I find the three-loop corrections at leading order in QCD to the physical masses of the Higgs, $W$, and $Z$ bosons in the Standard Model. The results are obtained as functions of the $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$ Lagrangian parameters only, using the tadpole-free scheme for the vacuum expectation value. The dependences of the computed masses on the renormalization scale are found to be smaller than present experimental uncertainties in each case. In the case of the Higgs boson mass, the new result is the state of the art, while the results for $W$ and $Z$ are in good numerical agreement with corresponding results in the on-shell and hybrid schemes. These results are now included in the Standard Model in Dimensional Regularization computer code.

We propose a novel probe of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter (DM) candidates of a wide mass range which fall short of the required annihilation rates to satisfy correct thermal relic abundance, dubbed as miracle-less WIMP. If the DM interactions are mediated by an Abelian gauge boson like B-L, its annihilation rates typically remain smaller than the WIMP ballpark for very high scale B-L symmetry breaking, leading to overproduction. The thermally overproduced relic is brought within observed limits via late entropy dilution from one of the three right-handed neutrinos (RHN) present for keeping the model anomaly free and generating light neutrino masses. Such late entropy injection leads to peculiar spectral shapes of gravitational waves (GWs) generated by cosmic strings, formed as a result of B-L symmetry breaking. We find an interesting correlation between DM mass and turning frequency of the GW spectrum with the latter being within reach of future experiments. The two other RHNs play a major role in generating light neutrino masses and baryon asymmetry of the universe via leptogenesis. Successful leptogenesis with miracle-less WIMP together restrict the turning frequencies to lie within the sensitivity limits of near future GW experiments.

We perform a study on the structure of the inverse moment (IM) of quasidistributions, by taking $B$-meson quasidistribution amplitude (quasi-DA) as an example. Based on a one-loop calculation, we derive the renormalization group equation and velocity evolution equation for the first IM of quasi-DA. We find that, in the large velocity limit, the first IM of $B$-meson quasi-DA can be factorized into IM as well as logarithmic moments of light-cone distribution amplitude (LCDA), accompanied by short distance coefficients. Our results can be useful either in understanding the patterns of perturbative matching in large momentum effective theory or evaluating inverse moment of $B$-meson LCDA on the lattice.

We use the quantum extremal island method to study the information paradox in certain cosmological setups known as three dimensional Kerr–de Sitter spacetimes. To do so, we couple an auxiliary flat bath system to this spacetime in timelike singularity and measure entropy of Hawking radiation in its asymptotic regions where the gravity is weak. We show that adding the island regions to the entanglement wedge of the radiation causes its entropy to obey Page curve. The boundary of the island, i.e., quantum extremal surface is located outside the cosmological horizon in the region connected directly to the bath. Taking the flat-space limit from the location of the island and its related calculation in the Kerr–de Sitter spacetime results in the flat-space cosmology (FSC) island, scrambling time and also Page time that were obtained in our previous paper. We repeat the same calculation for the pure de Sitter spacetime and show that our setup which neglects the effect of backreaction, leads also to a quantum extremal surface outside the cosmological horizon. We calculate the scrambling time and confirm the idea that pure de Sitter spacetime is a fast scrambler.

The free fermionic classification method provides a powerful tool to investigate string vacua, which led to the discovery of spinor-vector duality and exophobic string models. We extend the classification methodology to both $\mathcal{N}=1$ and $\mathcal{N}=0$ flipped $SU(5){\mathbb{Z}}_2\times {\mathbb{Z}}_2$ heterotic string orbifolds with asymmetric shifts. The impact of the asymmetric assignments on the phenomenological characteristics of these models is investigated. Of particular interest is the analysis of untwisted moduli fixing for various choices of asymmetric boundary conditions. Two classes of vacua with different characteristics are systematically investigated with help from SAT/SMT algorithms, which are shown to increase search efficiency by up to 2 orders of magnitude, as well as providing useful tools to find contradictions between various phenomenological criteria. The general form of the partition function for the space of models is explained and given for two specific example models for different choices of asymmetric boundary conditions. Additionally, the distribution of one-loop cosmological constant contributions for samples in the two different classes of models are depicted and discussed.

