Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• The search for the neutron electric dipole moment at PSI

  Guillaume Pignol, Philipp Schmidt-Wellenburg

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 5, 027 (2021) · published 6 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The existence of a nonzero permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron would reveal a new source of CP violation and shed light on the origin of the matter--antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. The sensitivity of current experiments using stored ultracold neutrons (UCN) probes new physics beyond the TeV scale. Using the UCN source at the Paul Scherrer Institut, the nEDM collaboration has performed the most sensitive measurement of the neutron EDM to date, still compatible with zero ($|d_n|<1.8\times 10^{-26} \, e {\rm cm}$, C.L.90%). A new experiment designed to improve the sensitivity by an order of magnitude, n2EDM, is currently in construction.

  4 citations

• Cover your bases: asymptotic distributions of the profile likelihood ratio when constraining effective field theories in high-energy physics

  Florian Urs Bernlochner, Daniel C. Fry, Stephen Burns Menary, Eric Persson

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 013 (2023) · published 16 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We investigate the asymptotic distribution of the profile likelihood ratio (PLR) when constraining effective field theories (EFTs) and show that Wilks' theorem is often violated, meaning that we should not assume the PLR to follow a $\chi^2$-distribution. We derive the correct asymptotic distributions when either one or two real EFT couplings modulate observable cross sections with a purely linear or quadratic dependence. We then discover that when both the linear and quadratic terms contribute, the PLR distribution does not have a simple form. In this case we provide a partly-numerical solution for the one-parameter case. Using a novel approach, we find that the constants which define our asymptotic distributions may be obtained experimentally using a profile of the Asimov likelihood contour. Our results may be immediately used to obtain the correct coverage when deriving real-world EFT constraints using the PLR as a test-statistic.

  4 citations

• MEG: Muon to Electron and Gamma

  A.M. Baldini, T. Mori

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 5, 019 (2021) · published 6 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The possible existence of the muon to electron and gamma decay predicted by many new physics scenarios is investigated by stopping positive muons in a very thin target and measuring emitted photons and positrons with the best possible resolutions. Photons are measured by a 2.7 ton ultra pure liquid xenon detector while positron trajectories are measured in a specially designed gradient magnetic field by low-mass drift chambers and precisely timed by scintillation counters. A first phase of the experiment (MEG) ended in 2016, and excluded the existence of the decay with branching ratios larger than 4.2x10**(-13) (90% C.L.). This provides approximately 30 times stronger constraints on a variety of new physics models than previous experiments. In the second phase (MEG II), most of the detectors have been upgraded by adopting up-to-date technologies to improve the search sensitivity by another order of magnitude down to O(10**(-19) ). MEG II will pursue new physics beyond the Standard Model complementary to high energy collider experiments with a compatible or even higher sensitivity.

  3 citations

• Codebase release 4.0 for RIVET

  Christian Bierlich, Andy Buckley, Jonathan Butterworth, Christian Gutschow, Leif Lonnblad, Tomasz Procter, Peter Richardson, Yoran Yeh

  SciPost Phys. Codebases 36-r4.0 (2024) · published 4 November 2024 | Toggle abstract · src

  The Rivet toolkit is the primary mechanism for phenomenological preservation of collider-physics measurements, containing both a computational core and API for analysis implementation, and a large collection of more than a thousand preserved analyses. In this note we summarise the main changes in the new Rivet 4 major release series. These include a major generalisation and more semantically coherent model for histograms and related data objects, a thorough clean-up of inelegant and legacy observable-computation tools, and new systems for extended analysis-data, incorporation of preserved machine-learning models, and serialization for high-performance computing applications. Where these changes introduce backward-incompatible interface changes, existing analyses have been updated and indications are given on how to update new analysis routines and workflows.

  3 citations

• Muonium-Antimuonium Conversion

  Lorenz Willmann, Klaus Jungmann

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 5, 009 (2021) · published 6 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The MACS experiment performed at PSI in the 1990s provided an yet unchallenged upper bound on the probability for a spontaneous conversion of the muonium atom, ${\rm M=}$($\rm{\mu^+e^-}$) , into its antiatom, antimuonium ${\overline{\rm{M}} = }$($\rm{\mu^-e^+})$. It comprises the culmination of a series of measurements at various accelerator laboratories worldwide. The experimental limits on the process have provided input and steering for the further development of a variety of theoretical models beyond the standard theory, in particular for models which address lepton number violating processes and matter-antimatter oscillations. Several models beyond the standard theory could be strongly disfavored. There is interest in a new measurement and improved sensitivity could be reached by exploiting the time evolution of the conversion process, e.g., at intense pulsed muonium sources.

