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Fernandez Casani, A., Orduña, J. M., Sanchez, J., & Gonzalez de la Hoz, S. (2021). A Reliable Large Distributed Object Store Based Platform for Collecting Event Metadata. J. Grid Comput., 19(3), 39–19pp.
Abstract: The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is about to enter its third run at unprecedented energies. The experiments at the LHC face computational challenges with enormous data volumes that need to be analysed by thousands of physics users. The ATLAS EventIndex project, currently running in production, builds a complete catalogue of particle collisions, or events, for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The distributed nature of the experiment data model is exploited by running jobs at over one hundred Grid data centers worldwide. Millions of files with petabytes of data are indexed, extracting a small quantity of metadata per event, that is conveyed with a data collection system in real time to a central Hadoop instance at CERN. After a successful first implementation based on a messaging system, some issues suggested performance bottlenecks for the challenging higher rates in next runs of the experiment. In this work we characterize the weaknesses of the previous messaging system, regarding complexity, scalability, performance and resource consumption. A new approach based on an object-based storage method was designed and implemented, taking into account the lessons learned and leveraging the ATLAS experience with this kind of systems. We present the experiment that we run during three months in the real production scenario worldwide, in order to evaluate the messaging and object store approaches. The results of the experiment show that the new object-based storage method can efficiently support large-scale data collection for big data environments like the next runs of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC.
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Reig, M. (2021). The stochastic axiverse. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 207–40pp.
Abstract: In addition to spectacular signatures such as black hole superradiance and the rotation of CMB polarization, the plenitude of axions appearing in the string axiverse may have potentially dangerous implications. An example is the cosmological overproduction of relic axions and moduli by the misalignment mechanism, more pronounced in regions where the signals mentioned above may be observable, that is for large axion decay constant. In this work, we study the minimal requirements to soften this problem and show that the fundamental requirement is a long period of low-scale inflation. However, in this case, if the inflationary Hubble scale is lower than around O(100) eV, no relic DM axion is produced in the early Universe. Cosmological production of some axions may be activated, via the misalignment mechanism, if their potential minimum changes between inflation and today. As a particular example, we study in detail how the maximal-misalignment mechanism dilutes the effect of dangerous axions and allows the production of axion DM in a controlled way. In this case, the potential of the axion that realises the mechanism shifts by a factor increment theta = pi between the inflationary epoch and today, and the axion starts to oscillate from the top of its potential. We also show that axions with masses m(a) similar to O(1 – 100) H-0 realising the maximal-misalignment mechanism generically behave as dark energy with a decay constant that can take values well below the Planck scale, avoiding problems associated to super-Planckian scales. Finally, we briefly study the basic phenomenological implications of the mechanism and comment on the compatibility of this type of maximally-misaligned quintessence with the swampland criteria.
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Albandea, D., Hernandez, P., Ramos, A., & Romero-Lopez, F. (2021). Topological sampling through windings. Eur. Phys. J. C, 81(10), 873–12pp.
Abstract: We propose a modification of the Hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) algorithm that overcomes the topological freezing of a two-dimensional U(1) gauge theory with and without fermion content. This algorithm includes reversible jumps between topological sectors – winding steps – combined with standard HMC steps. The full algorithm is referred to as winding HMC (wHMC), and it shows an improved behaviour of the autocorrelation time towards the continuum limit. We find excellent agreement between the wHMC estimates of the plaquette and topological susceptibility and the analytical predictions in the U(1) pure gauge theory, which are known even at finite beta. We also study the expectation values in fixed topological sectors using both HMC and wHMC, with and without fermions. Even when topology is frozen in HMC – leading to significant deviations in topological as well as non-topological quantities – the two algorithms agree on the fixed-topology averages. Finally, we briefly compare the wHMC algorithm results to those obtained with master-field simulations of size L similar to 8 x 10(3).
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Penalva, N., Hernandez, E., & Nieves, J. (2021). The role of right-handed neutrinos in b -> c tau (pi nu(tau), rho nu(tau), mu(nu)over-bar(mu)nu(tau))(nu)over-bar(tau) from visible final-state kinematics. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 122–45pp.
Abstract: In the context of lepton flavor universality violation (LFUV) studies, we fully derive a general tensor formalism to investigate the role that left- and right-handed neutrino new-physics (NP) terms may have in b -> c tau(nu) over bar (tau) transitions. We present, for several extensions of the Standard Model (SM), numerical results for the Lambda(b) -> Lambda(c)tau(nu) over bar (tau) semileptonic decay, which is expected to be measured with precision at the LHCb. This reaction can be a new source of experimental information that can help to confirm, or maybe rule out, LFUV presently seen in (B) over bar meson decays. The present study analyzes observables that can help in distinguishing between different NP scenarios that otherwise provide very similar results for the branching ratios, which are our currently best hints for LFUV. Since the tau lepton is very short-lived, we consider three subsequent tau-decay modes, two hadronic pi nu(tau) and rho nu(tau) and one leptonic mu(nu) over bar (mu)nu(tau), which have been previously studied for (B) over bar -> D(*) decays. Within the tensor formalism that we have developed in previous works, we re-obtain the expressions for the differential decay width written in terms of visible (experimentally accessible) variables of the massive particle created in the tau decay. There are seven different tau angular and spin asymmetries that are defined in this way and that can be extracted from experiment. Those asymmetries provide observables that can help in constraining possible SM extensions.
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Eberhardt, O., Miralles, V., & Pich, A. (2021). Constraints on coloured scalars from global fits. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 123–23pp.
