Search

We use effective string theory to study mesons with large spin $J$ in large $N_c$ QCD as rotating open strings. In the first part of this work, we formulate a consistent effective field theory (EFT) for open spinning strings with light quarks. Our EFT provides a consistent treatment of the endpoints' singularities that arise in the massless limit. We obtain results, in a systematic $1/J$ expansion, for the spectrum of the leading and daughter Regge trajectories. Interestingly, we find that the redshift factor associated with the quarks' acceleration implies that the applicability regime of the EFT is narrower compared to that of static flux tubes. In the second part of this work, we discuss several extensions of phenomenological interests, including mesons with heavy quarks, the quarks' spin and the daughter Regge trajectories associated with the worldsheet axion, a massive string mode identified in lattice simulations of $4d$ flux tubes. We compare our predictions with $4d$ QCD spectroscopy data, and suggest potential $stringy$ interpretations of the observed mesons. We finally comment on the relation between the EFT spectrum and the Axionic String Ansatz, a recently proposed characterization of the spectrum of Yang-Mills glueballs., Comment: 66 pages+appendices

In this contribution, we extend the discussion about the calculation of the bulk viscosity of quark matter in the normal phase due to electroweak processes and its effect on the damping of baryon density oscillations that might occur in the coalescence of two compact stars. Employing the EoSs from the MIT bag model and perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) up to $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s)$, we analyze our results varying densities in the range of temperatures from 0 to 10 MeV for frequencies around 1 kHz. Our estimates show that bulk viscous effects might play a relevant role during the postmerger stage if the system reaches a deconfined quark matter phase., Comment: Contribution for the conference proceedings of the "10th International Conference on Quarks and Nuclear Physics (QNP 2024)"

We compute the branching fractions of vector quarkonia ($V_Q=J/\psi, \psi', \Upsilon(nS)$) decays into neutrino pairs, considering both Dirac and Majorana types, within the Standard Model (SM) and beyond. The vector nature of quarkonium states yields a decay width in the SM that depends upon the weak vector coupling of the heavy quark, offering the possibility to measure the weak mixing angle at the quarkonia mass scales. If neutrinos have non-standard neutral weak couplings, this could help to distinguish the nature of neutrinos in principle., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures

We review lattice results related to pion, kaon, $D$-meson, $B$-meson, and nucleon physics with the aim of making them easily accessible to the nuclear and particle physics communities. More specifically, we report on the determination of the light-quark masses, the form factor $f_+(0)$ arising in the semileptonic $K \to \pi$ transition at zero momentum transfer, as well as the decay-constant ratio $f_K/f_\pi$ and its consequences for the CKM matrix elements $V_{us}$ and $V_{ud}$. We review the determination of the $B_K$ parameter of neutral kaon mixing as well as the additional four $B$ parameters that arise in theories of physics beyond the Standard Model. For the heavy-quark sector, we provide results for $m_c$ and $m_b$ as well as those for the decay constants, form factors, and mixing parameters of charmed and bottom mesons and baryons. These are the heavy-quark quantities most relevant for the determination of CKM matrix elements and the global CKM unitarity-triangle fit. We review the status of lattice determinations of the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$. We review the determinations of nucleon charges from the matrix elements of both isovector and flavour-diagonal axial, scalar and tensor local quark bilinears, and momentum fraction, helicity moment and the transversity moment from one-link quark bilinears. We also review determinations of scale-setting quantities. Finally, in this review we have added a new section on the general definition of the low-energy limit of the Standard Model., Comment: 435 pages, 53 Figures, 190 tables. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2111.09849, arXiv:1902.08191

We present a detailed survey of electric, magnetic and quadrupole form factors of light and heavy spin-1 vector mesons. It complements our analogous analysis of the electromagnetic form factors of pseudoscalar and scalar mesons reported earlier. Our formalism is based upon the Schwinger-Dyson equations treatment of a vector $\times$ vector contact interaction and the Bethe-Salpeter equation description of relativistic two-body bound states. We compute the form factors, associated moments and charge radii, comparing these quantities to earlier theoretical studies and experimental results if and when possible. We also investigate the quark-mass dependence of the charge radii and find the anticipated hierarchy such that it decreases with increasing dressed quark masses. In addition, our analysis shows that the magnetic moment is independent of the mass of the light and heavy mesons. Our results agree with most measurements reported earlier, finding a negative quadrupole moment, implying the charge distribution is oblate., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2301.11881

In this talk, we discuss the phenomenology of radiative 3-loop seesaw models. The 3-loop suppression allows the new particles to have masses at the TeV scale, along with relatively large Yukawa couplings, while retaining consistency with neutrino masses and mixing, as observed in neutrino oscillation experiments. This leads to a rich phenomenology, especially in searches for charged lepton flavor violation, where the models predict sizable rates, well within future experimental reach. The models provide viable fermionic or scalar dark matter candidates, as is typical within the scotogenic paradigm. We discuss specific realizations in which the W-mass anomaly and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe can be accommodated, while complying with current constraints imposed by electroweak precision observables, charged-lepton flavor violation and neutrinoless double-beta decay., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Talk given at the 42nd International Conference on High Energy Physics - ICHEP2024 (18-24 July 2024, Prague, Czech Republic)

