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At least 19 records

Perturbation theory, effective field theory, and oscillations in the power spectrum

We explore the relationship between the nonlinear matter power spectrum and the various Lagrangian and Standard Perturbation Theories (LPT and SPT). We first look at it in the context of one dimensional (1-d) dynamics, where 1LPT is exact at the perturbative level and one can exactly resum the SPT series into the 1LPT power spectrum. Shell crossings lead to non-perturbative effects, and the PT ignorance can be quantified in terms of their ratio, which is also the transfer function squared in the absence of stochasticity. At the order of PT we work, this parametrization is equivalent to the results of effective field theory (EFT), and can thus be expanded in terms of the same parameters. We find that its radius of convergence is larger than the SPT loop expansion. The same EFT parametrization applies to all SPT loop terms and if stochasticity can be ignored, to all N-point correlators. In 3-d, the LPT structure is considerably more complicated, and we find that LPT models with parametrization motivated by the EFT exhibit running with k and that SPT is generally a better choice. Since these transfer function expansions contain free parameters that change with cosmological model their usefulness for broadband power is unclear. For this reason we test the predictions of these models on baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) and other primordial oscillations, including string monodromy models, for which we ran a series of simulations with and without oscillations. Most models are successful in predicting oscillations beyond their corresponding PT versions, confirming the basic validity of the model. We show that if primordial oscillations are localized to a scale q, the wiggles in power spectrum are approximately suppressed as exp[−k{sup 2}Σ{sup 2}(q)/2], where Σ(q) is rms displacement of particles separated by q, which saturates on large scales, and decreases as q is reduced. No oscillatory features survive past k ∼ 0.5h/Mpc at z = 0.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Backgrounds in gravitational effective field theory

Effective field theories describing gravity coupled to matter are investigated, allowing for operators of arbitrary mass dimension. Terms violating local Lorentz and diffeomorphism invariance while preserving internal gauge symmetries are included. The theoretical framework for violations of local Lorentz and diffeomorphism invariance and associated conceptual issues are discussed, including transformations in curved and approximately flat spacetimes, the treatment of various types of backgrounds, the implications of symmetry breaking, and the no-go constraints for explicit violation in Riemann geometry. Furthermore, techniques are presented for the construction of effective operators, and the possible terms in the gravity, gauge, fermion, and scalar sectors are classified and enumerated. Explicit expressions are obtained for terms containing operators of mass dimension six or less in the effective action for General Relativity coupled to the Standard Model of particle physics. Special cases considered include Einstein-Maxwell effective field theories and the limit with only scalar coupling constants.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Quantifying correlated truncation errors in effective field theory

Effective field theories (EFTs) organize the description of complex systems into an infinite sequence of decreasing importance. Predictions are made with a finite number of terms, which induces a truncation error that is often left unquantified. Here, we formalize the notion of EFT convergence and propose a Bayesian truncation error model for predictions that are correlated across the independent variables, e.g., energy or scattering angle. Central to our approach are Gaussian processes that encode both the naturalness and correlation structure of EFT coefficients. Our use of Gaussian processes permits efficient and accurate assessment of credible intervals, allows EFT fits to easily include correlated theory errors, and provides analytic posteriors for physical EFT-related quantities such as the expansion parameter. Furthermore, we demonstrate that model-checking diagnostics—applied to the case of multiple curves—are powerful tools for EFT validation. As an example, we assess a set of nucleon-nucleon scattering observables in chiral EFT. In an effort to be self-contained, appendices include thorough derivations of our statistical results. Our methods are packaged in Python code, called gsum, that is available for download on GitHub.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

A Lagrangian effective field theory

We have continued the development of Lagrangian, cosmological perturbation theory for the low-order correlators of the matter density field. We provide a new route to understanding how the effective field theory (EFT) of large-scale structure can be formulated in the Lagrandian framework and a new resummation scheme, comparing our results to earlier work and to a series of high-resolution N-body simulations in both Fourier and configuration space. The `new' terms arising from EFT serve to tame the dependence of perturbation theory on small-scale physics and improve agreement with simulations (though with an additional free parameter). We find that all of our models fare well on scales larger than about two to three times the non-linear scale, but fail as the non-linear scale is approached. This is slightly less reach than has been seen previously. At low redshift the Lagrangian model fares as well as EFT in its Eulerian formulation, but at higher z the Eulerian EFT fits the data to smaller scales than resummed, Lagrangian EFT. Furthermore, all the perturbative models fare better than linear theory.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dark matter effective field theory scattering in direct detection experiments