We introduce an approach to find approximate numerical solutions of truncated bootstrap equations for conformal field theories (CFTs) in arbitrary dimensions. The method is based on a stochastic search via a Metropolis algorithm guided by an action $S$ which is the logarithm of the truncated bootstrap equations for a single scalar field correlator. While numerical conformal bootstrap methods based on semidefinite programming put rigorous exclusion bounds on CFTs, this method looks for approximate solutions, which correspond to local minima of $S$, when present, and can be even far from the extremality region. By this protocol we find that if no constraint on the operator scaling dimensions is imposed, $S$ has a single minimum, corresponding to the free theory. If we fix the external operator dimension, however, we encounter minima that can be studied with our approach. Imposing a conserved stress-tensor, a ${\mathbf{Z}}_2$ symmetry and one relevant scalar, we identify two regions where local minima of $S$ are present. When projected in the $({\mathrm{\Delta }}_{\sigma },{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{\epsilon })$-plane, $\sigma$ and $\epsilon$ being the external and the lightest exchanged operators, one of these regions essentially coincides with the extremality line found in previous bootstrap studies. The other region is along the generalized free theories in $d=2$ and below that in both $d=3$ and $d=4$. We empirically prove that some of the minima found are associated to known theories, including the $2d$ and $3d$ Ising theories and the $2d$ Yang-Lee model.

In the context of testing general relativity with gravitational waves, constraints obtained with multiple events are typically combined either through a hierarchical formalism or though a combined multiplicative Bayes factor. We show that the well-known dependence of Bayes factors on the analysis priors in regions of the parameter space without likelihood support can lead to strong confidence in favor of incorrect conclusions when one employs the multiplicative Bayes factor. Bayes factors $\mathcal{O}(1)$ are ambivalent as they depend sensitively on the analysis priors, which are rarely set in a principled way; additionally, combined Bayes factors $>\mathcal{O}({10}^3)$ can be obtained in favor of the incorrect conclusion depending on the analysis priors when many $\mathcal{O}(1)$ Bayes factors are multiplied, and specifically when the priors are much wider than the underlying population. The hierarchical analysis that instead infers the ensemble distribution of the individual beyond-general-relativity constraints does not suffer from this problem, and generically converges to favor the correct conclusion. Rather than a naive multiplication, a more reliable Bayes factor can be computed from the hierarchical analysis. We present a number of toy models showing that the practice of multiplying Bayes factors can lead to incorrect conclusions.

We study extreme mass ratio inspirals occurring in modified gravity, for which the system is modeled by a small compact object with scalar charge spiraling into a supermassive Kerr black hole. Besides the tensorial gravitational waves arising from the metric perturbations, radiation is also induced by the scalar field. The relevant metric and scalar perturbations are triggered by the orbital motion of the small object, which give rise to a system of inhomogeneous differential equations under the adiabatic approximation. Such a system of equations is then solved numerically using a Green’s function furnished by the solutions of the corresponding homogeneous equations. To explore the present scenario from an observational perspective, we investigate how the pertinent observables are dependent on specific spacetime configurations. In this regard, the energy fluxes and the gravitational-wave dephasing accumulated during the process are evaluated, as functions of the scalar charge, mass ratio, and spin of the central supermassive black hole. In particular, the presence of additional scalar emission leads to a more significant rate of overall energy loss which, in turn, decreases the total number of orbital cycles before the small object plunges into the central black hole. Moreover, for a central black hole with a higher spin, the imprints of the scalar charge on the resultant gravitational radiation are found to be more significant, which indicates the possibility of detecting the scalar charge.

It has recently been pointed out that a gravitational transition taking place at a recent redshift $z_t$, reducing the effective gravitational constant $G_{\mathrm{eff}}$ by about 10% for $z>z_t$, has the potential to lead to a resolution of the Hubble tension if $z_t\lesssim 0.01$. Since $H(z{)}^2\sim G_{\mathrm{eff}}$, such a transition would also lead to sharp change of the slope of the Hubble diagram at $z=z_t$ and a sharp decrease in the number of galaxies per redshift bin at $z_t$. Here, we attempt to impose constraints on such a transition by using two robust low-$z$ redshift survey datasets ($z<0.01$), taken from the Six-Degree Field Galaxy Survey (6dFGS) as well as the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS). In both surveys, we bin the data in redshift bins and focus on the number of galaxies in each bin [$\mathrm{\Delta }N(z_i)$]. We observe a peak in the distribution of galaxies near a distance of approximately 20 Mpc in both datasets. This feature could be attributed to galactic density fluctuations, to coherent peculiar velocities of galaxies or to an ultra-late-time gravitational transition in the same era. In the context of the later scenario, we show that this feature could have been induced by a sharp change of $G_{\mathrm{eff}}$ by $\mathrm{\Delta }{G}_{\mathrm{eff}}/G_{\mathrm{eff}}\simeq 0.6$ at $z_t\simeq 0.005$. Thus, in a conservative approach, this method can be used to impose constraints on a possible abrupt change of the gravitational constant taking place at very low redshifts.

