Recently, a full-shape analysis of large-scale structure (LSS) data was employed to provide new constraints on a class of early dark energy models. In this paper, we derive similar constraints on new early dark energy (NEDE) using the publicly available pybird code, which makes use of the effective field theory of LSS. We study the NEDE base model with the fraction of NEDE and the trigger field mass as two additional parameters allowed to vary freely, while making simplifying assumptions about the decaying fluid sector. Including the full-shape analysis of LSS together with measurements of the cosmic microwave background, baryonic acoustic oscillations, and supernovae data, we report $H_0=71.2\pm 1.0\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-1}$ (68% C.L.) together with an approximate $4\sigma$ evidence for a nonvanishing fraction of NEDE. This is an insignificant change to the value previously found without full-shape LSS data, $H_0=71.4\pm 1.0\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-1}$ (68% C.L.). As a result, while the NEDE fit cannot be improved upon the inclusion of additional LSS data, it is also not adversely affected by it, making it compatible with current constraints from LSS data. In fact, we find evidence that the effective field theory of LSS acts in favor of NEDE.

We study particle production and unitarity violation caused by a curved target space right after inflation. We use the inflaton field value instead of cosmic time as the time variable, and derive a semiclassical formula for the spectrum of produced particles. We then derive a simple condition for unitarity violation during preheating, which we confirm by our semiclassical method and numerical solution. This condition depends not only on the target space curvature but also on the height of the inflaton potential at the end of inflation. This condition tells us, for instance, that unitarity is violated in running kinetic inflation and Higgs inflation, while unitarity is conserved in $\alpha$-attractor inflation and Higgs-Palatini inflation.

Covariance matrices are among the most difficult pieces of end-to-end cosmological analyses. In principle, for two-point functions, each component involves a four-point function, and the resulting covariance often has hundreds of thousands of elements. We investigate various compression mechanisms capable of vastly reducing the size of the covariance matrix in the context of cosmic shear statistics. This helps identify which of its parts are most crucial to parameter estimation. We start with simple compression methods, by isolating and “removing” 200 modes associated with the lowest eigenvalues, then those with the lowest signal-to-noise ratio, before moving on to more sophisticated schemes like compression at the tomographic level and, finally, with the massively optimized parameter estimation and data compression (MOPED). We find that, while most of these approaches prove useful for a few parameters of interest, like ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_m$, the simplest yield a loss of constraining power on the intrinsic alignment (IA) parameters as well as $S_8$. For the case considered—cosmic shear from the first year of data from the Dark Energy Survey—only MOPED was able to replicate the original constraints in the 16-parameter space. Finally, we apply a tolerance test to the elements of the compressed covariance matrix obtained with MOPED and confirm that the IA parameter $A_{\mathrm{IA}}$ is the most susceptible to inaccuracies in the covariance matrix.

The proposed space-borne laser interferometric gravitational wave (GW) observatory TianQin adopts a geocentric orbit for its nearly equilateral triangular constellation formed by three identical drag-free satellites. The geocentric distance of each satellite is $\approx 1.0\times {10}^5\mathrm{km}$, which makes the armlengths of the interferometer be $\approx 1.73\times {10}^5\mathrm{km}$. It is aimed to detect the GWs in 0.1 mHz–1 Hz. For space-borne detectors, the armlengths are unequal and change continuously which results in that the laser frequency noise is nearly 7–8 orders of magnitude higher than the secondary noises (such as acceleration noise, optical path noise, etc.). The time delay interferometry (TDI) that synthesizes virtual interferometers from time-delayed one-way frequency measurements has been proposed to suppress the laser frequency noise to the level that is comparable or below the secondary noises. In this work, we evaluate the performance of various data combinations for both first- and second-generation TDI based on the five-year numerically optimized orbits of the TianQin’s satellites which exhibit the actual rotating and flexing of the constellation. We find that the time differences of symmetric interference paths of the data combinations are $\sim {10}^{-8}\mathrm{s}$ for the first-generation TDI and $\sim {10}^{-12}\mathrm{s}$ for the second-generation TDI, respectively. While the second-generation TDI is guaranteed to be valid for TianQin, the first-generation TDI is possible to be competent for GW signal detection with improved stabilization of the laser frequency noise in the concerned GW frequencies.

