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At least 55 records · Page 3

The Higgs trilinear coupling and the scale of new physics

We consider modifications of the Higgs potential due to new physics at high energy scales. These upset delicate cancellations predicted by the Standard Model for processes involving Higgs bosons and longitudinal gauge bosons, and lead to a breakdown of the theory at high energies. We focus on modifications of the Higgs trilinear coupling and use the violation of tree-level unitarity as an estimate of the scale where the theory breaks down. We obtain a completely model-independent bound of $ \underset{\sim }{<} $ 13 TeV for an order-1 modification of the trilinear. We argue that this bound can be saturated only in fine-tuned models, and the scale of new physics is likely to be much lower. The most stringent bounds are obtained from amplitudes involving multiparticle states that are not conventional scattering states. Our results show that a future determination of the Higgs cubic coupling can point to a well-defined scale of new physics that can be targeted and explored at future colliders.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Probing the Higgs boson CP properties in vector-boson fusion production in the H → τ + τ − channel with the ATLAS detector

The CP properties of the Higgs boson are studied in the vector-boson fusion production mode. The analysis exploits the decay mode of the Higgs boson into two τ-leptons using 140 fb −1 of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Results are obtained using the Optimal Observable method. CP-violating interactions between the Higgs boson and electroweak gauge bosons are considered in the effective field theory framework, with the interaction strength described in the HISZ basis by $\tilde{d}$, and in the Warsaw basis by c H$\tilde{W}$ , c H$\tilde{B}$ , and c H$\tilde{W}$B . No deviations relative to the Standard Model are observed, and limits are obtained on the strength parameters. The $\tilde{d}$ parameter is constrained to the interval [−0.012, 0.044] at the 95% confidence level while c H$\tilde{W}$ is constrained to [−0.24, 0.83], when considering both linear and quadratic effects of physics beyond the Standard Model.

Hadron-Hadron Scattering↗

Higgs alignment and the top quark

There is a surprising connection between the top quark and Higgs alignment in Gildener-Weinberg multi-Higgs doublet models. Were it not for the top quark and its large mass, the coupling of the 125 GeV Higgs boson H to gauge bosons and fermions would be indistinguishable from those of the Standard Model Higgs. The top quark’s coupling to a single Higgs doublet breaks this perfect alignment in higher orders of the Coleman-Weinberg loop expansion of the effective potential. But the effect is still small, ≲O(1%), and probably experimentally inaccessible.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Momentum shift and on-shell recursion relation for electroweak theory

We study the all-line transverse (ALT) shift which we developed for on-shell recursion of amplitudes for particles of any mass. We discuss the validity of the shift for general theories of spin ≤1, and illustrate the connection between Ward identity and constructibility for massive spin-1 amplitude under the ALT shift. We apply the shift to the electroweak theory, and various four-point scattering amplitudes among electroweak gauge bosons and fermions are constructed. We show explicitly that the four-point gauge boson contact terms in massive electroweak theory automatically arise after recursive construction, independent of UV completion, and they automatically cancel the terms growing as (energy) 4 at high energy. We explore UV completion of the electroweak theory that cancels the remaining (energy) 2 terms and impose unitarity requirements to constrain additional couplings. The ALT shift framework allows consistent treatment in dealing with contact term ambiguities for renormalizable massive and massless theories, which we show can be useful in studying real-world amplitudes with massive spinors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Top Yukawa coupling measurement at the muon collider

We have presented a detailed study about the prospects for the measurement of the top Yukawa coupling in the vector boson fusion production of a top quark pair at high energy muon colliders. By employing the effective W approximation and the high energy limit for the helicity amplitudes of the subprocess W + W − → t t ¯ , we have derived the energy scaling of the statistical signal significance in the presence of the anomalous couplings by focusing on the interference term only. The sensitivity on the top Yukawa coupling decreases as the bin energy increases. For the anomalous triple gauge boson couplings and the gauge-boson-fermion couplings with E 2 energy growing behavior, the signal significance has mild increase at the beginning and starts to decrease for s ^ t t ¯ ∼ 0.2 s μ + μ − . The 95% CL on the anomalous top Yukawa coupling is projected to be 5.6% (1.7%) at a 10 (30) TeV muon collider, which is comparable to the sensitivity of 2% at the 100 TeV collider. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

