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DOE OSTI2020

Cascade decays of heavy Higgs bosons through vectorlike quarks in two Higgs doublet models

We study cascade decays of heavy neutral Higgs bosons through vectorlike quarks. We focus on scenarios where decay modes into pairs of vectorlike quarks are not kinematically open which extends the sensitivity of the LHC to larger masses. Assuming only mixing with the third family of standard model quarks the new decay modes of heavy Higgs bosons are: H → t 4 t → Wbt, Ztt, htt and H → b 4 b → Wtb, Zbb, hbb, where t 4 (b 4 ) is the new up-type (down-type) quark mass eigenstate. In the numerical analysis we assume the CP even Higgs boson in the two Higgs doublet model type-II but the signatures are relevant for many other scenarios. We identify the region of the parameter space where these decay modes are significant or can even dominate, and thus they provide the best opportunities for the simultaneous discovery of a new Higgs boson and vectorlike quarks. We further explore the reach of the High Luminosity LHC for two representative decay modes,t 4 → Zt → ℓℓt and b 4 → Zb → ℓℓb, and found that cross sections at a 0.1 fb level can be probed with simple cut based analyses. We also find that the rates for Higgs cascade decays can be much larger than the rates for a single production of vectorlike quarks. Furthermore, the reach for vectorlike quarks in Higgs cascade decays and pair production extends to comparable masses.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Aiming for tops of ALPs with a muon collider

Future muon colliders with center-of-mass energy of $\mathcal{O}$ (1 – 10) TeV can provide a clean high-energy environment with advantages in searches for TeV-scale axion-like particles (ALPs), pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons associated with spontaneously broken global symmetries, which are widely predicted in physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). We exploit ALP couplings to SM fermions, and guided by unitarity constraints, build a search strategy focusing on the ALP decay to top quark pairs at muon colliders. It is found that a large parameter space of TeV-scale ALPs with TeV-scale decay constants can be probed by utilizing the ALP-top quark coupling.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Supersymmetric alignment models for $(g - 2)_μ$

Hierarchical masses of quarks and leptons are addressed by imposing horizontal symmetries. In supersymmetric Standard Models, the same symmetries play a role in suppressing flavor violating processes induced by supersymmetric particles. Combining the idea of spontaneous CP violation to control contributions to electric dipole moments (EDMs), the mass scale of supersymmetric particles can be lowered. We present supersymmetric models with U(1) horizontal symmetries and discuss CP and flavor constraints. Models with two U(1) symmetries are found to give a viable solution to the muon g - 2 anomaly. Interestingly, the parameter space to explain the anomaly will be probed by future electron EDM experiments.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Search for resonant production of strongly coupled dark matter in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV

The first collider search for dark matter arising from a strongly coupled hidden sector is presented and uses a data sample corresponding to 138 fb$^{-1}$, collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV. The hidden sector is hypothesized to couple to the standard model (SM) via a heavy leptophobic Z' mediator produced as a resonance in proton-proton collisions. The mediator decay results in two “semivisible” jets, containing both visible matter and invisible dark matter. The final state therefore includes moderate missing energy aligned with one of the jets, a signature ignored by most dark matter searches. No structure in the dijet transverse mass spectra compatible with the signal is observed. Assuming the Z' boson has a universal coupling of 0.25 to the SM quarks, an inclusive search, relevant to any model that exhibits this kinematic behavior, excludes mediator masses of 1.5–4.0 TeV at 95% confidence level, depending on the other signal model parameters. To enhance the sensitivity of the search for this particular class of hidden sector models, a boosted decision tree (BDT) is trained using jet substructure variables to distinguish between semivisible jets and SM jets from background processes. When the BDT is employed to identify each jet in the dijet system as semivisible, the mediator mass exclusion increases to 5.1 TeV, for wider ranges of the other signal model parameters. These limits exclude a wide range of strongly coupled hidden sector models for the first time.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Search for production of four top quarks in final states with same-sign or multiple leptons in proton–proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ ${TeV}$

