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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Is the HEFT matching unique?

Physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) can be described in a consistent and general way through the Higgs effective field theory (HEFT). Measurements of model-independent HEFT coefficients allow one to constrain the parameter space of BSM models via a matching procedure. In this work, we show that this procedure is not unique and depends on the scalings of the parameters of the Lagrangian. As examples, we consider three BSM models: the real singlet extension of the SM with a Z 2 symmetry, the complex singlet extension of the SM and the two Higgs doublet model. We discuss several physical observables, and show that different scalings of the model parameters with the UV scale in the matching to the HEFT can yield quite different results. This complicates the interpretation of HEFT measurements in terms of parameters of BSM models. Additionally, as a byproduct, we report the first matching of the complex singlet extension to the HEFT. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

PASSAT: particle accelerator helioScopes for Slim Axion-like-particle deTection

We propose a novel method to search for axion-like particles (ALPs) at particle accelerator experiments. ALPs produced at the target via the Primakoff effect subsequently enter a region with a magnetic field, where they are converted to photons that are then detected. Dubbed Particle Accelerator helioScopes for Slim Axion-like-particle deTection (PASSAT), our proposal uses the principle of the axion helioscope but replaces ALPs produced in the Sun with those produced in a target material. Since we rely on ALP-photon conversions , our proposal probes light (slim) ALPs that are otherwise inaccessible to laboratory-based experiments which rely on ALP decay, and complements astrophysical probes that are more model-dependent. As a first application, we reinterpret existing data from the NOMAD experiment in light of PASSAT, and constrain the parameter space for ALPs lighter than $$\sim 100~\mathrm{eV}$$ ~ 100 eV and ALP-photon coupling larger than $$\sim 10^{-4}~\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$$ ~ 10 - 4 GeV - 1 . As benchmarks of feasible low-cost experiments improving over the NOMAD limits, we study the possibility of re-using the magnets of the CAST and the proposed BabyIAXO experiments and placing them at the proposed BDF facility at CERN, together with some new detectors. We find that these realizations of PASSAT allow for a direct probe of the parameter space for ALPs lighter than $$\sim 100~\mathrm{eV}$$ ~ 100 eV and ALP-photon coupling larger than $$\sim 4\times 10^{-6}~\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$$ ~ 4 × 10 - 6 GeV - 1 , which are regions that have not been probed yet by experiments with laboratory-produced ALPs. In contrast to other proposals aiming at detecting single or two-photon only events in hadronic beam dump environments, that rely heavily on Monte Carlo simulations, the background in our proposal can be directly measured in-situ , its suppression optimized, and the irreducible background statistically subtracted. Sensitivity evaluations with other beams will be the subject of a future paper. The measurements suggested in this paper represent an additional physics case for the BDF at CERN beyond those already proposed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Higgs-mass predictions in the MSSM and beyond

Abstract Predictions for the Higgs masses are a distinctive feature of supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model, where they play a crucial role in constraining the parameter space. The discovery of a Higgs boson and the remarkably precise measurement of its mass at the LHC have spurred new efforts aimed at improving the accuracy of the theoretical predictions for the Higgs masses in supersymmetric models. The “ Precision SUSY Higgs Mass Calculation Initiative ” (KUTS) was launched in 2014 to provide a forum for discussions between the different groups involved in these efforts. This report aims to present a comprehensive overview of the current status of Higgs-mass calculations in supersymmetric models, to document the many advances that were achieved in recent years and were discussed during the KUTS meetings, and to outline the prospects for future improvements in these calculations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Search for Signals from New Physics

The 15 yr pulsar timing data set collected by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) shows positive evidence for the presence of a low-frequency gravitational-wave (GW) background. In this paper, we investigate potential cosmological interpretations of this signal, specifically cosmic inflation, scalar-induced GWs, first-order phase transitions, cosmic strings, and domain walls. We find that, with the exception of stable cosmic strings of field theory origin, all these models can reproduce the observed signal. When compared to the standard interpretation in terms of inspiraling supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs), many cosmological models seem to provide a better fit resulting in Bayes factors in the range from 10 to 100. However, these results strongly depend on modeling assumptions about the cosmic SMBHB population and, at this stage, should not be regarded as evidence for new physics. Furthermore, we identify excluded parameter regions where the predicted GW signal from cosmological sources significantly exceeds the NANOGrav signal. These parameter constraints are independent of the origin of the NANOGrav signal and illustrate how pulsar timing data provide a new way to constrain the parameter space of these models. Finally, we search for deterministic signals produced by models of ultralight dark matter (ULDM) and dark matter substructures in the Milky Way. We find no evidence for either of these signals and thus report updated constraints on these models. In the case of ULDM, these constraints outperform torsion balance and atomic clock constraints for ULDM coupled to electrons, muons, or gluons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS1988