We revisit the constraints on evaporating primordial black holes (PBHs) from the isotropic x-ray and soft gamma-ray background in the mass range ${10}^{16}–{10}^{18}\mathrm{g}$. We find that they are stronger than usually inferred due to two neglected effects: (i) The contribution of the annihilation radiation due to positrons emitted in the evaporation process. (ii) The high-latitude, Galactic contribution to the measured isotropic flux. We study the dependence of the bounds from the datasets used, the positron annihilation conditions, and the inclusion of the astrophysical background. We push the exclusion limit for nonspinning PBH with monochromatic mass function as the totality of dark matter to $1.6\times {10}^{17}\mathrm{g}$, which represents a $\sim 20\%$ improvement with respect to earlier bounds and translates into an order of magnitude improvement in the PBH fraction in the already probed region. We also show that the inclusion of spin and/or an extended, log-normal mass function lead to tighter bounds. Our study suggests that the isotropic flux is an extremely promising target for future missions in improving the sensitivity to PBHs as candidates for dark matter.

The circular polarization of gravitational waves from core collapse supernovae has been proposed as a probe to investigate the rotation and physical features inside the core of the supernovae. However, it is still unclear as to how detectable the circular polarization of gravitational waves will be. We developed an algorithm referred to as the Stokes Circular Polarization algorithm for the computation of the Stokes parameters that works with the burst search pipeline coherent WaveBurst. Employing the waveform SFHx and the algorithm, we estimate the detectability of the circular polarization signatures ($V$ mode of the Stokes parameters) for sources across the sky at three different distances 2, 5, and 10 kpc, for a network of gravitational wave detectors consisted of Advanced LIGO, Advanced VIRGO, and KAGRA. Using the Bayes factor, we found that, for 2 and 5 kpc, the majority of the sources (99.9% and 58.2%, respectively) will have their $V$ mode detectable, while, for 10 kpc, no significant $V$ mode is detectable. In addition, the significance of the $V$ mode signature is consistent with the recoverability of the two polarizations of gravitational waves with respect to the network.

Very steep reflection emissivity profiles in the inner part of accretion disks are commonly found in the analysis of x-ray observations of black hole binaries and active galactic nuclei, but there is some debate about their exact origin. While steep reflection emissivity profiles can be naturally produced by compact coronae close to black holes, the measured radial emissivity parameter can be further increased by the radial disk ionization profile when the theoretical model assumes a disk with constant ionization. In this paper, we implement the possibility of a radial disk ionization profile in the reflection model relxill_nk, which is a package designed to calculate reflection spectra of “deformed” Kerr black holes. We analyze a NuSTAR observation of the black hole binary EXO 1846–031, which was previously found to have a very high inner emissivity index. We find that the model with a radial disk ionization profile improves the fit, but the impact on the estimate of the black hole spin parameter and on the constraint of the deformation parameter is modest. However, we show that the analysis of future observations of Athena and eXTP will necessarily require models with a radial disk ionization profile to have accurate constraints of the deformation parameters.

We perform the first suite of fully general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of spinning massive black hole binary mergers. We consider binary black holes with spins of different magnitudes aligned to the orbital angular momentum, which are immersed in a hot, magnetized gas cloud. We investigate the effect of the spin and degree of magnetization (defined through the fluid parameter ${\beta }^{-1}\equiv p_{\mathrm{mag}}/p_{\text{fluid}}$) on the properties of the accretion flow. We find that magnetized accretion flows are characterized by more turbulent dynamics, as the magnetic field lines are twisted and compressed during the late inspiral. Postmerger, the polar regions around the spin axis of the remnant Kerr black hole are magnetically dominated, and the magnetic field strength is increased by a factor approximately ${10}^2$ (independently from the initial value of ${\beta }^{-1}$). The magnetized gas in the equatorial plane acquires higher angular momentum and settles in a thin circular structure around the black hole. We find that mass accretion rates of magnetized configurations are generally smaller than in the unmagnetized cases by up to a factor approximately 3. Black hole spins have also a suppressing effect on the accretion rate, as large as approximately 48%. As a potential driver for electromagnetic emission, we follow the evolution of the Poynting luminosity, which increases after merger up to a factor approximately 2 with increasing spin, regardless of the initial level of magnetization of the fluid. Our results stress the importance of taking into account both spins and magnetic fields when studying accretion processes onto merging massive black holes.