The standard model (SM) production of four top quarks ($\text {t} {}{\overline{\text {t}}} \text {t} {}{\overline{\text {t}}} $) in proton–proton collisions is studied by the CMS Collaboration. The data sample, collected during the 2016–2018 data taking of the LHC, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137$\,\text {fb}^{-1}$ at a center-of-mass energy of 13$\,\text {TeV}$. The events are required to contain two same-sign charged leptons (electrons or muons) or at least three leptons, and jets. The observed and expected significances for the $\text {t} {}{\overline{\text {t}}} \text {t} {}{\overline{\text {t}}} $ signal are respectively 2.6 and 2.7 standard deviations, and the $\text {t} {}{\overline{\text {t}}} \text {t} {}{\overline{\text {t}}} $ cross section is measured to be $12.6^{+5.8}_{-5.2}\,\text {fb} $. The results are used to constrain the Yukawa coupling of the top quark to the Higgs boson, $y_{\text {t}}$, yielding a limit of $|y_{\text {t}}/y_{\text {t}}^{\mathrm {SM}} | < 1.7$ at $95\%$ confidence level, where $y_{\text {t}}^{\mathrm {SM}}$ is the SM value of $y_{\text {t}}$. They are also used to constrain the oblique parameter of the Higgs boson in an effective field theory framework, $\hat{H}<0.12$. Limits are set on the production of a heavy scalar or pseudoscalar boson in Type-II two-Higgs-doublet and simplified dark matter models, with exclusion limits reaching 350–470$\,\text {GeV}$ and 350–550$\,\text {GeV}$ for scalar and pseudoscalar bosons, respectively. Upper bounds are also set on couplings of the top quark to new light particles.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Search for Dark Matter Produced in Association with a Dark Higgs Boson in the b b ¯ Final State Using p p Collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

A search is performed for dark matter particles produced in association with a resonantly produced pair of b -quarks with 30 < m b b < 150 GeV using 140 fb − 1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This signature is expected in extensions of the standard model predicting the production of dark matter particles, in particular those containing a dark Higgs boson s that decays into b b ¯ . The highly boosted s → b b ¯ topology is reconstructed using jet reclustering and a new identification algorithm. This search places stringent constraints across regions of the dark Higgs model parameter space that satisfy the observed relic density, excluding dark Higgs bosons with masses between 30 and 150 GeV in benchmark scenarios with Z ′ mediator masses up to 4.8 TeV at 95% confidence level. © 2025 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration 2025 CERN

Aad, G. (ORCID:0000000266654934)↗
DOE OSTI2022

Ultralight millicharged dark matter via misalignment

We explore the cosmology and phenomenology of millicharged and millicharge-like dark matter with masses from 1 eV to 10 keV and charges of 10 -18 to 10 -14 . Dark matter in this mass range cannot be thermally produced, but can arise from non-thermal mechanisms. We propose a concrete model employing a spontaneously broken approximate global symmetry, in which millicharged dark matter is produced via the misalignment mechanism. We show that this production mechanism is cosmologically consistent and compatible with the observed dark matter abundance. This model can be implemented using either fundamental scalars or hidden-sector quarks, and coupled either to the Standard Model photon or to a hidden photon. We then consider the phenomenology of light millicharged dark matter, regardless of its cosmological origin, and determine the parameter space consistent with existing experiments and observations. A significant part of the new parameter space we consider may be accessible in the near future through direct deflection experiments, measurements of the cosmic microwave background blackbody spectrum, and future constraints on plasma instabilities due to dark matter self-interaction.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Search for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in final state with two bottom quarks and two tau leptons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