Cross Sections, relic abundance, and detection rates for neutralino dark matter

Neutralino annihilation and elastic scattering cross sections are derived which differ in important ways from previous work. These are applied to relic abundance calculations and to direct detection of neutralino dark matter from the galactic halo. Assuming the neutralino to be the lightest supersymmetric particle and that it is less massive than the Z sup 0, we find relic densities of neutralinos greater than 4 percent of critical density for almost all values of the supersymmetric parameters. We constrain the parameter space by using results from PETRA (chargino mass less than 23 GeV) and ASP, and then assuming a critical density of neutralinos, display event rates in a cryogenic detector for a variety of models. A new term implies spin independent elastic scattering even for those majorana particles and inclusion of propagator momenta increases detection rates by 10 to 300 percent for pure photinos. Z sup 0-squark interference leads to very low detection rates for some values of the parameters. The new term in the elastic cross section dominates for heavy, mostly spinless materials and mitigates the negative interference cancellations in light materials; except for the pure photino or pure higgsinos cases where it does not contribute. In general, the rates can be substantially different from the pure photino and pure higgsino special cases usually considered.

Griest, Kim↗
NASA NTRS1991

Dibaryons in neutron stars

The effects are studied of H-dibaryons on the structure of neutron stars. It was found that H particles could be present in neutron stars for a wide range of dibaryon masses. The appearance of dibaryons softens the equations of state, lowers the maximum neutron star mass, and affects the transport properties of dense matter. The parameter space is constrained for dibaryons by requiring that a 1.44 solar mass neutron star be gravitationally stable.

Olinto, Angela V.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Constraining high-energy neutrinos from tidal disruption events with IceCube high-energy starting events

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) have been proposed as candidate sources of high-energy neutrinos. Successful and choked jets, as well as the accretion disk, corona, wind, and outflow regions in a TDE have been examined and shown to produce TeV - PeV neutrinos. In this work, we use the IceCube 12.5 year high energy starting events (HESE) dataset and perform a maximum likelihood analysis to investigate the spatial and temporal correlations between HESE dataset and a selected sample of 89 TDEs. Our results indicate that the currently observed data do not show any significant correlation and hence is consistent with the background only hypothesis. Using this result, we place constraints on the fraction of TDEs harboring intrinsic jets ($f_{\rm jet}$) and the corresponding isotropic-equivalent cosmic ray (CR) energy ($\mathcal{E}_{\rm CR}$). We note that even with limited statistics, we can constrain the parameter space as $\mathcal{E}_{\rm CR} \lesssim 3 \times 10^{53}$ erg for $f_{\rm jet} \gtrsim 0.6$ at more than 90% C.L. Finally, we discuss the theoretical implications of our results and the limits on the all-sky diffuse neutrino flux from TDEs. With more observational data in the electromagnetic band for TDEs and neutrino observations from IceCube and KM3NeT, our analysis can be used to place stringent constraints on physical parameters associated with TDEs.

Mukhopadhyay, Mainak [Fermilab; Chicago U., KICP; ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Antiproton bounds on dark matter annihilation from a combined analysis using the DRAGON2 code

