Fileviez Perez, P., Murgui, C., & Plascencia, A. D. (2020). Axion dark matter, proton decay and unification. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 091–18pp.
Abstract: We discuss the possibility to predict the QCD axion mass in the context of grand unified theories. We investigate the implementation of the DFSZ mechanism in the context of renormalizable SU(5) theories. In the simplest theory, the axion mass can be predicted with good precision in the range m(a) = (2-16) neV, and there is a strong correlation between the predictions for the axion mass and proton decay rates. In this context, we predict an upper bound for the proton decay channels with antineutrinos, tau(p -> K+(nu) over bar) less than or similar to 4 x 10(37) yr and tau(p -> pi(+)(nu) over bar) less than or similar to 2 x 10(36) yr. This theory can be considered as the minimal realistic grand unified theory with the DFSZ mechanism and it can be fully tested by proton decay and axion experiments.
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Fletcher, E. M., Ballester, F., Beaulieu, L., Morrison, H., Poher, A., Rivard, M. J., et al. (2024). Generation and comparison of 3D dosimetric reference datasets for COMS eye plaque brachytherapy using model-based dose calculations. Med. Phys., 51, 694–706.
Abstract: PurposeA joint Working Group of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), and the Australasian Brachytherapy Group (ABG) was created to aid in the transition from the AAPM TG-43 dose calculation formalism, the current standard, to model-based dose calculations. This work establishes the first test cases for low-energy photon-emitting brachytherapy using model-based dose calculation algorithms (MBDCAs).Acquisition and Validation MethodsFive test cases are developed: (1) a single model 6711 125I brachytherapy seed in water, 13 seeds (2) individually and (3) in combination in water, (4) the full Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study (COMS) 16-mm eye plaque in water, and (5) the full plaque in a realistic eye phantom. Calculations are done with four Monte Carlo (MC) codes and a research version of a commercial treatment planning system (TPS). For all test cases, local agreement of MC codes was within & SIM;2.5% and global agreement was & SIM;2% (4% for test case 5). MC agreement was within expected uncertainties. Local agreement of TPS with MC was within 5% for test case 1 and & SIM;20% for test cases 4 and 5, and global agreement was within 0.4% for test case 1 and 10% for test cases 4 and 5.Data Format and Usage NotesDose distributions for each set of MC and TPS calculations are available online () along with input files and all other information necessary to repeat the calculations.Potential ApplicationsThese data can be used to support commissioning of MBDCAs for low-energy brachytherapy as recommended by TGs 186 and 221 and AAPM Report 372. This work additionally lays out a sample framework for the development of test cases that can be extended to other applications beyond eye plaque brachytherapy.
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Flores-Tlalpa, A., Lopez Castro, G., & Roig, P. (2016). Five-body leptonic decays of muon and tau lepton. J. High Energy Phys., 04(4), 185–21pp.
Abstract: We study the five-body decays u(-) -> e(-)e(+)e(-)nu u (nu) over bar (e) and tau(-) -> l(-)l'+l'-nu(tau)(nu) over bar (l) for l, l' = e, u within the Standard Model (SM) and in a general effective field theory description of the weak interactions at low energies. We compute the branching ratios and compare our results with two previous – mutually discrepan – SM calculations. By assuming a general structure for the weak currents we derive the expressions for the energy and angular distributions of the three charged leptons when the decaying lepton is polarized, which will be useful in precise tests of the weak charged current at Belle II. In these decays, leptonic T-odd correlations in triple products of spin and momenta – which may signal time reversal violation in the leptonic sector – are suppressed by the tiny neutrino masses. Therefore, a measurement of such T-violating observables would be associated to neutrinoless lepton flavor violating (LFV) decays, where this effect is not extremely suppressed. We also study the backgrounds that the SM five-lepton lepton decays constitute to searches of LFV L- -> ? l(-)l'+l'(-) decays. Searches at high values of the invariant mass of the l'(+)l'(-) pair look the most convenient way to overcome the background.
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Foffa, S., Sturani, R., & Torres Bobadilla, W. J. (2021). Efficient resummation of high post-Newtonian contributions to the binding energy. J. High Energy Phys., 02(2), 165–18pp.
Abstract: A factorisation property of Feynman diagrams in the context the Effective Field Theory approach to the compact binary problem has been recently employed to efficiently determine the static sector of the potential at fifth post-Newtonian (5PN) order. We extend this procedure to the case of non-static diagrams and we use it to fix, by means of elementary algebraic manipulations, the value of more than one thousand diagrams at 5PN order, that is a substantial fraction of the diagrams needed to fully determine the dynamics at 5PN. This procedure addresses the redundancy problem that plagues the computation of the binding energy with respect to more “efficient” observables like the scattering angle, thus making the EFT approach in harmonic gauge at least as scalable as the others methods.
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Folgado, M. G., Donini, A., & Rius, N. (2020). Gravity-mediated scalar Dark Matter in warped extra-dimensions. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 161–39pp.
Abstract: We revisit the case of scalar Dark Matter interacting just gravitationally with the Standard Model (SM) particles in an extra-dimensional Randall-Sundrum scenario. We assume that both, the Dark Matter and the Standard Model, are localized in the TeV brane and only interact via gravitational mediators, namely the graviton Kaluza-Klein modes and the radion. We analyze in detail the dark matter annihilation channel into two on-shell KK-gravitons, and contrary to previous studies which overlooked this process, we find that it is possible to obtain the correct relic abundance for dark matter masses in the range [1, 10] TeV even after taking into account the strong bounds from LHC Run II. We also consider the impact of the radion contribution (virtual exchange leading to SM final states as well as on-shell production), which does not significantly change our results. Quite interestingly, a sizeable part of the currently allowed parameter space could be tested by LHC Run III and by the High-Luminosity LHC.
