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Status of the Muon G − 2 Experiment

The Muon g−2 Experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory was designed to measure the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, aµ, with a precision of 140 parts-per-billion; a four-fold improvement over the former BNL measurement. The Fermilab experiment was motivated by the about 3.5 standard deviation between the experiment and the Standard Model calculation of aµ which could be a hint of new physics. The experiment at Fermilab relies on the well-established storage ring technique using magic momentum muons but employs new detector systems and a higher rate of muons per injection cycle to achieve the significant improvement in precision. A first result from the Run-1 data taking period has achieved an uncertainty of 0.46 parts-per-million and confirmed the BNL discrepancy, further increasing the tension with the Standard Model to 4.2 σ. The experimental technique, key aspects of the measurement, and the data analysis of Run-1 will be summarized.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Search for New Physics in Jet Multiplicity Patterns of Multilepton Events at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

A first search for beyond the standard model physics in jet multiplicity patterns of multilepton events is presented, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1 of 13 TeV proton-proton collisions recorded by the CMS detector at the LHC. The search uses observed jet multiplicity distributions in one-, two-, and four-lepton events to explore possible enhancements in jet production rate in three-lepton events with and without bottom quarks. The data are found to be consistent with the standard model expectation. The results are interpreted in terms of supersymmetric production of electroweak chargino-neutralino superpartners with cascade decays terminating in prompt hadronic 𝑅-parity violating interactions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Halo formation from Yukawa forces in the very early Universe

If long-range attractive forces exist and are stronger than gravity then cosmic halo formation can begin in the radiation-dominated era. We study a simple realization of this effect in a system where dark matter fermions have Yukawa interactions mediated by scalar particles, analogous to the Higgs boson in the standard model. We develop a self-consistent description of the system including exact background dynamics of the scalar field, and precise modeling of the fermion density fluctuations. For the latter, we provide accurate approximations for the linear growth as well as quantitative modeling of the nonlinear evolution using N-body simulations. We find that halo formation occurs exponentially fast and on scales substantially larger than simple estimates predict. Here, the final fate of these halos remains uncertain, but could be annihilation, dark stars, primordial black holes, or even the existence of galaxy-sized halos at matter-radiation equality. More generally, our results demonstrate the importance of mapping scalar-mediated interactions onto structure formation outcomes and constraints for beyond the standard model theories.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Phenomenology and Astrophysics of Gravitationally-Bound Condensates of Axion-Like Particles

Light, spin-0 particles are ubiquitous in theories of physics beyond the Standard Model, and many of these make good candidates for the identity of dark matter. One very well-motivated candidate of this type is the axion. Due to their small mass and adherence to Bose statistics, axions can coalesce into heavy, gravitationally-bound condensates known as boson stars, also known as axion stars (in particular). In this work, we outline our recent progress in attempts to determine the properties of axion stars. We begin with a brief overview of the Standard Model, axions, and bosonic condensates in general. Then, in the context of axion stars, we will present our recent work, which includes: numerical estimates of the macroscopic properties (mass, radius, and particle number) of gravitationally stable axion stars; a calculation of their decay lifetime through number-changing interactions; an analysis of the gravitational collapse process for very heavy states; and an investigation of the implications of axion stars as dark matter. The basic conclusions of our work are that weakly-bound axion stars are only stable up to some calculable maximum mass, whereas states with larger masses collapse to a small radius, but do not form black holes. During collapse, a rapidly increasing binding energy implies a fast rate of decay to relativistic particles, giving rise to a Bosenova. Axion stars that are otherwise stable could be caused to collapse either by accretion of free particles to masses above the maximum, or through astrophysical collisions; in the latter case, we estimate the rate of collisions and the parameter space relevant to induced collapse.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for Resonant WZ Production in the Fully Leptonic Final State at 13 TeV With the CMS Detector

A search for an electrically charged, narrow-width diboson (WZ) resonance in the fully leptonic final state using 137:65 fb?1 of data collected by the CMS experiment during the 2016-2018 run period, at the LHC and a center of mass energy of p s = 13 TeV is presented. The search focuses on a channel where the resonance decays to a pair of standard model vector bosons: W and Z. The Z boson subsequently decays to a pair of leptons, either electrons (e) or muons (?). While the W boson decays to a lepton and a neutrino (?). As ? escapes undetected, the neutrino is reconstructed from the missing transverse momentum (Pmisst ) of the event. The analysis is based on a bump-hunt search strategy with background estimation based on stochastically generated simulation events. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected background from the Standard Model and limits are set on the production cross-section of the diboson resonance as a function of the resonance mass at 95% confidence level. Results are interpreted in the context of the Heavy Vector Triplet (HVT) framework.