We present an updated cosmic-ray mass composition analysis in the energy range ${10}^{16.8}$ to ${10}^{18.3}\mathrm{eV}$ from 334 air showers measured with the LOFAR radio telescope and selected for minimal bias. In this energy range, the origin of cosmic rays is expected to shift from galactic to extragalactic sources. The analysis is based on an improved method to infer the depth of the maximum $X_{\max }$ of extensive air showers from radio measurements and air shower simulations. We show results of the average and standard deviation of $X_{\max }$ versus primary energy and analyze the $X_{\max }$ dataset at the distribution level to estimate the cosmic ray mass composition. Our approach uses an unbinned maximum likelihood analysis, making use of existing parametrizations of the $X_{\max }$ distributions per element. The analysis has been repeated for three main models of hadronic interactions. Results are consistent with a significant light-mass fraction, at best fit 23% to 39% protons plus helium, depending on the choice of hadronic interaction model. The fraction of the intermediate-mass nuclei dominates. This confirms earlier results from LOFAR, with systematic uncertainties on $X_{\max }$ now lowered to 7 to $9\mathrm{g}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$. We find agreement in mass composition compared to results from Pierre Auger Observatory, within statistical and systematic uncertainties. However, in line with earlier LOFAR results, we find a slightly lower average $X_{\max }$. The values are in tension with those found at Pierre Auger Observatory but agree with results from other cosmic ray observatories based in the northern hemisphere.

We study the strong and radiative decays of the antiquark-quark ground state $J^{PC}=3^{--}$ ($n^{2S+1}{L}_J=1^3{D}_3$) nonet $\{{\rho }_3(1690),K_3^{*}(1780),{\varphi }_3(1850),{\omega }_3(1670)$} in the framework of an effective quantum field theory approach, based on the $S{U}_{\mathrm{V}}(3)$-flavor symmetry. The effective model is fitted to experimental data listed by the Particle Data Group. We predict numerous experimentally unknown decay widths and branching ratios. An overall agreement of theory (fit and predictions) with experimental data confirms the $\overline{q}q$ nature of the states and qualitatively validates the effective approach. Naturally, experimental clarification as well as advanced theoretical description is needed for trustworthy quantitative predictions, which is observed from some of the decay channels. Besides conventional spin-3 mesons, theoretical predictions for ratios of strong and radiative decays of a hypothetical glueball state $G_3(4200)$ with $J^{PC}=3^{--}$ are also presented.

We present results for the isovector electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon computed on the coordinated lattice simulations ensembles with $N_f=2+1$ flavors of $\mathcal{O}(a)$-improved Wilson fermions and an $\mathcal{O}(a)$-improved vector current. The analysis includes ensembles with four lattice spacings and pion masses ranging from 130 up to 350 MeV and mainly targets the low-$Q^2$ region. In order to remove any bias from unsuppressed excited-state contributions, we investigate several source-sink separations between 1.0 and 1.5 fm and apply the summation method as well as explicit two-state fits. The chiral interpolation is performed by applying covariant chiral perturbation theory including vector mesons directly to our form factor data, thus avoiding an auxiliary parametrization of the $Q^2$ dependence. At the physical point, we obtain $\mu =4.71(11{)}_{\mathrm{stat}}(13{)}_{\mathrm{sys}}$ for the nucleon isovector magnetic moment, in good agreement with the experimental value and $⟨r_{\mathrm{M}}^2⟩=0.661(30{)}_{\mathrm{stat}}(11{)}_{\mathrm{sys}}{\mathrm{fm}}^2$ for the corresponding square radius, again in good agreement with the value inferred from the $ep$-scattering determination [Bernauer et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 242001 (2010)] of the proton radius. Our estimate for the isovector electric charge radius, $⟨r_{\mathrm{E}}^2⟩=0.800(25{)}_{\mathrm{stat}}(22{)}_{\mathrm{sys}}{\mathrm{fm}}^2$, however, is in slight tension with the larger value inferred from the aforementioned $ep$-scattering data, while being in agreement with the value derived from the 2018 CODATA average for the proton charge radius.

