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At least 973 records · Page 54

Catalyzed baryogenesis

A novel mechanism, “catalyzed baryogenesis”, is proposed to explain the observed baryon asymmetry in our universe. In this mechanism, the motion of a ball-like catalyst provides the necessary out-of-equilibrium condition, its outer wall has CP-violating interactions with the Standard Model particles, and its interior has baryon number violating interactions. We use the electroweak-symmetric ball model as an example of such a catalyst. In this model, electroweak sphalerons inside the ball are active and convert baryons into leptons. The observed baryon number asymmetry can be produced for a light ball mass and a large ball radius. Due to direct detection constraints on relic balls, we consider a scenario in which the balls evaporate, leading to dark radiation at testable levels.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Measurements of the pp → W ± γγ and pp → Zγγ cross sections at $ \sqrt{\mathrm{s}} $ = 13 TeV and limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings

The cross section for W or Z boson production in association with two photons is measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb -1 collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The W → ℓν and Z → ℓℓ decay modes (where ℓ = e, μ) are used to extract the Wγγ and Zγγ cross sections in a phase space defined by electron (muon) with transverse momentum larger than 30 GeV and photon transverse momentum larger than 20 GeV. All leptons and photons are required to have absolute pseudorapidity smaller than 2.5. The measured cross sections in this phase space are σ(Wγγ) = ${13.6}_{-1.9}^{+1.9}{\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)}_{-4.0}^{+4.0}$ (syst) ± 0.08 (PDF + scale) fb and σ(Zγγ) = ${5.41}_{-0.55}^{+0.58}{\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)}_{-.070}^{+0.64}$(syst) ± 0.06 (PDF + scale) fb. Limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings are set in the framework of an effective field theory with dimension-8 operators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Searching for leptoquarks at future muon colliders

A high energy muon collider can provide new and complementary discovery potential to the LHC or future hadron colliders. Leptoquarks are a motivated class of exotic new physics models, with distinct production channels at hadron and lepton machines. We study a vector leptoquark model at a muon collider with √s = 3, 14 TeV within a set of both UV and phenomenologically motivated flavor scenarios. We compute which production mechanism has the greatest reach for various values of the leptoquark mass and the coupling between leptoquark and Standard Model fermions. We find that we can probe leptoquark masses up to an order of magnitude beyond √s with perturbative couplings. Additionally, we can also probe regions of parameter space unavailable to flavor experiments. In particular, all of the parameter space of interest to explain recent low-energy anomalies in B meson decays would be covered even by a √s = 3 TeV collider.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Uncovering a chirally suppressed mechanism of oνββ decay with LHC searches

Δ L = 2 lepton number violation (LNV) at the TeV scale could provide an alternative interpretation of positive signal(s) in future neutrinoless double beta (0 νββ ) decay experiments. An interesting class of models from this point of view are those that at low energies give rise to dimension-9 vector operators and a dimension-7 operator, both of whose 0 νββ -decay rates are “chirally suppressed”. We study and compare the sensitivities of 0 νββ -decay experiments and LHC searches to a simplified model in this class of TeV-scale LNV that is also SU(2) L × U(1) Y gauge invariant. The searches for 0 νββ decay, which are here diluted by a chiral suppression of the vector operators, are found to be less constraining than LHC searches whose reach is increased by the assumed kinematic accessibility of the mediator particles. For the chirally suppressed dimension-7 operator generated by TeV-scale mediators, in contrast, 0 νββ -decay searches place strong constraints on the size of the new Yukawa coupling. Signals of this model at the LHC and 0 νββ -decay experiments are entirely uncorrelated with the observed neutrinos masses, as these new sources of LNV give negligible contributions to the latter. We find the prospects for the high-luminosity LHC and ton-scale 0 νββ -decay experiments to uncover the chirally-suppressed mechanism with TeV-scale LNV to be promising. We also comment on the sensitivity of the 0 νββ -decay lifetime to certain unknown low-energy constants that in the case of dimension-9 scalar operators are expected to be large due to non-perturbative renormalization.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

New physics in multi-electron muon decays

Abstract We study the exotic muon decays with five charged tracks in the final state. First, we investigate the Standard Model rate forμ + → 3e + 2e − 2ν($$ \mathcal{B} $$ B = 4.0 × 10 −10 ) and find that the Mu3e experiment should have tens to hundreds of signal events per 10 15 μ + decays, depending on the signal selection strategy. We then turn to a neutrinolessμ + → 3e + 2e − decay that may arise in new-physics models with lepton-flavor-violating effective operators involving a dark Higgsh d . Following its production inμ + →e + h d decays, the dark Higgs can undergo a decay cascade to twoe + e − pairs through two dark photons,h d → γ d γ d →2(e + e − ). We show that aμ + →3e + 2e − search at the Mu3e experiment, with potential sensitivity to the branching ratio at the$$ \mathcal{O} $$ O (10 −12 ) level or below, can explore new regions of parameter space and new physics scales as high as Λ ∼ 10 15 GeV.