Observed cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization maps can be powerful cosmological probes and used for CMB lensing reconstruction. However, the CMB maps are inevitably contaminated by foregrounds, some of which are usually masked to perform the analysis. If this mask is correlated to the lensing signal, measurements over the unmasked sky may give biased estimates and hence biased cosmological inferences. For example, masking extragalactic astrophysical emissions associated with objects located in dark matter halos will systematically remove parts of the sky that have a mass density higher than average. This can lead to a modified lensed CMB power spectrum over the unmasked area and biased measurements of lensing reconstruction auto- and cross-correlation power spectra with external matter tracers (both from the direct impact on the lensing power and via modifications to the lensing-dependent reconstruction power spectrum corrections, $N_L^{(0)}$, $N_L^{(1)}$, and $N_L^{(3/2)}$). For direct masking of the CMB lensing field, we give an approximate halo-model prediction of the size of the effect and derive simple analytic models for point sources and threshold masks constructed on a correlated Gaussian foreground field. We show that biases are significantly reduced by optimal filtering of the CMB maps in the lensing reconstruction, which effectively fills back some of the information in small mask holes. We test the resulting lensing power spectrum biases on numerical simulations, masking radio sources, and peaks of thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) and cosmic infrared background (CIB) emission. For radio point sources, the remaining bias is negligible, but a temperature lensing reconstruction power spectrum bias remains at the 0.5%–5% level if clusters with a mass larger than $\sim {10}^{14}{M}_{\odot }/h$ are masked or if peaks in the CIB and tSZ maps are removed with $f_{\mathrm{sky}}^{\mathrm{mask}}\simeq 0.5–7\%$. In any case, these biases can only be measured with a statistical significance $\lesssim 2\sigma$ for future datasets. Moreover, we quantified the impact of the mask biases in the cross-correlation power spectrum between CMB lensing and tSZ and CIB and found them to be larger (up to $\sim 30\%$). We found that masking tSZ-selected galaxy clusters leads to the largest mask biases, potentially detectable with high significance, and should therefore be avoided as much as possible. For the most realistic masks we considered, masking biases can only be measured with marginal significance. We found that the calibration of cluster masses using CMB lensing, in particular for objects at $z\lesssim 0.6$, might be significantly affected by mask biases for near-future observations if the lensing signal recovered inside the mask holes is used without further corrections. Conversely, mass calibration of high redshift objects will still deliver unbiased results.

Interacting dark-energy–dark-matter models have been widely analyzed in the literature in an attempt to find traces of new physics beyond the usual cosmological ($\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}$) models. Such a coupling between both dark components is usually introduced in a phenomenological way through a flux in the continuity equation. However, models with a Lagrangian formulation are also possible. A class of the latter assumes a conformal/disformal coupling that leads to a fifth force on the dark-matter component, which consequently does not follow the same geodesics as the other (baryonic, radiation, and dark-energy) matter sources. Here we analyze how the usual cosmological singularities of the standard matter frame are seen from the dark-matter one, concluding that by choosing an appropriate coupling, dark-matter observers will see no singularities but a non beginning, non ending universe. By considering two simple phenomenological models we show that such a type of coupling can fit observational data as well as the usual $\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}$ model.

The subsequent observing runs of the advanced gravitational-wave detector network will likely provide us with various gravitational-wave observations of binary neutron star systems. For an accurate interpretation of these detections, we need reliable gravitational-wave models. To test and to point out how existing models could be improved, we perform a set of high-resolution numerical relativity simulations for four different physical setups with mass ratios $q=1.25$, 1.50, 1.75, 2.00, and total gravitational mass $M=2.7M_{\odot }$. Each configuration is simulated with five different resolutions to allow a proper error assessment. Overall, we find approximately second-order converging results for the dominant (2,2) mode, but also the subdominant (2,1), (3,3), and (4,4) modes, while generally, the convergence order reduces slightly for an increasing mass ratio. Our simulations allow us to validate waveform models, where we find generally good agreement between state-of-the-art models and our data, and to prove that scaling relations for higher modes currently employed for binary black hole waveform modeling also apply for the tidal contribution. Finally, we also test if the current nrtidal model used to describe tidal effects is a valid description for high-mass-ratio systems. We hope that our simulation results can be used to further improve and test waveform models in preparation for the next observing runs.