Hernandez, Andres Vargas↗

Search for new physics in final states with semivisible jets or anomalous signatures using the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for hadronic signatures of beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, with an emphasis on signatures of a strongly coupled hidden dark sector accessed via resonant production of a 𝑍′ mediator. The ATLAS experiment dataset collected at the Large Hadron Collider from 2015 to 2018 is used, consisting of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{𝑠}$ = 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb −1 . The 𝑍′ mediator is considered to decay to two dark quarks, which each hadronize and decay to showers containing both dark and Standard Model particles, producing a topology of interacting and noninteracting particles within a jet known as “semivisible.” Machine learning methods are used to select these dark showers and reject the dominant background of mismeasured multijet events, including an anomaly detection approach to preserve broad sensitivity to a variety of BSM topologies. A resonance search is performed by fitting the transverse mass spectrum based on a functional form background estimation. No significant excess over the expected background is observed. Results are presented as limits on the production cross section of semivisible jet signals, parametrized by the fraction of invisible particles in the decay and the 𝑍′ mass, and by quantifying the significance of any generic Gaussian-shaped mass peak in the anomaly region.

particle dark matter↗

Essay: A Path for the Construction of a Muon Collider

Muons are elementary particles and provide cleaner collision events that can explore higher energies compared to composite particles like protons. Muons are also far heavier than their electron cousins, meaning that they emit less synchrotron radiation that effectively limits the energies of circular electron-positron colliders. These characteristics open up the possibility for a muon collider to surpass the direct energy reach of the Large Hadron Collider while achieving unprecedented precision measurements of standard model processes. In this Essay, after briefly summarizing the progress achieved so far, I identify important missing research and development steps and envision a compelling plan to bring a muon collider to reality in the next two decades. A muon collider could allow for the exploration of physics that is not available with current technologies. For example, it may provide a way to study the Higgs boson directly or probe new particles, including those related to dark matter or other phenomena beyond the standard model. . Published by the American Physical Society 2025

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for an Invisible Z ' in a Final State with Two Muons and Missing Energy at Belle II

The $L_μ – L_τ$ extension of the standard model predicts the existence of a lepton-flavor-universality-violating Z' boson that couples only to the heavier lepton families. We search for such a Z' through its invisible decay in the process $e^+e^– → μ^+μ^–$Z'. We use a sample of electron-positron collisions at a center- of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV collected by the Belle II experiment in 2019-2020, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 79.7 fb –1 . We find no excess over the expected standard-model background. We set 90%-confidence-level upper limits on the cross section for this process as well as on the coupling of the model, which ranges from 3 × 10 –3 at low Z' masses to 1 at Z' masses of 8 GeV=$c^2$.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Heavy Neutral Leptons via Axionlike Particles at Neutrino Facilities

Heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) are often among the hypothetical ingredients behind nonzero neutrino masses. If sufficiently light, they can be produced and detected in fixed-target-like experiments. We show that if the HNLs belong to a richer—but rather generic—dark sector, their production mechanism can deviate dramatically from expectations associated with the standard-model weak interactions. In more detail, we postulate that the dark sector contains an axionlike particle (ALP) that naturally decays into HNLs. Since ALPs mix with the pseudoscalar hadrons, the HNL flux might be predominantly associated with the production of neutral mesons (e.g., π 0 , η ) as opposed to charge hadrons (e.g., π ± , K ± ). In this case, the physics responsible for HNL production and decay are not directly related and experiments like DUNE might be sensitive to HNLs that are too weakly coupled to the standard model to be produced via weak interactions, as is generically the case of HNLs that play a direct role in the type-I seesaw mechanism. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Expression of Interest: Rare Eta Decays with a TPC for Optical Photons

