Olmo, G. J., Rubiera-Garcia, D., & Wojnar, A. (2020). Stellar structure models in modified theories of gravity: Lessons and challenges. Phys. Rep., 876, 1–75.
Abstract: The understanding of stellar structure represents the crossroads of our theories of the nuclear force and the gravitational interaction under the most extreme conditions observably accessible. It provides a powerful probe of the strong field regime of General Relativity, and opens fruitful avenues for the exploration of new gravitational physics. The latter can be captured via modified theories of gravity, which modify the Einstein-Hilbert action of General Relativity and/or some of its principles. These theories typically change the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations of stellar's hydrostatic equilibrium, thus having a large impact on the astrophysical properties of the corresponding stars and opening a new window to constrain these theories with present and future observations of different types of stars. For relativistic stars, such as neutron stars, the uncertainty on the equation of state of matter at supranuclear densities intertwines with the new parameters coming from the modified gravity side, providing a whole new phenomenology for the typical predictions of stellar structure models, such as mass-radius relations, maximum masses, or moment of inertia. For non-relativistic stars, such as white, brown and red dwarfs, the weakening/strengthening of the gravitational force inside astrophysical bodies via the modified Newtonian (Poisson) equation may induce changes on the star's mass, radius, central density or luminosity, having an impact, for instance, in the Chandrasekhar's limit for white dwarfs, or in the minimum mass for stable hydrogen burning in high-mass brown dwarfs. This work aims to provide a broad overview of the main such results achieved in the recent literature for many such modified theories of gravity, by combining the results and constraints obtained from the analysis of relativistic and non-relativistic stars in different scenarios. Moreover, we will build a bridge between the efforts of the community working on different theories, formulations, types of stars, theoretical modelings, and observational aspects, highlighting some of the most promising opportunities in the field.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Patronis, N. et al), Babiano-Suarez, V., Balibrea Correa, J., Domingo-Pardo, C., Ladarescu, I., & Lerendegui-Marco, J. (2023). Status report of the n_TOF facility after the 2nd CERN long shutdown period. EPJ Tech. Instrum., 10(1), 13–10pp.
Abstract: During the second long shutdown period of the CERN accelerator complex (LS2, 2019-2021), several upgrade activities took place at the nTOF facility. The most important have been the replacement of the spallation target with a next generation nitrogen-cooled lead target. Additionally, a new experimental area, at a very short distance from the target assembly (the NEAR Station) was established. In this paper, the core commissioning actions of the new installations are described. The improvement in the nTOF infrastructure was accompanied by several detector development projects. All these upgrade actions are discussed, focusing mostly on the future perspectives of the n_TOF facility. Furthermore, some indicative current and future measurements are briefly reported.
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Ding, G. J., Nath, N., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2019). Status and prospects of 'bi-large' leptonic mixing. Phys. Lett. B, 796, 162–167.
Abstract: Bi-large patterns for the leptonic mixing matrix are confronted with current neutrino oscillation data. We analyse the status of these patterns and determine, through realistic simulations, the potential of the upcoming long-baseline experiment DUNE in testing bi-large ansatze and discriminating amongst them.
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Coloma, P., Huber, P., & Schwetz, T. (2021). Statistical interpretation of sterile neutrino oscillation searches at reactors. Eur. Phys. J. C, 81(1), 2–13pp.
Abstract: A considerable experimental effort is currently under way to test the persistent hints for oscillations due to an eV-scale sterile neutrino in the data of various reactor neutrino experiments. The assessment of the statistical significance of these hints is usually based on Wilks' theorem, whereby the assumption is made that the log-likelihood is chi 2-distributed. However, it is well known that the preconditions for the validity of Wilks' theorem are not fulfilled for neutrino oscillation experiments. In this work we derive a simple asymptotic form of the actual distribution of the log-likelihood based on reinterpreting the problem as fitting white Gaussian noise. From this formalism we show that, even in the absence of a sterile neutrino, the expectation value for the maximum likelihood estimate of the mixing angle remains non-zero with attendant large values of the log-likelihood. Our analytical results are then confirmed by numerical simulations of a toy reactor experiment. Finally, we apply this framework to the data of the Neutrino-4 experiment and show that the null hypothesis of no-oscillation is rejected at the 2.6 sigma level, compared to 3.2 sigma obtained under the assumption that Wilks' theorem applies.
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Foffa, S., Mastrolia, P., Sturani, R., Sturm, C., & Bobadilla, W. J. T. (2019). Static Two-Body Potential at Fifth Post-Newtonian Order. Phys. Rev. Lett., 122(24), 241605–6pp.
Abstract: We determine the gravitational interaction between two compact bodies up to the sixth power in Newton's constant, G(N), in the static limit. This result is achieved within the effective field theory approach to general relativity, and exploits a manifest factorization property of static diagrams which allows us to derive static post Newtonian (PN) contributions of (2n + 1) order in terms of lower order ones. We recompute in this fashion the 1PN and 3PN static potential, and present the novel 5PN contribution.