SMEFT matching to Z ’ models at dimension eight

Heavy neutral gauge bosons arise in many motivated models of beyond the Standard Model Physics. Experimental searches require that such gauge bosons are above the TeV scale in most models which means that the tools of effective field theories, in particular the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT), are useful. We match the SMEFT to models with heavy Z ’ bosons, including effects of dimension-8 operators, and consider the restrictions on model parameters from electroweak precision measurements and from Drell Yan invariant mass distributions and forward-backward asymmetry, 𝐴FB, measurements at the LHC. The results demonstrate the model dependence of the resulting limits on SMEFT coefficients and the relatively small impact of including dimension-8 matching. In all cases, the limits from invariant mass distributions are stronger than from 𝐴FB measurements in the Z ’ models we consider.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Tree-level Unitarity in $$ \textrm{SU}{(2)}_L\times \textrm{U}{(1)}_Y\times \textrm{U}{(1)}_{Y^{\prime }} $$ Models

Abstract In models with a U(1) gauge extension beyond the Standard Model, one can derive sum rules for the couplings of the theory that are a consequence of tree-level unitarity. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive list of coupling sum rules for a general$$ \textrm{SU}{(2)}_L\times \textrm{U}{(1)}_Y\times \textrm{U}{(1)}_{Y^{\prime }} $$ SU 2 L × U 1 Y × U 1 Y ′ gauge theory coupled to an arbitrary set of fermion and scalar multiplets. These results are of particular interest for models of dark matter that employ an extended gauge sector mediated by a new (dark)Z ′ gauge boson. For the case of a minimal extension of the Standard Model with a$$ \textrm{U}{(1)}_{Y^{\prime }} $$ U 1 Y ′ gauge boson, we clarify the definitions of the weak mixing angle and the electroweakρparameter. We demonstrate the utility of a generalizedρparameter (denoted byρ ′ ) whose definition naturally follows from the unitarity sum rules developed in this paper.

Physics↗

Light, long-lived B - L gauge and Higgs bosons at the DUNE near detector

The low-energy U(1)B-L gauge symmetry is well-motivated as part of beyond Standard Model physics related to neutrino mass generation. We show that a light B - L gauge boson Z' and the associated U(1) B-L -breaking scalar φ can both be effectively searched for at high-intensity facilities such as the near detector complex of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). Without the scalar φ, the Z' can be probed at DUNE up to mass of 1 GeV, with the corresponding gauge coupling g BL as low as 10 -9 . In the presence of the scalar φ with gauge coupling to Z', the DUNE capability of discovering the gauge boson Z' can be significantly improved, even by one order of magnitude in g BL , due to additional production from the decay φ → Z'Z'. The DUNE sensitivity is largely complementary to other long-lived Z' searches at beam-dump facilities such as FASER and SHiP, as well as astrophysical and cosmological probes. On the other hand, the prospects of detecting φ itself at DUNE are to some extent weakened in presence of Z', compared to the case without the gauge interaction.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Higher-order corrections to quantum observables in h → WW*

A bstract The Higgs boson decay h → WW * → $$ {\ell}^{+}{\nu}_{\ell }{\ell}^{\prime -}{\overline{\nu}}_{\ell^{\prime }} $$ ℓ + ν ℓ ℓ ′ − ν ¯ ℓ ′ provides a unique window into the structure of the Higgs couplings to electroweak gauge bosons and has recently gained attention for its potential to unveil quantum properties such as quantum entanglement between the intermediate gauge bosons. In this work, we present a systematic study of next-to-leading order electroweak corrections to the angular coefficients characterizing this decay. While these coefficients are highly constrained at leading order, radiative corrections induce shifts of up to 5% to the existing terms and generate novel structures that vanish at leading order, breaking previous relations among coefficients. While higher-order effects influence the results, the two-qutrit quantum structure in the h → WW ∗ channel exhibits greater stability under such corrections than in the previously studied h → ZZ ∗ decay.