A search for the nonresonant production of Higgs boson pairs (HH ) via gluon-gluon and vector boson fusion processes in final states with two bottom quarks and two tau leptons is presented. The search uses data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb -1 . Events in which at least one tau lepton decays hadronically are considered and multiple machine learning techniques are used to identify and extract the signal. The data are found to be consistent, within uncertainties, with the standard model (SM) predictions. Upper limits on the HH production cross section are set to constrain the parameter space for anomalous Higgs boson couplings. The observed (expected) upper limit at 95% confidence level corresponds to 3.3 (5.2) times the SM prediction for the inclusive HH cross section and to 124 (154) times the SM prediction for the vector boson fusion HH cross section. At 95% confidence level, the Higgs field self-coupling is constrained to be within -1.7 and 8.7 times the SM expectation, and the coupling of two Higgs bosons to two vector bosons is constrained to be within -0.4 and 2.6 times the SM expectation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Relations between b → cτν decay modes in scalar models

As a consequence of the Ward identity for hadronic matrix elements, we find relations between the differential decay rates of semileptonic decay modes with the underlying quark-level transition b → cτν, which are valid in scalar models. The decay-mode dependent scalar form factor is the only necessary theoretical ingredient for the relations. Otherwise, they combine measurable decay rates as a function of the invariant mass-squared of the lepton pair $q^2$ in such a way that a universal decay-mode independent function is found for decays to vector and pseudoscalar mesons, respectively. This can be applied to the decays $B → D^{\ast}τv, B_s → D^\ast_sτv, B_c → J/ψτv$ and $B → Dτv, B_s → D_sτv, B_c → η_cτv$, with implications for $R(D^{(\ast)}), R(D^{(\ast)}_s), R(J/ψ), R(η_c)$, and $\mathcal{B}(B_c → τv)$. The slope and curvature of the characteristic $q^2$-dependence is proportional to scalar new physics parameters, facilitating their straight forward extraction, complementary to global fits.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Standard model Higgs inflation supplemented by minimal dark matter

Renormalization group analysis with the present measurements of the top quark mass m t = 172.69 ± 0.30 GeV [1] indicates that the Standard Model (SM) Higgs potential becomes unstable at energy scales ∼ 10 10 GeV . This may be interpreted as hinting at new particles at high energy. The minimal extension of the SM that can avoid this instability while leaving the SM Higgs as the sole scalar particle of the theory is obtained by adding suitable fermions to the SM. These fermions are good dark matter candidates and the model is known as the minimal dark matter model. We revisit the inflationary scenario based on the minimal dark matter model, taking into account updated parameter constraints and recent understanding of reheating dynamics. We explore the model with different values of the right-handed neutrino mass and find that the cosmological prediction is insensitive to such details. We obtained a spectral index of the cosmic microwave background n s = 0.9672 and a tensor-to-scalar ratio r = 0.0031 as a robust prediction of this scenario. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Search for new phenomena in final states with b-jets and missing transverse momentum in $ \sqrt{\mathrm{s}} $ = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for new phenomena in final states with b -jets and missing transverse momentum using 139 fb - 1 of proton-proton data collected at a centre-of-mass energy s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The analysis targets final states produced by the decay of a pair-produced supersymmetric bottom squark into a bottom quark and a stable neutralino. The analysis also seeks evidence for models of pair production of dark matter particles produced through the decay of a generic scalar or pseudoscalar mediator state in association with a pair of bottom quarks, and models of pair production of scalar third-generation down-type leptoquarks. No significant excess of events over the Standard Model background expectation is observed in any of the signal regions considered by the analysis. Bottom squark masses below 1270 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level if the neutralino is massless. In the case of nearly mass-degenerate bottom squarks and neutralinos, the use of dedicated secondary-vertex identification techniques permits the exclusion of bottom squarks with masses up to 660 GeV for mass splittings between the squark and the neutralino of 10 GeV. These limits extend substantially beyond the regions of parameter space excluded by similar ATLAS searches performed previously.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Vector boson scattering and anomalous quartic couplings in final states with ℓνqq or ℓℓqq plus jets using proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV

A measurement is presented of the electroweak vector boson scattering production of ZV (V = W, Z) boson pairs associated with two jets in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1 , were collected at the CERN LHC with the CMS detector during the 2016–2018 data-taking period. The analysis targets final states with a pair of isolated electrons or muons from Z boson decays and three or four jets, depending on the momentum of the vector boson that decays into quarks. Signal strength is measured for events characterized by a large invariant mass of two forward jets with a wide pseudorapidity gap between them. The electroweak production of ZV in association with two jets is measured with an observed (expected) significance of 1.3 (1.8) standard deviations. A combination of the analyses of ZV channel and the previously published WV channel in the lepton plus jets final state places constraints on effective field theory parameters that describe anomalous electroweak production of WW, WZ, and ZZ boson pairs in association with two jets. Several world best limits are set on anomalous quartic gauge couplings in terms of dimension-8 standard model effective field theory operators.

