causality, place restrictions on scattering amplitudes mediated by effective contact interactions. Through unitarity of the S -matrix, these imply that the size of higher dimensional corrections to transition amplitudes between different states is bounded by the strength of their contributions to elastic forward scattering processes. This places fundamental limits on the extent to which hypothetical symmetries can be broken by effective interactions. All analysis is for dimension 8 operators in the forward limit. Included is a thorough derivation of all positivity bounds for a chiral fermion in SU(2) and SU(3) global symmetry representations resembling those of the Standard Model, general bounds on flavour violation, new bounds for interactions between particles of different spin, inclusion of loops of dimension 6 operators and illustration of the resulting strengthening of positivity bounds over tree-level expectations, a catalogue of supersymmetric effective interactions up to mass dimension 8 and 4 legs and the demonstration that supersymmetry unifies the positivity theorems as well as the new bounds.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Search for resonant and nonresonant new phenomena in high-mass dilepton final states at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (SM) using electron or muon pairs with high invariant mass. A data set of proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at √s = 13 TeV from 2016 to 2018 corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of up to 140 fb -1 is analyzed. No significant deviation is observed with respect to the SM background expectations. Upper limits are presented on the ratio of the product of the production cross section and the branching fraction to dileptons of a new narrow resonance to that of the Z boson. These provide the most stringent lower limits to date on the masses for various spin-1 particles, spin-2 gravitons in the Randall-Sundrum model, as well as spin-1 mediators between the SM and dark matter particles. Lower limits on the ultraviolet cutoff parameter are set both for four-fermion contact interactions and for the Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos, and Dvali model with large extra dimensions. Lepton flavor universality is tested at the TeV scale for the first time by comparing the dimuon and dielectron mass spectra. No significant deviation from the SM expectation of unity is observed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Electroweak-like baryogenesis with new chiral matter

We propose a framework where a phase transition associated with a gauge symmetry breaking that occurs (not far) above the electroweak scale sets a stage for baryogenesis similar to the electroweak baryogenesis in the Standard Model. A concrete realization utilizes the breaking of SU(2) R × U(1) X → U(1) Y . New chiral fermions charged under the extended gauge symmetry have nonzero lepton numbers, which makes the B - L symmetry anomalous. The new lepton sector contains a large flavor-dependent CP violation, similar to the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa phase, without inducing sizable electric dipole moments of the Standard Model particles. A bubble wall dynamics associated with the first-order phase transition and SU(2) R sphaleron processes generate a lepton asymmetry, which is transferred into a baryon asymmetry via the ordinary electroweak sphaleron process. Unlike the Standard Model electroweak baryogenesis, the new phase transition can be of the strong first order and the new CP violation is not significantly suppressed by Yukawa couplings, so that the observed asymmetry can be produced. The model can be probed by collider searches for new particles and the observation of gravitational waves. One of the new leptons becomes a dark matter candidate. The model can be also embedded into a left-right symmetric theory to solve the strong CP problem.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

D-instanton induced superpotential

We use string field theory to fix the normalization of the D-instanton corrections to the superpotential involving the moduli fields of type II string theory compactified on an orientifold of a Calabi-Yau threefold in the absence of fluxes. We focus on O(1) instantons whose only zero modes are the four bosonic modes associated with translation of the instanton in non-compact directions and a pair of fermionic zero modes associated with the two supercharges broken by the instanton. We work with a generic superconformal field theory and express our answer in terms of the spectrum of open strings on the instanton. We analyse the contribution of multi-instantons of this kind to the superpotential and argue that it vanishes when background fluxes are absent.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

On ( g – 2) μ from gauged $\mathrm{U(1)_X}$

We investigate an economical explanation for the (g – 2) μ anomaly with a neutral vector boson from a spontaneously broken U(1) X gauge symmetry. The Standard Model fermion content is minimally extended by 3 right-handed neutrinos. Using a battery of complementary constraints, we perform a thorough investigation of the renormalizable, quark flavor-universal, vector-like U(1) X models, allowing for arbitrary kinetic mixing. Out of 419 models with integer charges not greater than ten, only 7 models are viable solutions, describing a narrow region in model space. These are either L μ – L τ or models with a ratio of electron to baryon number close to –2. The key complementary constraints are from the searches for nonstandard neutrino interactions. Furthermore, we comment on the severe challenges to chiral U(1) X solutions and show the severe constraints on a particularly promising such candidate.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Baryogenesis from decaying magnetic helicity in axiogenesis

Generating axion dark matter through the kinetic misalignment mechanism implies the generation of large asymmetries for Standard Model fermions in the early universe. Even if these asymmetries are washed out at later times, they can trigger a chiral plasma instability in the early universe. Similarly, a direct coupling of the axion with the hypercharge gauge field can trigger a tachyonic instability. These instabilities produce helical magnetic fields, which are preserved until the electroweak phase transition. At the electroweak phase transition, these become a source of baryon asymmetry, which can be much more efficient than the original axiogenesis proposal. We discuss constraints on axion dark matter production from the overproduction of the baryon asymmetry as well as a minimal, albeit fine-tuned setup, where both the correct dark matter abundance and baryon asymmetry can be achieved. For a given axion decay constant, this leads to a sharp prediction for the mass of the radial direction of the Peccei Quinn field, which is a soft mass scale in supersymmetric theories.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Three relativistic neutrons in a finite volume

We generalize the relativistic field-theoretic (RFT) three-particle finite-volume formalism to systems of three identical, massive, spin-1/2 fermions, such as three neutrons. This allows, in principle, for the determination of the three-neutron interaction from the finite-volume spectrum of three-neutron states, which can be obtained from lattice QCD calculations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