In this paper, we study the effects of vorticity on the QCD phase transition using the Linear Sigma Model coupled to quarks. By going beyond the mean-field approximation and incorporating screening effects via ring diagrams, we explore the chiral symmetry restoration in extreme conditions, such as high temperatures, high densities, and large angular velocities. Our analysis reveals how the critical temperature decreases as the angular velocity increases, suggesting that vorticity catalyzes the symmetry restoration. Additionally, we observe a shift in the Critical End Point (CEP) in the effective QCD phase diagram, where higher angular velocities move the CEP to lower quark chemical potentials and higher temperatures. Moreover, we analyze the baryon number fluctuations through the normalized fourth moment $\kappa \sigma^2 = c_4/c_2$ as a function of the collision energy in heavy-ion reactions $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$, which serves as a key observable to identify the CEP. Our study reveals that for high collision energies, $\kappa \sigma^2$ remains nearly constant; however, as the system approaches the CEP, the ratio increases sharply, indicating the proximity of the critical region. This rise is influenced by the presence of vorticity, which causes the CEP to shift to higher collision energies. These findings provide insight into the role of vorticity in heavy-ion collisions, Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

This report describes the experimental strategy and technologies for a next-generation xenon observatory sensitive to dark matter and neutrino physics. The detector will have an active liquid xenon target mass of 60-80 tonnes and is proposed by the XENON-LUX-ZEPLIN-DARWIN (XLZD) collaboration. The design is based on the mature liquid xenon time projection chamber technology of the current-generation experiments, LZ and XENONnT. A baseline design and opportunities for further optimization of the individual detector components are discussed. The experiment envisaged here has the capability to explore parameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter down to the neutrino fog, with a 3$\sigma$ evidence potential for the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections as low as $3\times10^{-49}\rm cm^2$ (at 40 GeV/c$^2$ WIMP mass). The observatory is also projected to have a 3$\sigma$ observation potential of neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe at a half-life of up to $5.7\times 10^{27}$ years. Additionally, it is sensitive to astrophysical neutrinos from the atmosphere, sun, and galactic supernovae., Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures

We present the first determination of the topological susceptibility from lattice QCD in the presence of strong background magnetic fields. Our simulations employ 2+1 flavours of stout improved staggered quarks with physical masses and cover a broad range of temperatures and magnetic field values. The results are extrapolated to the continuum limit using four different lattice spacings and an eigenvalue reweighting technique to reduce discretisation errors. For low temperatures, our calculations show an enhancement of the topological susceptibility due to the magnetic field, compatible with predictions from chiral perturbation theory. At high temperatures, we observe the impact of inverse magnetic catalysis on the susceptibility., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures

The Electron-Ion Collider, a next generation electron-hadron and electron-nuclei scattering facility, will be built at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The wealth of new data will shape research in hadron physics, from nonperturbative QCD techniques to perturbative QCD improvements and global QCD analyses, for the decades to come. With the present proposal, Latin America based physicists, whose expertise lies on the theory and phenomenology side, make the case for the past and future efforts of a growing community, working hand-in-hand towards developing theoretical tools and predictions to analyze, interpret and optimize the results that will be obtained at the EIC, unveiling the role of the glue that binds us all. This effort is along the lines of various initiatives taken in the U.S., and supported by colleagues worldwide, such as the ones by the EIC User Group which were highlighted during the Snowmass Process and the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5)., Comment: White Paper contribution to the Latin American Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructure (III LASF4RI

Aiming to uncover the CP properties of spin-0 particle Dark Matter (DM), we explore a two-component DM scenario within the framework of 3-Higgs Doublet Models (3HDMs), a well-motivated set-up previously studied due to the complementarity of its collider and astrophysical probes. We devise benchmark points in which the two components of DM have same CP in one case and opposite CP in another. We then show several cross section distributions of observables at collider experiments where the two cases are clearly distinguishable., Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures

We compute masses of twenty positive parity first radial excitations of spin-$1/2$ and $3/2$ baryons composed of u,d,s,c and b quarks in a quark-diquark picture within a contact interaction model. These excitations comprise of two elements: one characterized by a zero in the Faddeev amplitude, representing a radial excitation of the quark-diquark system and the other marked by a zero in the diquark's Bethe-Salpeter amplitude, corresponding to an intrinsic excitation of the diquark correlation. Wherever possible, we compare our results with other models and/or experiment. We verify that the masses obtained through our model conform to the spacing rules for all the baryons studied, whether light or heavy and whether of spin 1/2 or 3/2. The computed masses do not just offer a guide to the future experimental searches but also compare well with the existing candidates for the possible radial excitations of some heavy baryons., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures and 11 tables