  3 citations

• Les Houches guide to reusable ML models in LHC analyses

  Jack Y. Araz, Andy Buckley, Gregor Kasieczka, Jan Kieseler, Sabine Kraml, Anders Kvellestad, Andre Lessa, Tomasz Procter, Are Raklev, Humberto Reyes-Gonzalez, Krzysztof Rolbiecki, Sezen Sekmen, Gokhan Unel

  SciPost Phys. Comm. Rep. 3 (2024) · published 6 November 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  With the increasing usage of machine-learning in high-energy physics analyses, the publication of the trained models in a reusable form has become a crucial question for analysis preservation and reuse. The complexity of these models creates practical issues for both reporting them accurately and for ensuring the stability of their behaviours in different environments and over extended timescales. In this note we discuss the current state of affairs, highlighting specific practical issues and focusing on the most promising technical and strategic approaches to ensure trustworthy analysis-preservation. This material originated from discussions in the LHC Reinterpretation Forum and the 2023 PhysTeV workshop at Les Houches.

  3 citations

• Direct searches of dark matter with the SABRE South experiment

  Madeleine J. Zurowski on behalf of the SABRE South Collaboration

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 029 (2023) · published 4 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection) South experiment is a direct dark matter detector, made of radio-pure NaI(Tl) crystals surrounded by a liquid scintillator veto. The achievement of ultra-low background rate is essential to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment whose claim has not been verified yet. The SABRE South experiment will be located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), Australia, the first deep underground laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere. The laboratory will not only house rare event physics searches but also measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications like radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South detector commissioning is expected to occur in 2023. This paper details the setup and projections for the experiment, and a brief description of the underground laboratory.

  3 citations

• Future Physics Prospects with the CMS Detector at the High-Luminosity LHC

  Conor Henderson

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 111 (2022) · published 13 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider is expected to deliver up to 3000 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at 14 TeV center-of-mass energy. We present prospects for selected heavy-ion, Standard Model and Higgs sector measurements with the CMS detector at the HL-LHC, and discuss potential sensitivity to several beyond-Standard Model new physics scenarios.

  3 citations

• Measurement of the $\textit{CP}$ structure of the Higgs-tau Yukawa coupling

  Vinaya Krishnan MB

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 008 (2022) · published 11 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The CMS experiment at the LHC has performed the first measurement of the CP structure of the Yukawa coupling between the Higgs boson and tau leptons. The measurement is based on data collected in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV during 2016-18, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $137\text{ fb}^{-1}$. The analysis utilizes the angular correlation between the decay planes of tau leptons produced in Higgs boson decays, where dedicated analysis techniques are used to optimise the reconstruction of tau decay planes. The measured value of the CP mixing angle is $4\pm17^{\circ}$, at $68\%$ confidence level. The pure $\textit{CP-}$odd hypothesis is excluded by $3.2$ standard deviations. The analysis strategies and the results of the measurement are presented.

  3 citations

• LUXE: A new experiment to study non-perturbative QED in $e^{-}$-laser and $γ$-laser collisions

  Ruth Jacobs

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 088 (2022) · published 13 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The LUXE experiment (Laser Und XFEL Experiment) is a new experiment in planning at DESY Hamburg using the electron beam of the European XFEL. LUXE is intended to study collisions between a high-intensity optical laser and up to 16.5 GeV electrons from the Eu.XFEL electron beam, or, alternatively, high-energy secondary photons. The physics objective of LUXE are processes of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) at the strong-field frontier, where QED is non-perturbative. This manifests itself in the creation of physical electron-positron pairs from the QED vacuum. LUXE intends to measure the positron production rate in a new physics regime at an unprecedented laser intensity. Parasitically, the high-intensity Compton photon beam of LUXE can be used to search for physics beyond the Standard Model.

  3 citations