Physics↗

Probing the Higgs boson CP properties in vector-boson fusion production in the H → τ + τ − channel with the ATLAS detector

The CP properties of the Higgs boson are studied in the vector-boson fusion production mode. The analysis exploits the decay mode of the Higgs boson into two τ-leptons using 140 fb −1 of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Results are obtained using the Optimal Observable method. CP-violating interactions between the Higgs boson and electroweak gauge bosons are considered in the effective field theory framework, with the interaction strength described in the HISZ basis by $\tilde{d}$, and in the Warsaw basis by c H$\tilde{W}$ , c H$\tilde{B}$ , and c H$\tilde{W}$B . No deviations relative to the Standard Model are observed, and limits are obtained on the strength parameters. The $\tilde{d}$ parameter is constrained to the interval [−0.012, 0.044] at the 95% confidence level while c H$\tilde{W}$ is constrained to [−0.24, 0.83], when considering both linear and quadratic effects of physics beyond the Standard Model.

Hadron-Hadron Scattering↗

Search for the production of a Higgs boson in association with a single top quark in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for the production of a Higgs boson in association with a single top quark, tH, is presented. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb −1 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The search targets Higgs-boson decays into $b\bar{b}$, WW * , ZZ * , and ττ, accompanied by an isolated lepton (electron or muon) from the top-quark decay. Multivariate techniques are employed to enhance the separation between signal and background processes. The observed signal strength, μ tH , defined as the ratio between the measured cross-section and the predicted Standard Model value, is μ tH = 8.1 ± 2.6 (stat.) ± 2.0 (syst.). The significance of the observed (expected) signal above the background-only expectation is 2.8 (0.4) standard deviations. The corresponding observed (expected) upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the tH cross-section is found to be 13.9 (6.1) times the value predicted by the Standard Model. An interpretation with an inverted sign of the top-quark Yukawa coupling is performed, and the signal strength and corresponding limit are reported.

Hadron-Hadron Scattering↗

Search for new non-resonant phenomena in high-mass dilepton final states with the ATLAS detector

A search for new physics with non-resonant signals in dielectron and dimuon final states in the mass range above 2 TeV is presented. This is the first search for non-resonant signals in dilepton final states at the LHC to use a background estimate from the data. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb –1 , were recorded by the ATLAS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The benchmark signal signature is a two-quark and two-lepton contact interaction, which would enhance the dilepton event rate at the TeV mass scale. To model the contribution from background processes a functional form is fit to the dilepton invariant-mass spectra in data in a mass region below the region of interest. It is then extrapolated to a high-mass signal region to obtain the expected background there. No significant deviation from the expected background is observed in the data. Upper limits at 95% CL on the number of events and the visible cross-section times branching fraction for processes involving new physics are provided. Observed (expected) 95% CL lower limits on the contact interaction energy scale reach 35.8 (37.6) TeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Charged current Drell-Yan production at N 3 LO

We present the production cross section for a lepton-neutrino pair at the Large Hadron Collider computed at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N 3 LO) in QCD perturbation theory. We compute the partonic coefficient functions of a virtual W± boson at this order. We then use these analytic functions to study the progression of the perturbative series in different observables. In particular, we investigate the impact of the newly obtained corrections on the inclusive production cross section of W ± bosons, as well as on the ratios of the production cross sections for W + , W – and/or a virtual photon. Finally, we present N3LO predictions for the charge asymmetry at the LHC.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Reconstruction and identification of boosted di-τ systems in a search for Higgs boson pairs using 13 TeV proton-proton collision data in ATLAS

In this paper, a new technique for reconstructing and identifying hadronically decaying τ+τ- pairs with a large Lorentz boost, referred to as the di-τ tagger, is developed and used for the first time in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. A benchmark di-τ tagging selection is employed in the search for resonant Higgs boson pair production, where one Higgs boson decays into a boosted $b\overline b$ pair and the other into a boosted τ+τ- pair, with two hadronically decaying τ-leptons in the final state. Using 139 fb -1 of proton-proton collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, the efficiency of the di-τ tagger is determined and the background with quark- or gluon-initiated jets misidentified as di-τ objects is estimated. The search for a heavy, narrow, scalar resonance produced via gluon-gluon fusion and decaying into two Higgs bosons is carried out in the mass range 1–3 TeV using the same dataset. No deviations from the Standard Model predictions are observed, and 95% confidence-level exclusion limits are set on this model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Muon g -2 from millicharged hidden confining sector

