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At least 145 records · Page 8

SMEFT matching to Z ’ models at dimension eight

Heavy neutral gauge bosons arise in many motivated models of beyond the Standard Model Physics. Experimental searches require that such gauge bosons are above the TeV scale in most models which means that the tools of effective field theories, in particular the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT), are useful. We match the SMEFT to models with heavy Z ’ bosons, including effects of dimension-8 operators, and consider the restrictions on model parameters from electroweak precision measurements and from Drell Yan invariant mass distributions and forward-backward asymmetry, 𝐴FB, measurements at the LHC. The results demonstrate the model dependence of the resulting limits on SMEFT coefficients and the relatively small impact of including dimension-8 matching. In all cases, the limits from invariant mass distributions are stronger than from 𝐴FB measurements in the Z ’ models we consider.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Measurements of inclusive and differential cross-sections of $t\overline{t}\gamma$ production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Inclusive and differential cross-sections are measured at particle level for the associated production of a top quark pair and a photon ($t\overline{t}\gamma$). The analysis is performed using an integrated luminosity of 140 fb -1 of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector. The measurements are performed in the single-lepton and dilepton top quark pair decay channels focusing on ($t\overline{t}\gamma$) topologies where the photon is radiated from an initial-state parton or one of the top quarks. The absolute and normalised differential cross-sections are measured for several variables characterising the photon, lepton and jet kinematics as well as the angular separation between those objects. The observables are found to be in good agreement with the Monte Carlo predictions. The photon transverse momentum differential distribution is used to set limits on effective field theory parameters related to the electroweak dipole moments of the top quark. The combined limits using the photon and the Z boson transverse momentum measured in $t\overline{t}$ production in associations with a Z boson are also set.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Mass generation in an Abelian gauge theory with multiple scalar fields and no tree-level dimensionful couplings

We study the Abelian Higgs model with multiple scalar fields, but without mass terms. Solving the model nonperturbatively order-by-order in the number of scalar fields, we find that radiative corrections generate masses for the scalar and gauge boson, without spontaneous symmetry breaking. The mass scales are set by the Λ -parameter of the electroweak running coupling, thereby naturally avoiding the hierarchy problem. No part of our calculation employs a weak-coupling expansion, and we find that the perturbative vacuum is metastable, and hence must decay to the stable nonperturbative vacuum of the theory, which we identify. Although the field content of our Lagrangian is standard, our results predict the existence of two heavy scalar resonances in addition to the Higgs. We believe that these predicted resonances will ultimately allow experimentalists to discriminate between our method and standard solutions of the Higgs model. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for the Lepton Flavor Violating Decays B + → K + τ ± ℓ ∓ ( ℓ = e , μ ) at Belle

We present a search for the lepton flavor violating decays B + → K + ⁢$\tau$ ±⁢ ℓ ∓ , with ℓ = (e,μ), using the full data sample of 772×10 6 B$\overline{B}$ pairs recorded by the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e + ⁢e - collider. We use events in which one B meson is fully reconstructed in a hadronic decay mode. We find no evidence for B ± → K ±⁢ $\tau$⁢ℓ decays and set upper limits on their branching fractions at the 90% confidence level in the (1 - 3) × 10 -5 range. The obtained limits are the world’s best results.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for Lepton-Flavor-Violating Decay Modes 𝐵 0 →𝐾$^0_𝑆$⁢𝜏 ± ⁢ℓ ∓ with Hadronic 𝐵 Tagging at Belle and Belle II

We present the first search for the lepton-flavor-violating decay modes 𝐵 0 →𝐾$^0_𝑆$⁢𝜏 ± ⁢ℓ ∓ (ℓ=𝜇,𝑒) using the 711 and 365 fb −1 data samples recorded by the Belle and Belle II detectors, respectively. We use a hadronic 𝐵-tagging technique to fully reconstruct a 𝐵 meson and search for signal decays in the system recoiling against the tagged meson, considering 𝜏 decays to either light leptons, one charged hadron, or one charged hadron and a neutral pion. We find no evidence for 𝐵 0 →𝐾$^0_𝑆$⁢𝜏 ± ⁢ℓ ∓ decays and set 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions in the range of [0.8,3.6] ×10 −5 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Naturally Self-Tuned Low Mass Composite Scalars

