Gomez Ambrosio, R., ter Hoeve, J., Madigan, M., Rojo, J., & Sanz, V. (2023). Unbinned multivariate observables for global SMEFT analyses from machine learning. J. High Energy Phys., 03(3), 033–66pp.
Abstract: Theoretical interpretations of particle physics data, such as the determination of the Wilson coefficients of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), often involve the inference of multiple parameters from a global dataset. Optimizing such interpretations requires the identification of observables that exhibit the highest possible sensitivity to the underlying theory parameters. In this work we develop a flexible open source frame-work, ML4EFT, enabling the integration of unbinned multivariate observables into global SMEFT fits. As compared to traditional measurements, such observables enhance the sensitivity to the theory parameters by preventing the information loss incurred when binning in a subset of final-state kinematic variables. Our strategy combines machine learning regression and classification techniques to parameterize high-dimensional likelihood ratios, using the Monte Carlo replica method to estimate and propagate methodological uncertainties. As a proof of concept we construct unbinned multivariate observables for top-quark pair and Higgs+Z production at the LHC, demonstrate their impact on the SMEFT parameter space as compared to binned measurements, and study the improved constraints associated to multivariate inputs. Since the number of neural networks to be trained scales quadratically with the number of parameters and can be fully parallelized, the ML4EFT framework is well-suited to construct unbinned multivariate observables which depend on up to tens of EFT coefficients, as required in global fits.
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Gjestvang, D. et al, & Algora, A. (2023). Examination of how properties of a fissioning system impact isomeric yield ratios of the fragments. Phys. Rev. C, 108(6), 064602–12pp.
Abstract: The population of isomeric states in the prompt decay of fission fragments-so-called isomeric yield ratios (IYRs)-is known to be sensitive to the angular momentum J that the fragment emerged with, and may therefore contain valuable information on the mechanism behind the fission process. In this work, we investigate how changes in the fissioning system impact the measured IYRs of fission fragments to learn more about what parameters affect angular momentum generation. To enable this, a new technique for measuring IYRs is first demonstrated. It is based on the time of arrival of discrete gamma rays, and has the advantage that it enables the study of the IYR as a function of properties of the partner nucleus. This technique is used to extract the IYR of 134Te, strongly populated in actinide fission, from the three different fissioning systems: 232Th(n, f), 238U(n, f), at two different neutron energies, as well as 252Cf(sf). The impacts of changing the fissioning system, the compound nuclear excitation energy, the minimum J of the binary partner, and the number of neutrons emitted on the IYR of 134Te are determined. The decay code TALYS is used in combination with the fission simulation code FREYA to calculate the primary fragment angular momentum from the IYR. We find that the IYR of 134Te has a slope of 0.004 +/- 0.002 with increase in compound nucleus (CN) mass. When investigating the impact on the IYR of increased CN excitation energy, we find no change with an energy increase similar to the difference between thermal and fast fission. By varying the mass of the partner fragment emerging with 134Te, it is revealed that the IYR of 134Te is independent of the total amount of prompt neutrons emitted from the fragment pair. This indicates that neutrons carry minimal angular momentum away from the fission fragments. Comparisons with the FREYA+TALYS simulations reveal that the average angular momentum in 134Te following 238U(n, f) is 6.0 h over bar . This is not consistent with the value deduced from recent CGMF calculations. Finally, the IYR sensitivity to the angular momentum of the primary fragment is discussed. These results are not only important to help understanding the underlying mechanism in nuclear fission, but can also be used to constrain and benchmark fission models, and are relevant to the gamma -ray heating problem of reactors.
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Gil-Dominguez, F., & Molina, R. (2023). Quark mass dependence of the low-lying charmed mesons at one loop in HH & chi; PT. Phys. Lett. B, 843, 137997–15pp.
Abstract: We study the light and heavy quark mass dependence of the low-lying charmed mesons in the framework of one-loop HH & chi; PT. The low energy constants are determined by analyzing the available lattice data from different LQCD simulations. Model selection tools are implemented to determine the relevant parameters as required by data with a higher precision. Discretization and other effects due to the charm quark mass setting are discussed.
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Gil-Dominguez, F., Alarcon, J. M., & Weiss, C. (2023). Proton charge radius extraction from muon scattering at MUSE using dispersively improved chiral effective field theory. Phys. Rev. D, 108(7), 074026–14pp.
Abstract: The MUSE experiment at Paul Scherrer Institute will perform the first measurement of low-energy muon-proton elastic scattering (muon lab momenta 115-210 MeV) with the aim of determining the proton charge radius. We study the prospects for the proton radius extraction using the theoretical framework of dispersively improved chiral effective field theory (DI.EFT). It connects the proton radii with the finite-Q(2) behavior of the form factors through complex analyticity and enables the use of data up to Q(2) similar to 0.1 GeV2 for radius extraction. We quantify the sensitivity of the μp cross section to the proton charge radius, the theoretical uncertainty of the cross section predictions, and the size of two-photon exchange corrections. We find that the optimal kinematics for radius extraction at MUSE is at momenta 210 MeV and Q(2) similar to 0.05-0.08 GeV2. We compare the performance of electron and muon scattering in the same kinematics. As a by-product, we obtain explicit predictions for the μp and ep cross sections at MUSE as functions of the assumed value of the proton radius.
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Giare, W., Renzi, F., Mena, O., Di Valentino, E., & Melchiorri, A. (2023). Is the Harrison-Zel'dovich spectrum coming back? ACT preference for n(s) similar to 1 and its discordance with Planck. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 521(2), 2911–2918.
Abstract: The Data Release 4 of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) shows an agreement with an Harrison-Zel'dovich primordial spectrum (n(s) = 1.009 +/- 0.015), introducing a tension with a significance of 99.3 per cent Confidence Level (CL) with the results from the Planck satellite. The discrepancy on the value of the scalar spectral index is neither alleviated with the addition of large scale structure information nor with the low multipole polarization data. We discuss possible avenues to alleviate the tension relying on either neglecting polarization measurements from ACT or in extending different sectors of the theory.
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