Abstract: A novel experimental setup to measure deviations from the 1/r(2) distance dependence of Newtonian gravity was proposed in Donini and Marimon (Eur Phys J C 76:696, 2016). The underlying theoretical idea was to study the orbits of a microscopically-sized planetary system composed of a “Satellite”, with mass m(S) similar to O(10-9) g, and a “Planet”, with mass M-P similar to O(10-5) g at an initial distance of hundreds of microns. The detection of precession of the orbit in this system would be an unambiguous indication of a central potential with terms that scale with the distance differently from 1/r. This is a huge advantage with respect to the measurement of the absolute strength of the attraction between two bodies, as most electrically-induced background potentials do indeed scale as 1/r. Detection of orbit precession is unaffected by these effects, allowing for better sensitivities. In Baeza-Ballesteros et al. (Eur Phys J C 82:154, 2022), the impact of other subleading backgrounds that may induce orbit precession, such as, e.g., the electrical Casimir force or general relativity, was studied in detail. It was found that the proposed setup could test Yukawa-like corrections, alpha x exp(-r/lambda), to the 1/r potential with couplings as low as alpha similar to 10(-2) for distances as small as lambda similar to 10 μm, improving by roughly an order of magnitude present bounds. In this paper, we start to move from a theoretical study of the proposal to a more realistic implementation of the experimental setup. As a first step, we study the impact of air viscosity on the proposed setup and see how the setup should be modified in order to preserve the theoretical sensitivity achieved in Donini and Marimon (2016) and Baeza-Ballesteros et al. (2022).

Abstract: In this paper we discuss SU(5)3 with cyclic symmetry as a possible grand unified theory (GUT). The basic idea of such a tri-unification is that there is a separate SU(5) for each fermion family, with the light Higgs doublet(s) arising from the third family SU(5), providing a basis for charged fermion mass hierarchies. SU(5)3 tri-unification reconciles the idea of gauge non-universality with the idea of gauge coupling unification, opening the possibility to build consistent non-universal descriptions of Nature that are valid all the way up to the scale of grand unification. As a concrete example, we propose a grand unified embedding of the tri-hypercharge model \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\text{U}}{\left(1\right)}_{Y}<^>{3}$$\end{document} based on an SU(5)3 framework with cyclic symmetry. We discuss a minimal tri-hypercharge example which can account for all the quark and lepton (including neutrino) masses and mixing parameters. We show that it is possible to unify the many gauge couplings into a single gauge coupling associated with the cyclic SU(5)3 gauge group, by assuming minimal multiplet splitting, together with a set of relatively light colour octet scalars. We also study proton decay in this example, and present the predictions for the proton lifetime in the dominant e+pi 0 channel.

Abstract: The unique dimension-5 effective operator, LLHH, known as the Weinberg operator, generates tiny Majorana masses for neutrinos after electroweak spontaneous symmetry breaking. If there are new scalar multiplets that take vacuum expectation values (VEVs), they should not be far from the electroweak scale. Consequently, they may generate new dimension-5 Weinberg-like operators which in turn also contribute to Majorana neutrino masses. In this study, we consider scenarios with one or two new scalars up to quintuplet SU(2) representations. We analyse the scalar potentials, studying whether the new VEVs can be induced and therefore are naturally suppressed, as well as the potential existence of pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons. Additionally, we also obtain general limits on the new scalar multiplets from direct searches at colliders, loop corrections to electroweak precision tests and the W-boson mass.

Abstract: We investigate the sensitivity of the FASER nu detector, a novel experimental setup at the LHC, to probe and constrain generalized neutrino interactions (GNI). Employing a comprehensive theoretical framework, we model the effects of generalized neutrino interactions on neutrino-nucleon deep inelastic scattering processes within the FASER nu detector. By considering all the neutrino channels produced at the LHC, we perform a statistical analysis to determine the sensitivity of FASER nu to constrain these interactions. Our results demonstrate that FASER nu can place stringent constraints on the GNI effective couplings. Additionally, we study the relation between GNI and a minimal Leptoquark model where the SM is augmented by a singlet Leptoquark with hypercharge 1/3. We have found that the sensitivities for various combinations of the Leptoquark Yukawa couplings are approximately O(1), particularly when considering a Leptoquark mass in the TeV range.

Abstract: In this work we compare the predictions for the scattering length and effective range of the channels K-0 Sigma(+), K+Sigma(0), K+ Lambda and eta p, assuming the N*(1535) state as a molecular state of these channels, or an original genuine state, made for instance from three quarks. Looking at very different scenarios, what we conclude is that the predictions of these two pictures are drastically different, to the point that we advise the measurement of these magnitudes, accessible for instance by measuring correlation functions, in order to gain much valuable information concerning the nature of this state.