Scalar bosons composed of a pair of chiral fermions in a non-confining potential have an effective Yukawa coupling, $g$, to free external chiral fermions. At large distance a Feynman loop of external fermions generates a scale invariant potential, $V_{loop}\propto -g^2/{\rho^{2}}$, for separation $\rho$, which acts on valence fermions. This generally forces the $s$-wave ground state to deform to a static, zero mass, configuration, and for slowly running, perturbative $g$, a large external "shroud" wave function forms. This is related to old results of Landau and Lifshitz in quantum mechanics. The massless composite scalar boson ground state is then an extended object. Infra-red effects can generate a small mass for the system. This points to a perturbative BEH-boson composed of top and anti-top quarks and a novel dynamical mechanism for spontaneous electroweak symmetry breaking.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Perspectives and Questions: Toward an Expansive Agenda for Particle Physics

Global celebration greeted the 2012 discovery at CERN's Large Hadron Collider of a particle that matches the textbook description of the Higgs boson. That achievement validated a remarkable chain of theoretical reasoning that combined the prescriptive notion of electroweak gauge symmetry with a simple, but \emph{ad hoc}, embodiment of spontaneous symmetry breaking. It was made possible by generational triumphs of accelerator art and experimental technique, and by human resourcefulness and collaboration on a global scale, all sustained by the enlightened support of many governments and institutions. Some imagine that, once the keystone of the standard model of particle physics has been set, our subject is over. Others worry that we may be at an impasse because no comparable wonders have appeared, leaving us without well-defined clues to a more complete paradigm. I am neither so readily satisfied nor so {easily} discouraged: we have so much more to learn! This essay surveys many questions that, taken together, constitute an inspiring array of opportunities to enhance our understanding of the physical world.

Quigg, Chris [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000227282445)↗

Search for new physics in the lepton plus missing transverse momentum final state in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV

A search for physics beyond the standard model (SM) in final states with an electron or muon and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis uses data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016–2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. No significant deviation from the SM prediction is observed. Model-independent limits are set on the production cross section of W’ bosons decaying into lepton-plus-neutrino final states. Within the framework of the sequential standard model, with the combined results from the electron and muon decay channels a W’ boson with mass less than 5.7 TeV is excluded at 95% confidence level. Results on a SM precision test, the determination of the oblique electroweak W parameter, are presented using LHC data for the first time. These results together with those from the direct W’ resonance search are used to extend existing constraints on composite Higgs scenarios. This is the first experimental exclusion on compositeness parameters using results from LHC data other than Higgs boson measurements.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Is SMEFT enough?

There are two canonical approaches to treating the Standard Model as an Effective Field Theory (EFT): Standard Model EFT (SMEFT), expressed in the electroweak symmetric phase utilizing the Higgs doublet, and Higgs EFT (HEFT), expressed in the broken phase utilizing the physical Higgs boson and an independent set of Goldstone bosons. HEFT encompasses SMEFT, so understanding whether SMEFT is sufficient motivates identifying UV theories that require HEFT as their low energy limit. This distinction is complicated by field redefinitions that obscure the naive differences between the two EFTs. By reformulating the question in a geometric language, we derive concrete criteria that can be used to distinguish SMEFT from HEFT independent of the chosen field basis. We highlight two cases where perturbative new physics must be matched onto HEFT: ( i ) the new particles derive all of their mass from electroweak symmetry breaking, and ( ii ) there are additional sources of electroweak symmetry breaking. Additionally, HEFT has a broader practical application: it can provide a more convergent parametrization when new physics lies near the weak scale. The ubiquity of models requiring HEFT suggests that SMEFT is not enough.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A low-scale flavon model with a $ {\mathrm{\mathbb{Z}}}_N$ symmetry

