Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere: QGSJET-III and other models

  Sergey Ostapchenko

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 13, 004 (2023) · published 28 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The physics content of the QGSJET-III Monte Carlo generator of high energy hadronic collisions is discussed. New theoretical approaches implemented in QGSJET-III are addressed in some detail and a comparison to alternative treatments of other cosmic ray interaction models is performed. Calculated characteristics of cosmic ray-induced extensive air showers are presented and differences between the respective results of QGSJET-III and other models are analyzed. In particular, it is demonstrated that those differences are partly caused by severe deficiencies of the other interaction models.

  2 citations

• Lepton pair production at NNLO in QED with EW effects

  Sophie Kollatzsch, Yannick Ulrich

  SciPost Phys. 15, 104 (2023) · published 20 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present a fully differential calculation of lepton pair production, taking into account the dominant next-to-next-to-leading order QED corrections as well as next-to-leading order electroweak and polarisation effects. We include all lepton masses, hard photon emission, as well as non-perturbative hadronic corrections. The corresponding matrix elements are implemented in the Monte Carlo framework McMule. In order to obtain a numerically stable implementation, we extend next-to-soft stabilisation, a universal technique based on a next-to-leading-power expansion, to calculations with polarised leptons. As an example, we show results tailored to the Belle II detector with the current setup as well as a potential future configuration that includes polarised beams.

  2 citations

• GRIFFIN: A C++ library for electroweak radiative corrections in fermion scattering and decay processes

  Lisong Chen, Ayres Freitas

  SciPost Phys. Codebases 18 (2023) · published 10 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  This paper describes a modular framework for the description of electroweak scattering and decay processes, including but not limited to Z-resonance physics. The framework consistently combines a complex-pole expansion near an s-channel resonance with a regular fixed-order perturbative description away from the resonance in a manifestly gauge-invariant scheme. Leading vertex correction contributions are encapsulated in form factors that can be predicted or treated as numerical fit parameters. This framework has been implemented in the publicly available object-oriented C++ library GRIFFIN. Version 1.0 of this library provides Standard Model predictions for the IR-subtracted matrix elements for the process $f\bar{f} \to f'\bar{f}'$ with full NNLO and leading higher-order contributions on the Z-resonance, and with NLO corrections off-resonance. The library can straightforwardly be extended to include higher-order corrections, should they become available, or predictions for new physics models. It can be interfaced with Monte-Carlo programs to account for QED and QCD initial-state and final-state radiation.

  2 citations

• Flavoured $(g-2)_\mu$ with dark lepton seasoning

  Harun Acaroğlu, Prateek Agrawal, Monika Blanke

  SciPost Phys. 15, 176 (2023) · published 24 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  As a joint explanation for the dark matter (DM) problem and the muon $(g-2)$ anomaly, we propose a simplified model of lepton-flavoured complex scalar DM with couplings to both the left- and right-handed leptons of the Standard Model (SM). Both interactions are governed by the same new flavour-violating coupling matrix $\lambda$, however we allow for a relative scaling of the coupling strength. The SM is further extended by two fermion representations, transforming as an $SU(2)_L$ doublet and singlet, respectively, and mediating these interactions. The fermions additionally couple to the SM Higgs doublet via a new Yukawa coupling. To study the model's phenomenology we first investigate constraints from collider searches, flavour experiments, precision tests of the SM, the DM relic density, and direct as well as indirect detection experiments individually. We then perform a combined analysis by demanding that all mentioned constraints are satisfied simultaneously. We use the results of this combined analysis and examine if the model is capable of accommodating the $(g-2)_\mu$ anomaly within its viable parameter space without introducing fine-tuned lepton masses. For all benchmark scenarios we consider, we find that the central value of $\Delta a_\mu^\text{exp}$ can be reached without generating too large corrections to the lepton masses. We hence conclude that this model qualifies as a viable and attractive lepton-flavoured DM model that at the same time solves the $(g-2)_\mu$ anomaly.

  2 citations

• Dark matter from the centre of SU(N)

  Michele Frigerio, Nicolas Grimbaum-Yamamoto, Thomas Hambye

  SciPost Phys. 15, 177 (2023) · published 25 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A dark sector with non-abelian gauge symmetry provides a sound framework to justify stable dark matter (DM) candidates. We consider scalar fields charged under a $SU(N)$ gauge group, and show that the centre of $SU(N)$, the discrete subgroup $Z_N$ also known as $N$-ality, can ensure the stability of scalar DM particles. We analyse in some details two minimal DM models of this class, based on $SU(2)$ and $SU(3)$, respectively. These models have non-trivial patterns of spontaneous symmetry breaking, leading to distinctive phenomenological implications. For the $SU(2)$ model these include a specific interplay of two DM states, with the same interactions but different masses, and several complementary DM annihilation regimes, either within the dark sector or through the Higgs portal. The $SU(3)$ model predicts dark radiation made of a pair of dark photons with a unique gauge coupling, as well as regimes where DM semi-annihilations become dominant and testable.

