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Dias da Silva, L. F., Lobo, F. S. N., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2023). Photon rings as tests for alternative spherically symmetric geometries with thin accretion disks. Phys. Rev. D, 108(8), 084055–18pp.
Abstract: The imaging by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) of the supermassive central objects at the heart of the M87 and Milky Way (Sgr A*) galaxies, has marked the first step into peering at the photon rings and central brightness depression that characterize the optical appearance of black holes surrounded by an accretion disk. Recently, Vagnozzi et al. [arXiv:2205.07787] used the claim by the EHT that the size of the shadow of Sgr A* can be inferred by calibrated measurements of the bright ring enclosing it, to constrain a large number of spherically symmetric space-time geometries. In this work we use this result to study some features of the first and second photon rings of a restricted pool of such geometries in thin accretion disk settings. The emission profile of the latter is described by calling upon three analytic samples belonging to the family introduced by Gralla, Lupsasca, and Marrone, in order to characterize such photon rings using the Lyapunov exponent of nearly bound orbits and discuss its correlation with the luminosity extinction rate between the first and second photon rings. We finally elaborate on the chances of using such photon rings as observational discriminators of alternative black hole geometries using very long baseline interferometry.
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Brandao, P. C. S., Song, J., Abreu, L. M., & Oset, E. (2023). B+ decay to K+ ηη with (ηη) from the D bar-D(3720) bound state. Phys. Rev. D, 108(5), 054004–6pp.
Abstract: We search for a B decay mode where one can find a peak for a DD bound state predicted in effective theories and in lattice QCD calculations, which has also been claimed from some reactions that show an accumulated strength in D D over bar production at threshold. We find a good candidate in the B+-> K+eta eta reaction, by looking at the eta eta mass distribution. The reaction proceeds via a first step in which one has the B+-> D*+ D-0 reaction followed by D*(+) (s) decay to (DK+)-K-0 and a posterior fusion of D-0 over bar D-0 to eta eta, implemented through a triangle diagram that allows the D-0 over bar D-0 to be virtual and to produce the bound state. The choice of eta eta to see the peak is based on results of calculations that find the eta eta among the light pseudoscalar channels with stronger coupling to the D D over bar bound state. We find a neat peak around the predicted mass of that state in the eta eta mass distribution, with an integrated branching ratio for B+-> K+ (D D, bound); (D D, bound) -> eta eta of the order of 1.5 x 10(-4), a large number for hadronic B decays, which should motivate its experimental search.
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Leite, J., Sadhukhan, S., & Valle, W. F. (2024). Dynamical scoto-seesaw mechanism with gauged B – L symmetry. Phys. Rev. D, 109(3), 035023–17pp.
Abstract: We propose a dynamical scoto-seesaw mechanism using a gauged B – L symmetry. Dark matter is reconciled with neutrino mass generation, in such a way that the atmospheric scale arises a la seesaw, while the solar scale is scotogenic, arising radiatively from the exchange of “dark” states. This way we “explain” the solar-to-atmospheric scale ratio. The TeV-scale seesaw mediator and the two dark fermions carry different B – L charges. Dark matter stability follows from the residual matter parity that survives B – L breaking. Besides having collider tests, the model implies sizable charged lepton flavor violating (cLFV) phenomena, including Goldstone boson emission processes.
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Alicki, R., Barenboim, G., & Jenkins, A. (2023). Quantum thermodynamics of de Sitter space. Phys. Rev. D, 108(12), 123530–13pp.
Abstract: We consider the local physics of an open quantum system embedded in an expanding three-dimensional space x, evolving in cosmological time t, weakly coupled to a massless quantum field. We derive the corresponding Markovian master equation for the system's nonunitary evolution and show that, for a de Sitter space with Hubble parameter h 1/4 const, the background fields act as a physical heat bath with temperature TdS 1/4 h/2z. The energy density of this bath obeys the Stefan-Boltzmann law pdS proportional to h4. We comment on how these results clarify the thermodynamics of de Sitter space and support previous arguments for its instability in the infrared. The cosmological implications are considered in an accompanying Letter.
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Servant, G., & Simakachorn, P. (2023). Constraining postinflationary axions with pulsar timing arrays. Phys. Rev. D, 108(12), 123516–16pp.
Abstract: Models that produce axionlike particles (ALPs) after cosmological inflation due to spontaneous U(1) symmetry breaking also produce cosmic-string networks. Those axionic strings lose energy through gravitational-wave emission during the whole cosmological history, generating a stochastic background of gravitational waves that spans many decades in frequency. We can therefore constrain the axion decay constant and axion mass from limits on the gravitational-wave spectrum and compatibility with dark matter abundance as well as dark radiation. We derive such limits from analyzing the most recent NANOGrav data from pulsar timing arrays (PTAs). The limits are similar to the Neff bounds on dark radiation for ALP masses ma less than or similar to 10-22 eV. On the other hand, for heavy ALPs with ma greater than or similar to 0.1 GeV and NDW not equal 1, new regions of parameter space can be probed by PTA data due to the dominant domain-wall contribution to the gravitational-wave background.
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