We propose a model that explains the fermion mass hierarchy by the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism with a discrete $ {\mathrm{\mathbb{Z}}}_N^F $ symmetry. As a concrete model, we study a super-symmetric model with a single flavon coupled to the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model. Flavon develops a TeV scale vacuum expectation value for realizing flavor hierarchy, an appropriate μ -term and the electroweak scale, hence the model has a low cutoff scale. We demonstrate how the flavon is successfully stabilized together with the Higgs bosons in the model. The discrete flavor symmetry $ {\mathrm{\mathbb{Z}}}_N^F $ controls not only the Standard Model fermion masses, but also the Higgs potential and a mass of the Higgsino which is a good candidate for dark matter. The hierarchy in the Higgs-flavon sector is determined in order to make the model anomaly-free and realize a stable electroweak vacuum. We show that this model can explain the fermion mass hierarchy, realistic Higgs-flavon potential and thermally produced dark matter at the same time. We discuss flavor violating processes induced by the light flavon which would be detected in future experiments.

Supersymmetric Standard Model↗

Leveraging the Higgs to Discover Physics Beyond the Standard Model (Final Technical Report)

The discovery of an apparently Standard Model-like Higgs at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) heralds the start of a new era in particle physics. While the Higgs marks the completion of the Standard Model framework, it offers far more opportunities in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model. The Higgs boson raises a pressing theoretical problem known as the hierarchy problem: why is an elementary scalar particle so light when quantum corrections tie its mass to the highest energy scales? The Higgs also provides an unprecedented experimental opportunity as a bellwether of new physics: it may be merely the first of several states in the electroweak symmetry breaking sector, while its production and decays may provide unique evidence for additional particles. Research supported by this award leveraged the Higgs boson to explore new physics from both directions, developing novel approaches to solving the hierarchy problem posed by the Higgs boson and directly employing the Higgs as a new tool for discovery. Given that null results at the LHC and other experiments have begun to endanger conventional approaches to the hierarchy problem, research supported by the award identified original solutions to the hierarchy problem wherein the lightest degrees of freedom protecting the Higgs boson carry no Standard Model quantum numbers and thus evade existing searches. The PI's approach combined standard tools of quantum field theory with novel applications of the orbifold reduction of continuous symmetries to define the framework of "neutral naturalness'' and explore its experimental consequences across the energy, intensity, and cosmic frontiers. In employing the Higgs directly as a tool for discovery, research supported by this award articulated a systematic approach to searching for extensions of the Higgs sector at the LHC and pursued four key avenues through which the Higgs can be used to uncover new physics across a range of experiments: (1) as a direct final state probe; (2) as an indirect probe through its couplings; (3) as a portal to states neutral under the Standard Model; and (4) as a source of exotic processes in displaced decays.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Anatomy of the electroweak phase transition for dark sector induced baryogenesis

We investigate the electroweak phase transition patterns for a recently proposed baryogenesis model with CP violation originated in the dark sector. The model includes a complex scalar singlet-Higgs boson portal, a U(1) l gauge lepton symmetry with a Z ' gauge boson portal and a fermionic dark matter particle. We find a novel thermal history of the scalar sector, featuring a Z 2 breaking singlet vacuum in the early Universe driven by a dark Yukawa coupling, that induces a one-step strongly first order electroweak phase transition. We explore the parameter space that generates the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry and dark matter relic abundance, while being consistent with constraints from electric dipole moment, collider searches, and dark matter direct detection bounds. The complex singlet can be produced via the Higgs portal and decays into Standard Model particles after traveling a certain distance. We explore the reach for long-lived singlet scalars at the 13 TeV Large Hadron Collider with \( \mathcal{L} \) = 139 fb - 1 and show its impact on the parameter space of the model. Setting aside currently unresolved theoretical uncertainties, we estimate the gravitational wave signatures detectable at future observatories.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