Strong, electromagnetic, and weak forces were unified in the Standard Model with spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking. These forces were further conjectured to be unified in a simple Lie group gauge interaction in the grand unification. In this work, we propose a theory beyond the Standard Model and grand unification by adding new gapped topological phase sectors consistent with the nonperturbative global anomaly cancellation and cobordism constraints (especially from the baryon minus lepton number $\mathbf{B}-\mathbf{L}$, the electroweak hypercharge $Y$, and the mixed gauge-gravitational anomaly). Gapped topological phase sectors are constructed via symmetry extension, whose low energy contains unitary Lorentz invariant topological quantum field theories (TQFTs): either $(3+1)\mathrm{D}$ noninvertible TQFT (long-range entangled gapped phase), or $(4+1)\mathrm{D}$ invertible or noninvertible TQFT (short-range or long-range entangled gapped phase). Alternatively, there could also be right-handed neutrinos, or gapless unparticle conformal field theories, or their combinations to altogether cancel the mixed gauge-gravitational anomaly. We propose that a new high-energy physics frontier beyond the conventional 0D particle physics relies on the new topological force and topological matter including gapped extended objects (gapped 1D line and 2D surface operators or defects, etc., whose open ends carry deconfined fractionalized particle or anyonic string excitations). Physical characterizations of these gapped extended objects require the mathematical theories of cohomology, cobordism, or category. Although weaker than the weak force, topological force is infinite-range or long-range that does not decay in the distance, and mediates between the linked world volume trajectories via fractional or categorical statistical interactions.

We exploit a recent computation of one graviton loop corrections to the self-mass [D. Glavan et al., Single graviton loop contribution to the self-mass of a massless, conformally coupled scalar on a de Sitter background, Phys. Rev. D 101, 106016 (2020).] to quantum correct the field equation for a massless, conformally coupled scalar on a de Sitter background. With the obvious choice for the finite part of the $R^2{\varphi }^2$ counterterm, we find that neither plane wave mode functions nor the response to a point source acquires large infrared logarithms. However, we do find a decaying logarithmic correction to the mode function and a short distance logarithmic running of the potential in addition to the power-law effect inherited from flat space.

We investigate the properties of the equation of state of strange-quark matter and $u\text{−}d$ quark matter, the sound velocity of quark matter, the stability region for star matter, the maximum mass of quark stars (QSs), and the tidal deformability for QSs by using a quark quasiparticle model. Our results indicate that the recently discovered heavy compact stars PSR $\mathrm{J}0348+0432$, MSR $\mathrm{J}0740+6620$, and PSR $\mathrm{J}2215+5135$, and especially the GW190814s secondary component $m_2$ can be well described as QSs within the quasiparticle model.

We perform a systematic analysis of standard model extensions with an additional anomaly-free gauge $U(1)$ symmetry, to generate Dirac neutrino masses at one loop. Under such symmetry, standard model fields could either transform or be invariant, corresponding to an active $U(1{)}_X$ or a dark $U(1{)}_D$ symmetry, respectively. Having an anomaly-free symmetry imposes nontrivial conditions to the number and charges of the unavoidable new states. We perform an intensive scan, looking for nonanomalous solutions for a given number of extra chiral fermions. In particular, we concentrate on solutions giving rise to scotogenic neutrino masses via the effective Dirac mass operator. We study the cases where the Dirac mass operator with dimension 5 or 6 is mediated by Dirac or Majorana states and corresponds to an active $U(1{)}_X$ or a dark $U(1{)}_D$ symmetry. Finally, we comment on the solutions featuring no massless chiral fermions.