New heavy neutral leptons lead to non-unitary effects in models for neutrino masses. Such effects could represent a sign of new physics beyond the Standard Model, leading to observable deviations in neutrino oscillation experiments, lepton flavor violation, and other precision measurements. This work explores the parameter space of the linear and inverse low-scale seesaw models based on flavor symmetries consistent with neutrino oscillation experiments. In particular, we investigated the violation of unitarity when the lepton flavor violation is absent and when only one lepton flavor-violating channel is present., Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables

This talk summarized work done recently to organize the steps for implementing TMD phenomenology in a way optimized for contexts where the extraction and interpretation of hadronic structures and nonperturbative effects is the primary driving motivation., Comment: 17 pages, proceedings of 7th International Workshop on Transverse phenomena in hard processes and the transverse structure of the proton (Transversity2024)

The discovery of non-zero neutrino masses points to the likely existence of multiple SM neutral fermions. When such states are heavy enough that they cannot be produced in oscillations, they are referred to as Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs). In minimal models, the HNL production and decay are controlled by SM interactions and the mixing between HNLs and the active neutrino and typically result in relatively long lifetimes if the masses are in the MeV-GeV range. We have studied the physics case and technical feasibility for a dedicated HNL search using the NuMI beam at an ICARUS-like detector. Our analysis conclusively demonstrates that the constraints on the mixing of the HNL as a function of its mass for an ICARUS-like detector with NuMI beam are highly competitive with the limits obtained from present experiments., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures

In order to explain the mass hierarchy and mixing pattern in the leptonic sector, we explore an extension of the Standard Model whose scalar sector includes one active and two inert doublets as well as some scalar singlets. The model includes a $S_3$ family symmetry supplemented by extra cyclic symmetries. As a consequence of our construction, a Dark Matter (DM) candidate is predicted and its properties are consistent with the observed cosmic abundances and the constraints imposed by direct and indirect detection experiments. The model allows Charged Lepton Flavor Violation (CLFV) processes like $\mu \rightarrow e\gamma$ and $\mu \rightarrow 3e$, but the predicted branching ratios align with experimental limits. Additionally, our analysis elucidates the generation of the active neutrino masses through a one-loop radiative seesaw mechanism matching the observed neutrino oscillation data. The model agrees with experimental data on Higgs Diphoton decay rates and on oblique parameters., Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures

We propose an alternative to the axion mechanism for addressing the charge parity (CP) problem in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Our approach involves imposing CP as an inherent symmetry of the Lagrangian, which is then spontaneously broken. To generate the correct texture for the Yukawa matrices, we introduce a discrete $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry that is softly broken by the scalar potential. By identifying a benchmark point for the Yukawa couplings that aligns with the measured quark masses, the CKM matrix, and low-energy flavor-changing constraints, our findings suggest that this model offers a viable solution to the CP problem., Comment: 6 pages, 3 tables, 2 figures

We use the high-resolution HR-DEMNUni simulations to compute cross-correlations of the Cosmic Neutrino Background C$_{\nu}$B with other observables, namely: cold dark matter density, effective weak lensing convergence, neutrino velocity and neutrino deflection angle. We provide, for the first time, this high-fidelity cross-correlation maps in order to illustrate how much can be learned from them once the cosmic neutrino background is measured. As cross-correlations will have more signal than auto-correlations of the C$_{\nu}$B itself, these might be the ones to be measured first by Ptolemy-like experiments. Our predictions thus provide the imprint of what massive neutrinos should look like from cosmological observations.

Using the high-resolution HR-DEMNUni simulations, we computed neutrino profiles within virialized dark matter haloes. These new high-resolution simulations allowed us to revisit fitting formulas proposed in the literature and provided updated fitting parameters that extend to less massive haloes and lower neutrino masses than previously in the literature, in accordance with new cosmological limits. The trend we observe for low neutrino masses is that, for dark matter halo masses below $\sim 4\times10^{14}$$h^{-1}M_\odot$, the presence of the core becomes weaker and the profile over the whole radius is closer to a simple power law. We also characterized the neutrino density profile dependence on the solid angle within clustered structures: a forward-backward asymmetry larger than 10% was found when comparing the density profiles from neutrinos along the direction of motion of cold dark matter particles within the same halo. In addition, we looked for neutrino wakes around halo centres produced by the peculiar motion of the halo itself. Our results suggest that the wakes effect is observable in haloes with masses greater than $3\times10^{14}$ $h^{-1}M_\odot$ where a mean displacement of $0.06$\hmpc was found.

We investigate the $\Lambda_c \to \Lambda \ell^{+} \nu_\ell$ decay with a focus on potential new physics (NP) effects in the $\ell = \mu$ channel. We employ an effective Hamiltonian within the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) to consider generalized dimension-6 semileptonic $c\to s$ operators of scalar, pseudoscalar, vector, axial-vector and tensor types. We rely on Lattice QCD (LQCD) for the hadronic transition form factors, using heavy quark spin symmetry (HQSS) to determine those that have not yet been obtained on the lattice. Uncertainties due to the truncation of the NP Hamiltonian and different implementations of HQSS are taken into account. As a result, we unravel the NP discovery potential of the $\Lambda_c\to \Lambda$ semileptonic decay in different observables. Our findings indicate high sensitivity to NP in lepton flavour universality ratios, probing multi-TeV scales in some cases. On the theoretical side, we identify LQCD uncertainties in axial and vector form factors as critical for improving NP sensitivity, alongside better SMEFT uncertainty estimations.

