Abstract: Higgs-pair production via gluon fusion is the dominant production mechanism of Higgs-boson pairs at hadron colliders. In this work, we present details of our numerical determination of the full next-to-leading-order (NLO) QCD corrections to the leading top-quark loops. Since gluon fusion is a loop-induced process at leading order, the NLO calculation requires the calculation of massive two-loop diagrams with up to four different mass/energy scales involved. With the current methods, this can only be done numerically, if no approximations are used. We discuss the setup and details of our numerical integration. This will be followed by a phenomenological analysis of the NLO corrections and their impact on the total cross section and the invariant Higgs-pair mass distribution. The last part of our work will be devoted to the determination of the residual theoretical uncertainties with special emphasis on the uncertainties originating from the scheme and scale dependence of the (virtual) top mass. The impact of the trilinear Higgs-coupling variation on the total cross section will be discussed.

Abstract: The perturbative approach to quantum field theories has made it possible to obtain incredibly accurate theoretical predictions in high-energy physics. Although various techniques have been developed to boost the efficiency of these calculations, some ingredients remain specially challenging. This is the case of multiloop scattering amplitudes that constitute a hard bottleneck to solve. In this paper, we delve into the application of a disruptive technique based on the loop-tree duality theorem, which is aimed at an efficient computation of such objects by opening the loops to nondisjoint trees. We study the multiloop topologies that first appear at four loops and assemble them in a clever and general expression, the (NMLT)-M-4 universal topology. This general expression enables to open any scattering amplitude of up to four loops, and also describes a subset of higher order configurations to all orders. These results confirm the conjecture of a factorized opening in terms of simpler known subtopologies, which also determines how the causal structure of the entire loop amplitude is characterized by the causal structure of its subtopologies. In addition, we confirm that the loop-tree duality representation of the (NMLT)-M-4 universal topology is manifestly free of noncausal thresholds, thus pointing towards a remarkably more stable numerical implementation of multiloop scattering amplitudes.

Abstract: A search for new phenomena with top quark pairs in final states with one isolated electron or muon, multiple jets, and large missing transverse momentum is performed. Signal regions are designed to search for two-, three-, and four-body decays of the directly pair-produced supersymmetric partner of the top quark (stop). Additional signal regions are designed specifically to search for spin-0 mediators that are produced in association with a pair of top quarks and decay into a pair of dark-matter particles. The search is performed using the Large Hadron Collider proton-proton collision dataset at a centre-of-mass energy of s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector from 2015 to 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). No significant excess above the Standard Model background is observed, and limits at 95% confidence level are set in the stop-neutralino mass plane and as a function of the mediator mass or the dark-matter particle mass. Stops are excluded up to 1200 GeV (710 GeV) in the two-body (three-body) decay scenario. In the four-body scenario stops up to 640 GeV are excluded for a stop-neutralino mass difference of 60 GeV. Scalar and pseudoscalar dark-matter mediators are excluded up to 200 GeV when the coupling strengths of the mediator to Standard Model and dark-matter particles are both equal to one and when the mass of the dark-matter particle is 1 GeV.

Abstract: We present a comprehensive discussion on lattice techniques for the simulation of scalar and gauge field dynamics in an expanding universe. After reviewing the continuum formulation of scalar and gauge field interactions in Minkowski and FLRW backgrounds, we introduce the basic tools for the discretization of field theories, including lattice gauge invariant techniques. Following, we discuss and classify numerical algorithms, ranging from methods of O(delta t(2)) accuracy like staggered leapfrog and Verlet integration, to Runge-Kutta methods up to O(delta t(4)) accuracy, and the Yoshida and Gauss-Legendre higher-order integrators, accurate up to O(delta t(10)) We adapt these methods for their use in classical lattice simulations of the non-linear dynamics of scalar and gauge fields in an expanding grid in 3+1 dimensions, including the case of 'self-consistent' expansion sourced by the volume average of the fields' energy and pressure densities. We present lattice formulations of canonical cases of: i) Interacting scalar fields, ii) Abelian U(1) gauge theories, and iii) Non-Abelian SU(2) gauge theories. In all three cases we provide symplectic integrators, with accuracy ranging from O(delta t(2)) up to O(delta t(10)) For each algorithm we provide the form of relevant observables, such as energy density components, field spectra and the Hubble constraint. We note that all our algorithms for gauge theories always respect the Gauss constraint to machine precision, including when 'self-consistent' expansion is considered. As a numerical example we analyze the post-inflationary dynamics of an oscillating inflaton charged under SU(2) x U(1). We note that the present manuscript is meant to be part of the theoretical basis for the code CosmoLattice, a multi-purpose MPI-based package for simulating the non-linear evolution of field theories in an expanding universe, publicly available at http://www.cosrnolattice.net.

Abstract: We study the d(2)Gamma(d)/(d omega d cos theta(d) ), d Gamma(d)/d cos theta(d) and d Gamma(d)/dE(d) distributions, which are defined in terms of the visible energy and polar angle of the charged particle from the tau-decay in b -> C tau (mu(nu) over bar (mu)nu(tau), pi nu(tau), rho nu(tau))(nu) over bar (tau), reactions. These differential decay widths could be measured in the near future with certain precision. The first two contain information on the transverse tau-spin, tau-angular and tau-angular-spin asymmetries of the H-b -> H-c tau(nu) over bar (tau) parent decay and, from a dynamical point of view, they are richer than the commonly used one, d(2)Gamma(d)/(d omega dE(d)), since the latter only depends on the tau longitudinal polarization. We pay attention to the deviations with respect to the predictions of the standard model (SM) for these new observables, considering new physics (NP) operators constructed using both right- and left-handed neutrino fields, within an effective field-theory approach. We present results for Lambda(b) -> Lambda(c)tau (mu(nu) over bar (mu)nu(tau), pi nu(tau), rho nu(tau))(nu) over bar (tau) and (B) over bar -> D-(*()) tau (mu(nu) over bar (mu)nu(tau), pi nu(tau), rho nu(tau))(nu) over bar (tau) sequential decays and discuss their use to disentangle between different NP models. In this respect, we show that d Gamma(d)/d cos theta(d) , which should be measured with sufficiently good statistics, becomes quite useful, especially in the tau -> pi nu(tau) mode. The study carried out in this work could be of special relevance due to the recent LHCb measurement of the lepton flavor universality ratio R Lambda(c) in agreement with the SM. The experiment identified the tau using its hadron decay into pi(-)pi(+)pi(-)nu(tau), and this result for R Lambda(c )which is in conflict with the phenomenology from the b-meson sector, needs confirmation from other tau reconstruction channels.