Gonçalves, Dorival [Oklahoma State University] (OR↗

Elucidating the Dynamics of Electroweak Symmetry Breaking through Study of High-Multiplicity Boson Final States at the LHC

To understand the full story of the electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) and how the universe arrived at today’s universe, the structure of the Higgs potential needs to be probed. We must carefully select and study processes at the LHC that are sensitive to the Higgs potential. In this context, longitudinal vector boson scattering (VBS) processes, V L V L →V L V L , and di-Higgs production, including V L V L →HH at the LHC have been studied for any potential deviation from SM prediction. However, many classes of models beyond the Standard Model (BSM) may result in the 2→2 process being perfectly well-behaved and SM-like but show interesting deviations in 2→3, 2→4, or 2→n(3) processes. If we are to complete the mission objectives the P5 laid out, then a large swath of 2→n(3) must be thoroughly searched and checked. The research supported by this award used data collected at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to explore VBS produced VVH process in the semi-merged channel. In addition, in the electroweak sector, there are open questions in the multi-gauge boson couplings and the Higgs couplings to the gauge bosons. The research supported by the award also studied the triboson production WWZ process at the LHC, which is a crossed diagram of a VBS process. During the funded period of 9 months, the analysis designs have been finalized.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Leptonic probes of alternative left-right symmetric models

We explore constraints on the parameter space of the alternative left-right model originating from the leptonic sector. Our analyses focuses on both lepton-flavor-conserving observables, particularly the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, and lepton-flavor-violating processes like μ → e γ decay and μ − e conversions in nuclei. While contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment fall below the measured values at 2 σ , current and future experimental sensitivities to flavor-violating branching rations of the Standard Model leptons are expected to impose lower bounds on the mass of the peculiar S U ( 2 ) R gauge boson of the model. This provides complementary constraints relative to existing limits, which are indirect and derived from collider bounds on the mass of the associated neutral gauge boson Z ′ . Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Frank, Mariana (ORCID:0000000322684821)↗

Heavy long-lived dark vector via a gluonic portal

We study a dark gauge boson Z′ that exclusively couples to the QCD gluons through higher dimensional operators. These operators are generated from integrating out of heavy ultraviolet resonances carrying both QCD and dark gauge charges. With SU(3)C gauge invariance, charge and parity symmetries preserved, we find that the leading effective operators are restricted to have the form of Z′GGG and Z′Z′GG at dimension-eight, which can naturally render the Z′ particle long-lived, and serve as a viable dark matter candidate. We investigate the phenomenology of these operators with both collider experiments and cosmological observation, without and with the assumption that this dark gauge boson plays the role of the dominant dark matter component. For an unstable Z′, we show that depending on its lifetime, it can be probed by various observables up to ultraviolet physics scale around 10 9 GeV. For Z′ being dark matter, we find that $m_{Z'}$ ≳ 1 TeV is consistent with the thermal freeze-out scenario. In contrast, in the freeze-in scenario, the extremely small couplings leave the relevant parameter space largely unconstrained by current experiments.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Enhancing the sensitivity to seesaw mechanism predictions in gauged B − L scenarios

New gauge bosons coupled to heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) are simple and well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model. In searches for HNLs in proton fixed-target experiments, we find that a large population of gauge bosons ( Z ′ ) produced by proton bremsstrahlung may decay to HNLs, leading to a significant improvement in existing bounds on the ( m HNL , U α ), where U α represent the mixing between HNL and the active neutrinos with flavor α . We study this possibility in fixed target experiments with the 8 GeV proton beams, including SBND, MicroBooNE, and ICARUS, as well as DUNE and DarkQuest at 120 GeV. We find the projected sensitivities to additional Z ′ -mediated HNL production can bring the seesaw mechanism of the neutrino masses within a broadened experimental reach. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Capozzi, Francesco (ORCID:0000000161351531)↗

New limits on WR from meson decays

In this work we show that pseudoscalar meson leptonic data can be used to set stringetn limits on the mass of a right handed gauge boson, such as the one that appears in left-right symmetric models. We have shown that for a heavy neutrino with mass in the range 50 to 1900 MeV one can constrain the right hand gauge boson mass to be bigger than 4-19 TeV at 90% confidence level depending on the heavy neutrino mass.

