Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Probing a leptophobic top-colour model with cross section measurements and precise signal and background predictions: A case study

  Mohammad Mahdi Altakach, Jonathan Mark Butterworth, Tomáš Ježo, Michael Klasen, Ingo Schienbein

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 014 (2023) · published 17 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The sensitivity of particle-level fiducial cross section measurements from ATLAS, CMS and LHCb to a leptophobic top-colour model is studied. The model has previously been the subject of resonance searches. Here we compare it directly to state-of-the-art predictions for Standard Model top quark production and also take into account next-to-leading order predictions for the new physics signal. We make use of the Contur framework to evaluate the sensitivity of the current measurements, first under the default Contur assumption that the measurement and the SM exactly coincide, and then using the full SM theory calculation for $t\bar{t}$ at next-to-leading and next-to-next-to-leading order as the background model. We derive exclusion limits, discuss the differences between these approaches, and compare to the limits from resonance searches by ATLAS and CMS.

• 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.

• Hot and heavy dark matter from a weak scale phase transition

  Iason Baldes, Yann Gouttenoire, Filippo Sala

  SciPost Phys. 14, 033 (2023) · published 14 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We point out that dark matter which is produced non-adiabatically in a phase transition (PT) with fast bubble walls receives a boost in velocity which leads to long free-streaming lengths. We find that this could be observed via the suppressed matter power spectrum for dark matter masses around $\mathbf{ 10^8 - 10^9}$ GeV and energy scales of the PT around $\mathbf{ 10^{2} - 10^3}$ GeV. The PT should take place at the border of the supercooled regime, i.e. approximately when the Universe becomes vacuum dominated. This work offers novel physics goals for galaxy surveys, Lyman-$\alpha$, stellar stream, lensing, and 21-cm observations, and connects these to the gravitational waves from such phase transitions, and more speculatively to possible telescope signals of heavy dark matter decay.

  16 citations

• Modeling hadronization using machine learning

  Phil Ilten, Tony Menzo, Ahmed Youssef, Jure Zupan

  SciPost Phys. 14, 027 (2023) · published 2 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present the first steps in the development of a new class of hadronization models utilizing machine learning techniques. We successfully implement, validate, and train a conditional sliced-Wasserstein autoencoder to replicate the Pythia generated kinematic distributions of first-hadron emissions, when the Lund string model of hadronization implemented in Pythia is restricted to the emissions of pions only. The trained models are then used to generate the full hadronization chains, with an IR cutoff energy imposed externally. The hadron multiplicities and cumulative kinematic distributions are shown to match the Pythia generated ones. We also discuss possible future generalizations of our results.

  7 citations

• The forward-backward asymmetry and differences of partial moments in inclusive semileptonic $B$ decays

  Florian Herren

  SciPost Phys. 14, 020 (2023) · published 15 February 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Global fits to moments of kinematic distributions measured in inclusive semileptonic $B\rightarrow X_c l \nu_l$ enable the determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $\left|V_{cb}\right|$ together with non-perturbative matrix elements of the heavy quark expansion. In current fits, only two distinct kinematic distributions are employed and, as a consequence, higher moments of these distributions need to be taken into account to extract the relevant non-perturbative matrix elements. The moments of a given distribution are highly correlated and experimental uncertainties increase for higher moments. To address these issues, Turczyk suggested the inclusion of the charged lepton forward-backward asymmetry $\mathcal{A}_{FB}$ in global fits, since it provides information on non-perturbative parameters beyond the commonly used moments. It is possible to construct differences of partial moments of kinematic distributions, which can provide additional information on the non-perturbative parameters beyond $\mathcal{A}_{FB}$ and are studied in this work for the first time. Further, experimental cuts on the four-momentum transfer square are studied and are shown to preserve the shape of the angular distribution, in contrast to commonly used cuts on the lepton energy. Finally, the impact of final-state radiation and experimental lepton identification requirements on measurements of $\mathcal{A}_{FB}$ and differences of partial moments are discussed.

