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Amoroso, S., Caron, S., Jueid, A., Ruiz de Austri, R., & Skands, P. (2019). Estimating QCD uncertainties in Monte Carlo event generators for gamma-ray dark matter searches. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 007–44pp.
Abstract: Motivated by the recent galactic center gamma-ray excess identified in the Fermi-LAT data, we perform a detailed study of QCD fragmentation uncertainties in the modeling of the energy spectra of gamma-rays from Dark-Matter (DM) annihilation. When Dark-Matter particles annihilate to coloured final states, either directly or via decays such as W(*) -> qq-', photons are produced from a complex sequence of shower, hadronisation and hadron decays. In phenomenological studies their energy spectra are typically computed using Monte Carlo event generators. These results have however intrinsic uncertainties due to the specific model used and the choice of model parameters, which are difficult to asses and which are typically neglected. We derive a new set of hadronisation parameters (tunes) for the PYTHIA 8.2 Monte Carlo generator from a fit to LEP and SLD data at the Z peak. For the first time we also derive a conservative set of uncertainties on the shower and hadronisation model parameters. Their impact on the gamma-ray energy spectra is evaluated and discussed for a range of DM masses and annihilation channels. The spectra and their uncertainties are also provided in tabulated form for future use. The fragmentation-parameter uncertainties may be useful for collider studies as well.
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Amerio, A., Cuoco, A., & Fornengo, N. (2023). Extracting the gamma-ray source-count distribution below the Fermi-LAT detection limit with deep learning. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 09(9), 029–39pp.
Abstract: We reconstruct the extra-galactic gamma-ray source-count distribution, or dN/dS, of resolved and unresolved sources by adopting machine learning techniques. Specifically, we train a convolutional neural network on synthetic 2-dimensional sky-maps, which are built by varying parameters of underlying source-counts models and incorporate the FermiLAT instrumental response functions. The trained neural network is then applied to the Fermi-LAT data, from which we estimate the source count distribution down to flux levels a factor of 50 below the Fermi-LAT threshold. We perform our analysis using 14 years of data collected in the (1, 10) GeV energy range. The results we obtain show a source count distribution which, in the resolved regime, is in excellent agreement with the one derived from cataloged sources, and then extends as dN/dS " S-2 in the unresolved regime, down to fluxes of 5 center dot 10-12 cm-2 s-1. The neural network architecture and the devised methodology have the flexibility to enable future analyses to study the energy dependence of the source-count distribution.
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Amerio, A., Calore, F., Serpico, P. D., & Zaldivar, B. (2024). Deepening gamma-ray point-source catalogues with sub-threshold information. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 055–18pp.
Abstract: We propose a novel statistical method to extend Fermi-LAT catalogues of highlatitude -y-ray sources below their nominal threshold. To do so, we rely on the determination of the differential source -count distribution of sub -threshold sources which only provides the statistical flux distribution of faint sources. By simulating ensembles of synthetic skies, we assess quantitatively the likelihood for pixels in the sky with relatively low -test statistics to be due to sources, therefore complementing the source -count distribution with spatial information. Besides being useful to orient efforts towards multi -messenger and multi -wavelength identification of new -y-ray sources, we expect the results to be especially advantageous for statistical applications such as cross -correlation analyses.
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Alencar, G., Estrada, M., Muniz, C. R., & Olmo, G. J. (2023). Dymnikova GUP-corrected black holes. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 11(11), 100–23pp.
Abstract: We consider the impact of Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) effects on the Dymnikova regular black hole. The minimum length scale introduced by the GUP modifies the energy density associated with the gravitational source, referred to as the Dymnikova vacuum, based on its analogy with the gravitational counterpart of the Schwinger effect. We present an approximated analytical solution (together with exact numerical results for comparison) that encompasses a wide range of black hole sizes, whose properties crucially depend on the ratio between the de Sitter core radius and the GUP scale. The emergence of a wormhole inside the de Sitter core in the innermost region of the object is one of the most relevant features of this family of solutions. Our findings demonstrate that these solutions remain singularity free, confirming the robustness of the Dymnikova regular black hole under GUP corrections. Regarding energy conditions, we find that the violation of the strong, weak, and null energy conditions which is characteristic of the pure Dymnikova case does not occur at Planckian scales in the GUP corrected solution. This contrast suggests a departure from conventional expectations and highlights the influence of quantum corrections and the GUP in modifying the energy conditions near the Planck scale.
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Aja, B. et al, & Gimeno, B. (2022). The Canfranc Axion Detection Experiment (CADEx): search for axions at 90 GHz with Kinetic Inductance Detectors. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 11(11), 044–29pp.