We examine the consequences of the effective field theory (EFT) of dark matter–nucleon scattering for current and proposed direct detection experiments. Exclusion limits on EFT coupling constants computed using the optimum interval method are presented for SuperCDMS Soudan, CDMS II, and LUX, and the necessity of combining results from multiple experiments in order to determine dark matter parameters is discussed. We demonstrate that spectral differences between the standard dark matter model and a general EFT interaction can produce a bias when calculating exclusion limits and when developing signal models for likelihood and machine learning techniques. We also discuss the implications of the EFT for the next-generation (G2) direct detection experiments and point out regions of complementarity in the EFT parameter space.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Electroweak Currents from Chiral Effective Field Theory

Since the pioneering work of Weinberg, Chiral Effective Field Theory (EFT) has been widely and successfully utilized in nuclear physics to study many-nucleon interactions and associated electroweak currents. Here, nuclear EFT has now developed into an intense field of research and is applied to study light to medium mass nuclei. In this contribution, we focus on the development of electroweak currents from EFT and present applications to selected nuclear electroweak observables.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

The Gaussian streaming model and convolution Lagrangian effective field theory

We update the ingredients of the Gaussian streaming model (GSM) for the redshift-space clustering of biased tracers using the techniques of Lagrangian perturbation theory, effective field theory (EFT) and a generalized Lagrangian bias expansion. After relating the GSM to the cumulant expansion, we present new results for the real-space correlation function, mean pairwise velocity and pairwise velocity dispersion including counter terms from EFT and bias terms through third order in the linear density, its leading derivatives and its shear up to second order. We discuss the connection to the Gaussian peaks formalism. We compare the ingredients of the GSM to a suite of large N-body simulations, and show the performance of the theory on the low order multipoles of the redshift-space correlation function and power spectrum. We highlight the importance of a general biasing scheme, which we find to be as important as higher-order corrections due to non-linear evolution for the halos we consider on the scales of interest to us.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Resonant shattering flares as asteroseismic tests of chiral effective field theory

Chiral effective field theory (𝜒⁢EFT) has proved to be a powerful microscopic framework for predicting the properties of neutron-rich nuclear matter with quantified theoretical uncertainties up to about twice the nuclear saturation density. Tests of 𝜒⁢EFT predictions are typically performed at low densities using nuclear experiments, with neutron star (NS) constraints only being considered at high densities. In this work, we discuss how asteroseismic quasinormal modes within NSs could be used to constrain specific matter properties at particular densities not just the integrated quantities to which bulk NS observables are sensitive. We focus on the crust-core interface mode, showing that measuring this mode's frequency would provide a meaningful test of 𝜒⁢EFT at densities around half the saturation density. Conversely, we use nuclear matter properties predicted by 𝜒⁢EFT to estimate that this mode's frequency is around 185 ± 50Hz. Asteroseismic observables such as resonant phase shifts in gravitational-wave signals and multimessenger resonant shattering flare timings, therefore, have the potential to provide useful tests of 𝜒⁢EFT.

effective field theory↗

Effective field theory analysis of Higgs naturalness

Assuming the presence of physics beyond the Standard Model ( SM) with a characteristic scale M ~ O (10) TeV, we investigate the naturalness of the Higgs sector at scales below M using an effective field theory (EFT) approach. We obtain the leading 1 -loop EFT contributions to the Higgs mass with a Wilsonian-like hard cutoff, and determine t he constraints on the corresponding operator coefficients for these effects to alleviate the little hierarchy problem up to the scale of the effective action Λ < M , a condition we denote by “EFT-naturalness”. We also determine the types of physics that can lead to EFT-naturalness and show that these types of new physics are best probed in vector-boson and multiple-Higgs production. The current experimental constraints on these coefficients are also discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Dilute Fermi gas at fourth order in effective field theory

Using effective field theory methods, we calculate for the first time the complete fourth-order term in the Fermi-momentum or k F a s expansion for the ground-state energy of a dilute Fermi gas. The convergence behavior of the expansion is examined for the case of spin one-half fermions and compared against quantum Monte-Carlo results, showing that the Fermi-momentum expansion is well-converged at this order for |k F a s | ≲ 0.5.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Chiral Effective Field Theories

Chiral effective field theories represent a crucial tool for hadronic physics, in particular in combination with dispersion relations. We will review both techniques and present some applications to the light meson sector.