Alves, Gustavo↗

Searching for the Higgsino-Bino sector at the LHC

We study the search for electroweakinos at the 13 TeV LHC in the case of heavy scalar superpartners. We consider both the direct production mode and the one associated with the decay of heavy Higgs bosons, and concentrate on the case of light Higgsinos and Binos. In this case, the direct production searches becomes more challenging than in the light Wino scenario. In the direct production mode, we use the current experimental searches to set the reach for these particles at larger luminosities, and we emphasize the relevance of considering both the neutral gauge boson and the neutral Higgs decay modes of the second and third lightest neutralino. We show the complementarity of these searches with the ones induced by the decay of the heavy Higgs bosons, which are dominated by the associated production of the lightest neutralino with the second and third lightest ones, with the latter decaying into gauge bosons. We show that, depending on the value of tan β , the Higgs boson decay channel remains competitive with the direct production channel up to heavy Higgs boson masses of about 1 TeV. Moreover, this search is not limited by the same kinematic considerations as the ones in the direct production mode and can cover masses up to the kinematic threshold for the decay of the heavier electroweakinos into the lightest neutralino. This decay mode provides also an alternative way of looking for heavy Higgs bosons in this range of masses and hence should be a high priority for future LHC analyses.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Monopoles, exotic states and muon $$g-2$$ in TeV scale trinification

Abstract We study the low energy implications of a trinification model based on the gauge symmetry $$G= SU(3)_c \times SU(3)_L \times SU(3)_R$$ G = S U ( 3 ) c × S U ( 3 ) L × S U ( 3 ) R , without imposing gauge coupling unification. A minimal model requires two Higgs multiplets that reside in the bi-fundamental representation of G , and this is shown to be adequate for accommodating the Standard Model (SM) fermion masses and generate, via loop corrections and seesaw mechanism, suitable masses for the heavy neutral leptons as well as the observed SM neutrinos. We estimate a lower bound of around 15 TeV for the masses of the new down- type quarks that are required by the $$SU(3)_L \times SU(3)_R$$ S U ( 3 ) L × S U ( 3 ) R symmetry. We examine the resonant production at the LHC of the new gauge bosons, which leads to a lower bound of 16 TeV for the symmetry breaking scale of G . We also show how the muon $$g-2$$ g - 2 anomaly can be resolved in the presence of these new gauge bosons and the heavy charged leptons present in the model. Finally, the model predicts the presence of a topologically stable monopole carrying three quanta $$(6 \pi /e)$$ ( 6 π / e ) of Dirac magnetic charge and mass $$\gtrsim 160$$ ≳ 160 TeV. If new matter fields lying in the fundamental representations of G are included, the model predicts the presence of exotic leptons, mesons and baryons carrying fractional electric charges such as $$\pm e/3$$ ± e / 3 and $$\pm 2e/3$$ ± 2 e / 3 , fully compatible with the Dirac quantization condition.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Gravitational soft theorem from emergent soft gauge symmetries

We consider and derive the gravitational soft theorem up to the sub-subleading power from the perspective of effective Lagrangians. The emergent soft gauge symmetries of the effective Lagrangian provide a transparent explanation of why soft graviton emission is universal to sub-subleading power, but gauge boson emission is not. They also suggest a physical interpretation of the form of the soft factors in terms of the charges related to the soft transformations and the kinematics of the multipole expansion. The derivation is done directly at Lagrangian level, resulting in an operatorial form of the soft theorems. In order to highlight the differences and similarities of the gauge-theory and gravitational soft theorems, we include an extensive discussion of soft gauge-boson emission from scalar, fermionic and vector matter at subleading power.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The Bactrian effect: multiple resonances and light Dirac dark matter

The possibility of light dark matter (DM) annihilating through a dark photon (DP) which kinetically mixes (KM) with the Standard Model (SM) hypercharge field is a very attractive scenario. For DM in the interesting mass range below ~1 GeV, it is well known that bounds from the CMB provide a very strong model building constraint forcing the DM annihilation cross section to be roughly 3 orders of magnitude below that needed to reproduce the observed relic density. Under most circumstances this removes the possibility of an s-wave annihilation process for DM in this mass range as would be the case, e.g., if the DM were a Dirac fermion. In an extra-dimensional setup explored previously, it was found that the s-channel exchange of multiple gauge bosons could simultaneously encompass a suppressed annihilation cross section during the CMB era while also producing a sufficiently large annihilation rate during freeze-out to recover the DM relic density. In this paper, we analyze more globally the necessary requirements for this mechanism to work successfully and then realize them within the context of a simple model with two ‘dark’ gauge bosons having masses of a similar magnitude and whose contributions to the annihilation amplitude destructively interfere. We show that if the DM mass threshold lies appropriately in the saddle region of this destructive interference between the two resonance humps it then becomes possible to satisfy these requirements simultaneously provided several ancillary conditions are met. The multiple constraints on the parameter space of this setup are then explored in detail to identify the phenomenologically successful regions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