We consider the maximally symmetric two-Higgs doublet model (MS-2HDM) in which the so-called Standard Model (SM) alignment can be achieved naturally by the virtue of an SO(5) symmetry imposed on the 2HDM. We investigate the signature of the MS-2HDM via $pp\to HX\to V{V}^{*}X$ and $pp\to HHX\to V{V}^{*}{V}^{\prime }{V^{\prime }}^{*}X$ processes at the LHC for different values of $\tan \beta$. We perform our calculations with next-to-leading-order (NLO) QCD accuracy, using the herwig7 multipurpose event generator at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$ center-of-mass energy. We show that the production of single SM-like Higgs bosons via $W^{\pm }/Z$ pairs is completely aligned with the SM. Interestingly, the presence of the heavy Higgs states significantly enhances the cross section for the $W^{\pm }/Z$-quadruplet production channels in the low-$p_{\perp }$ regions. These vital analyses may aid the future discovery of this minimal and very predictive extension of the SM and can be generalized to other realizations of the 2HDM.

We present a model-independent framework to determine finite-volume corrections of matrix elements of spatially separated current-current operators. We define these matrix elements in terms of Compton-like amplitudes, i.e., amplitudes coupling single-particle states via two current insertions. We show that the infrared behavior of these matrix elements is dominated by the single-particle pole, which is approximated by the elastic form factors of the lowest-lying hadron. Therefore, given lattice data on the relevant elastic form factors, the finite-volume effects can be estimated nonperturbatively and without recourse to effective field theories. For illustration purposes, we investigate the implications of the proposed formalism for a class of scalar theories in two and four dimensions.

A formalism for describing charged particles interaction in both a finite volume and a uniform magnetic field is presented. In the case of short-range interaction between charged particles, we show that the factorization between short-range physics and finite volume long-range correlation effect is possible; a Lüscher formulalike quantization condition is thus obtained.

The purpose of the present study is to explore the mass spectrum of the hidden charm tetraquark states within a diquark model. Proposing that a tetraquark state is composed of a diquark and an antidiquark, the masses of all possible $[qc][\overline{q}\overline{c}]$, $[sc][\overline{s}\overline{c}]$, and $[qc][\overline{s}\overline{c}]$ $([sc][\overline{q}\overline{c}])$ hidden charm tetraquark states are systematically calculated by use of an effective Hamiltonian, which contains color, spin, and flavor dependent interactions. Apart from the $X(3872)$, $Z(3900)$, ${\chi }_{c2}(3930)$, and $X(4350)$ which are taken as input to fix the model parameters, the calculated results support that the ${\chi }_{c0}(3860)$, $X(4020)$, $X(4050)$ are $[qc][\overline{q}\overline{c}]$ states with $I^G{J}^{PC}=0^{+}{0}^{++}$, $1^{+}{1}^{+-}$, and $1^{-}{2}^{++}$, respectively, the ${\chi }_{c1}(4274)$ is an $[sc][\overline{s}\overline{c}]$ state with $I^G{J}^{PC}=0^{+}{1}^{++}$, the $X(3940)$ is a $[qc][\overline{q}\overline{c}]$ state with $I^G{J}^{PC}=1^{-}{0}^{++}$ or $1^{-}{1}^{++}$, the $Z_{cs}(3985{)}^{-}$ is an $[sc][\overline{q}\overline{c}]$ state with $J^P=0^{+}$ or $1^{+}$, and the $Z_{cs}(4000{)}^{+}$ and $Z_{cs}(4220{)}^{+}$ are $[qc][\overline{s}\overline{c}]$ states with $J^P=1^{+}$. Predictions for other possible tetraquark states are also given.