Araújo, M. C., Furtado, J., & Maluf, R. V. (2024). Casimir effect in a Lorentz-violating tensor extension of a scalar field theory. Eur. Phys. J. Plus, 139(2), 165–12pp.
Abstract: This paper investigates the Casimir energy modifications due to the Lorentz-violating CPT-even contribution in an extension of the scalar QED. We have considered the complex scalar field satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions between two parallel plates separated by a small distance. An appropriate tensor parametrization allowed us to study the Casimir effect in three different configurations: isotropic, anisotropic parity-odd, and anisotropic parity-even. We have shown that the Lorentz-violating contributions can promote either an increase or a decrease in the Casimir energy evaluated in the isotropic configuration, depending on whether the violation parameters are taking as positive or negative values. On the other hand, for the anisotropic parity-even case the Casimir energy only decreases, while for the anisotropic parity-odd cases it only increases. Therefore, from these last two results it seems that the Casimir energy is sensitive to the parity of Lorentz-violating coefficients.
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Baran, J. et al, & Brzezinski, K. (2024). Feasibility of the J-PET to monitor the range of therapeutic proton beams. Phys. Medica, 118, 103301–9pp.
Abstract: Purpose: The aim of this work is to investigate the feasibility of the Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomography (J -PET) scanner for intra-treatment proton beam range monitoring. Methods: The Monte Carlo simulation studies with GATE and PET image reconstruction with CASToR were performed in order to compare six J -PET scanner geometries. We simulated proton irradiation of a PMMA phantom with a Single Pencil Beam (SPB) and Spread -Out Bragg Peak (SOBP) of various ranges. The sensitivity and precision of each scanner were calculated, and considering the setup's cost-effectiveness, we indicated potentially optimal geometries for the J -PET scanner prototype dedicated to the proton beam range assessment. Results: The investigations indicate that the double -layer cylindrical and triple -layer double -head configurations are the most promising for clinical application. We found that the scanner sensitivity is of the order of 10-5 coincidences per primary proton, while the precision of the range assessment for both SPB and SOBP irradiation plans was found below 1 mm. Among the scanners with the same number of detector modules, the best results are found for the triple -layer dual -head geometry. The results indicate that the double -layer cylindrical and triple -layer double -head configurations are the most promising for the clinical application, Conclusions: We performed simulation studies demonstrating that the feasibility of the J -PET detector for PET -based proton beam therapy range monitoring is possible with reasonable sensitivity and precision enabling its pre -clinical tests in the clinical proton therapy environment. Considering the sensitivity, precision and cost-effectiveness, the double -layer cylindrical and triple -layer dual -head J -PET geometry configurations seem promising for future clinical application.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Bouchhar, N., Cabrera Urban, S., et al. (2024). Probing the CP nature of the top-Higgs Yukawa coupling in t(t)over-bar H and tH events with H → b(b)over-bar decays using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Phys. Lett. B, 849, 138469–25pp.
Abstract: The CP properties of the coupling between the Higgs boson and the top quark are investigated using 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV. The CP structure of the top quark-Higgs boson Yukawa coupling is probed in events with a Higgs boson decaying into a pair of b-quarks and produced in association with either a pair of top quarks, t (t) over barH or a single top quark, tH. Events containing one or two electrons or muons are used for the measurement. Multivariate techniques are used to select regions enriched in t (t) over barh and tH events, where dedicated SP-sensitive observables are exploited. In an extension of the Standard Model (SM) with a CP-odd admixture in the top-Higgs Yukawa coupling, the mixing angle between CP-even and CP-odd couplings is measured to be alpha = 11 degrees(+52 degrees)(-73 degrees) compatible with the SM prediction corresponding to alpha = 0.
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Jueid, A., Kip, J., Ruiz de Austri, R., & Skands, P. (2024). The Strong Force meets the Dark Sector: a robust estimate of QCD uncertainties for anti-matter dark matter searches. J. High Energy Phys., 02(2), 119–48pp.