  2 citations

• Instantons, renormalons and the theta angle in integrable sigma models

  Marcos Mariño, Ramon Miravitllas, Tomas Reis

  SciPost Phys. 15, 184 (2023) · published 3 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Some sigma models which admit a theta angle are integrable at both $\vartheta=0$ and $\vartheta=\pi$. This includes the well-known $O(3)$ sigma model and two families of coset sigma models studied by Fendley. We consider the ground state energy of these models in the presence of a magnetic field, which can be computed with the Bethe Ansatz. We obtain explicit results for its non-perturbative corrections and we study the effect of the theta angle on them. We show that imaginary, exponentially small corrections due to renormalons remain unchanged, while instanton corrections change sign, as expected. We find in addition corrections due to renormalons which also change sign as we turn on the theta angle. Based on these results we present an explicit non-perturbative formula for the topological susceptibility of the $O(3)$ sigma model in the presence of a magnetic field, in the weak coupling limit.

  2 citations

• Back to the formula - LHC edition

  Anja Butter, Tilman Plehn, Nathalie Soybelman, Johann Brehmer

  SciPost Phys. 16, 037 (2024) · published 29 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  While neural networks offer an attractive way to numerically encode functions, actual formulas remain the language of theoretical particle physics. We use symbolic regression trained on matrix-element information to extract, for instance, optimal LHC observables. This way we invert the usual simulation paradigm and extract easily interpretable formulas from complex simulated data. We introduce the method using the effect of a dimension-6 coefficient on associated ZH production. We then validate it for the known case of CP-violation in weak-boson-fusion Higgs production, including detector effects.

  2 citations

• EFT matching from analyticity and unitarity

  Stefano De Angelis, Gauthier Durieux

  SciPost Phys. 16, 071 (2024) · published 12 March 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present a new on-shell method for the matching of ultraviolet models featuring massive states onto their massless effective field theory. We employ a dispersion relation in the space of complex momentum dilations to capture, in a single variable, the relevant analytic structure of scattering amplitudes at any multiplicity. Multivariate complex analysis and crossing considerations are therefore avoided. Remarkably, no knowledge about the infrared effective field theory is required in dimensional regularisation. All matching information is extracted from the residues and iscontinuities of the ultraviolet scattering amplitudes, which unitarity expresses in terms of lower-point and lower-loop results, respectively. This decomposition into simpler building blocks could deliver new insight in the structure of the effective field theories obtained from classes of ultraviolet scenarios and facilitate computations at higher loop orders.

  2 citations

• Global LHC constraints on electroweak-inos with SModelS v2.3

  Mohammad Mahdi Altakach, Sabine Kraml, Andre Lessa, Sahana Narasimha, Timothée Pascal, Théo Reymermier, Wolfgang Waltenberger

  SciPost Phys. 16, 101 (2024) · published 10 April 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Electroweak-inos, superpartners of the electroweak gauge and Higgs bosons, play a special role in supersymmetric theories. Their intricate mixing into chargino and neutralino mass eigenstates leads to a rich phenomenology, which makes it difficult to derive generic limits from LHC data. In this paper, we present a global analysis of LHC constraints for promptly decaying electroweak-inos in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model, exploiting the SMODELS software package. Combining up to 16 ATLAS and CMS searches for which electroweak-ino efficiency maps are available in SMODELS, we study which combinations maximise the sensitivity in different regions of the parameter space, how fluctuations in the data in individual analyses influence the global likelihood, and what is the resulting exclusion power of the combination compared to the analysis-by-analysis approach.

  2 citations

• Quantum collider probes of the fermionic Higgs portal

  Ulrich Haisch, Maximilian Ruhdorfer, Konstantin Schmid, Andreas Weiler

  SciPost Phys. 16, 112 (2024) · published 25 April 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We explore the sensitivity of future hadron colliders to constrain the fermionic Higgs portal, with a focus on scenarios where the new fermions cannot be directly observed in exotic Higgs decays. This portal emerges in various models including twin-Higgs scenarios and dark matter models, posing significant challenges for collider tests. Working in an effective field theory (EFT), we determine the reach of the high-luminosity option of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), the high-energy upgrade of the LHC (HE-LHC) and a proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC) in probing the fermionic Higgs portal through off-shell and double-Higgs production. Notably, we find that quantum-enhanced indirect probes offer a better sensitivity than other direct Higgs measurements. We argue that this finding is valid in a wide class of ultraviolet realisations of the EFT. Our study presents a roadmap of a multifaceted search strategy for exploring the fermionic Higgs portal at forthcoming hadron machines.

  2 citations