Breso-Pla, V., Falkowski, A., & Gonzalez-Alonso, M. (2021). A(FB) in the SMEFT: precision Z physics at the LHC. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 021–27pp.
Abstract: We study the forward-backward asymmetry A(FB) in pp -> l(+)l(-) at the Z peak within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). We find that this observable provides per mille level constraints on the vertex corrections of the Z boson to quarks, which close a flat direction in the electroweak precision SMEFT fit. Moreover, we show that current A(FB) data is precise enough so that its inclusion in the fit improves significantly LEP bounds even in simple New Physics setups. This demonstrates that the LHC can compete with and complement LEP when it comes to precision measurements of the Z boson properties.
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Antusch, S., Figueroa, D. G., Marschall, K., & Torrenti, F. (2022). Characterizing the postinflationary reheating history: Single daughter field with quadratic-quadratic interaction. Phys. Rev. D, 105(4), 043532–36pp.
Abstract: We study the evolution of the energy distribution and equation of state of the Universe from the end of inflation until the onset of either radiation domination (RD) or a transient period of matter domination (MD). We use both analytical techniques and lattice simulations. We consider two-field models where the inflaton (/) has a monomial potential after inflation V((/)) proportional to i(/) – vip (p 4, and of order similar to 50% for p 4. The system goes to MD at late times for p = 2, while it goes to RD for p > 2. In the later case, we can calculate exactly the number of e-folds until RD as a function of g2, and hence predict accurately inflationary observables like the scalar tilt ns and the tensor-to-scalar ratio r. In the scenario (ii), the energy is always transferred completely to X for p > 2, as long as its effective mass m2X = g2((/) – v)2 is not negligible. For p = 2, the final ratio between the energy densities of X and (/) depends strongly on g2. For all p > 2, the system always goes to MD at late times.
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Beltran Jimenez, J., Heisenberg, L., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2017). On gravitational waves in Born-Infeld inspired non-singular cosmologies. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 10(10), 029–23pp.
Abstract: We study the evolution of gravitational waves for non-singular cosmological solutions within the framework of Born-Infeld inspired gravity theories, with special emphasis on the Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld theory. We review the existence of two types of non-singular cosmologies, namely bouncing and asymptotically Minkowski solutions, from a perspective that makes their features more apparent. We study in detail the propagation of gravitational waves near these non-singular solutions and carefully discuss the origin and severity of the instabilities and strong coupling problems that appear. We also investigate the role of the adiabatic sound speed of the matter sector in the regularisation of the gravitational waves evolution. We extend our analysis to more general Born-Infeld inspired theories where analogous solutions are found. As a general conclusion, we obtain that the bouncing solutions are generally more prone to instabilities, while the asymptotically Minkowski solutions can be rendered stable, making them appealing models for the early universe.
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Fanchiotti, H., Garcia Canal, C. A., & Vento, V. (2023). Energy loss of monopolium in a medium. Eur. Phys. J. Plus, 138(9), 850–11pp.
Abstract: We study the energy loss of excited monopolium in an atomic medium. We perform a classical calculation in line with a similar calculation performed for charged particles which leads in the non-relativistic limit to the Bethe-Bloch formula except for the density dependence of the medium, which we do not consider in this paper. Our result shows that for maximally deformed Rydberg states, the ionization of monopolium in a light atomic medium is similar to that of light ions.
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Antusch, S., Figueroa, D. G., Marschall, K., & Torrenti, F. (2020). Energy distribution and equation of state of the early Universe: Matching the end of inflation and the onset of radiation domination. Phys. Lett. B, 811, 135888–7pp.
Abstract: We study the energy distribution and equation of state of the universe between the end of inflation and the onset of radiation domination (RD), considering observationally consistent single-field inflationary scenarios, with a potential 'flattening' at large field values, and a monomial shape V(phi) proportional to vertical bar phi vertical bar(p) around the origin. As a proxy for (p)reheating, we include a quadratic interaction g(2)phi X-2(2) between the inflaton phi and a light scalar 'daughter' field X, with g(2) > 0. We capture the non-perturbative and non-linear nature of the system dynamics with lattice simulations, obtaining that: i) the final energy transferred to X depends only on p, not on g(2); ii) the final transfer of energy is always negligible for 2 <= p < 4, and of order similar to 50% for p >= 4; iii) the system goes at late times to matter-domination for p = 2, and always to RD for p > 2. In the latter case we calculate the number of e-folds until RD, significantly reducing the uncertainty in the inflationary observables Tl-s and r.
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