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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 343 records · Page 19
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DOE OSTI2024

Entanglement and Bell inequalities with boosted t t ¯

The Large Hadron Collider provides a unique opportunity to study quantum entanglement and violation of Bell inequalities at the highest energy available today. In this paper, we will investigate these quantum correlations with top quark pair production, which represents a system of two-qubits. The semileptonic top pair channel has a factor of 6 increase in statistics and easier reconstruction with respect to the dileptonic channel. Although measuring the spin polarization of the hadronic top quark is known to be challenging, our study indicates that it is feasible to reconstruct the spin density matrix of the two-qubit system using an optimal hadronic polarimeter. This is achieved with the aid of jet substructure techniques and NN-inspired reconstruction methods, which improve the mapping between subjets and quarks. We find that entanglement can already be observed at more than the 5 σ level with existing data, and violation of Bell inequalities may be probed above the 4 σ level at the HL-LHC with 3 ab − 1 of data. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

ALP contribution to the strong C P problem

We compute the one-loop contribution to the θ ¯ parameter of an faxionlike particle (ALP) with C P -odd derivative couplings. Its contribution to the neutron electric dipole moment is shown to be orders of magnitude larger than that stemming from the one-loop ALP contributions to the up- and down-quark electric and chromoelectric dipole moments. This strongly improves existing bounds on ALP-fermion C P -odd interactions and also sets limits on previously unconstrained couplings. The case of a general singlet scalar is analyzed as well. In addition, we explore how the bounds are modified in the presence of a Peccei-Quinn symmetry. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Light new physics in B → K ( * ) ν ν ¯ ?

The study of the rare decays B → K ( * ) ν ν ¯ offers a window into the dynamics operating at the electroweak scale, allowing studies of the Standard Model and searches for heavy new physics. However, the analysis of these decays is also potentially sensitive to the on shell production of new light bosons X through the process B → K ( * ) X . In particular, Belle II has recently measured B + → K + ν ν ¯ , finding a 2.8 σ excess under the assumption of heavy new physics. Since this excess is rather localized in the kaon energy, a fit that includes the decay mode B + → K + X to the kinematic distributions prefers m X ≈ 2 GeV with branching fraction Br [ B → K X ] = ( 8.8 ± 2.5 ) × 10 − 6 and a significance of ≈ 3.6 σ . However, no excess was found in the measurements of B → K ( * ) ν ν ¯ , and a global analysis of the Belle II and data leads to Br [ B → K X ] = ( 5.1 ± 2.1 ) × 10 − 6 with a reduced significance of ≈ 2.4 σ . We then study various simplified dark-flavored models and present a possible UV completion based on a gauged B 3 − L 3 symmetry, highlighting the discovery potential of dedicated searches for B → K ( * ) X at Belle II. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Higgs quadruplet impact on W mass shift, dark matter, and LHC signatures

The addition of a Higgs quadruplet to the standard model (SM) of quarks and leptons would shift the W -boson mass upward. It could also facilitate the production of dark matter through the conventional thermal freeze-out scenario via Yukawa interaction with the Higgs quadruplet or freeze-in production from the decay of SM Higgs. We investigate the same-sign lepton smoking gun signature of the double-charged scalar component of the quadruplet Higgs at the LHC. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Toward a classification of PT-symmetric quantum systems: From dissipative dynamics to topology and wormholes

Studies of many-body non-Hermitian parity-time (PT)-symmetric quantum systems are attracting a lot of interest due to their relevance in research areas ranging from quantum optics and continuously monitored dynamics to Euclidean wormholes in quantum gravity and dissipative quantum chaos. While a symmetry classification of non-Hermitian systems leads to 38 universality classes, we show that, under certain conditions, PT-symmetric systems are grouped into 24 universality classes. We identify 14 of them in a coupled two-site Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model and confirm the classification by spectral analysis using exact diagonalization techniques. Intriguingly, in 4 of these 14 universality classes, AIII ν , BDI ν † , BDI + + ν , and CI − − ν , we identify a basis in which the SYK Hamiltonian has a block structure in which some blocks are rectangular, with ν ∈ N the difference between the number of rows and columns. We show analytically that this feature leads to the existence of ν robust purely eigenvalues, whose level statistics follow the predictions of Hermitian random matrix theory for classes A, AI, BDI, and CI, respectively. We have recently found that this ν is a topological invariant, so these classes are topological. By contrast, nontopological real eigenvalues display a crossover between Hermitian and non-Hermitian level statistics. Similarly to the case of Lindbladian dynamics, the reduction of universality classes leads to unexpected results, such as the absence of Kramers degeneracy in a given sector of the theory. Another novel feature of the classification scheme is that different sectors of the PT-symmetric Hamiltonian may have different symmetries. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Shedding light on charmonium