Abstract Early studies of the AMS-02 antiproton ratio identified a possible excess over the expected astrophysical background that could be fit by the annihilation of a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP). However, recent efforts have shown that uncertainties in cosmic-ray propagation, the antiproton production cross-section, and correlated systematic uncertainties in the AMS-02 data, may combine to decrease or eliminate the significance of this feature. We produce an advanced analysis using the DRAGON2 code which, for the first time, simultaneously fits the antiproton ratio along with multiple secondary cosmic-ray flux measurements to constrain astrophysical and nuclear uncertainties. Compared to previous work, our analysis benefits from a combination of: (1) recently released AMS-02 antiproton data, (2) updated nuclear fragmentation cross-section fits, (3) a rigorous Bayesian parameter space scan that constrains cosmic-ray propagation parameters.We find no statistically significant preference for a dark matter signal and set strong constraints on WIMP annihilation tobb̅, ruling out annihilation at the thermal cross-section for dark matter masses below ∼ 200 GeV. We do find a positive residual that is consistent with previous work, and can be explained by a ∼ 70 GeV WIMP annihilating below the thermal cross-section. However, our default analysis finds this excess to have a local significance of only 2.8σ, which is decreased to 1.8σwhen the look-elsewhere effect is taken into account.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Constraints on MeV dark matter and primordial black holes: Inverse Compton signals at the SKA

Here we investigate the possibilities for probing MeV dark matter (DM) particles and primordial black holes (PBHs) (for masses ~ 10 15 –10 17 g) at the upcoming radio telescope SKA, using photon signals from the Inverse Compton (IC) effect within a galactic halo. Pair-annihilation or decay of MeV DM particles (into e + e - pairs) or Hawking radiation from a population of PBHs generates mildly relativistic e ± which can lead to radio signals through the IC scattering on low energy cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons. We study the ability of SKA to detect such signals coming from nearby ultra-faint dwarf galaxies Segue I and Ursa Major II as well as the globular cluster ω-cen and the Coma cluster. We find that with ~ 100 hours of observation, the SKA improves the Planck constraints on the DM annihilation/decay rate and the PBH abundance for masses in the range ~ 1 to few tens of MeV and above 10 15 to 10 17 g, respectively. Importantly, the SKA limits are independent of the assumed magnetic fields within the galaxies. Previously allowed regions of diffusion parameters of MeV electrons inside a dwarf galaxy that give rise to observable signals at the SKA are also excluded. For objects like dwarf galaxies, predicted SKA constraints depend on both the DM and diffusion parameters. Independent observations in different frequency bands, e.g., radio and γ-ray frequencies, may break this degeneracy and thus enable one to constrain the combined parameter space of DM and diffusion. However, the constraints are independent of diffusion parameters for galaxy clusters such as Coma.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Signals of primordial black holes at gravitational wave interferometers

Primordial black holes (PBHs) can form as a result of primordial scalar perturbations at small scales. This PBH formation scenario has associated gravitational wave (GW) signatures from second-order GWs induced by the primordial curvature perturbation, and from GWs produced during an early PBH dominated era. We investigate the ability of next generation GW experiments, including BBO, LISA, and CE, to probe this PBH formation scenario in a wide mass range. Measuring the stochastic GW background with GW observatories can constrain the allowed parameter space of PBHs for masses 10 9 – 10 27 g. We also discuss possible GW sources from an unconstrained region where light PBHs (< 10 9 g) temporarily dominate the energy density of the universe before evaporating. Here we show how PBH formation impacts the reach of GW observatories to the primordial power spectrum and provide constraints implied by existing PBH bounds.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter Spikes

The origin of the binary black hole mergers observed by LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA remains an open question. We calculate the merger rate from primordial black holes (PBHs) within the density spike around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the centers of galaxies. We show that the merger rate within the spike is comparable to that within the wider dark matter halo. We also calculate the extreme mass ratio inspiral (EMRI) signal from PBHs hosted within the density spike spiralling into their host SMBHs due to gravitational-wave emission. We predict that LISA may detect ∼10 4 of these EMRIs with a signal-to-noise ratio threshold of 20 within a 4 yr observation run, if all dark matter is made up of ∼30 M ⊙ PBHs. Uncertainties in our rates come from the uncertain mass fraction of PBHs within the dark matter spike, relative to the host central SMBHs, which defines the parameter space LISA can constrain.

dark matter↗
DOE OSTI2024

Boosted Dark Matter Search with the ICARUS Detector at the Gran Sasso Underground National Laboratory