The REDTOP experiment is primarily intended to look for new violations of basic symmetry principles and conservation laws in particle physics. Our main focus will be on very rare decays of the η meson. From the Standard Model and other theories, such decays can provide distinct insights into the limits of conservation laws and open unique doors to new ones at branching ratio sensitivity levels typically below 10 -9 . Notably, current experimental upper limits for η decays are many orders of magnitude larger. The sensitivity goal of our experiment is expected to be better than 10 -10 for most decay modes, based on an estimated yield of more than 10 12 η mesons per year. Numerous opportunities for new physics Beyond the Standard Model will become available.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Improved Limit on Tensor Currents in the Weak Interaction from Li 8 β Decay

Here, the electroweak interaction in the standard model is described by a pure vector-axial-vector structure, though any Lorentz-invariant component could contribute. In this Letter, we present the most precise measurement of tensor currents in the low-energy regime by examining the $β-\bar{ν}$ correlation of trapped 8 Li ions with the Beta-decay Paul Trap. We find $a_{β\barν}$ = - 0.3325 ± 0.0013 stat ± 0.0019 syst at 1σ for the case of coupling to right-handed neutrinos (C T = -C$^{'}_{T}$), which is consistent with the standard model prediction.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Measurement of double-differential charged-current Drell-Yan cross-sections at high transverse masses in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a first measurement of the cross-section for the charged-current Drell-Yan process pp → W ± → ℓ ± ν above the resonance region, where ℓ is an electron or muon. The measurement is performed for transverse masses, $m$$^{W}_{T}$, between 200 GeV and 5000 GeV, using a sample of 140 fb −1 of pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2015–2018. The data are presented single differentially in transverse mass and double differentially in transverse mass and absolute lepton pseudorapidity. A test of lepton flavour universality shows no significant deviations from the Standard Model. The electron and muon channel measurements are combined to achieve a total experimental precision of 3% at low $m$$^{W}_{T}$. The single- and double differential W-boson charge asymmetries are evaluated from the measurements. A comparison to next-to-next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions using several recent parton distribution functions and including next-to-leading-order electroweak effects indicates the potential of the data to constrain parton distribution functions. The data are also used to constrain four fermion operators in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory formalism, in particular the lepton-quark operator Wilson coefficient $c$$^{(c)}_{ℓq}$.

Hadron-Hadron Scattering↗

Hyperstealth dark matter and long-lived particles

A new dark matter candidate is proposed that arises as the lightest baryon from a confining 𝑆⁢𝑈⁡(𝑁) gauge theory which equilibrates with the Standard Model only through electroweak interactions. Surprisingly, this candidate can be as light as a few GeV. The lower bound arises from the intersection of two competing requirements: (i) the equilibration sector of the model must be sufficiently heavy, at least several TeV, to avoid bounds from colliders, and (ii) the lightest dark meson (that may be the dark 𝜂′, 𝜎, or the lightest glueball) has suppressed interactions with the SM and must decay before big bang nucleosynthesis. The low-energy dark sector consists of one flavor that is electrically neutral and an almost electroweak singlet. The dark matter candidate is the lightest baryon consisting of 𝑁 of these light flavors leading to a highly suppressed elastic scattering rate with the Standard Model (SM). The equilibration sector consists of vectorlike dark quarks that transform under the electroweak group, ensuring that the dark sector can reach thermal equilibrium with the SM in the early Universe. The lightest dark meson lifetimes vary between 10 −3 ≲ 𝑐⁢𝜏 ≲ 10 7 m, providing an outstanding target for LHC production and experimental detection. We delineate the interplay between the lifetime of the light mesons, the suppressed direct detection cross section of the lightest baryon, and the scale of equilibration sector that can be probed at the LHC.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$H production in the H $\rightarrow$ $\mathrm{b\overline{b}}$ decay channel with leptonic $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$ decays in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV

A search is presented for the associated production of a standard model Higgs boson with a top quark-antiquark pair ($\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$H), in which the Higgs boson decays into a b quark-antiquark pair, in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$ recorded with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. Candidate $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$H events are selected that contain either one or two electrons or muons from the $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$ decays and are categorised according to the number of jets. Multivariate techniques are employed to further classify the events and eventually discriminate between signal and background. The results are characterised by an observed $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$H signal strength relative to the standard model cross section, $\mu = \sigma$ / $\sigma_{\mathrm{SM}}$, under the assumption of a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV. A combined fit of multivariate discriminant distributions in all categories results in an observed (expected) upper limit on $\mu$ of 1.5 (0.9) at 95% confidence level, and a best fit value of 0.72 $\pm$ 0.24 (stat) $\pm$ 0.38 (syst), corresponding to an observed (expected) signal significance of 1.6 (2.2) standard deviations above the background-only hypothesis.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A search for top squarks with R-parity-violating decays to all-hadronic final states with the ATLAS detector in $ \sqrt{s}=8 $ TeV proton-proton collisions

A search for the pair production of top squarks, each with R -parity-violating decays into two Standard Model quarks, is performed using 17.4 fb -1 of √s=8 TeV proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Each top squark is assumed to decay to a b- and an s-quark, leading to four quarks in the final state. Background discrimination is achieved with the use of b-tagging and selections on the mass and substructure of large-radius jets, providing sensitivity to top squark masses as low as 100 GeV. Finally, no evidence of an excess beyond the Standard Model background prediction is observed and top squarks decaying to $\overline{b}$$\overline{s}$ are excluded for top squark masses in the range 100 ≤ m $\overline{t}$ ≤ 315 GeV at 95% confidence level.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Baryon number violation: from nuclear matrix elements to BSM physics

Processes that violate baryon number, most notably proton decay and $n\bar{n}$ transitions, are promising probes of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) needed to understand the lack of antimatter in the Universe. To interpret current and forthcoming experimental limits, theory input from nuclear matrix elements to UV complete models enters. Thus, an interplay of experiment, effective field theory, lattice QCD, and BSM model building is required to develop strategies to accurately extract information from current and future data and maximize the impact and sensitivity of next-generation experiments. Here, we briefly summarize the main results and discussions from the workshop ‘INT-25-91W: Baryon Number Violation: From Nuclear Matrix Elements to BSM Physics,’ held at the Institute for Nuclear Theory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 13–17 January 2025.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Precision measurement of the W boson mass using the full CDF Run II data set

The mass of the W boson, a mediator of the weak force between elementary particles, is tightly constrained by the symmetries of the standard model of particle physics. After the observation of the Higgs boson, the last missing component of the model, the measurement of the W boson mass provides a stringent test of the model. A measurement of the W boson mass is presented, which used data corresponding to 8.8 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, collected in proton-antiproton collisions at a 1.96 TeV center-of-mass energy with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. A sample of approximately 4 million W boson candidates was used to obtain a Wboson mass of 80433.5±6.4$_{stat}$ ±6.9$_{syst}$ = 80433.5±9.4 MeV, the precision of which exceeds that of all previous measurements combined. This measurement is in significant tension with the standard model expectation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Dark matter from a conformal Dark Sector

We consider theories in which a dark sector is described by a Conformal Field Theory (CFT) over a broad range of energy scales. A coupling of the dark sector to the Standard Model breaks conformal invariance. While weak at high energies, the breaking grows in the infrared, and at a certain energy scale the theory enters a confined (hadronic) phase. One of the hadronic excitations can play the role of dark matter. We study a “Conformal Freeze-In” cosmological scenario, in which the dark sector is populated through its interactions with the SM at temperatures when it is conformal. In this scenario, the dark matter relic density is determined by the CFT data, such as the dimension of the CFT operator coupled to the Standard Model. We show that this simple and highly predictive model of dark matter is phenomenologically viable. The observed relic density is reproduced for a variety of SM operators (“portals”) coupled to the CFT, and the resulting models are consistent with observational constraints. The mass of the COFI dark matter candidate is predicted to be in the keV-MeV range.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