Abstract: In dark-matter annihilation channels to hadronic final states, stable particles – such as positrons, photons, antiprotons, and antineutrinos – are produced via complex sequences of phenomena including QED/QCD radiation, hadronisation, and hadron decays. These processes are normally modelled by Monte Carlo (MC) event generators whose limited accuracy imply intrinsic QCD uncertainties on the predictions for indirect-detection experiments like Fermi-LAT, Pamela, IceCube or Ams-02. In this article, we perform a comprehensive analysis of QCD uncertainties, meaning both perturbative and nonperturbative sources of uncertainty are included – estimated via variations of MC renormalization-scale and fragmentation-function parameters, respectively – in antimatter spectra from dark-matter annihilation, based on parametric variations of the Pythia 8 event generator. After performing several retunings of light-quark fragmentation functions, we define a set of variations that span a conservative estimate of the QCD uncertainties. We estimate the effects on antimatter spectra for various annihilation channels and final-state particle species, and discuss their impact on fitted values for the dark-matter mass and thermally-averaged annihilation cross section. We find dramatic impacts which can go up to O(10%) for the annihilation cross section. We provide the spectra in tabulated form including QCD uncertainties and code snippets to perform fast dark-matter fits, in this github repository.
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Nascimento, J. R., Olmo, G. J., Petrov, A. Y., & Porfirio, P. J. (2024). On metric-affine bumblebee model coupled to scalar matter. Nucl. Phys. B, 1004, 116577–10pp.
Abstract: We consider the coupling of the metric-affine bumblebee gravity model to scalar matter and calculate the lower -order contributions to two -point functions of bumblebee and scalar fields in the weak gravity approximation. We also obtain the one -loop effective potentials for both scalar and vector fields.
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Penalva, N., Flynn, J. M., Hernandez, E., & Nieves, J. (2024). Study of new physics effects in (B)over-bars → Ds(*) τ-(ν)over-bar τ semileptonic decays using lattice QCD form factors and heavy quark effective theory. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 163–33pp.
Abstract: We benefit from the lattice QCD determination by the HPQCD of the Standard Model (SM) form factors for the (B) over bar (s) -> D-s [Phys. Rev. D101(2020) 074513] and the SM and tensor ones for the (B) over bar (s) -> D-s* (arXiv:2304.03137[hep-lat]) semileptonic decays, and the heavy quark effective theory (HQET) relations for the analogous B -> D-(*()) decays obtained by F.U. Bernlochner et al. in Phys. Rev. D95(2017) 115008, to extract the leading and sub-leading Isgur-Wise functions for the (B) over bar (s) -> D-s(()*()) decays. Further use of the HQET relations allows us to evaluate the corresponding scalar, pseudoscalar and tensor form factors needed for a phenomenological study of new physics (NP) effects on the (B) over bar (s) -> D-s(()*()) semileptonic decay. At present, the experimental values for the ratios R-D(*) = Gamma[ (B) over bar -> D-(*())(tau- (nu) over bar tau)]/Gamma[(B) over bar -> D-(*())e(-)(mu(-)) (nu) over bar (e(mu))]are the best signal in favor of lepton flavor universality violation (LFUV) seen in charged current (CC) b -> c decays. In this work we conduct a study of NP effects on the (B) over bar (s) -> D-s(()*()) tau(-)(tau) semileptonic decays by comparing tau spin, angular and spin-angular asymmetry distributions obtained within the SM and three different NP scenarios. As expected from SU(3) light-flavor symmetry, we get results close to the ones found in a similar analysis of the (B) over bar -> D-(*()) case. The measurement of the (B) over bar (s) -> D-s(()*())(l (nu) over bar tau) semileptonic decays, which is within reach of present experiments, could then be of relevance in helping to establish or rule out LFUV in CC b -> c transitions.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Bouchhar, N., Cabrera Urban, S., et al. (2024). Search for top-philic heavy resonances in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 84(2), 157–32pp.
