High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)

Abstract: This article explores the van der Waals gas model proposed to describe the hadronic stages of nuclear fireball evolution during the cooling stage. Two different models were proposed for the early and late stages of hadronization. At the initial stage, a two-component meson model consisting of $\pi^0$ and $\pi^+$ mesons was suggested, and at the later stage, a two-component nucleon model consisting of protons and neutrons was proposed. The interaction potential for both models was represented by a rectangular well, and the statistical sum was calculated using the saddle-point method. The analytic expressions for pressure and chemical potentials obtained from the model were compared with the corresponding numerical results of other authors obtained earlier using quantum chromodynamics (QCD) methods. The possibility of applying and using the effective chemical potential is also analyzed.

Abstract: The gravitational positivity bound gives quantitative ``swampland'' constraints on low-energy effective theories inside theories of quantum gravity. We give a comprehensive discussion of this bound for those interested in applications to phenomenological model building. We present a practical recipe for deriving the bound, and discuss subtleties relevant for realistic models. As an illustration, we study the positivity bound on the scattering of the massive gauge bosons in the Higgs/St\"{u}ckelberg mechanism. Under certain assumptions on gravitational amplitudes at high energy, we obtain a lower bound $m_{V} \gtrsim \Lambda_\mathrm{UV}^2 /g M_\mathrm{Pl}$ on the gauge boson mass $m_V$, where $g$ is the coupling constant of the gauge field, $M_\mathrm{Pl}$ is the reduced Planck mass and $\Lambda_\mathrm{UV}$ is the ultraviolet cutoff of the effective field theory. This bound can strongly constrain new physics models involving a massive gauge boson.

Abstract: The magnetic dipole moments of the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ bottom-charm baryons are extracted utilizing the QCD light-cone sum rule with the help of the photon distribution amplitudes. %When deriving magnetic dipole moments for these bottom-charm baryons, we have modeled them using two different interpolating currents. While deriving the magnetic dipole moments of the bottom charm baryons, two different possible interpolating currents that can be coupled to these states are taken into account. The magnetic dipole moments of the bottom-charm baryons include significant knowledge of their inner structure and geometric shape. The magnetic dipole moment results of the study are compared with estimations acquired in various other models and approaches.

Abstract: Strange particles being produced only during high-energy collisions carry important information regarding collision dynamics. Recent results of the ALICE Collaboration on strangeness enhancement in high-multiplicity p+p collisions have pointed out the importance of rope hadronization in high-energy nucleon-nucleon collisions. With the help of the \texttt{PYTHIA8} model, we made an attempt to discuss the strange particle production in high-energy p+p collisions at the LHC energy in the light of different color reconnection models and rope hadronization mechanism. The effect of color reconnection ranges on different observables is also discussed. The integrated yield of strange hadrons and bayon-to-meson ratios as a function charged particle multiplicity in p+p collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, is well described by the hadronization mechanism of color ropes together with QCD-based color reconnections scheme. The average transverse momentum, $\langle p_{\rm T}\rangle$, and its hardening as a function of $\langle dN/dy \rangle$ are explained by MPI-based color reconnection mechanism with a reconnection range, RR = 3.6, whereas it is underestimated by the rope hadronization model.

Abstract: The $SU(3)_L\otimes U(1)_X$ symmetry actually studied is directly broken to the electroweak symmetry $SU(2)_L\otimes U(1)_Y$ by a Higgs triplet, predicting a relevant new physics at TeV scale. This work argues, by contrast, that the higher weak isospin $SU(3)_L$ might be broken at a high energy scale, much beyond $1$ TeV, by a Higgs octet to an intermediate symmetry $SU(2)_L\otimes U(1)_{T_8}$ at TeV, before the latter $U(1)_{T_8}$ recombined with $U(1)_X$ defines (i.e., broken to) $U(1)_Y$ by a Higgs singlet. The new physics coupled to $SU(3)_L$ breaking phase is decoupled, whereas what remains is a novel family-nonuniversal abelian model, $U(1)_{T_8}\otimes U(1)_X$, significantly overhauling the standard model as well as yielding consistent results for neutrino mass, dark matter, $W$-mass anomaly, and FCNC, differently from the usual 3-3-1 model.

Abstract: We perform a comprehensive analysis of medium modifications on ungroomed jet angularities, $\tau_a$, within the framework of Soft-Collinear Effective Theory with Glauber gluons (SCET$_{\rm G}$). Angularities are a one-parameter family of jet substructure observables with angularity exponent $a<2$ for infrared safety. Variation of the angularity exponent allows to modify the relative weighting of the collinear-to-soft radiations in the jet. In this article, we focus on angularity exponents $a<1$ and provide detailed results for $a=-1,0$, and $0.5$. Within SCET$_{\rm G}$, the interaction between jet and medium constituents is comprehended by off-shell Glauber gluons generated from the color gauge fields in the medium. While the medium modifications are incorporated in the jet function via the use of in-medium splitting functions, the soft function remains unmodified for $a<1$. For all values of $a$, we find that in the medium, the distributions are narrower and have a steeper fall compared to the vacuum ones. This redistribution of the ungroomed angularity spectrum is more apparent for a jet with a larger cone size. We also present results for the medium sensitivity towards $p_T$ of the jet and for a jet initiated in a less central event ($10-30\%$ centrality). Finally, we provide the ratios of nucleus-nucleus and proton-proton differential angularity distributions for different angularity exponents and for two values of the jet radius parameter.