We compute electromagnetic and two-photon transition form factors of ground-state pseudoscalar mesons: $\pi,\,K,\,\eta_c,\,\eta_b$. To this end, we employ an algebraic model based upon the coupled formalism of Schwinger-Dyson and Bethe-Salpeter equations. Within this approach, the dressed quark propagator and the relevant Bethe-Salpeter amplitude encode the internal structure of the corresponding meson. Electromagnetic properties of the meson are probed via the quark-photon interaction. The algebraic model employed by us unifies the treatment of all ground-state pseudoscalar mesons. Its parameters are carefully fitted performing a global analysis of existing experimental data including the knowledge of the charge radii of the mesons studied. We then compute and predict electromagnetic and two-photon transition form factors for a wide range of probing photon momentum-squared which is of direct relevance to the experimental observations carried out thus far or planned at different hadron physics facilities such as the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) and the forthcoming Electron-Ion Collider. We also present comparisons with other theoretical models and approaches and lattice quantum chromodynamics., Comment: 18 pages, 8 Figures

We report a methodology to determine the quality factor ($Q$) in implementations of the so-called dielectric haloscope, a new concept of wavy dark matter detector equipped with a multilayered resonator. An anechoic chamber enables the observation of the resonance frequency and its amplitude for an unlimited series of layers for the first time, which is conveniently filtered. The frequency-normalized power enhancement measured in a Dark-photons \& Axion-Like particles Interferometer (DALI) prototype is a few hundred per layer over a sweep bandwidth of half a hundred MHz. In light of this result, this scaled-down prototype is sensitive to axions saturating the local dark matter density with a coupling to photons between $g_{a\gamma\gamma}\gtrsim10^{-12}$ GeV$^{-1}$ and $g_{a\gamma\gamma}\gtrsim$ few $\times 10^{-14}$ GeV$^{-1}$ at frequencies of several dozens of GHz once cooled down to the different working temperatures of the experiment and immersed in magnetic fields ranging from 1 T to 10 T; while the sensitivity of the full-scale DALI is projected at $g_{a\gamma\gamma}\gtrsim\mathrm{few}\times10^{-15}$ GeV$^{-1}$ over the entire 25--250 {\mu}eV range since $Q\gtrsim10^4$ is expected., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures

We present the first purely theoretical calculation of the weak mixing angle in the MS scheme at low energies by combining results from lattice QCD with perturbation theory. We discuss its correlation with the hadronic contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon and to the energy dependence of the electromagnetic coupling. We also compare the results with calculations using cross-section data as input. Implications for the Standard Model prediction of the mass of the W boson are also discussed., Comment: 6 pages, 4 tables, 3 figures

We study the new $Z'$ boson as a portal for the production of Higgs bosons $h_0$ and $H_0$ predicted by the Bestest Little Higgs Model through the Higgs-strahlung processes $\mu^+\mu^- \to (Z, Z') \to Zh_0, ZH_0$. We focus on the resonance and non-resonance effects of the $Zh_0, ZH_0$ signals. In our analysis, we consider the center-of-mass energies of $\sqrt{s}=3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 30$ TeV and integrated luminosities of ${\cal L}=2, 4, 6, 10, 30$ ${\rm ab^{-1}}$ projected for a future muon collider. The possibility of performing precision measurements for the Higgs bosons $h_0$ and $H_0$ is very promising at the future muon collider. Furthermore, our results may be helpful to the High Energy Physics community. Complementarily, we generate and provide the Feynman rules necessary for studying the processes $\mu^+\mu^- \to (Z, Z') \to Zh_0, ZH_0$., Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures

Quantum field theory predicts a nonlinear response of the vacuum to strong electromagnetic fields of macroscopic extent. This fundamental tenet has remained experimentally challenging and is yet to be tested in the laboratory. A particularly distinct signature of the resulting optical activity of the quantum vacuum is vacuum birefringence. This offers an excellent opportunity for a precision test of nonlinear quantum electrodynamics in an uncharted parameter regime. Recently, the operation of the high-intensity laser ReLaX provided by the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (HIBEF) has been inaugurated at the High Energy Density (HED) scientific instrument of the European XFEL. We make the case that this worldwide unique combination of an x-ray free-electron laser and an ultra-intense near-infrared laser together with recent advances in high-precision x-ray polarimetry, refinements of prospective discovery scenarios, and progress in their accurate theoretical modelling have set the stage for performing an actual discovery experiment of quantum vacuum nonlinearity., Comment: 34 pages, 21 figures

