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.

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.

Abstract: The search for effective field theory deformations of the Standard Model (SM) is a major goal of particle physics that can benefit from a global approach in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). For the first time, we include LHC data on top production and differential distributions together with Higgs production and decay rates and Simplified Template Cross-Section (STXS) measurements in a global fit, as well as precision electroweak and diboson measurements from LEP and the LHC, in a global analysis with SMEFT operators of dimension 6 included linearly. We present the constraints on the coefficients of these operators, both individually and when marginalised, in flavour-universal and top-specific scenarios, studying the interplay of these datasets and the correlations they induce in the SMEFT. We then explore the constraints that our linear SMEFT analysis imposes on specific ultra-violet completions of the Standard Model, including those with single additional fields and low-mass stop squarks. We also present a model-independent search for deformations of the SM that contribute to between two and five SMEFT operator coefficients. In no case do we find any significant evidence for physics beyond the SM. Our underlying Fitmaker public code provides a framework for future generalisations of our analysis, including a quadratic treatment of dimension-6 operators.

Abstract: Three different approaches to precisely describe the Adler function in the Euclidean regime at around 2 GeVs are available: dispersion relations based on the hadronic production data in e(+)e(-) annihilation, lattice simulations and perturbative QCD (pQCD). We make a comprehensive study of the perturbative approach, supplemented with the leading power corrections in the operator product expansion. All known contributions are included, with a careful assessment of uncertainties. The pQCD predictions are compared with the Adler functions extracted from ?a( QED)(had)(Q(2)), using both the DHMZ compilation of e(+)e(-) data and published lattice results. Taking as input the FLAG value of a(s), the pQCD Adler function turns out to be in good agreement with the lattice data, while the dispersive results lie systematically below them. Finally, we explore the sensitivity to a(s) of the direct comparison between the data-driven, lattice and QCD Euclidean Adler functions. The precision with which the renormalisation group equation can be tested is also evaluated.

Abstract: This report summarises some of the activities of the HiggsTools initial training network working group in the period 2015-2017. The main goal of this working group was to produce a document discussing various aspects of state-of-the-art Higgs physics at the large hadron collider (LHC) in a pedagogic manner The first part of the report is devoted to a description of phenomenological searches for new physics (NP) at the LHC. All of the available studies of the couplings of the new resonance discovered in 2012 by the ATLAS and CMS experiments (Aad et al (ATLAS Collaboration) 2012 Phys. Lett. B 716 1-29; Chatrchyan et al (CMS Collaboration) 2012 Phys. Lett. B 716 30-61) conclude that it is compatible with the Higgs boson of the standard model (SM) within present precision. So far the LHC experiments have given no direct evidence for any physical phenomena that cannot be described by the SM. As the experimental measurements become more and more precise, there is a pressing need for a consistent framework in which deviations from the SM predictions can be computed precisely. Such a framework should be applicable to measurements in all sectors of particle physics, not only LHC Higgs measurements but also electroweak precision data, etc. We critically review the use of the k-framework, fiducial and simplified template cross sections, effective field theories, pseudoobservables and phenomenological Lagrangians. Some of the concepts presented here are well known and were used already at the time of the large electron-positron collider (LEP) experiment. However, after years of theoretical and experimental development, these techniques have been refined, and we describe new tools that have been introduced in order to improve the comparison between theory and experimental data. In the second part of the report, we propose Phi(eta)* as a new and complementary observable for studying Higgs boson production at large transverse momentum in the case where the Higgs boson decays to two photons. The Phi(eta)* variable depends on measurements of the angular directions and rapidities of the two Higgs decay products rather than the energies, and exploits the information provided by the calorimeter in the detector. We show that, even without tracking information, the experimental resolution for Phi(eta)* is better than that of the transverse momentum of the photon pair, particularly at low transverse momentum. We make a detailed study of the phenomenology of the Phi(eta)* variable, contrasting the behaviour with the Higgs transverse momentum distribution using a variety of theoretical tools including event generators and fixed order perturbative computations. We consider the theoretical uncertainties associated with both p TH and Phi(eta)* distributions. Unlike the transverse momentum distribution, the Phi(eta)* distribution is well predicted using the Higgs effective field theory in which the top quark is integrated out-even at large values of Phi(eta)*-thereby making this a better observable for extracting the parameters of the Higgs interaction. In contrast, the potential of the Phi(eta)* distribution as a probe of NP is rather limited, since although the overall rate is affected by the presence of additional heavy fields, the shape of the Phi(eta)* distribution is relatively insensitive to heavy particle thresholds.