Collisionless, magnetized turbulence offers a promising framework for the generation of nonthermal high-energy particles in various astrophysical sites. Yet, the detailed mechanism that governs particle acceleration has remained subject to debate. By means of 2D and 3D particle-in-cell, as well as 3D (incompressible) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, we test here a recent model of nonresonant particle acceleration in strongly magnetized turbulence [Lemoine, Phys. Rev. D 104, 063020 (2021)], which ascribes the energization of particles to their continuous interaction with the random velocity flow of the turbulence, in the spirit of the original Fermi model. To do so, we compare, for a large number of particles that were tracked in the simulations, the predicted and the observed histories of particles momenta. The predicted history is that derived from the model, after extracting from the simulations, at each point along the particle trajectory, the three force terms that control acceleration: the acceleration of the field line velocity projected along the field line direction, its shear projected along the same direction, and its transverse compressive part. Overall, we find a clear correlation between the model predictions and the numerical experiments, indicating that this nonresonant model can successfully account for the bulk of particle energization through Fermi-type processes in strongly magnetized turbulence. We also observe that the parallel shear contribution tends to dominate the physics of energization in the particle-in-cell simulations, while in the magnetohydrodynamic incompressible simulation, both the parallel shear and the transverse compressive term provide about equal contributions.

The noise of gravitational-wave (GW) interferometers limits their sensitivity and impacts the data quality, hindering the detection of GW signals from astrophysical sources. For transient searches, the most problematic are transient noise artifacts, known as glitches, that happen at a rate around $1{\min }^{-1}$, and can mimic GW signals. Because of this, there is a need for better modeling and inclusion of glitches in large-scale studies, such as stress testing the pipelines. In this proof-of concept work we employ generative adversarial networks (GAN), a state-of-the-art deep learning algorithm inspired by game theory, to learn the underlying distribution of blip glitches and to generate artificial populations. We reconstruct the glitch in the time domain, providing a smooth input that the GAN can learn. With this methodology, we can create distributions of $\sim {10}^3$ glitches from Hanford and Livingston detectors in less than 1 sec. Furthermore, we employ several metrics to measure the performance of our methodology and the quality of its generations. This investigation will be extended in the future to different glitch classes with the final goal of creating an open-source interface for mock data generation.

The ARGO-YBJ detector, located at the Yangbajing Cosmic Ray Laboratory (4300 m a. s. l., Tibet, China), was a “full coverage” air shower array. The high altitude location and the frequent occurrence of thunderstorms, made ARGO-YBJ suitable to study the effects of atmospheric electric fields (AEF) on secondary cosmic rays. By analyzing the data of the ARGO-YBJ detector recorded during thunderstorms, significant variations of the rate of detected showers have been observed. During 20 thunderstorm episodes in 2012, the variations of the shower rates (both increases and decreases of amplitudes up to a few percent) are found to be correlated to the intensity and polarity of the AEF, and strongly dependent on the primary zenith angle. To understand the observed behavior, Monte Carlo simulations have been performed with corsika and g4argo (a code based on geant4). We found that the data are well consistent with simulations, assuming the presence of a uniform electric field in a layer of thickness of 500 m in the atmosphere above the observation level. Due to the AEF accelerates/decelerates and deflects the secondary charged particles (mainly electrons and positrons) according to their charge, modifying the number and position of particles with energy exceeding the detector threshold. For the differences in electron and positron flux, spectrum, and lateral distribution, the AEF has an asymmetric effect on the shower particles, producing significant variations of the particle pattern on the ground, and, consequently, on the rate of detected showers, consistent with observations.

We present a new quantum control strategy for increasing the shot-noise-limited sensitivity of optical interferometers. The strategy utilizes active phase-insensitive quantum filtering of the signal inside the interferometer and does not rely on optical squeezing. On the example of the coupled-cavity resonators, employed in the gravitational-wave detectors, we show that fully causal and stable phase-insensitive filters can improve the interferometer sensitivity by more than an order of magnitude. The role of the phase-insensitive component in such systems is to provide frequency-dependent compensation for the unwanted dispersion introduced by the position-sensing optical cavity. The system’s stability is achieved by limiting the frequency band of this compensation. We demonstrate that stable optomechanical Parity-time-symmetric (PT-symmetric) filters comprise a special subclass of such phase-insensitive devices and find entirely new solutions which overcome the sensitivity of PT-symmetric filters. This scheme is robust against optical loss at the output of the detectors and in the cavities.