We propose an extended Left-Right symmetric model with an additional global symmetry $U(1)_X$, which after spontaneous symmetry breaking collapses to a residual subgroup $\mathbb{Z}_2$, ensuring that the light active neutrino masses are generated via a double seesaw mechanism at two loop level, with the Dirac submatrix arising at one loop. It also guarantees one loop level masses for the SM charged fermions lighter than the top quark and protects Dark Matter (DM) candidates of the model. To the best of our knowledge our model has the first implementation of the radiative double seesaw mechanism with the Dirac submatrix generated at one loop level. We show that the model can successfully accommodate the observed pattern of SM fermion masses as well as mixings and is compatible with the constraints arising from the muon $g-2$ anomaly, neutrinoless double beta decay and DM., Comment: 21 pages, 12 captioned figures, corrected typos, and added new references

Radiative seesaw models are examples of interesting and testable extensions of the Standard Model to explain the light neutrino masses. In radiative models at 1-loop level, such as the popular scotogenic model, in order to successfully reproduce neutrino masses and mixing, one has to rely either on unnaturally small Yukawa couplings or on a very small mass splitting between the CP-even and CP-odd components of the neutral scalar mediators. We discuss here scotogenic-like models where light-active neutrino masses arise at the three-loop level, providing a more natural explanation for their smallness. The proposed models are consistent with the neutrino oscillation data and allow to successfully accommodate the measured dark matter relic abundance. Depending on the specific realization, it is also possible to explain the W-mass anomaly and to generate the baryon asymmetry of the Universe via leptogenesis. The models lead to rich phenomenology, predicting sizable charged-lepton flavor violation rates, potentially observable in near future experiments, while satisfying all current constraints imposed by neutrinoless double-beta decay, charged-lepton flavor violation and electroweak precision observables., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Contribution to the 2024 Electroweak session of the 58th Rencontres de Moriond

We revisited the computation of the cross section for the $\mu^+\mu^+\to \ell^+\ell^{+}$ $(\ell^+=\tau^+,\, e^+)$ transitions in the presence of new heavy Majorana neutrinos. We focus on scenarios where the masses of the new states are around some few TeV, the so-called low-scale seesaw models. Our analysis is set in a simple model with only two new heavy Majorana neutrinos considering the current limits on the heavy-light mixings. Our results illustrate the difference between the genuine effects of two nondegenerate heavy Majorana states and the degenerate case where they form a Dirac singlet field., Comment: 20 pages, 3 Figures, matched with the published version Phys.Rev.D 110 (2024) 5, 053006

This study examines the impact of $CP$-violation on the signal strength $\mu^{Z\gamma}$, which was reported as $2.2\pm 0.7$ by the LHC. We obtain constraints on the real and absorptive parts of the $CP$-violating form factor $h_3^{Z\gamma}$ and find that they are less than 1.15 GeV. Additionally, we revisit the leading order Standard Model contributions to the $H\rightarrow Z\gamma$ decay and calculate contributions to $h_3^{Z\gamma}$ from FCNC complex couplings mediated by the $Z$ and $H$ bosons. By using the current bounds on such couplings, we find that the FCNC contribution to $h_3^{Z\gamma}$ with top and charm quarks in the loop is of order $10^{-5}$ GeV. While in a model with new quarks that preserves the SM predictions on Higgs decays, the $CP$-violating form factor $h_3^{Z\gamma}$ can be of order $10^{-1}$ GeV and could explain the excess on the signal strength $\mu^{Z\gamma}$., Comment: To be published in PRD

We perform a detailed and comprehensive study of several flavor physics observables in both lepton and quark sectors within the framework of an extended 2HDM theory where the inverse seesaw mechanism is implemented to generate the SM fermion mass hierarchy. In that theory, the SM gauge symmetry is supplemented by the local $U(1)_X$ and discrete $Z_4\times Z_2$ groups. In particular, we find that the leptonic flavor observables specifically, the branching ratios of LFV decays $\mu\to e\gamma, \tau\to e(\mu)\gamma$ and the anomalous magnetic moments $\Delta a_{e(\mu)}$ strongly depend on the couplings of the neutral CP even(odd) Higgses with exotic charged lepton $E_1$, whereas other observables involving BR($l\to 3l'$), Mu-$\overline{\text{Mu}}$ transition and coherent conversion $\mu \to e $ in a muonic atom are predicted to be less than several orders of magnitude compared to the corresponding experimental limits. Regarding the quark sector, the most stringent limits arising from the FCNC process involving the down-type quark $d_a\to d_b$ ($a=1,2,3$) transitions such as BR($\bar{B}\to X_s \gamma$), BR$(B_s\to \mu^+\mu^-)$, and meson mixing $ \Delta m_{K,B_s, B_d}$. Considering the obtained constraints from these observables, the new physics contributions to other observables namely BR$(B_s\to \tau^+\mu^-)$, BR$(B^+\to K^+\tau^+\tau^-)$, BR$(B^+\to K^+\tau^+\mu^-)$, and FCCC $b\to c$ transition LFUV ratios $R_{D^{(*)}}$ are shown to be remarkably small. Regarding the observables in the up-type quark transitions, the FCNC top quark processes $t\to u(c)\gamma$ and $t\to u(c)h$ have branching ratios consistent with the experimental limits. Additionally, observables related to SM-like Higgs boson decays BR$(h\to \bar{l}'l)$ and modified couplings $a_{h\bar{f}f}$ are also discussed., Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures

Parton distribution functions play a pivotal role in hadron collider phenomenology. They are non-perturbative quantities extracted from fits to available data, and their scale dependence is dictated by the DGLAP evolution equations. In this article, we discuss machine-assisted strategies to efficiently compute PDFs directly incorporating the scale evolution without the need of separately solving DGLAP equations. Analytical approximations to the PDFs as a function of $x$ and $Q^2$, including up to next-to-leading order effects in Quantum Chromodynamics, are obtained. The methodology is tested by reproducing the $\texttt{HERAPDF2.0}$ set and implementing the analytical expressions in benchmarking codes. It is found that the computational cost is reduced while the precision of the simulations stays well under control., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures

We propose two models based on the $SU(3)_C \times SU(3)_L \times U(1)_X$ gauge symmetry, each incorporating distinct inverse seesaw mechanisms for generating neutrino masses at the radiative level. Therefore, neutrino masses are suppressed by the radiative nature of the mass generation mechanism, which occurs after the spontaneous breaking of the global lepton number symmetry. Both scenarios discussed here are characterized by the presence of vector-like charged leptons, which are involved in generating the masses of the Standard Model charged leptons. These additional vector-like fermions contribute to the anomalous magnetic moments of the electron and the muon. We perform a detailed analysis of the scalar sectors, show that these models can successfully accommodate the observed baryon asymmetry through resonant leptogenesis, and compute charged lepton flavor-violating decays, such as $\mu \rightarrow e \gamma$. We discuss the constraints of the model arising from these processes and those associated the non-unitarity of the lepton mixing matrix., Comment: 27 pages, 7 captioned figures

In this work, we explore an extension of the Standard Model designed to elucidate the fermion mass hierarchy, account for the dark matter relic abundance, and explain the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. Beyond the Standard Model particle content, our model introduces additional scalars and fermions. Notably, the light active neutrinos and the first two generations of charged fermions acquire masses at the one-loop level. The model accommodates successful low-scale leptogenesis, permitting the mass of the decaying heavy right-handed neutrino to be as low as 10 TeV. We conduct a detailed analysis of the dark matter phenomenology and explore various interesting phenomenological implications. These include charged lepton flavor violation, muon and electron anomalous magnetic moments, constraints arising from electroweak precision observables, and implications for collider experiments., Comment: 22 pages, 11 captioned figures, added more references and improved discussions, matches published version

We present the first proof-of-concept application to decay processes at higher perturbative orders of LTD causal unitary, a novel methodology that exploits the causal properties of vacuum amplitudes in the loop-tree duality (LTD) and is directly well-defined in the four physical dimensions of the space-time. The generation of loop- and tree-level contributions to the differential decay rates from a kernel multiloop vacuum amplitude is shown in detail, and explicit expressions are presented for selected processes that are suitable for a lightweight understanding of the method. Specifically, we provide a clear physical interpretation of the local cancellation of soft, collinear and unitary threshold singularities, and of the local renormalisation of ultraviolet singularities. The presentation is illustrated with numerical results that showcase the advantages of the method., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

In this proceedings article we present a selected set of our lattice results regarding the effect that background electromagnetic fields have on the topology of QCD. In particular, we report on the lattice spacing-dependence of the axion-photon coupling as well as on the response of the topological susceptibility to strong magnetic fields at nonzero temperatures. We demonstrate that the ratio of topological susceptibilities at finite to zero magnetic field has a well behaved continuum limit at low temperatures using a reweighting technique. Moreover, we study the scaling of the axion-photon coupling towards the continuum limit and show that it is less severely affected by discretisation effects., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of the 40th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 31st - August 4th 2023, Chicago, United States of America

The axion is a long-postulated boson that can simultaneously solve two fundamental problems of modern physics: the charge-parity symmetry problem in the strong interaction and the enigma of dark matter. In this work we estimate, by means of Monte Carlo simulations, the sensitivity of the Dark-photons$\&$Axion-Like particles Interferometer (DALI), a new-generation Fabry-P\'erot haloscope proposed to probe axion dark matter in the 25-250 $\mu$eV band., Comment: As accepted by Symmetry

The axion is a hypothetical boson arising from the most natural solution to the problem of charge and parity symmetry in the strong nuclear force. Moreover, this pseudoscalar emerges as a dark matter candidate in a parameter space extending several decades in mass. The Dark-photons \& Axion-Like particles Interferometer (DALI) is a proposal to search for axion dark matter in a range that remains under-examined. Currently in a design and prototyping phase, this haloscope is a multilayer Fabry-P\'erot interferometer. A proof-of-principle experiment is performed to observe the resonance in a prototype. The test unveils a quality factor per open cavity of a few hundred over a bandwidth of the order of dozens of megahertz. The result elucidates a physics potential to find the, so far elusive, axion, in a sector which can simultaneously solve the symmetry problem in the strong interaction and the enigma of dark matter., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