Abstract: In this conference paper I present the results from a few global studies of Dark Matter (DM) models, in light of recent constraints from direct detection, indirect detection and collider experiments. I show the most recent analysis of models of singlet Higgs-portal DM, where the DM particle is a scalar, vector, Majorana or Dirac fermion. I also present the results from a global study of an effective field theory of DM, where we find that the model shows a strong preference for a low scale of new physics. For all models I show the prospects for detection or exclusions with future experiments.

Abstract: Recently, it was demonstrated that the discrepancy between the fixed-order (FOPT) and contour-improved (CIPT) perturbative expansions for $\tau$-lepton decay hadronic spectral function moments, which had been affecting the precision of $\alpha_s$ determinations for many years, is related to the CIPT expansion being inconsistent with the standard formulation of the operator product expansion (OPE). Even though the problem can be alleviated phenomenologically for the most part by employing a renormalon-free scheme for the gluon-condensate matrix element, the principal inconsistency of CIPT remains. The CIPT expansion is special because it is not a power expansion, but represents an asymptotic expansion in a sequence of functions of the strong coupling. In this article we provide a closer look at the mathematical aspects of the asymptotic sequence of the functions the CIPT method is based on, and we expose the origin of the CIPT inconsistency as well as the reasons for its apparent good convergence at low orders. Our results are of general interest, and may in particular provide a useful tool to check for the consistency of expansion methods that are similar to CIPT.

Abstract: Recent measurements of $R_{D}$ and $R_{D^{*}}$ by the LHCb collaboration show deviations from their respective Standard Model values. These semileptonic $B$ meson decays, associated with $b\rightarrow c \tau \bar{\nu}$ transition, are pointing toward new physics beyond the Standard Model via leptonic flavor universality violation. In this paper, we show that such anomaly can be resolved by the cummulative Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes of singlet right-handed neutrino which propagates in the large extra dimensional space. We found that the number of extra dimension should be 2 to explain $R_{D}$ and $R_{D^{*}}$. We show that both $R_{D}$ and $R_{D^{*}}$ constraint the energy scale $M_{F}$ of this extra dimension which are compatible with the limits from lepton flavor violating tau decays. In contrast, our findings are in tension with the limits coming from the neutrino experiments which set the most stringent lower bound on $M_{F}$. The future measurements of $R_{D^{(*)}}^{exp}$ with reduced uncertainties will exclude this extra dimensional model with right-handed neutrino propagating in the bulk, if the central values stay.

Abstract: The metastable hypermassive neutron star produced in the coalescence of two neutron stars can copiously produce axions that radiatively decay into $\mathcal{O}(100)$~MeV photons. These photons can form a fireball with characteristic temperature smaller than $1\rm\, MeV$. By relying on X-ray observations of GW170817/GRB 170817A with CALET CGBM, Konus-Wind, and Insight-HXMT/HE, we present new bounds on the axion-photon coupling for axion masses in the range $1$-$400\,\rm MeV$. We exclude couplings down to $5\times 10^{-11}\,\rm GeV^{-1}$, complementing and surpassing existing constraints. Our approach can be extended to any feebly-interacting particle decaying into photons.

Abstract: Using standard mathematical methods for asymptotic series and the large-$\beta_0$ approximation, we define a Minimum Distance between the Fixed-Order perturbative series and the Contour-Improved perturbative series in the strong coupling $\alpha_s$ for finite-energy sum rules as applied to hadronic $\tau$ decays. This distance is similar, but not identical, to the Asymptotic Separation of Hoang and Regner, which is defined in terms of the difference of the two series after Borel resummation. Our results confirm a nonzero nonperturbative result in $\alpha_s$ for this Minimum Distance as a measure of the intrinsic difference between the two series, as well as a conflict with the Operator Product Expansion for Contour-Improved Perturbation Theory.

Abstract: The dark axion portal is a dimension-5 coupling between an axion-like particle (ALP), a photon, and a dark photon, which is one of the targets of the intensity frontier searches looking for $\sim\,$sub-GeV long-lived particles (LLPs). In this work, we re-examine the limits set by existing detectors such as CHARM and NuCal, and by future experiments such as FASER2, MATHUSLA, and SHiP. We extend previous works by i) considering several mass regimes of the Dark Sector (DS) particles, leading to an extended lifetime regime of the unstable species, ii) including LLPs production occurring in previously neglected vector meson decays that actually dominate the LLP yield, and iii) by implementing secondary LLP production. It takes place by Primakoff-like upscattering of lighter DS species into LLP on tungsten layers of neutrino emulsion detector FASER$\nu$2. This process will allow FASER2 to cover a significant portion of the $\gamma c\tau \sim 1\,m$ region of the parameter space that is otherwise difficult to cover due to the large ($\sim O(100)\,m$) distance between the primary LLP production point and the decay vessel, where LLP decays take place, which is required in typical beam-dumb experiments for SM background suppression.