The quest to discover dark matter is one of the most pressing topics in modern physics. Evidence of gravitational anomalies is present at different cosmological scales, spanning the stability and rotation of galaxies to the overall density profile of the entire observable Universe. Due to the discrepancy between the mass measured and the gravitational influence on the mass, if General Relativity is to correctly describe gravity at different scales, extra electromagnetically invisible matter termed dark matter must exist. In recent decades, many experiments have been performed to detect dark matter with masses that span many orders of magnitude, from Mass Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs) with masses several orders of magnitude that of our sun to very light particles on the order of $\sim\mu$eV. However, experiments have only been able to constrain the possible parameter space of dark matter models and, in general, probe dark matter models with single constituent dark matter like Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). In the Boosted Dark Matter (BDM) paradigm, there are four particles in the dark sector: $\chi_0$, $\chi_1$, $\chi_2$, and the dark photon $X$. WIMP-like properties are ascribed to $\chi_0$ to describe the physics of the gravitational anomalies, while relativistic components are assigned to $\chi_1$ and $\chi_2$. The inelastic boosted dark matter (iBDM) channel $\chi_1 e^-\rightarrow \chi_2 e^-\rightarrow \chi_1 Xe^-\rightarrow \chi_1 (e^+ e^- ) e^-$, where $\chi_2$ is an excited state of $\chi_1$, has a unique signature that is distinguishable from neutrino interactions, making neutrino experiments a viable search environment for BDM. Using data collected by the ICARUS collaboration with ICARUS T-600 Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) during its operation at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory (LNGS), the first-ever LArTPC dark matter search using the ICARUS detector is presented. With a total detector exposure of 0.13 kton$\cdot$year, a total of 4 iBDM candidate events were identified by several stages of data scanning. All were rejected due to defined selection criteria and a wire-by-wire $dE/dx$ evaluation, giving a null result. Exclusion plots at 90\%C.L. for the dark photon ($m_X$, $\epsilon$) parameter space for fixed ($m_0,m_1,m_2$) DM mass sets are presented, setting new limits on the dark photon visible decay parameter space.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

High-energy neutrino constraints on primordial black holes as dark matter

Primordial black holes (PBHs) are one of the most appealing dark matter candidates over a wide range of masses and abundances. This broad parameter space has been constrained by a variety of observational probes. In this work, for the first time, we use data from high-energy neutrino telescopes, like IceCube and ANTARES, to constrain sub-asteroid mass ($\lesssim 10^{18}\,\mathrm{g}$) Schwarzschild PBHs with extended mass functions. We derive limits from the diffuse high-energy neutrino flux produced by the direct evaporation of PBHs, as well as from the transient signatures associated with PBHs passing in the vicinity of the Earth. While our bounds are slightly weaker than existing constraints from gamma-ray observations, they provide an independent and complementary probe based on observational high-energy neutrino data. We further show that future detectors such as IceCube-Gen2 and KM3NeT can significantly improve these constraints, potentially excluding PBHs with masses up to $\sim \mathrm{few} \times 10^{18}\,\mathrm{g}$ composing the entirety of dark matter.

Mukhopadhyay, Mainak [Fermilab; Chicago U., KICP] ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Stringent σ8 constraints from small-scale galaxy clustering using a hybrid MCMC + emulator framework

ABSTRACT We present a novel simulation-based hybrid emulator approach that maximally derives cosmological and Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) information from non-linear galaxy clustering, with sufficient precision for DESI Year 1 (Y1) analysis. Our hybrid approach first samples the HOD space on a fixed cosmological simulation grid to constrain the high-likelihood region of cosmology + HOD parameter space, and then constructs the emulator within this constrained region. This approach significantly reduces the parameter volume emulated over, thus achieving much smaller emulator errors with fixed number of training points. We demonstrate that this combined with state-of-the-art simulations result in tight emulator errors comparable to expected DESI Y1 LRG sample variance. We leverage the new abacussummit simulations and apply our hybrid approach to CMASS non-linear galaxy clustering data. We infer constraints on σ8 = 0.762 ± 0.024 and fσ8(zeff = 0.52) = 0.444 ± 0.016, the tightest among contemporary galaxy clustering studies. We also demonstrate that our fσ8 constraint is robust against secondary biases and other HOD model choices, a critical first step towards showcasing the robust cosmology information accessible in non-linear scales. We speculate that the additional statistical power of DESI Y1 should tighten the growth rate constraints by at least another 50–60 ${{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, significantly elucidating any potential tension with Planck. We also address the ‘lensing is low’ tension, which we find to be in the same direction as a potential tension in fσ8. We show that the combined effect of a lower fσ8 and environment-based bias accounts for approximately $50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the discrepancy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The benefits of diligence: how precise are predicted gravitational wave spectra in models with phase transitions?