Suitably normalized differential probabilities of one-photon emission in external electromagnetic fields are compared to quantify the transit of nonlinear Compton scattering to linear Compton scattering, described by the Klein-Nishina formula, and to constant crossed field treatment. The known Klein-Nishina suppression at large energies is further enforced by increasing field intensity. In view of the Ritus-Narozhny conjecture, we demonstrate that different paths in the field intensity vs. energy plane towards large values of the quantum non-linearity parameter $\chi$ facilitate significantly different asymptotic dependencies, both in the Klein-Nishina regime and the constant crossed field regime and in between., Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures

We compute the 1-loop vertex function of the QCD coupling in the presence of an ultra intense magnetic field. From the vertex function, we extract the effective coupling and show that it grows with increasing magnetic field. We consider the quark-gluon vertex and the three-gluon vertex, accounting for the propagators of charged particles within the loops using the lowest Landau level approximation in order to satisfy the condition where the magnetic field is the largest energy scale. Under this approximation, we find that the contribution from the three-gluon vertex vanishes. Therefore, this result arises from the competition between the color charge associated to gluons and to quarks as well, with the former being larger than the latter. The behavior of the QCD coupling as a function of the magnetic field strength is analogous to that exhibited by the light-quark condensate, indicating the magnetic catalysis occurs. This increasing behavior stems from the dominant contribution of color charge associated to gluons in the vertex function., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

We investigate the anomalous Chromomagnetic Dipole Moment (CMDM), $\hat{\mu}^{BLHM}_t$ of the top quark in the Bestest Little Higgs Model (BLHM). We include new interactions with the involvement of the extended CKM matrix of the BLHM and we explore most of the allowed parameter space, obtaining multiple CMDM in the range of $10^{-4}-10^{-2}$. We consider experimental and model parameter uncertainties to integrate them into all our calculations using a Monte Carlo method. This enables us to determine the extent to which deviations arising from experimental errors can be accommodated within the statistical errors of the model and which relate to the physics framework of the BLHM, guiding future theory, phenomenological, and experimental research.

We propose two versions of radiative linear seesaw models, where electrically charged scalars and vector-like leptons generate the Dirac neutrino mass submatrix at one and two loop levels. In these models, the SM charged lepton masses are generated from a one loop level radiative seesaw mechanism mediated by charged exotic vector-like leptons and electrically neutral scalars running in the loops. These models can successfully accommodate the current amount of dark matter and baryon asymmetries observed in the Universe, as well as the muon anomalous magnetic moment., Comment: 25 pages, v2 contains enlarged discussion

Monochromatic gamma-ray signals constitute a potential smoking gun signature for annihilating or decaying dark matter particles that could relatively easily be distinguished from astrophysical or instrumental backgrounds. We provide an updated assessment of the sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to such signals, based on observations of the Galactic centre region as well as of selected dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We find that current limits and detection prospects for dark matter masses above 300 GeV will be significantly improved, by up to an order of magnitude in the multi-TeV range. This demonstrates that CTA will set a new standard for gamma-ray astronomy also in this respect, as the world's largest and most sensitive high-energy gamma-ray observatory, in particular due to its exquisite energy resolution at TeV energies and the adopted observational strategy focussing on regions with large dark matter densities. Throughout our analysis, we use up-to-date instrument response functions, and we thoroughly model the effect of instrumental systematic uncertainties in our statistical treatment. We further present results for other potential signatures with sharp spectral features, e.g.~box-shaped spectra, that would likewise very clearly point to a particle dark matter origin., Comment: 44 pages JCAP style (excluding author list and references), 19 figures; minor changes to match published version

An analysis of the off-shell $H^\ast\rightarrow ZZ \rightarrow \overline{\ell}_1\ell_1\overline{\ell}_2\ell_2$ decay width is presented for both unpolarized and polarized $Z$ gauge bosons in the scenario with the most general $H^*ZZ$ vertex function, which is given in terms of two $CP$-even ($\hat b_Z$ and $\hat c_Z$) and one $CP$-odd ($\tilde b_Z$) anomalous couplings. The SM contributions to the $H^*ZZ$ coupling up to the one-loop level are also included. Explicit analytic results for the unpolarized and polarized $H^\ast\rightarrow ZZ \rightarrow \overline{\ell}_1\ell_1\overline{\ell}_2\ell_2$ square amplitudes and the four-body phase space are presented, out of which several observable quantities can be obtained straightforwardly. As far as the numerical analysis is concerned, a cross-check is performed via \texttt{MadGraph5\_aMC@NLO}, where our model was implemented with the aid of FeynRules. We then consider the most stringent bounds on anomalous complex $H^*ZZ$ couplings and analyze the effects of the polarizations of the $Z$ gauge bosons through the polarized $H^\ast\rightarrow ZZ \rightarrow \overline{\ell}_1\ell_1\overline{\ell}_2\ell_2$ decay width as well as left-right and forward-backward asymmetries, which are found to be sensitive to new-physics effects. Particular focus is put on the effects of the absorptive parts of the anomalous $H^*ZZ$ couplings, which have been largely overlooked up to now in LHC analyses. It is found that the studied observable quantities, particularly the left-right asymmetries, can be helpful to look for effects of $CP$-violation in the $H^*ZZ$ coupling and set bounds on the absorptive parts. For completeness, we also analyze the case of unpolarized $Z$ gauge bosons., Comment: Close to the published version in Chinese Physics C

