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MoEDAL Collaboration(Acharya, B. et al), Mitsou, V. A., Papavassiliou, J., Ruiz de Austri, R., Santra, A., Vento, V., et al. (2022). Search for magnetic monopoles produced via the Schwinger mechanism. Nature, 602(7895), 63–67.
Abstract: Electrically charged particles can be created by the decay of strong enough electric fields, a phenomenon known as the Schwinger mechanism(1). By electromagnetic duality, a sufficiently strong magnetic field would similarly produce magnetic monopoles, if they exist(2). Magnetic monopoles are hypothetical fundamental particles that are predicted by several theories beyond the standard model(3-7) but have never been experimentally detected. Searching for the existence of magnetic monopoles via the Schwinger mechanism has not yet been attempted, but it is advantageous, owing to the possibility of calculating its rate through semi-classical techniques without perturbation theory, as well as that the production of the magnetic monopoles should be enhanced by their finite size(8,9) and strong coupling to photons(2,10). Here we present a search for magnetic monopole production by the Schwinger mechanism in Pb-Pb heavy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, producing the strongest known magnetic fields in the current Universe(11). It was conducted by the MoEDAL experiment, whose trapping detectors were exposed to 0.235 per nanobarn, or approximately 1.8 x 10(9), of Pb-Pb collisions with 5.02-teraelectronvolt center-of-mass energy per collision in November 2018. A superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer scanned the trapping detectors of MoEDAL for the presence of magnetic charge, which would induce a persistent current in the SQUID. Magnetic monopoles with integer Dirac charges of 1, 2 and 3 and masses up to 75 gigaelectronvolts per speed of light squared were excluded by the analysis at the 95% confidence level. This provides a lower mass limit for finite-size magnetic monopoles from a collider search and greatly extends previous mass bounds.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., & Ruiz Vidal, J. (2022). Observation of an exotic narrow doubly charmed tetraquark. Nat. Phys., 18, 751–754.
Abstract: Conventional, hadronic matter consists of baryons and mesons made of three quarks and a quark-antiquark pair, respectively(1,2). Here, we report the observation of a hadronic state containing four quarks in the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment. This so-called tetraquark contains two charm quarks, a (u) over bar and a (d) over tilde quark. This exotic state has a mass of approximately 3,875 MeV and manifests as a narrow peak in the mass spectrum of (DD0)-D-0 pi(+) mesons just below the D*D-+(0) mass threshold. The near-threshold mass together with the narrow width reveals the resonance nature of the state.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., & Ruiz Vidal, J. (2022). Study of the doubly charmed tetraquark T-cc(+). Nat. Commun., 13(1), 3351–19pp.
Abstract: Quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong force, describes interactions of coloured quarks and gluons and the formation of hadronic matter. Conventional hadronic matter consists of baryons and mesons made of three quarks and quark-antiquark pairs, respectively. Particles with an alternative quark content are known as exotic states. Here a study is reported of an exotic narrow state in the (DD0)-D-0 pi(+) mass spectrum just below the D*+D-0 mass threshold produced in proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The state is consistent with the ground isoscalar T-cc(+), tetraquark with a quark content of cc (u) over bar(d) over bar and spin-parity quantum numbers J(P) =1(+). Study of the DD mass spectra disfavours interpretation of the resonance as the isovector state. The decay structure via intermediate off-shell D*(+) mesons is consistent with the observed D-0 pi(+) mass distribution. To analyse the mass of the resonance and its coupling to the DID system, a dedicated model is developed under the assumption of an isoscalar axial-vector T-cc(+), state decaying to the D*D channel. Using this model, resonance parameters including the pole position, scattering length, effective range and compositeness are determined to reveal important information about the nature of the T-cc(+), state. In addition, an unexpected dependence of the production rate on track multiplicity is observed.
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Giare, W., Renzi, F., Melchiorri, A., Mena, O., & Di Valentino, E. (2022). Cosmological forecasts on thermal axions, relic neutrinos, and light elements. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 511(1), 1373–1382.
Abstract: One of the targets of future cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation measurements is to improve the current accuracy in the neutrino sector and reach a much better sensitivity on extra dark radiation in the early Universe. In this paper, we study how these improvements can be translated into constraining power for well-motivated extensions of the standard model of elementary particles that involve axions thermalized before the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) phase transition by scatterings with gluons. Assuming a fiducial Lambda cold dark matter cosmological model, we simulate future data for Stage-IV CMB-like and Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)-like surveys and analyse a mixed scenario of axion and neutrino hot dark matter. We further account also for the effects of these QCD axions on the light element abundances predicted by big bang nucleosynthesis. The most constraining forecasted limits on the hot relic masses are m(a) less than or similar to 0.92 eV and n-ary sumation m(nu) less than or similar to 0.12 eV at 95 per cent Confidence Level, showing that future cosmic observations can substantially improve the current bounds, supporting multimessenger analyses of axion, neutrino, and primordial light element properties.
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Particle Data Group(Workman, R. L. et al), Hernandez-Rey, J. J., & Pich, A. (2022). Review of Particle Physics. Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys., 2022(8), 083C01–2270pp.