We provide a novel explanation to the muon g - 2 excess with new physics contributions at the two-loop level. In this scenario, light millicharged particles are introduced to modify the photon vacuum polarization that contributes to muon g - 2 at one additional loop. The muon g - 2 excess can be explained with the millicharged particle mass m χ around 10 MeV and the product of the multiplicity factor and millicharge squared of N χ ε 2 ~ 10 -3 . The minimal model faces severe constraints from direct searches at fixed-target experiments and astrophysical observables. However, if the millicharged particles are also charged under a hidden confining gauge group SU(N χ ) with a confinement scale of MeV, hidden-sector hadrons are unstable and can decay into neutrinos, which makes this scenario consistent with existing constraints. This explanation can be well tested at low-energy lepton colliders such as BESIII and Belle II as well as other proposed fixed-target experiments.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Search for a heavy Higgs boson decaying into two lighter Higgs bosons in the ττbb final state at 13 TeV

A search for a heavy Higgs boson H decaying into the observed Higgs boson h with a mass of 125 GeV and another Higgs boson hS is presented. The h and hS bosons are required to decay into a pair of tau leptons and a pair of b quarks, respectively. The search uses a sample of proton-proton collisions collected with the CMS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb -1 . Mass ranges of 240–3000 GeV for m H and 60–2800 GeV for m h S are explored in the search. No signal has been observed. Model independent 95% confidence level upper limits on the product of the production cross section and the branching fractions of the signal process are set with a sensitivity ranging from 125 fb (for m H = 240 GeV) to 2.7 fb (for m H = 1000 GeV). These limits are compared to maximally allowed products of the production cross section and the branching fractions of the signal process in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson into long-lived particles in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV using displaced vertices in the ATLAS inner detector

A novel search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson into pairs of long-lived neutral particles, each decaying into a bottom quark pair, is performed using 139 fb -1 of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events consistent with the production of a Higgs boson in association with a leptonically decaying Z boson are analysed. Long-lived particle (LLP) decays are reconstructed from inner-detector tracks as displaced vertices with high mass and track multiplicity relative to Standard Model processes. The analysis selection requires the presence of at least two displaced vertices, effectively suppressing Standard Model backgrounds. The residual background contribution is estimated using a data-driven technique. No excess over Standard Model predictions is observed, and upper limits are set on the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to LLPs. Branching ratios above 10% are excluded at 95% confidence level for LLP mean proper lifetimes cτ as small as 4 mm and as large as 100 mm. For LLP masses below 40 GeV, these results represent the most stringent constraint in this lifetime regime.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for Z' bosons decaying to pairs of heavy Majorana neutrinos in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV

A search for the production of pairs of heavy Majorana neutrinos (N ℓ ) from the decays of Z' bosons is performed using the CMS detector at the LHC. The data were collected in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt s$ = 13 TeV, with an integrated luminosity of 138 fb –1 . The signature for the search is an excess in the invariant mass distribution of the final-state objects, two same-flavor leptons (e or μ) and at least two jets. No significant excess of events beyond the expected background is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of the Z' production cross section and its branching fraction to a pair of N ℓ , as functions of N ℓ and Z' boson masses (m N ℓ and m Z' , respectively) for m Z' from 0.4 to 4.6 TeV and m N ℓ from 0.1 TeV to m Z' /2. In the theoretical framework of a left-right symmetric model, exclusion bounds in the m N ℓ -m Z' plane are presented in both the electron and muon channels. The observed upper limit on m Z' reaches up to 4.42 TeV. These are the most restrictive limits to date on the mass of N ℓ as a function of the Z' boson mass.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A flavor of SO(10) unification with a spinor Higgs

We investigate Higgs Parity unification — a realization of SO(10) grand unification based on the Higgs Parity mechanism in which the Standard Model (SM) Higgs resides in a spinor representation. The theory has an intermediate left-right symmetric stage where the SU(2)R symmetry breaking scale is fixed by the vanishing of the SM Higgs quartic coupling. The strong CP problem is solved by parity. Gauge coupling unification successfully predicts αs(MZ) to within 1%. The spinor Higgs naturally leads to a seesaw origin for SM flavor observables. We identify a novel mechanism where large mixing of third generation fermions with additional heavy vector-like fermions accounts for the anarchical nature of the PMNS matrix and the lack of hierarchy in the neutrino mass spectrum, relative to the up-quarks. A fit to quark and lepton masses and mixings, with a minimal parameter set, predicts 1) A testable relation between the top quark mass and αs(MZ) which is about (1 – 2)σ from current best fit values, 2) The order of magnitude of the baryon asymmetry of the universe, via leptogenesis from second-generation right-handed neutrino decays. 3) The proton decay and the neutron EDM are likely observable in next generation experiments, and 4) A normal ordered neutrino mass spectrum where 0νββ decay and the mass of the lightest neutrino are out of reach of next generation experiments.

