Ferreiro, A., & Pla, S. (2022). Adiabatic regularization and preferred vacuum state for the lambda phi^4 field theory in cosmological spacetimes. Phys. Rev. D, 106(6), 065015–12pp.
Abstract: We extend the method of adiabatic regularization by introducing an arbitrary parameter μfor a scalar field with quartic self-coupling in a Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker spacetime at one-loop order. The subtraction terms constructed from this extended version allow us to define a preferred vacuum state at a fixed time ri 1/4 ri0 for this theory. We compute this vacuum state for two commonly used background fields in cosmology, specially in the context of preheating. We also give a possible prescription for an adequate value for mu.
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Figueroa, D. G., Florio, A., Loayza, N., & Pieroni, M. (2022). Spectroscopy of particle couplings with gravitational waves. Phys. Rev. D, 106(6), 063522–8pp.
Abstract: We discuss the possibility to measure particle couplings with stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds (SGWBs). Under certain circumstances a sequence of peaks of different amplitude and frequency-a stairway-emerges in a SGWB spectrum, with each peak probing a different coupling. The detection of such signature opens the possibility to reconstruct couplings (spectroscopy) of particle species involved in high energy phenomena generating SGWBs. Stairwaylike signatures may arise in causally produced backgrounds in the early Universe, e.g., from preheating or first order phase transitions. As a proof of principle we study a preheating scenario with an inflaton 0 coupled to multiple daughter fields f chi jg with different coupling strengths. As a clear stairway signature is imprinted in the SGWB spectrum, we reconstruct the relevant couplings with various detectors.
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Huang, G. Y., Lindner, M., Martinez-Mirave, P., & Sen, M. (2022). Cosmology-friendly time-varying neutrino masses via the sterile neutrino portal. Phys. Rev. D, 106(3), 033004–18pp.
Abstract: We investigate a consistent scenario of time-varying neutrino masses, and discuss its impact on cosmology, beta decay, and neutrino oscillation experiments. Such time-varying masses are assumed to be generated by the coupling between a sterile neutrino and an ultralight scalar field, which in turn affects the light neutrinos by mixing. We demonstrate how various cosmological bounds, such as those coming from big bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background, as well as large scale structures, can be evaded in this model. This scenario can be further constrained using multiple terrestrial experiments. In particular, for beta-decay experiments like KATRIN, nontrivial distortions to the electron spectrum can be induced, even when time-variation is fast and it gets averaged. Furthermore, the presence of time-varying masses of sterile neutrinos will alter the interpretation of light sterile neutrino parameter space in the context of the reactor and gallium anomalies. In addition, we also study the impact of such time-varying neutrino masses on results from the BEST collaboration, which have recently strengthened the gallium anomaly. If confirmed, we find that the time-varying neutrino mass hypothesis could give a better fit to the recent BEST data.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., Castillo, F. L., et al. (2022). Measurements of jet observables sensitive to b-quark fragmentation in (tt)over-bar events at the LHC with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 106(3), 032008–33pp.
Abstract: Several observables sensitive to the fragmentation of b quarks into b hadrons are measured using 36 fb(-1) of root s = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Jets containing b hadrons are obtained from a sample of dileptonic (tt) over bar events, and the associated set of charged-particle tracks is separated into those from the primary pp interaction vertex and those from the displaced b-decay secondary vertex. This division is used to construct observables that characterize the longitudinal and transverse momentum distributions of the b hadron within the jet. The measurements have been corrected for detector effects and provide a test of heavy-quark-fragmentation modeling at the LHC in a system where the top-quark decay products are color connected to the proton beam remnants. The unfolded distributions are compared with the predictions of several modern Monte Carlo parton-shower generators and generator tunes, and a wide range of agreement with the data is observed, with p values varying from 5 x 10(-4) to 0.98. These measurements complement similar measurements from e(+)e(-) collider experiments in which the b quarks originate from a color singlet Z/gamma*.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., et al. (2022). Search for events with a pair of displaced vertices from long-lived neutral particles decaying into hadronic jets in the ATLAS muon spectrometer in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV. Phys. Rev. D, 106(3), 032005–28pp.
Abstract: A search for events with two displaced vertices from long-lived particle (LLP) pairs using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. This analysis uses 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s=13 TeV recorded in 2015-2018. The search employs techniques for reconstructing vertices of LLPs decaying to jets in the muon spectrometer displaced between 3 and 14 m with respect to the primary interaction vertex. The observed numbers of events are consistent with the expected background and limits for several benchmark signals are determined. For the Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV, the paper reports the first exclusion limits for branching fractions into neutral long-lived particles below 0.1%, while branching fractions above 10% are excluded at 95% confidence level for LLP proper lifetimes ranging from 4 cm to 72.4 m. In addition, the paper present the first results for the decay of LLPs into (tt) over bar in the ATLAS muon spectrometer.
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