Abstract: The Review summarizes much of particle physics and cosmology. Using data from previous editions, plus 2,143 new measurements from 709 papers, we list, evaluate, and average measured properties of gauge bosons and the recently discovered Higgs boson, leptons, quarks, mesons, and baryons. We summarize searches for hypothetical particles such as supersymmetric particles, heavy bosons, axions, dark photons, etc. Particle properties and search limits are listed in Summary Tables. We give numerous tables, figures, formulae, and reviews of topics such as Higgs Boson Physics, Supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theories, Neutrino Mixing, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Cosmology, Particle Detectors, Colliders, Probability and Statistics. Among the 120 reviews are many that are new or heavily revised, including a new review on Machine Learning, and one on Spectroscopy of Light Meson Resonances. The Review is divided into two volumes. Volume 1 includes the Summary Tables and 97 review articles. Volume 2 consists of the Particle Listings and contains also 23 reviews that address specific aspects of the data presented in the Listings. The complete Review (both volumes) is published online on the website of the Particle Data Group (pdg.lbl.gov) and in a journal. Volume 1 is available in print as the PDG Book. A Particle Physics Booklet with the Summary Tables and essential tables, figures, and equations from selected review articles is available in print, as a web version optimized for use on phones, and as an Android app.
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Doring, C., Centelles Chulia, S., Lindner, M., Schaefer, B. M., & Bartelmann, M. (2022). Gravitational wave induced baryon acoustic oscillations. SciPost Phys., 12(3), 114–47pp.
Abstract: We study the impact of gravitational waves originating from a first order phase transition on structure formation. To do so, we perform a second order perturbation analysis in the 1 + 3 covariant framework and derive a wave equation in which second order, adiabatic density perturbations of the photon-baryon fluid are sourced by the gravitational wave energy density during radiation domination and on sub-horizon scales. The scale on which such waves affect the energy density perturbation spectrum is found to be proportional to the horizon size at the time of the phase transition times its inverse duration. Consequently, structure of the size of galaxies and bigger can only be affected in this way by relatively late phase transitions at >= 10(6) s. Using cosmic variance as a bound we derive limits on the strength a and the relative duration (beta/H-*)(-1) of phase transitions as functions of the time of their occurrence which results in a new exclusion region for the energy density in gravitational waves today. We find that the cosmic variance bound forbids only relative long lasting phase transitions, e.g. beta/H-* less than or similar to 6.8 for t(*) approximate to 5 x 10(11 )s, which exhibit a substantial amount of supercooling alpha > 20 to affect the matter power spectrum.
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Cranmer, K. et al, & Sanz, V. (2022). Publishing statistical models: Getting the most out of particle physics experiments. SciPost Phys., 12(1), 037–55pp.
Abstract: The statistical models used to derive the results of experimental analyses are of incredible scientific value and are essential information for analysis preservation and reuse. In this paper, we make the scientific case for systematically publishing the full statistical models and discuss the technical developments that make this practical. By means of a variety of physics cases – including parton distribution functions, Higgs boson measurements, effective field theory interpretations, direct searches for new physics, heavy flavor physics, direct dark matter detection, world averages, and beyond the Standard Model global fits – we illustrate how detailed information on the statistical modelling can enhance the short- and long-term impact of experimental results.
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Aarrestad, T. et al, Mamuzic, J., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2022). Benchmark data and model independent event classification for the large hadron collider. SciPost Phys., 12(1), 043–57pp.
Abstract: We describe the outcome of a data challenge conducted as part of the Dark Machines (https://www.darkmachines.org) initiative and the Les Houches 2019 workshop on Physics at TeV colliders. The challenged aims to detect signals of new physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) using unsupervised machine learning algorithms. First, we propose how an anomaly score could be implemented to define model-independent signal regions in LHC searches. We define and describe a large benchmark dataset, consisting of > 1 billion simulated LHC events corresponding to 10 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. We then review a wide range of anomaly detection and density estimation algorithms, developed in the context of the data challenge, and we measure their performance in a set of realistic analysis environments. We draw a number of useful conclusions that will aid the development of unsupervised new physics searches during the third run of the LHC, and provide our benchmark dataset for future studies at https://www.phenoMLdata.org. Code to reproduce the analysis is provided at https://github.com/bostdiek/DarkMachines-UnsupervisedChallenge.
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Horak, J., Ihssen, F., Papavassiliou, J., Pawlowski, J. M., Weber, A., & Wetterich, C. (2022). Gluon condensates and effective gluon mass. SciPost Phys., 13(2), 042–40pp.
Abstract: Lattice simulations along with studies in continuum QCD indicate that non-perturbative quantum fluctuations lead to an infrared regularisation of the gluon propagator in covariant gauges in the form of an effective mass-like behaviour. In the present work we propose an analytic understanding of this phenomenon in terms of gluon condensation through a dynamical version of the Higgs mechanism, leading to the emergence of color condensates. Within the functional renormalisation group approach we compute the effective potential of covariantly constant field strengths, whose non-trivial minimum is related to the color condensates. In the physical case of an SU(3) gauge group this is an octet condensate. The value of the gluon mass obtained through this procedure compares very well to lattice results and the mass gap arising from alternative dynamical scenarios.
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Khosa, C. K., Sanz, V., & Soughton, M. (2022). A simple guide from machine learning outputs to statistical criteria in particle physics. SciPost Phys. Core, 5(4), 050–31pp.
Abstract: In this paper we propose ways to incorporate Machine Learning training outputs into a study of statistical significance. We describe these methods in supervised classification tasks using a CNN and a DNN output, and unsupervised learning based on a VAE. As use cases, we consider two physical situations where Machine Learning are often used: high-pT hadronic activity, and boosted Higgs in association with a massive vector boson.
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