Hadron-Hadron Scattering↗
DOE OSTI2023

Neutrino Flavor Model Building and the Origins of Flavor and CP Violation

The neutrino sector offers one of the most sensitive probes of new physics beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics (SM). The mechanism of neutrino mass generation is still unknown. The observed suppression of neutrino masses hints at a large scale, conceivably of the order of the scale of a rand unified theory (GUT), which is a unique feature of neutrinos that is not shared by the charged fermions. The origin of neutrino masses and mixing is part of the outstanding puzzle of fermion masses and mixings, which is not explained ab initio in the SM. Flavor model building for both quark and lepton sectors is important in order to gain a better understanding of the origin of the structure of mass hierarchy and flavor mixing, which constitute the dominant fraction of the SM parameters. Recent activities in neutrino flavor model building based on non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries and modular flavor symmetries have been shown to be a promising direction to explore. The emerging models provide a framework that has a significantly reduced number of undetermined parameters in the flavor sector. In addition, such a framework affords a novel origin of CP violation from group theory due to the intimate connection between physical CP transformation and group theoretical properties of non-Abelian discrete groups. Model building based on non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries and their modular variants enables the particle physics community to interpret the current and anticipated upcoming data from neutrino experiments. Non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries and their modular variants can result from compactification of a higher-dimensional theory. Pursuit of flavor model building based on such frameworks thus also provides the connection to possible UV completions: in particular, to string theory. We emphasize the importance of constructing models in which the uncertainties of theoretical predictions are smaller than, or at most compatible with, the error bars of measurements in neutrino experiments. While there exist proof-of-principle versions of bottom-up models in which the theoretical uncertainties are under control, it is remarkable that the key ingredients of such constructions were discovered first in top-down model building. We outline how a successful unification of bottom-up and top-down ideas and techniques may guide us towards a new era of precision flavor model building in which future experimental results can give us crucial insights into the UV completion of the SM.

Almumin, Yahya (ORCID:0000000196396772)↗
DOE OSTI2026

New avenues for |∆ B | = 2 processes beyond neutron-antineutron oscillations

We explore baryon-number-violating (|∆ B | = 2) processes beyond the well-known neutron-antineutron ($n - \bar{n}$) oscillations, focusing on the $Λ - \bar{Λ}$ system. The presence of a strange quark in the Λ baryon introduces a new set of six-quark operators roughly of the form (uds) 2 , which are different from the (udd) 2 operators responsible for oscillations. Using the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), we classify all dimension-9 operators that cause |∆ B | = 2 transitions and study their UV completions mediated by exotic scalar fields with trilinear interactions. We demonstrate that in these models, oscillations can occur at tree level, with $n - \bar{n}$ mixing potentially appearing at higher loop levels. We employ a chiral effective theory to constrain the effective mass mixing δm Λ , deriving bounds from current experimental limits on $n - \bar{n}$ oscillations and dinucleon decays such as pp → K + K + . These bounds indicate that $Λ - \bar{Λ}$ oscillations probe a complementary parameter space, sensitive to baryon-number violation at scales up to 10 2 − 10 3 TeV. We show that the existing indirect bounds make it challenging to provide a competitive bound on δm Λ at BESIII.