The Bayesian reweighting procedure is extended to the case of multiple independent extractions of transverse momentum dependent parton distributions (TMDs). By exploiting the data on transverse single spin asymmetries, $A_N$, for inclusive pion production in polarized proton-proton collisions measured at RHIC, we perform a simultaneous reweighting of the quark Sivers, transversity and Collins TMD functions extracted from semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) and $e^+ e^-$ annihilation into hadron pairs. The impact of the implementation of the Soffer bound, as well as the differences between older and newer $A_N$ data, are investigated. The agreement with $A_N$ data at large-$x_F$ values, a kinematical region complementary to those explored in SIDIS measurements, is enhanced, improving the knowledge of the polarized quark TMDs in the large-$x$ region., Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures. Revised results section, extended discussion on Bayesian reweighting. To appear on Physics Letters B

We study the chiral phase transition within the Linear Sigma Model with quarks from its thermodynamical potential considering quantum corrections up to ring diagrams in the high-temperature regime. Demanding a second order phase transition as expected in the chiral limit at low baryon chemical potential, that the curvature of the critical line matches the one obtained in lattice simulations and that the value of the speed of sound at high temperature and zero density has its measured value, we constrain the couplings and other free parameters of the model. We set restrictions to locate the position of the Critical End Point in the phase diagram from a fast drop-off of the critical line reminiscent from the behavior of the speed of sound near criticality. Our results set tight constrains in parameter space for the model to exhibit realistic features., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Letter

We consider a model that accounts for the smallness of neutrino masses through the linear seesaw mechanism and employs a $\Delta(27)$ family symmetry to address the flavour problem. The model is predictive in the leptonic sector and faces constraints from Lepton Flavour Violation processes, namely $\mu \to e \gamma$, which indicate a range for the Right-Handed neutrino mass., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures

We present a first practical implementation of a recently proposed hadron structure oriented (HSO) approach to TMD phenomenology applied to Drell-Yan like processes, including lepton pair production at moderate $Q^2$ and $Z^0$ boson production. We compare and contrast general features of our methodology with other common practices and emphasize the improvements derived from our approach that we view as essential for applications where extracting details of nonperturbative transverse hadron structure is a major goal. These include the HSO's preservation of a basic TMD parton-model-like framework even while accounting for full TMD factorization and evolution, explicit preservation of the integral relationship between TMD and collinear pdfs, and the ability to meaningfully compare different theoretical models of nonperturbative TMD parton distributions. In our examples, we show that there is significant sensitivity at moderate $Q^2$ to both the form of the nonperturbative transverse momentum dependence and the parametrization of collinear parton densities. However, we also find that evolving to $Q^2 = M_Z^2$, without fitting, results in a satisfactory postdiction of existing data for $Z^0$ production, nearly independently of the modeling of nonperturbative transverse momentum behavior. We argue that this demonstrates that moderate $Q$ measurements should be given greater weight than high $Q$ measurements in extractions of nonperturbative transverse momentum dependence. We also obtain new extractions of the nonperturbative Collins-Soper kernel within the HSO approach. We discuss its features and compare with some earlier extractions., Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

We study the large $N_\text{c}$ scaling of meson-meson scattering amplitudes in a theory with $N_\text{f}=4$ degenerate quark flavors. We focus on two different scattering channels, one having the same quantum numbers as some recently found tetraquark states at LHCb. Using L\"uscher's formalism, we study the $N_\text{c}$ dependence of the scattering phase shift and investigate the presence of exotic resonances in the scattering amplitude. We analyze the impact of including two-vector-meson and tetraquark-like operators to extract the finite-volume energies., Comment: 8 pages of main content, 5 figures. Talk presented at the 40th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice2023), 31 July - 4 August 2023, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

The decay or annihilation of dark matter particles may produce a steady flux of very-high-energy gamma rays detectable above the diffuse background. Nearby clusters of galaxies provide excellent targets to search for the signatures of particle dark matter interactions. In particular, the Virgo cluster spans several degrees across the sky and can be efficiently probed with a wide field-of-view instrument. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory, due to its wide field of view and sensitivity to gamma rays at an energy scale of 300 GeV--100 TeV is well-suited for this search. Using 2141 days of data, we search for gamma-ray emission from the Virgo cluster, assuming well-motivated dark matter sub-structure models. Our results provide some of the strongest constraints on the decay lifetime of dark matter for masses above 10 TeV., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review D