We investigate E1 radiative transitions within charmonium in a relativistic approach based on light-front QCD. In quantum field theory, two sets of processes are pure E1: χ c 0 → J / ψ γ ( ψ → χ c 0 γ ) and h c → η c γ ( η c ′ → h c γ ), both involving the P -wave charmonia. We compute the E1 radiative decay widths as well as the corresponding transition form factors of various processes including those involving 2 P states. These observables provide an access to the microscopic structures of the P -wave charmonium. We show that our parameter-free predictions are in excellent agreement with the experimental measurements as well as lattice simulations whenever available. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Connecting flux vacua through scalar field excursions

We show how flux vacua that differ from each other in flux quanta can be seen as different vacua in a single scalar potential of an enlarged field space, which resolves the separation by thin domain walls. This observation, which is motivated by the anti–de Sitter distance conjecture, allows one to compute distances between different vacua using the usual field-space metric. We verify for explicit examples such as scale-separated IIA flux vacua and the IIB Freund-Rubin vacua that the distance conjecture (for scalar fields) is satisfied and that the asymptotic directions in the enlarged field space are indeed hyperbolic. This enlarged field space contains the tachyon fields on the unstable D ˜ p -branes of type II string theory, which can induce the brane charges of the stable D-branes. We suggest that requiring continuous interpolations refines the cobordism conjecture and postdicts the existence of unstable D ˜ p -branes. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Simulating a numerical UV completion of quartic Galileons

The Galileon theory is a prototypical effective field theory that incorporates the Vainshtein screening mechanism—a feature that arises in some extensions of general relativity, such as massive gravity. The Vainshtein effect requires that the theory contain higher order derivative interactions, which results in Galileons, and theories like them, failing to be technically well posed. While this is not a fundamental issue when the theory is correctly treated as an effective field theory, it nevertheless poses significant practical problems when numerically simulating this model. These problems can be tamed using a number of different approaches: introducing an active low-pass filter and/or constructing a UV completion at the level of the equations of motion, which controls the high momentum modes. These methods have been tested on cubic Galileon interactions, and have been shown to reproduce the correct low-energy behavior. Here we show how the numerical UV-completion method can be applied to quartic Galileon interactions, and present the first simulations of the quartic Galileon model using this technique. We demonstrate that our approach can probe physics in the regime of the effective field theory in which the quartic term dominates, while successfully reproducing the known results for cubic interactions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Extracting the partonic structure of colorless exchanges at the Electron Ion Collider

We investigate the determination of the partonic structure of colorless exchanges in deep inelastic diffractive e p scattering at the Electron Ion Collider (EIC), using the standard decomposition into Pomeron and Reggeon contributions. We perform fits to simulated diffractive cross section pseudodata in four variables, including the momentum transfer t , to estimate the achievable precision on the Pomeron and Reggeon quark and gluon distributions. We analyze the influence of different cuts in the kinematic variables, beam energy configurations, and luminosities, including a “first year” scenario. We conclude that the EIC will be able to constrain the partonic structure of the subleading Reggeon exchange with a precision comparable to that of the leading Pomeron exchange. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

New dark matter analysis of milky way dwarf satellite galaxies with madhatv2

We obtain bounds on dark matter annihilation using 14 years of publicly available Fermi-LAT data from a set of 54 dwarf spheroidal galaxies, using spectral information from 16 energy bins. We perform this analysis using our updated and publicly available code , which can be used to test a variety of models for dark matter particle physics and astrophysics in an accessible manner. In particular, we note that including Carina III in the analysis strengthens constraints on s -wave annihilation into two-body Standard Model final states by a factor of ∼ 3 but broadens the error on the constraint due to the large uncertainty of its J -factor. Our findings illustrate the importance of verifying if Carina III is in fact a dwarf spheroidal galaxy and measuring more precisely its J -factor. More generally, they highlight the significance of forthcoming discoveries of nearby ultrafaint dwarfs for dark matter indirect detection. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2022

Addendum: A note on spin two fields in curved backgrounds (2007 Class. Quantum Grav. 24 1683)

Abstract Some time ago, we showed that a weak (linear) massless spin two wave could only propagate on a Ricci-flat or Ricci-constant background: it must necessarily be a perturbation of general relativity. This was just the continuation of the higher spin chain: massless s = 3/2 also required Ricci-flatness (which is the basis of supergravity) while s > 2 needs Riemann flatness. This note, entitled ‘higher spin m ≠ 0 excitations on curved backgrounds and cosmological supergravity’, re-analyzes the problem in a perhaps more physical way: by considering massless and—only apparently—massive small excitations and showing how their parameters relate to the cosmological constant. We will thus prove, in a simple physical way, the necessity, as well as the sufficiency, of the known supergravity results.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Cosmic neutrino decoupling and its observable imprints: insights from entropic-dual transport