Abstract: Asearch for the associated production of a heavy resonance with a top-quark or a top-antitop-quark pair, and decaying into a t (t) over bar pair is presented. The search uses the vdata recorded by the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider during the years 2015-2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). Events containing exactly one electron ormuon are selected. The two hadronically decaying top quarks from the resonance decay are reconstructed using jets clustered with a large radius parameter of R = 1. The invariant mass spectrum of the two top quark candidates is used to search for a resonance signal in the range of 1.0 TeV to 3.2 TeV. The presence of a signal is examined using an approach with minimal model dependence followed by a model-dependent interpretation. No significant excess is observed over the background expectation. Upper limits on the production cross section times branching ratio at 95% confidence level are provided for a heavy Z' boson based on a simplified model, for Z' mass between 1.0 TeV and 3.0 TeV. The observed (expected) limits range from 21 (14) fb to 119 (86) fb depending on the choice of model parameters.
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Coloma, P., López-Pavón, J., Molina-Bueno, L., & Urrea, S. (2024). New physics searches using ProtoDUNE and the CERN SPS accelerator. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 134–18pp.
Abstract: The exquisite capabilities of liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers make them ideal to search for weakly interacting particles in Beyond the Standard Model scenarios. Given their location at CERN the ProtoDUNE detectors may be exposed to a flux of such particles, produced in the collisions of 400 GeV protons (extracted from the Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator) on a target. Here we point out the interesting possibilities that such a setup offers to search for both long-lived unstable particles (Heavy Neutral Leptons, axion-like particles, etc) and stable particles (e.g. light dark matter, or millicharged particles). Our results show that, under conservative assumptions regarding the expected luminosity, this setup has the potential to improve over present bounds for some of the scenarios considered. This could be done within a short timescale, using facilities that are already in place at CERN, and without interfering with the experimental program in the North Area at CERN.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Jaimes Elles, S. J., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Rebollo De Miguel, M., et al. (2024). Measurement of Ξc+ production in pPb collisions at √sNN=8.16 TeV at LHCb. Phys. Rev. C, 109(4), 044901–14pp.
Abstract: A study of prompt Xi(+)(c) production in proton-lead collisions is performed with the LHCb experiment at a centerof-mass energy per nucleon pair of 8.16 TeV in 2016 in pPb and Pbp collisions with an estimated integrated luminosity of approximately 12.5 and 17.4 nb(-1), respectively. The Xi(+)(c) roduction cross section, as well as the Xi(+)(c) to Lambda(+)(c) production cross-section ratio, are measured as a function of the transverse momentum and rapidity and compared to the latest theory predictions. The forward-backward asymmetry is also measured as a function of the Xi(+)(c) ransverse momentum. The results provide strong constraints on theoretical calculation and are a unique input for hadronization studies in different collision systems.
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Heidari, N., Hassanabadi, H., Araujo Filho, A. A., Kriz, J., Zare, S., & Porfirio, P. J. (2024). Gravitational signatures of a non-commutative stable black hole. Phys. Dark Universe, 43, 101382–13pp.
Abstract: This work investigates several key aspects of a non-commutative theory with mass deformation. We calculate thermodynamic properties of the system and compare our results with recent literature. We examine the quasinormal modes of massless scalar perturbations using two approaches: the WKB approximation and the Poschl-Teller fitting method. Our results indicate that stronger non-commutative parameters lead to slower damping oscillations of gravitational waves and higher partial absorption cross sections. Furthermore, we study the geodesics of massless and massive particles, highlighting that the non-commutative parameter (R) significantly impacts the paths of light and event horizons. Also, we calculate the shadows, which show that larger values of (R) correspond to larger shadow radii, and provide some constraints on (R) applying the observation of Sgr A* from the Event Horizon Telescope. Finally, we explore the deflection angle in this context.
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