Passemar, Emilie↗

Revisiting proton–proton fusion in chiral effective field theory

We calculate the S-factor for proton–proton fusion using chiral effective field theory interactions and currents. By performing order-by-order calculations with a variety of chiral interactions that are regularized and calibrated in different ways, we assess the uncertainty in the S-factor from the truncation of the effective field theory expansion and from the sensitivity of the S-factor to the short-distance axial current determined from three- and four-nucleon observables. We find that S(0) = (4.100 ± 0.024(syst) ± 0.013(stat) ± 0.008(g$_{A}$)) × 10$^{−23}$ MeV fm$^{2}$, where the three uncertainties arise, respectively, from the truncation of the effective field theory expansion, use of the two-nucleon axial current fit to few-nucleon observables and variation of the axial coupling constant within the recommended range. The increased value of S(0) compared to previous calculations is mainly driven by an increase in the recommended value for the axial coupling constant and is in agreement with a recent analysis based on pionless effective field theory.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Effective field theory of non-attractor inflation

We present the model-independent studies of non attractor inflation in the context of effective field theory (EFT) of inflation. Within the EFT approach two independent branches of non-attractor inflation solutions are discovered in which a near scale-invariant curvature perturbation power spectrum is generated from the interplay between the variation of sound speed and the second slow roll parameter η. The first branch captures and extends the previously studied models of non-attractor inflation in which the curvature perturbation is not frozen on super-horizon scales and the single field non-Gaussianity consistency condition is violated. We present the general expression for the amplitude of local-type non-Gaussianity in this branch. The second branch is new in which the curvature perturbation is frozen on super-horizon scales and the single field non-Gaussianity consistency condition does hold in the squeezed limit. Depending on the model parameters, the shape of bispectrum in this branch changes from an equilateral configuration to a folded configuration while the amplitude of non-Gaussianity is less than unity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Usefulness of effective field theory for boosted Higgs production

The Higgs + jet channel at the LHC is sensitive to the effects of new physics both in the total rate and in the transverse momentum distribution at high pT . We examine the production process using an effective field theory (EFT) language and discussing the possibility of determining the nature of the underlying high-scale physics from boosted Higgs production. The effects of heavy color triplet scalars and top partner fermions with TeV scale masses are considered as examples and Higgs-gluon couplings of dimension-5 and dimension-7 are included in the EFT. As a byproduct of our study, we examine the region of validity of the EFT. Dimension-7 contributions in realistic new physics models give effects in the high pT tail of the Higgs signal which are so tiny that they are likely to be unobservable.

HEPPH↗

The one-loop matter bispectrum in the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structures

With this study, given the importance of future large scale structure surveys for delivering new cosmological information, it is crucial to reliably predict their observables. The Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structures (EFTofLSS) provides a manifestly convergent perturbative scheme to compute the clustering of dark matter in the weakly nonlinear regime in an expansion in k/k NL , where k is the wavenumber of interest and k NL is the wavenumber associated to the nonlinear scale. It has been recently shown that the EFTofLSS matches to 1% level the dark matter power spectrum at redshift zero up to k ≃ 0.3 h Mpc –1 and k ≃ 0.6 h Mpc –1 at one and two loops respectively, using only one counterterm that is fit to data. Similar results have been obtained for the momentum power spectrum at one loop. This is a remarkable improvement with respect to former analytical techniques. Here we study the prediction for the equal-time dark matter bispectrum at one loop. We find that at this order it is sufficient to consider the same counterterm that was measured in the power spectrum. Without any remaining free parameter, and in a cosmology for which kNL is smaller than in the previously considered cases (σ 8 =0.9), we find that the prediction from the EFTofLSS agrees very well with N-body simulations up to k ≃ 0.25 h Mpc –1 , given the accuracy of the measurements, which is of order a few percent at the highest k's of interest. While the fit is very good on average up to k ≃ 0.25 h Mpc –1 , the fit performs slightly worse on equilateral configurations, in agreement with expectations that for a given maximum k, equilateral triangles are the most nonlinear.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Bias in the effective field theory of large scale structures

We study how to describe collapsed objects, such as galaxies, in the context of the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structures. The overdensity of galaxies at a given location and time is determined by the initial tidal tensor, velocity gradients and spatial derivatives of the regions of dark matter that, during the evolution of the universe, ended up at that given location. Similarly to what was recently done for dark matter, we show how this Lagrangian space description can be recovered by upgrading simpler Eulerian calculations. We describe the Eulerian theory. We show that it is perturbatively local in space, but non-local in time, and we explain the observational consequences of this fact. We give an argument for why to a certain degree of accuracy the theory can be considered as quasi time-local and explain what the operator structure is in this case. Furthermore, we describe renormalization of the bias coefficients so that, after this and after upgrading the Eulerian calculation to a Lagrangian one, the perturbative series for galaxies correlation functions results in a manifestly convergent expansion in powers of k/k NL and k/k M , where k is the wavenumber of interest, k NL is the wavenumber associated to the non-linear scale, and k M is the comoving wavenumber enclosing the mass of a galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