Models of particle physics that feature phase transitions typically provide predictions for stochastic gravitational wave signals at future detectors and such predictions are used to delineate portions of the model parameter space that can be constrained. The question is: how precise are such predictions? Uncertainties enter in the calculation of the macroscopic thermal parameters and the dynamics of the phase transition itself. We calculate such uncertainties with increasing levels of sophistication in treating the phase transition dynamics. Currently, the highest level of diligence corresponds to careful treatments of the source lifetime; mean bubble separation; going beyond the bag model approximation in solving the hydrodynamics equations and explicitly calculating the fraction of energy in the fluid from these equations rather than using a fit; and including fits for the energy lost to vorticity modes and reheating effects. The lowest level of diligence incorporates none of these effects. We compute the percolation and nucleation temperatures, the mean bubble separation, the fluid velocity, and ultimately the gravitational wave spectrum corresponding to the level of highest diligence for three explicit examples: SMEFT, a dark sector Higgs model, and the real singlet-extended Standard Model (xSM). In each model, we contrast different levels of diligence in the calculation and find that the difference in the final predicted signal can be several orders of magnitude. Our results indicate that calculating the gravitational wave spectrum for particle physics models and deducing precise constraints on the parameter space of such models continues to remain very much a work in progress and warrants care.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Far-forward neutrinos at the Large Hadron Collider

We present a new calculation of the energy distribution of high-energy neutrinos from the decay of charm and bottom hadrons produced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In the kinematical region of very forward rapidities, heavy-flavor production and decay is a source of tau neutrinos that leads to thousands of charged-current tau neutrino events in a 1 m long, 1 m radius lead neutrino detector at a distance of 480 m from the interaction region. In our computation, next-to-leading order QCD radiative corrections are accounted for in the production cross-sections. Non-perturbative intrinsic-kT effects are approximated by a simple phenomenological model introducing a Gaussian kT-smearing of the parton distribution functions, which might also mimic perturbative effects due to multiple initial-state soft-gluon emissions. The transition from partonic to hadronic states is described by phenomenological fragmentation functions. To study the effect of various input parameters, theoretical predictions for D± s production are compared with LHCb data on double-differential cross-sections in transverse momentum and rapidity. The uncertainties related to the choice of the input parameter values, ultimately affecting the predictions of the tau neutrino event distributions, are discussed. We consider a 3+1 neutrino mixing scenario to illustrate the potential for a neutrino experiment to constrain the 3+1 parameter space using tau neutrinos and antineutrinos. We find large theoretical uncertainties in the predictions of the neutrino fluxes in the far-forward region. Untangling the effects of tau neutrino oscillations into sterile neutrinos and distinguishing a 3+1 scenario from the standard scenario with three active neutrino flavours, will be challenging due to the large theoretical uncertainties from QCD.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Axion-Like Particles at the ILC Giga-Z

Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) are a generic, calculable, and well motivated extension of the Standard Model with far reaching phenomenology. ALPs that couple only to hypercharge represent one subset of such models, coupling the ALP to both photons and the Z boson. We examine the current constraints on this class of models with an ALP mass in the 100 MeV to 100 GeV range, paying particular attention to the region between 100 MeV to 10 GeV, a portion of parameter space which is ill constrained by current experiments. We show that the more than 109 Z bosons produced in the Giga-Z mode of the future ILC experiment, combined with the highly granular nature of its detectors, will allow for ALPs coupled to hypercharge to be discovered with couplings down to nearly 10 –5 GeV –1 over a range of masses from 0.4 to 50 GeV.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Neutrino non-standard interactions: Complementarity between LHC and oscillation experiments

We explore the complementarity between LHC searches and neutrino experiments in probing neutrino non-standard interactions. Our study spans the theoretical frameworks of effective field theory, simplified model and an illustrative UV completion, highlighting the synergies and distinctive features in all cases. We show that besides constraining the allowed NSI parameter space, the LHC data can break important degeneracies present in oscillation experiments such as DUNE, while the latter play an important role in probing light and weakly coupled physics undetectable at the LHC.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