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Campanario, F., Czyz, H., Gluza, J., Jelinski, T., Rodrigo, G., Tracz, S., et al. (2019). Standard model radiative corrections in the pion form factor measurements do not explain the a(mu) anomaly. Phys. Rev. D, 100(7), 076004–5pp.
Abstract: In this paper, we address the question of whether the almost four standard deviations difference between theory and experiment for the muon anomalous magnetic moment a(mu) can be explained as a higher-order Standard Model perturbation effect in the pion form factor measurements. This question has, until now, remained open, obscuring the source of discrepancies between the measurements. We calculate the last radiative corrections for the extraction of the pion form factor, which were believed to be potentially substantial enough to explain the data within the Standard Model. We find that the corrections are too small to diminish existing discrepancies in the determination of the pion form factor for different kinematical configurations of low-energy BABAR, BES-III and KLOE experiments. Consequently, they cannot noticeably change the previous predictions for a(mu) and decrease the deviations between theory and direct measurements. To solve the above issues, new data and better understanding of low-energy experimental setups are needed, especially as new direct a(mu) measurements at Fermilab and J-PARC will provide new insights and substantially shrink the experimental error.
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Reig, M., & Srivastava, R. (2019). Spontaneous proton decay and the origin of Peccei-Quinn symmetry. Phys. Lett. B, 790, 134–139.
Abstract: We propose a new interpretation of Peccei-Quinn symmetry within the Standard Model, identifying it with the axial B+L symmetry i.e. U (1)(PQ) equivalent to U (1)(gamma 5)(B+L). This new interpretation retains all the attractive features of Peccei-Quinn solution to strong CP problem but in addition also leads to several other new and interesting consequences. Owing to the identification U (1)(PQ) equivalent to U (1)(gamma 5)(B+L) the axion also behaves like Majoron inducing small seesaw masses for neutrinos after spontaneous symmetry breaking. Another novel feature of this identification is the phenomenon of spontaneous (and also chiral) proton decay with its decay rate associated with the axion decay constant. Low energy processes which can be used to test this interpretation are pointed out.
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Delhom, A., Mariz, T., Nascimento, J. R., Olmo, G. J., Petrov, A. Y., & Porfirio, P. J. (2022). Spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking and one-loop effective action in the metric-affine bumblebee gravity. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 07(7), 018–27pp.
Abstract: The metric-affine bumblebee model in the presence of fermionic matter minimally coupled to the connection is studied. We show that the model admits an Einstein frame representation in which the matter sector is described by a non-minimal Dirac action without any analogy in the literature. Such non-minimal terms involve unconventional couplings between the bumblebee and the fermion field. We then rewrite the quadratic fermion action in the Einstein frame in the basis of 16 Dirac matrices in order to identify the coefficients for Lorentz/CPT violation in all orders of the non-minimal coupling xi. The exact result for the fermionic determinant in the Einstein frame, including all orders in xi, is also provided. We demonstrate that the axial contributions are at least of second order in the perturbative expansion of xi. Furthermore, we compute the one-loop effective potential within the weak field approximation.
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del Rio, A., Sanchis-Gual, N., Mewes, V., Agullo, I., Font, J. A., & Navarro-Salas, J. (2020). Spontaneous Creation of Circularly Polarized Photons in Chiral Astrophysical Systems. Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(21), 211301–6pp.
Abstract: This work establishes a relation between chiral anomalies in curved spacetimes and the radiative content of the gravitational field. In particular, we show that a flux of circularly polarized gravitational waves triggers the spontaneous creation of photons with net circular polarization from the quantum vacuum. Using waveform catalogs, we identify precessing binary black holes as astrophysical configurations that emit such gravitational radiation and then solve the fully nonlinear Einstein's equations with numerical relativity to evaluate the net effect. The quantum amplitude for a merger is comparable to the Hawking emission rate of the final black hole and small to be directly observed. However, the implications for the inspiral of binary neutron stars could be more prominent, as argued on symmetry grounds.
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Alves, J. M., Botella, F. J., Miro, C., & Nebot, M. (2023). Spontaneous CP violation and μ-τ symmetry intwo-Higgs-doublet models with flavour conservation. Eur. Phys. J. C, 83(10), 940–12pp.
Abstract: In multi-Higgs-doublet models, requiring simultaneously that (i) CP violation only arises spontaneously, (ii)tree level scalar flavour changing couplings are absent and (iii) the fermion mixing matrix is CP violating, can only be achieved in a very specific manner. A general approach with new clarifying insights on the question is presented. Considering the quark sector, that peculiar possibility is not viable on phenomenological grounds. We show that, considering the lepton sector, it is highly interesting and leads to viable models with mu-tau symmetric PMNS matrices. Phenomenological implications of the models, both for Dirac and Majorana (in a type I seesaw scenario) neutrinos, are analysed.
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