Abstract: We propose a novel experiment, the Canfranc Axion Detection Experiment (CADEx), to probe dark matter axions with masses in the range 330-460 μeV, within the W-band (80-110 GHz), an unexplored parameter space in the well-motivated dark matter window of Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD) axions. The experimental design consists of a microwave resonant cavity haloscope in a high static magnetic field coupled to a highly sensitive detecting system based on Kinetic Inductance Detectors via optimized quasi-optics (horns and mirrors). The experiment is in preparation and will be installed in the dilution refrigerator of the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. Sensitivity forecasts for axion detection with CADEx, together with the potential of the experiment to search for dark photons, are presented.
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Agullo, I., Navarro-Salas, J., & Parker, L. (2012). Enhanced local-type inflationary trispectrum from a non-vacuum initial state. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 019–13pp.
Abstract: We compute the primordial trispectrum for curvature perturbations produced during cosmic inflation in models with standard kinetic terms, when the initial quantum state is not necessarily the vacuum state. The presence of initial perturbations enhances the trispectrum amplitude for configuration in which one of the momenta, say k(3), is much smaller than the others, k(3) << k(1,2,4). For those squeezed con figurations the trispectrum acquires the so-called local form, with a scale dependent amplitude that can get values of order epsilon(k(1)/k(3))(2). This amplitude could be larger than the prediction of the so-called Maldacena consistency relation by a factor as large as 10(6), and could reach the sensitivity of forthcoming observations, even for single-field inflationary models.
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Agarwalla, S. K., Blennow, M., Fernandez-Martinez, E., & Mena, O. (2011). Neutrino probes of the nature of light dark matter. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 09(9), 004–19pp.
Abstract: Dark matter particles gravitationally trapped inside the Sun may annihilate into Standard Model particles, producing a flux of neutrinos. The prospects of detecting these neutrinos in future multi-kt neutrino detectors designed for other physics searches are explored here. We study the capabilities of a 34/100 kt liquid argon detector and a 100 kt magnetized iron calorimeter detector. These detectors are expected to determine the energy and the direction of the incoming neutrino with unprecedented precision allowing for tests of the dark matter nature at very low dark matter masses, in the range of 10-25 GeV. By suppressing the atmospheric background with angular cuts, these techniques would be sensitive to dark matter-nucleon spin-dependent cross sections at the fb level, reaching down to a few ab for the most favorable annihilation channels and detector technology.
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Afonso, V. I., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2017). Scalar geons in Born-Infeld gravity. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 08(8), 031–35pp.
Abstract: The existence of static, spherically symmetric, self-gravitating scalar field solutions in the context of Born-Infeld gravity is explored. Upon a combination of analytical approximations and numerical methods, the equations for a free scalar field (without a potential term) are solved, verifying that the solutions recover the predictions of General Relativity far from the center but finding important new effects in the central regions. We find two classes of objects depending on the ratio between the Schwarzschild radius and a length scale associated to the Born-Infeld theory: massive solutions have a wormhole structure, with their throat at r = 2 M, while for the lighter configurations the topology is Euclidean. The total energy density of these solutions exhibits a solitonic profile with a maximum peaked away from the center, and located at the throat whenever a wormhole exists. The geodesic structure and curvature invariants are analyzed for the various configurations considered.
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Afonso, V. I., Olmo, G. J., Orazi, E., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2019). New scalar compact objects in Ricci-based gravity theories. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 12(12), 044–20pp.
Abstract: Taking advantage of a previously developed method, which allows to map solutions of General Relativity into a broad family of theories of gravity based on the Ricci tensor (Ricci-based gravities), we find new exact analytical scalar field solutions by mapping the free-field static, spherically symmetric solution of General Relativity (GR) into quadratic f(R) gravity and the Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity. The obtained solutions have some distinctive feature below the would-be Schwarzschild radius of a configuration with the same mass, though in this case no horizon is present. The compact objects found include wormholes, compact balls, shells of energy with no interior, and a new kind of object which acts as a kind of wormhole membrane. The latter object has Euclidean topology but connects antipodal points of its surface by transferring particles and null rays across its interior in virtually zero affine time. We point out the relevance of these results regarding the existence of compact scalar field objects beyond General Relativity that may effectively act as black hole mimickers.
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Afonso, V. I., Mora-Perez, G., Olmo, G. J., Orazi, E., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2022). An infinite class of exact rotating black hole metrics of modified gravity. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 052–14pp.
Abstract: We build an infinite class of exact axisymmetric solutions of a metric-affine gravity theory, namely, Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity, coupled to an anisotropic fluid as a matter source. The solution-generating method employed is not unique of this theory but can be extended to other Ricci-Based Gravity theories (RBGs), a class of theories built out of contractions of the Ricci tensor with the metric. This method exploits a correspondence between the space of solutions of General Relativity and that of RBGs, and is independent of the symmetries of the problem. For the particular case in which the fluid is identified with non-linear electromagnetic fields we explicitly derive the corresponding axisymmetric solutions. Finally, we use this result to work out the counterpart of the Kerr-Newman black hole when Maxwell electrodynamics is set on the metric-affine side. Our results open up an exciting new avenue for testing new gravitational phenomenology in the fields of gravitational waves and shadows out of rotating black holes.
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