The Drag-Free and Attitude Control System is a central element of LISA technology, ensuring the very high dynamic stability of spacecraft and test masses required in order to reach the sensitivity that gravitational wave astronomy in space requires. Applying electrostatic forces on test masses is unavoidable but should be restricted to the minimum necessary to keep the spacecraft-test masses system in place, while granting the optimal quality of test-mass free fall. To realize this, we propose a new test-mass suspension scheme that applies forces and torques only in proportion to any differential test mass motion observed, and we demonstrate that the new scheme significantly mitigates the amount of suspension forces and torques needed to control the whole system. The mathematical method involved allows us to derive a new observable measuring the differential acceleration of test masses projected on the relevant sensitive axes, which will have important consequences for LISA data calibration, processing, and analysis.

The LHCb Collaboration discovered a double-charm tetraquark $T_{cc}^{+}$ with a very small width. We investigate the $T_{cc}^{+}$ as a $D{D}^{*}$ molecule with $J^P=1^{+}$ in the framework of the one-boson-exchange potential model. The isospin breaking effect and $S-D$ wave coupling are taken into account carefully. We adopt the complex scaling method to study the $D{D}^{*}$ system and obtain a quasibound state corresponding to the $T_{cc}^{+}$. Its binding energy relative to the $D^0{D}^{*+}$ and width are $-354\mathrm{keV}$ and 61 keV respectively. The isospin breaking effect is found to be enormous, and the $S$-wave $D^0{D}^{*+}$ and $D^{+}{D}^{*0}$ components give dominant contributions with the probabilities of 72.1% and 27.1% respectively. In addition, we do not find any resonances in the $D{D}^{*}$ system. As a by-product, we study the $X(3872)$ as a $(D{\overline{D}}^{*}-D^{*}\overline{D})/\sqrt{2}$ molecule with $J^{PC}=1^{++}$. We also find a quasibound state corresponding to the $X(3872)$. Its binding energy relative to the $D^0{\overline{D}}^{*0}$ threshold and width are $-111\mathrm{keV}$ and 26 keV, respectively. The $S$-wave $(D^0{\overline{D}}^{*0}-D^{*0}{\overline{D}}^0)/\sqrt{2}$ component dominates this state with the probability of 92.7%.

We study the phase transitions at finite temperature and density of the magnetic dual chiral density wave (MDCDW) phase. This spatially inhomogeneous phase emerges in cold, dense QCD in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Starting from the generalized Ginzburg-Landau (GL) expansion of the free energy, we derive several analytical formulas that enable fast numerical computation of the expansion coefficients to arbitrary order, allowing high levels of precision in the determination of the physical dynamical parameters, as well as in the transition curves in the temperature vs chemical potential plane at different magnetic fields. At magnetic fields and temperatures compatible with neutron star (NS) conditions, the MDCDW remains favored over the symmetric ground state at all densities. The phase’s “resilience” manifests in (1) a region of small but nonzero remnant mass and significant modulation at intermediate densities, originating in part from the nontrivial topology of the lowest Landau level, and (2) a region of increasing condensate parameters at high densities. Our analysis suggests the MDCDW condensate remains energetically favored at densities and temperatures much higher than previously considered, opening the possibility for this phase to be a viable candidate for the matter structure of even young neutron stars produced by binary neutron star (BNS) mergers.

We consider couplings of electrically and magnetically charged sources to the maximally symmetric nonlinear extension of Maxwell’s theory called ModMax. The aim is to reveal physical effects which distinguish ModMax from Maxwell’s electrodynamics. We find that, in contrast to generic models of nonlinear electrodynamics, Lienard-Wiechert fields induced by a moving electric or magnetic particle, or a dyon, are exact solutions of the ModMax equations of motion. We then study whether and how ModMax nonlinearity affects properties of electromagnetic interactions of charged objects, in particular the Lorentz force, the Coulomb law, the Lienard-Wiechert fields, Dirac’s and Schwinger’s quantization of electric and magnetic charges, and the Compton Effect. In passing we also present an alternative form of the ModMax Lagrangian in terms of the coupling of Maxwell’s theory to axion-dilaton-like auxiliary scalar fields which may be relevant for revealing the effective field theory origin of ModMax.