William A. Bardeen: A life in physics and the legacy of the chiral anomaly

William Allan Bardeen (September 15, 1941 − November 18, 2025) was an American theoretical physicist who worked at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. He is renowned for his foundational work on the chiral anomaly, the Adler-Bardeen theorem, the non-Abelian anomaly and gravitational anomalies. He was instrumental in the development of quantum chromodynamics and its applications, such as semileptonic decays and the Λ $\overline{MS}$ scheme frequently used in perturbative analysis of high energy processes involving strong interactions. Bardeen also played a major role in developing a theory of dynamical breaking of electroweak symmetry via top quark condensates, leading to one of the first composite Brout-Englert-Higgs boson models. His work on the chiral symmetry dynamics of heavy-light quark bound states correctly predicted abnormally long-lived resonances which are chiral symmetry partners of the ground state.

Hill, Christopher T. [Fermi National Accelerator L↗

Improving Di-Higgs Sensitivity at Future Colliders in Hadronic Final States with Machine Learning

One of the central goals of the physics program at the future colliders is to elucidate the origin of electroweak symmetry breaking, including precision measurements of the Higgs sector. This includes a detailed study of Higgs boson (H) pair production, which can reveal the H self-coupling. Since the discovery of the Higgs boson, a large campaign of measurements of the properties of the Higgs boson has begun and many new ideas have emerged during the completion of this program. One such idea is the use of highly boosted and merged hadronic decays of the Higgs boson ($\mathrm{H}\to\mathrm{b}\bar{\mathrm{b}}$, $\mathrm{H}\to\mathrm{W}\mathrm{W}\to\mathrm{q}\bar{\mathrm{q}}\mathrm{q}\bar{\mathrm{q}}$) with machine learning methods to improve the signal-to-background discrimination. In this white paper, we champion the use of these modes to boost the sensitivity of future collider physics programs to Higgs boson pair production, the Higgs self-coupling, and Higgs-vector boson couplings. We demonstrate the potential improvement possible at the Future Circular Collider in hadron mode, especially with the use of graph neural networks.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Two-step electroweak symmetry-breaking: theory meets experiment

We study the phenomenology of a hypercharge-zero SU(2) triplet scalar whose existence is motivated by two-step electroweak symmetry-breaking. We consider both the possibility that the triplets are stable and contribute to the dark matter density, or that they decay via mixing with the standard model Higgs boson. The former is constrained by disappearing charged track searches at the LHC and by dark matter direct detection experiments, while the latter is constrained by existing multilepton collider searches. We find that a two-step electroweak phase transition involving a stable triplet with a negative quadratic term is ruled out by direct detection searches, while an unstable triplet with a mass less than 230 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Speculations on the W-mass measurement at CDF*

Abstract The W mass determination at the Tevatron CDF experiment reported a deviation from the SM expectation at the 7 σ level. We discuss a few possible interpretations and their collider implications. We perform electroweak global fits under various frameworks and assumptions. We consider three types of electroweak global fits in the effective-field-theory framework: the S - T , S - T - , and eight-parameter flavor-universal one. We discuss the amounts of tensions between different measurements reflected in these fits and the corresponding shifts in central values of these parameters. With these electroweak fit pictures in hand, we present a few different classes of models and discuss their compatibility with these results. We find that while explaining the discrepancy, the single gauge boson extensions face strong LHC direct search constraints unless the is fermiophobic (leptophobic), which can be realized if extra vector fermions (leptons) mix with the SM fermions (leptons). Vector-like top partners can partially generate the needed shift to the electroweak observables. The compatibility with the top squark is also studied in detail. We find that the non-degenerate top squark soft masses enhance the needed operator coefficients, enabling an allowed explanation compatible with current LHC measurements. Overall, more theoretical and experimental developments are highly in demand to reveal the physics behind this discrepancy.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