  4 citations

• A standard convention for particle-level Monte Carlo event-variation weights

  Enrico Bothmann, Andy Buckley, Christian Gütschow, Stefan Prestel, Marek Schönherr, Peter Skands, Jeppe R. Andersen, Saptaparna Bhattacharya, Jonathan Butterworth, Gurpreet Singh Chahal, Louie Corpe, Leif Gellersen, Matthew Gignac, Stefan Höche, Deepak Kar, Frank Krauss, Jan Kretzschmar, Leif Lönnblad, Josh McFayden, Andreas Papaefstathiou, Simon Plätzer, Steffen Schumann, Michael H. Seymour, Frank Siegert, Andrzej Siódmok

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 007 (2023) · published 8 February 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Streams of event weights in particle-level Monte Carlo event generators are a convenient and immensely CPU-efficient approach to express systematic uncertainties in phenomenology calculations, providing systematic variations on the nominal prediction within a single event sample. But the lack of a common standard for labelling these variation streams across different tools has proven to be a major limitation for event-processing tools and analysers alike. Here we propose a well-defined, extensible community standard for the naming, ordering, and interpretation of weight streams that will serve as the basis for semantically correct parsing and combination of such variations in both theoretical and experimental studies.

  3 citations

• Non-standard neutrino spectra from annihilating neutralino dark matter

  Melissa van Beekveld, Wim Beenakker, Sascha Caron, Jochem Kip, Roberto Ruiz de Austri, Zhongyi Zhang

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 006 (2023) · published 7 February 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Neutrino telescope experiments are rapidly becoming more competitive in indirect detection searches for dark matter. Neutrino signals arising from dark matter annihilations are typically assumed to originate from the hadronisation and decay of Standard Model particles. Here we showcase a supersymmetric model, the BLSSMIS, that can simultaneously obey current experimental limits while still providing a potentially observable non-standard neutrino spectrum from dark matter annihilation.

  1 citation

• Signal region combination with full and simplified likelihoods in MadAnalysis 5

  Gaël Alguero, Jack Y. Araz, Benjamin Fuks, Sabine Kraml

  SciPost Phys. 14, 009 (2023) · published 30 January 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The statistical combination of disjoint signal regions in reinterpretation studies uses more of the data of an analysis and gives more robust results than the single signal region approach. We present the implementation and usage of signal region combination in MadAnalysis 5 through two methods: an interface to the Pyhf package making use of statistical models in JSON-serialised format provided by the ATLAS collaboration, and a simplified likelihood calculation making use of covariance matrices provided by the CMS collaboration. The gain in physics reach is demonstrated 1.) by comparison with official mass limits for 4 ATLAS and 5 CMS analyses from the Public Analysis Database of MadAnalysis 5 for which signal region combination is currently available, and 2.) by a case study for an MSSM scenario in which both stops and sbottoms can be produced and have a variety of decays into charginos and neutralinos.

  7 citations

• Co-scattering in micrOMEGAs: A case study for the singlet-triplet dark matter model

  Gaël Alguero, Geneviève Bélanger, Sabine Kraml, Alexander Pukhov

  SciPost Phys. 13, 124 (2022) · published 21 December 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In scenarios with very small dark matter (DM) couplings and small mass splittings between the DM and other dark sector particles, so-called "co-scattering" or "conversion-driven freeze-out" can be the dominant mechanism for DM production. We present the inclusion of this mechanism in micrOMEGAs together with a case study of the phenomenological implications in the fermionic singlet-triplet model. For the latter, we focus on the transition between co-annihilation and co-scattering processes. We observe that co-scattering is needed to describe the thermal behaviour of the DM for very small couplings, opening up a new region in the parameter space of the model. The triplet states are often long-lived in this region; we therefore also discuss LHC constraints from long-lived signatures obtained with SModelS.

  8 citations

• Blast from the past II: Constraints on heavy neutral leptons from the BEBC WA66 beam dump experiment

  Ryan Barouki, Giacomo Marocco, Subir Sarkar

  SciPost Phys. 13, 118 (2022) · published 28 November 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We revisit the search for heavy neutral leptons with the Big European Bubble Chamber in the 1982 proton beam dump experiment at CERN, focussing on those heavier than the kaon and mixing only with the tau neutrino, as these are far less constrained than their counterparts with smaller mass or other mixings. Recasting the previous search in terms of this model and including additional production and decay channels yields the strongest bounds to date, up to the tau mass. This applies also to our updated bounds on the mixing of heavy neutral leptons with the electron neutrino.

  21 citations