Baryon/Lepton Number Violation↗
DOE OSTI2023

New Covariant Density Functionals of Nuclear Matter for Compact Star Simulations

We generate three families of extended covariant density functionals of nuclear matter that have varying slope of symmetry energy and skewness at nuclear saturation density, but otherwise share the same basic parameters (symmetry energy, compressibility, saturation parameters, etc.) with the standard DDME2, DD2, and MPE functionals. Tables of the parameters of these new density functionals are given, which can be straightforwardly used in DDME2, DD2, and MPE parameterization-based codes. Furthermore, we provide tables of a large number of equations of state (81 for each family) that can be used in astrophysical simulations to assess the impact of variations of the not-well-known slope of symmetry energy and skewness of nuclear systems on the astrophysics of compact objects. We also provide tables of computed integral parameters (mass, radius, and tidal deformability) that can be used, e.g., for modeling gravitational waveforms. Finally, for the extended DDME2-based parameterization, we implement a first-order phase transition to quark matter to obtain a family of equations of state that accommodates a phase transition to quark matter. Analogous tables of the equations of state and integral parameters are provided for this case as well.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

𝐵 → 𝜌⁢ℓ⁢$\bar{v}$ Resonance Form Factors from 𝐵→ 𝜋⁢𝜋⁢ℓ⁢$\bar{v}$ in Lattice QCD

The decay 𝐵 → 𝜌⁢ℓ⁢$\bar{v}$ is an attractive process for determining the magnitude of the smallest Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element, |𝑉 𝑢⁢𝑏 |, and can provide new insights into the origin of the long-standing exclusive-inclusive discrepancy in determinations of this standard-model parameter. This requires a nonperturbative QCD calculation of the 𝐵 → 𝜌 form factors 𝑉, 𝐴 0 , 𝐴 1 , and 𝐴 12 . The unstable nature of the 𝜌 resonance has prevented precise lattice QCD calculations of these form factors to date. Here, we present the first lattice QCD calculation of the 𝐵 → 𝜌 form factors in which the 𝜌 is treated properly as a resonance in 𝑃-wave 𝜋⁢𝜋 scattering. To this end, we use the Lellouch-Lüscher finite-volume formalism to compute the 𝐵 → 𝜋⁢𝜋 form factors as a function of both momentum transfer and 𝜋⁢𝜋 invariant mass, and then analytically continue to the 𝜌 resonance pole. This calculation is performed with 2 + 1 dynamical quark flavors at a pion mass of approximately 320 MeV, and demonstrates a clear path toward results at the physical point.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Search for heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos in the decay of top quarks produced in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos is performed with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, using the 140 fb -1 of proton–proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ =13 TeV collected during Run 2. This search targets $t\overline{t}$ production, in which both top quarks decay into a bottom quark and a W boson, where one of the W bosons decays hadronically and the other decays into an electron or muon and a heavy neutral lepton. The heavy neutral lepton is identified through a decay into an electron or muon and another W boson, resulting in a pair of same-charge same-flavor leptons in the final state. This paper presents the first search for heavy neutral leptons in the mass range of 15–75 GeV using $t\overline{t}$ events. No significant excess is observed over the background expectation, and upper limits are placed on the signal cross sections. Assuming a benchmark scenario of the phenomenological type-I seesaw model, these cross section limits are then translated into upper limits on the mixing parameters of the heavy Majorana neutrino with Standard Model neutrinos.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Search for dark matter production in association with bottom quarks and a lepton pair in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV

A search is performed for dark matter produced in association with bottom quarks and a pair of electrons or muons in data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to 138 fb −1 of integrated luminosity of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. For the first time at the LHC, the associated production of a bottom quark-antiquark pair and a new heavy neutral Higgs boson (H) that subsequently decays into a leptonically decaying Z boson and a pseudoscalar (a) is explored. The latter acts as a dark matter mediator in the context of the two Higgs doublet model plus a pseudoscalar (2HDM+a). Multivariate techniques that target a wide range of mass configurations for the H and a particles are used. The observations are consistent with the expectations from standard model processes. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of cross section and branching fraction of the new particles, ranging from 10 −2 pb for an H mass of 400 GeV to 10 −3 pb for an H mass of 2000 GeV. Constraints on the parameter space of a benchmark 2HDM+a model are derived and compared with expectations in the context of cosmological predictions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