High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)

Abstract: We study the possibility to generate the quark mass hierarchies as well as the CKM quark mixing and CP violation without fine-tuning in a quark flavour model with modular $A_4$ symmetry. The quark mass hierarchies are considered in the vicinity of the fixed point $\tau = i\infty$, $\tau$ being the vacuum expectation value of the modulus. We consider first a model in which the up-type and down-type quark mass matrices $M_u$ and $M_d$ involve modular forms of level 3 and weights 6, 4 and 2 and each depends on four constant parameters. We also consider the case of $M_u$ and $M_d$ depending on the same $\tau$ and involving modular forms of weights 8, 4, 2 and 6, 4, 2, respectively, with $M_u$ receiving a tiny SUSY breaking or higher dimensional operator contribution. Both the mass hierarchies of up-type and down-type quarks as well and the CKM mixing angles and CP violating phase are reproduced successfully with one complex parameter and all parameters being in magnitude of the same order. The relatively large value of ${\rm Im}\,\tau$, needed for describing the down-type quark mass hierarchies, is crucial for obtaining the correct up-type quark mass hierarchies.

Abstract: Supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model have been in vogue for over half a century. They have many interesting theoretical properties like calculability, absence of quadratic divergences, and phenomenologically impactful features like gauge coupling unification, dark matter candidates, signatures at present and future colliders, etc. A defining feature of these models is the calculability of Higgs mass in terms of a few parameters. The discovery of a Higgs particle with a mass of around 125 GeV thus has significant implications. The null results for the searches of superpartners at LHC has also put further constraints. Taken together with direct detection limits on WIMP (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle) dark matter, it appears that TeV scale supersymmetry is not realised in Nature and the theoretical expectations have reached a turning point. The present onslaught from the experiments suggests that supersymmetric models need a more complex particle structure, lagrangian and breaking patterns to be a natural solution to the hierarchy problem. We review existing models and discuss their feasibility in the current and future experimental programs.

Abstract: In high-energy collisions of small systems, by high-enough final-state multiplicities, a collective behaviour is present that is similar to the flow patterns observed in heavy-ion collisions. Recent studies connect this collectivity to semi-soft vacuum-QCD processes. Here we explore QCD production mechanisms using angular correlations of heavy flavour using simulated proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$~TeV with the PYTHIA8 Monte Carlo event generator. We demonstrate that the event shape is strongly connected to the production mechanisms. Flattenicity, a novel event descriptor, can be used to separate events containing the final-state radiation from the rest of the events.

Abstract: The standard model can be extended to include weakly-interacting light particle (WILP): real or complex singlet scalar, Majorana or Dirac neutral fermion, neutral or hidden-charged vector boson, etc. Imposing the $Z_2$ symmetry, these particles can be lifted as the weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP), the candidate of dark matter. Instead, imposing the shift symmetry on the scalar components gives rise to the axion-like particle, dark photon, etc. Utilizing these light degree of freedom along with the standard model particles and imposing different symmetries, we construct the complete and independent sets of effective operators up to dimension eight with the Young tensor technique, consistent with counting from the Hilbert series.

Abstract: We present a factorization theorem of the partonic Drell-Yan off-diagonal processes $g\bar{q}\,(qg) \to \gamma^* + X$ in the kinematic threshold regime $z=Q^2/\hat{s} \to 1$ at general subleading powers in the $(1-z)$ expansion. Focusing on the first order of the expansion (next-to-leading power accuracy with respect to the leading power $q \bar{q}$ channel), we validate the bare factorization formula up to $\mathcal{O}(\alpha^2_s)$. This is achieved by carrying out an explicit calculation of the generalized soft function in $d$-dimensions using the reduction to master integrals and the differential equations method. The collinear function is a universal object which we compute from an operator matching equation at one-loop level. Next, we integrate the soft and collinear functions over the convolution variables and remove the remaining initial state collinear singularities through PDF renormalization. The resulting expression agrees with the known cross section in the literature.

Abstract: To distinguish between the normal $q\bar q$ and exotic diquark-antidiqark ($q^2\bar q^2$) contents of the lowest-lying scalar meson ($S_0$), we investigate the semileptonic $D\to S_0 e^+\nu_e, S_0\to M_1 M_2$ decays, where $M_{1(2)}$ represents a pseudoscalar meson. With the form factors extracted from the current data, we calculate ${\cal B}(D_s^+\to \sigma_0 e^+\nu_e,\sigma_0\to\pi^0\pi^0) =(12.9^{+6.3}_{-4.9})\times 10^{-4}$ and $(0.8^{+1.2}_{-0.7})\times 10^{-4}$ for the $q\bar q$ and $q^2\bar q^2$ quark structures, respectively, and compare them to the experimental upper limit: $6.4\times 10^{-4}$. It is clearly seen that $S_0$ prefers to be the $q^2\bar q^2$ bound state. Particularly, ${\cal B}_{q\bar q}(D_s^+\to \sigma_0 e^+\nu_e,\sigma_0\to\pi^+\pi^-) =(25.8^{+12.5}_{-\;\,9.8})\times 10^{-4}$ and ${\cal B}_{q^2\bar q^2}(D_s^+\to \sigma_0 e^+\nu_e,\sigma_0\to\pi^+\pi^-) =(1.5^{+2.4}_{-1.3})\times 10^{-4}$ are predicted to deviate far from each other, useful for a clear experimental investigation.