Abstract Very different processes characterize the decoupling of neutrinos to form the cosmic neutrino background (CνB) and the much later decoupling of photons from thermal equilibrium to form the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The CνB emerges from the fuzzy, energy-dependent neutrinosphere and encodes the physics operating in the early universe in the temperature rangeT∼ 10 MeV toT∼ 10 keV. This is the epoch where beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics, especially in the neutrino sector, may be influential in setting the light element abundances, the necessarily distorted fossil neutrino energy spectra, and other light particle energy density contributions. Here we use techniques honed in extensive CMB studies to analyze the CνB as calculated in detailed neutrino energy transport and nuclear reaction simulations of the protracted weak decoupling and primordial nucleosynthesis epochs. Our moment method, relative entropy, and differential visibility approach can leverage future high precision CMB and light element primordial abundance measurements to provide new insights into the CνB and any BSM physics it encodes. We demonstrate that the evolution of the energy spectrum of the CνB throughout the weak decoupling epoch is accurately captured in the Standard Model by only three parameters per species, a non-trivial conclusion given the deviation from thermal equilibrium and the impact of the decrease of electron-positron pairs. Furthermore, we can interpret each of the three parameters as physical characteristics of a non-equilibrium system. Though the treatment presented here makes some simplifying assumptions including ignoring neutrino flavor oscillations, the success of our compact description within the Standard Model motivates its use also in BSM scenarios. We further demonstrate how observations of primordial light element abundances can be used to place constraints on the CνB energy spectrum, deriving response functions that can be applied for general deviations from a thermal spectrum. Combined with the description of those deviations that we develop here, our methods provide a convenient and powerful framework to constrain the impact of BSM physics on the CνB.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Spatial imaging of proton via leading-twist nonskewed GPDs with basis light-front quantization

The internal image of the proton is unveiled by examining the generalized parton distributions (GPDs) at zero skewness, within the basis light-front quantized environment. Several distributions emerge when a quark is sampled with different currents depending upon the helicity arrangements of the active quark and the proton target. We investigate six of the eight leading-twist proton GPDs of the valence quarks, the helicity conserving distributions ( H , E , H ˜ ) and the helicity nonconserving ( H T , E T , H ˜ T ) distributions at skewness set to zero ( ζ = 0 ). We consider purely transverse momentum transfer and, hence, obtain results describe only the proton’s two-dimensional structure in the transverse plane. We present the Mellin moments of these distribution functions, where the first moment produces a form factor and the second Mellin moments help extract the information on partonic contributions to the hadronic angular momentum. We compare our results for the Mellin moments with those from lattice QCD and other approaches where available. We also present the GPDs in transverse position space. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Testing lepton flavor universality at future Z factories

As one of the hypothetical principles in the Standard Model (SM), lepton flavor universality (LFU) should be tested with a precision as high as possible such that the physics violating this principle can be fully examined. The run of a Z factory at a future e + e − collider, such as the Circular Electron-Positron Collider or Future Circular Collider (electron/positron), provides a great opportunity to perform this task because of the large statistics and high reconstruction efficiencies for b hadrons at the Z pole. In this paper, we present a systematic study on the LFU test in future Z factories. The goal is threefold. First, we study the sensitivities of measuring the LFU-violating observables of b → c τ ν , i.e., R J / ψ , R D s , R D s * , and R Λ c , where τ decays muonically. For this purpose, we develop the strategies for event reconstruction, based on the track information significantly. Second, we explore the sensitivity robustness against detector performance and its potential improvement with the message of event shape or beyond the b -hadron decays. A picture is drawn on the variation of analysis sensitivities with the detector tracking resolution and soft photon detectability, and the impact of Fox-Wolfram moments is studied on the measurement of relevant flavor events. Finally, we interpret the projected sensitivities in the SM effective field theory, by combining the LFU tests of b → c τ ν and the measurements of b → s τ + τ − and b → s ν ¯ ν . We show that the limits on the LFU-violating energy scale can be pushed up to ∼ O ( 10 ) TeV for ≲ O ( 1 ) Wilson coefficients at Tera- Z . Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quantum reference frames from top-down crossed products

All physical observations are made relative to a reference frame, which is a system in its own right. If the system of interest admits a group symmetry, the reference frame observing it must transform commensurately under the group to ensure the covariance of the combined system. We point out that the crossed product is a way to realize quantum reference frames from the bottom-up; adjoining a quantum reference frame and imposing constraints generates a crossed product algebra. We provide a top-down specification of crossed product algebras and show that one cannot obtain inequivalent quantum reference frames using this approach. As a remedy, we define an abstract algebra associated to the system and symmetry group built out of relational crossed product algebras associated with different choices of quantum reference frames. We term this object the G -framed algebra, and show how potentially inequivalent frames are realized within this object. We comment on this algebra’s analog of the classical Gribov problem in gauge theory, its importance in gravity where we show that it is relevant for semiclassical de Sitter and potentially beyond the semiclassical limit, and its utility for understanding the frame dependence of physical notions like observables, density states, and entropies. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