Baryo-and Leptogenesis↗

WIMP cogenesis for asymmetric dark matter and the baryon asymmetry

We propose a new mechanism where asymmetric dark matter (ADM) and the baryon asymmetry are both generated in the same decay chain of a metastable weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) after its thermal freezeout. Dark matter and baryons are connected by a generalized baryon number that is conserved, while the DM asymmetry and baryon asymmetry compensate each other. This unified framework addresses the DM-baryon coincidence while inheriting the merit of the conventional WIMP miracle in predicting relic abundances of matter. Examples of renormalizable models realizing this scenario are presented. These models generically predict ADM with sub-GeV to GeV-scale mass that interacts with Standard Model quarks or leptons, thus rendering potential signatures at direct detection experiments sensitive to low mass DM. Other interesting phenomenological predictions are also discussed, including: LHC signatures of new intermediate particles with color or electroweak charge and DM induced nucleon decay; the long-lived WIMP may be within reach of future high energy collider experiments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Strong constraints on the b → sγ photon polarisation from B0 → K*0e+e-decays

An angular analysis of the B 0 → K* 0 e + e - decay is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb - 1 of pp collisions collected with the LHCb experiment. The analysis is conducted in the very low dielectron mass squared ( q 2 ) interval between 0 . 0008 and 0 . 257 GeV 2 , where the rate is dominated by the B 0 → K * 0 γ transition with a virtual photon. The fraction of longitudinal polarisation of the K * 0 meson, F L , is measured to be F L = (4 . 4 ± 2 . 6 ± 1 . 4)%, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The \( {A}_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{Re}} \) observable, which is related to the lepton forward-backward asymmetry, is measured to be \( {A}_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{Re}} \) = - 0 . 06 ± 0 . 08 ± 0 . 02. The \( {A}_{\mathrm{T}}^{(2)} \) and \( {A}_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{Im}} \) transverse asymmetries, which are sensitive to the virtual photon polarisation, are found to be \( {A}_{\mathrm{T}}^{(2)} \) = 0 . 11 ± 0 . 10 ± 0 . 02 and \( {A}_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{Im}} \) = 0 . 02 ± 0 . 10 ± 0 . 01. The results are consistent with Standard Model predictions and provide the world’s best constraint on the b → sγ photon polarisation.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Studies of the decay $$ {\textrm{D}}_{\textrm{s}}^{+}\to {\textrm{K}}^{+}{\textrm{K}}^{-}{\mu}^{+}{\nu}_{\mu } $$

Abstract The$$ {D}_s^{+}\to {K}^{+}{K}^{-}{\mu}^{+}{\nu}_{\mu } $$ D s + → K + K − μ + ν μ decay is studied based on 7.33 fb −1 ofe + e − collision data collected with the BESIII detector at center-of-mass energies in the range from 4.128 to 4.226 GeV. The absolute branching fraction is measured as$$ \mathcal{B}\left({D}_s^{+}\to \phi {\mu}^{+}{\nu}_{\mu}\right)=\left(2.25\pm 0.09\pm 0.07\right)\times {10}^{-2} $$ B D s + → ϕ μ + ν μ = 2.25 ± 0.09 ± 0.07 × 10 − 2 , the most precise measurement to date. Combining with the world average of$$ \mathcal{B}\left({D}_s^{+}\to \phi {e}^{+}{\nu}_e\right) $$ B D s + → ϕ e + ν e , the ratio of the branching fractions obtained is$$ \frac{\mathcal{B}\left({D}_s^{+}\to \phi {\mu}^{+}{\nu}_{\mu}\right)}{\mathcal{B}\left({D}_s^{+}\to \phi {e}^{+}{\nu}_e\right)}=0.94\pm 0.08 $$ B D s + → ϕ μ + ν μ B D s + → ϕ e + ν e = 0.94 ± 0.08 , in agreement with lepton universality. By performing a partial wave analysis, the hadronic form factor ratios atq 2 = 0 are extracted, finding$$ {r}_V=\frac{V(0)}{A_1(0)}=1.58\pm 0.17\pm 0.02 $$ r V = V 0 A 1 0 = 1.58 ± 0.17 ± 0.02 and$$ {r}_2=\frac{A_2(0)}{A_1(0)}=0.71\pm 0.14\pm 0.02 $$ r 2 = A 2 0 A 1 0 = 0.71 ± 0.14 ± 0.02 , where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. No significantS-wave contribution fromf 0 (980)→ K + K − is found. The upper limit$$ \mathcal{B}\left({D}_s^{+}\to {f}_0(980){\mu}^{+}{\nu}_{\mu}\right)\cdot \mathcal{B}\left({f}_0(980)\to {K}^{+}{K}^{-}\right)<5.45\times {10}^{-4} $$ B D s + → f 0 980 μ + ν μ ⋅ B f 0 980 → K + K − < 5.45 × 10 − 4 is set at 90% credibility level.

Physics↗