Abstract: We consider a simple extension of the electroweak theory, incorporating one SU(2)(L) doublet of colour-octet scalars with Yukawa couplings satisfying the principle of minimal flavour violation. Using the HEPfit package, we perform a global fit to the available data, including all relevant theoretical constraints, and extract the current bounds on the model parameters. Coloured scalars with masses below 1.05 TeV are already excluded, provided they are not fermiophobic. The mass splittings among the different (charged and CP-even and CP-odd neutral) scalars are restricted to be smaller than 20 GeV. Moreover, for scalar masses smaller than 1.5 TeV, the Yukawa coupling of the coloured scalar multiplet to the top quark cannot exceed the one of the SM Higgs doublet by more than 80%. These conclusions are quite generic and apply in more general frameworks (without fine tunings). The theoretical requirements of perturbative unitarity and vacuum stability enforce relevant constraints on the quartic scalar potential parameters that are not yet experimentally tested.
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Alvarez-Ruso, L., & Saul-Sala, E. (2021). Neutrino interactions with matter and the MiniBooNE anomaly. Eur. Phys. J.-Spec. Top., 230, 4373–4389.
Abstract: The excess of electron-like events measured by MiniBooNE challenges our understanding of neutrinos and their interactions. We review the status of this open problem and ongoing efforts to resolve it. After introducing the experiment and its results, we consider the main experimental backgrounds and the related physics of neutrino interactions with matter, such as quasielastic-like scattering and weak pion production on nucleons and nuclei. Special attention is paid to single photon emission in neutral current interactions and, in particular, its coherent channel. The difficulties to reconcile the MiniBooNE anomaly with global oscillation analysis is then highlighted. We finally outline some of the proposed solutions of the puzzle involving unconventional neutrino-interaction mechanisms.
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Escribano, P., & Vicente, A. (2021). An ultraviolet completion for the Scotogenic model. Phys. Lett. B, 823, 136717–7pp.
Abstract: The Scotogenic model is an economical scenario that generates neutrino masses at the 1-loop level and includes a dark matter candidate. This is achieved by means of an ad hoc Z(2) symmetry, which forbids the tree-level generation of neutrino masses and stabilizes the lightest Z(2)-odd state. Neutrino masses are also suppressed by a quartic coupling, usually denoted by lambda(5). While the smallness of this parameter is natural, it is not explained in the context of the Scotogenic model. We construct an ultraviolet completion of the Scotogenic model that provides a natural explanation for the smallness of the lambda(5) parameter and induces the Z(2) parity as the low-energy remnant of a global U(1) symmetry at high energies. The low-energy spectrum contains, besides the usual Scotogenic states, a massive scalar and a massless Goldstone boson, hence leading to novel phenomenological predictions in flavor observables, dark matter physics and colliders.
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Bribian, E. I., Dasilva Golan, J., Garcia Perez, M., & Ramos, A. (2021). Memory efficient finite volume schemes with twisted boundary conditions. Eur. Phys. J. C, 81(10), 951–25pp.
Abstract: In this paper we explore a finite volume renormalization scheme that combines three main ingredients: a coupling based on the gradient flow, the use of twisted boundary conditions and a particular asymmetric geometry, that for SU (N) gauge theories consists on a hypercubic box of size l(2) x (Nl)(2), a choice motivated by the study of volume independence in large N gauge theories. We argue that this scheme has several advantages that make it particularly suited for precision determinations of the strong coupling, among them translational invariance, an analytic expansion in the coupling and a reduced memory footprint with respect to standard simulations on symmetric lattices, allowing for a more efficient use of current GPU clusters. We test this scheme numerically with a determination of the A parameter in the SU (3) pure gauge theory. We show that the use of an asymmetric geometry has no significant impact in the size of scaling violations, obtaining a value Lambda((MS) over bar)root 8t(0) = 0.603(17) in good agreement with the existing literature. The role of topology freezing, that is relevant for the determination of the coupling in this particular scheme and for large N applications, is discussed in detail.
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Pich, A. (2021). Challenges for tau physics at the TeraZ. Eur. Phys. J. Plus, 136(11), 1117–8pp.
Abstract: The very high statistics, low backgrounds and clean back-to-back kinematics of a TeraZ facility would provide an optimal laboratory for precision measurements of the tau properties. A few important topics in tau physics where very relevant contributions could be made are highlighted.
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Coito, L., Faubel, C., Herrero-Garcia, J., & Santamaria, A. (2021). Dark matter from a complex scalar singlet: the role of dark CP and other discrete symmetries. J. High Energy Phys., 11(11), 202–34pp.
Abstract: We study the case of a pseudo-scalar dark matter candidate which emerges from a complex scalar singlet, charged under a global U(1) symmetry, which is broken both explicitly and spontaneously. The pseudo-scalar is naturally stabilized by the presence of a remnant discrete symmetry: dark CP. We study and compare the phenomenology of several simplified models with only one explicit symmetry breaking term. We find that several regions of the parameter space are able to reproduce the observed dark matter abundance while respecting direct detection and invisible Higgs decay limits: in the resonances of the two scalars, featuring the known as forbidden or secluded dark matter, and through non-resonant Higgs-mediated annihilations. In some cases, combining different measurements would allow one to distinguish the breaking pattern of the symmetry. Moreover, this setup admits a light DM candidate at the sub-GeV scale. We also discuss the situation where more than one symmetry breaking term is present. In that case, the dark CP symmetry may be spontaneously broken, thus spoiling the stability of the dark matter candidate. Requiring that this does not happen imposes a constraint on the allowed parameter space. Finally, we consider an effective field theory approach valid in the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson limit and when the U(1) breaking scale is much larger than the electroweak scale.
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