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Folgado, M. G., Donini, A., & Rius, N. (2020). Gravity-mediated dark matter in clockwork/linear dilaton extra-dimensions. J. High Energy Phys., 04(4), 036–46pp.
Abstract: We study for the first time the possibility that Dark Matter (represented by particles with spin 0, 1/2 or 1) interacts gravitationally with Standard Model particles in an extra-dimensional Clockwork/Linear Dilaton model. We assume that both, the Dark Matter and the Standard Model, are localized in the IR-brane and only interact via gravitational mediators, namely the Kaluza-Klein (KK) graviton and the radion/KK-dilaton modes. We analyse in detail the Dark Matter annihilation channel into Standard Model particles and into two on-shell Kaluza-Klein towers (either two KK-gravitons, or two radion/KK- dilatons, or one of each), finding that it is possible to obtain the observed relic abundance via thermal freeze-out for Dark Matter masses in the range m(DM) is an element of [1, 15] TeV for a 5- dimensional gravitational scale M-5 ranging from 5 to a few hundreds of TeV, even after taking into account the bounds from LHC Run II and irrespectively of the DM particle spin.
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Folgado, M. G., Gomez-Vargas, G. A., Rius, N., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2018). Probing the sterile neutrino portal to Dark Matter with gamma rays. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 08(8), 002–20pp.
Abstract: Sterile neutrinos could provide a link between the Standard Model particles and a dark sector, besides generating active neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism type I. We show that, if dark matter annihilation into sterile neutrinos determines its observed relic abundance, it is possible to explain the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess reported by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration as due to an astrophysical component plus dark matter annihilations. We observe that sterile neutrino portal to dark matter provides an impressively good fit, with a p-value of 0.78 in the best fit point, to the Galactic Center gamma-ray flux, for DM masses in the range (40-80) GeV and sterile neutrino masses 20 GeV less than or similar to M-N < M-DM. Such values are compatible with the limits from Fermi-LAT observations of the dwarfs spheroidal galaxies in the Milky Way halo, which rule out dark matter masses below similar to 50 GeV ( 90 GeV), for sterile neutrino masses M-N less than or similar to MDM ( M-N << M-DM). We also estimate the impact of AMS-02 anti-proton data on this scenario.
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Forconi, M., Giare, W., Mena, O., Ruchika, Di Valentino, E., Melchiorri, A., et al. (2024). A double take on early and interacting dark energy from JWST. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 097–37pp.
Abstract: The very first light captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) revealed a population of galaxies at very high redshifts more massive than expected in the canonical Lambda CDM model of structure formation. Barring, among others, a systematic origin of the issue, in this paper, we test alternative cosmological perturbation histories. We argue that models with a larger matter component ohm m and/or a larger scalar spectral index n s can substantially improve the fit to JWST measurements. In this regard, phenomenological extensions related to the dark energy sector of the theory are appealing alternatives, with Early Dark Energy emerging as an excellent candidate to explain (at least in part) the unexpected JWST preference for larger stellar mass densities. Conversely, Interacting Dark Energy models, despite producing higher values of matter clustering parameters such as sigma 8 , are generally disfavored by JWST measurements. This is due to the energy -momentum flow from the dark matter to the dark energy sector, implying a smaller matter energy density. Upcoming observations may either strengthen the evidence or falsify some of these appealing phenomenological alternatives to the simplest Lambda CDM picture.
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Fornengo, N., Lineros, R. A., Regis, M., & Taoso, M. (2012). Galactic synchrotron emission from WIMPs at radio frequencies. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 01(1), 005–25pp.
Abstract: Dark matter annihilations in the Galactic halo inject relativistic electrons and positrons which in turn generate a synchrotron radiation when interacting with the galactic magnetic field. We calculate the synchrotron flux for various dark matter annihilation channels, masses, and astrophysical assumptions in the low-frequency range and compare our results with radio surveys from 22 MHz to 1420 MHz. We find that current observations are able to constrain particle dark matter with “thermal” annihilation cross-sections, i.e. (sigma v) = 3 x 10(-26) cm(3) s(-1); and masses M-DM less than or similar to 10 GeV. We discuss the dependence of these bounds on the astrophysical assumptions, namely galactic dark matter distribution, cosmic rays propagation parameters, and structure of the galactic magnetic field. Prospects for detection in future radio surveys are outlined.
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Fornengo, N., Lineros, R. A., Regis, M., & Taoso, M. (2012). Cosmological radio emission induced by WIMP Dark Matter. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 033–27pp.
Abstract: We present a detailed analysis of the radio synchrotron emission induced by WIMP dark matter annihilations and decays in extragalactic halos. We compute intensity, angular correlation, and source counts and discuss the impact on the expected signals of dark matter clustering, as well as of other astrophysical uncertainties as magnetic fields and spatial diffusion. Bounds on dark matter microscopic properties are then derived, and, depending on the specific set of assumptions, they are competitive with constraints from other indirect dark matter searches. At GHz frequencies, dark matter sources can become a significant fraction of the total number of sources with brightness below the microJansky level. We show that, at this level of fluxes (which are within the reach of the next-generation radio surveys), properties of the faint edge of differential source counts, as well as angular correlation data, can become an important probe for WIMPs.
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