Gradient flow has been proposed in the lattice community as a tool to reduce the sensitivity of operator correlation functions to noisy UV fluctuations. We test perturbatively under what conditions doing so may contaminate the results. To do so, we compute gradient-flowed electric field two-point correlators and stress-tensor one- and two-point correlators at finite temperature in QCD. Gradient flow has almost no influence on the value of correlators until a (temperature- and separation-dependent) level of flow is reached, after which the correlator is rapidly compromised. We provide a prescription for how much flow is “safe.”

We nonperturbatively calculate the wave-function renormalization in the two-dimensional $O(3)$ sigma model. It is evaluated in a box with a finite spatial extent. We determine the anomalous dimension in the finite-volume scheme through an analysis of the step-scaling function. Results are compared with a perturbative evaluation, and reasonable behavior is observed.

We study the Collins function $H_1^{\perp }$ of the $\mathrm{\Lambda }$ hyperon, which describes the fragmentation of a transversely polarized quark into an unpolarized $\mathrm{\Lambda }$ hyperon. We calculate $H_1^{\perp }$ for light quarks of the $\mathrm{\Lambda }$ hyperon, in the diquark spectator model with a Gaussian form factor for the hyperon-quark-diquark vertex. The model calculation includes contributions from both the scalar diquark and vector diquark spectators. Using the model result, we estimate the azimuthal asymmetry $A_{12}$, which appears in the ratio of unlike-sign events to like-sign events contributed by double Collins effects, in the processes $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to \mathrm{\Lambda }\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}X$ and $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to \mathrm{\Lambda }\pi X$. The QCD evolution effects for the half $k_T$ moment of the Collins function and the unpolarized fragmentation function $D_1(z)$ are also included. The results show that the asymmetries are sizable and measurable at the kinematical configurations of Belle and BABAR experiments. We also find that the evolution effects play an important role in the phenomenological analysis.

We study the potential of dijet photoproduction measurements at a future electron-ion collider (EIC) to better constrain our present knowledge of the nuclear parton distribution functions. Based on theoretical calculations at next-to-leading order and approximate next-to-next-to-leading order of perturbative QCD, we establish the kinematic reaches for three different EIC designs, the size of the parton density function modifications for four different light and heavy nuclei from He-4 over C-12 and Fe-56 to Pb-208 with respect to the free proton, and the improvement of EIC measurements with respect to current determinations from deep-inelastic scattering and Drell-Yan data alone as well as when also considering data from existing hadron colliders.

Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are a leading candidate for dark matter and are expected to produce nuclear recoil (NR) events within liquid xenon time-projection chambers. We present a measurement of the scintillation timing characteristics of liquid xenon in the LUX dark matter detector and develop a pulse shape discriminant to be used for particle identification. To accurately measure the timing characteristics, we develop a template-fitting method to reconstruct the detection times of photons. Analyzing calibration data collected during the 2013–2016 LUX WIMP search, we provide a new measurement of the singlet-to-triplet scintillation ratio for electron recoils (ER) below 46 keV, and we make, to our knowledge, a first-ever measurement of the NR singlet-to-triplet ratio at recoil energies below 74 keV. We exploit the difference of the photon time spectra for NR and ER events by using a prompt fraction discrimination parameter, which is optimized using calibration data to have the least number of ER events that occur in a 50% NR acceptance region. We then demonstrate how this discriminant can be used in conjunction with the charge-to-light discrimination to possibly improve the signal-to-noise ratio for nuclear recoils.

We consider the special case of random tensor networks (RTNs) endowed with gauge symmetry constraints on each tensor. We compute the Rényi entropy for such states and recover the Ryu-Takayanagi (RT) formula in the large-bond regime. The result provides first of all an interesting new extension of the existing derivations of the RT formula for RTNs. Moreover, this extension of the RTN formalism brings it in direct relation with (tensorial) group field theories (and spin networks), and thus provides new tools for realizing the tensor network/geometry duality in the context of background-independent quantum gravity, and for importing quantum gravity tools into tensor network research.

Covariant quantization of rank-2 antisymmetric fields is nontrivial due to additional symmetries of the gauge parameters. We present an intuitive way to deal with this additional symmetry of gauge parameters in terms of the geometrical understanding of field space. We generalize the DeWitt-Vilkovisky covariant effective action formalism for the quantization of such theories. For an application, we quantize a massive rank-2 antisymmetric field using the covariant effective action approach and reproduce previously obtained results.

Deviations from the predictions of general relativity due to energy-momentum squared gravity (EMSG) are expected to become pronounced in the high density cores of neutron stars. We derive the hydrostatic equilibrium equations in EMSG and solve them numerically to obtain the neutron star mass-radius relations for four different realistic equations of state. We use the existing observational measurements of the masses and radii of neutron stars to constrain the free parameter, $\alpha$, that characterizes the coupling between matter and spacetime in EMSG. We show that $-{10}^{-38}{\mathrm{cm}}^3/\mathrm{erg}<\alpha <+{10}^{-37}{\mathrm{cm}}^3/\mathrm{erg}$. Under this constraint, we discuss what contributions EMSG can provide to the physics of neutron stars, in particular, their relevance to the so called hyperon puzzle in neutron stars. We also discuss how EMSG alters the dynamics of the early universe from the predictions of the standard cosmological model. We show that EMSG leaves the standard cosmology safely unaltered back to $t\sim {10}^{-4}$ seconds at which the energy density of the universe is $\sim {10}^{34}\mathrm{erg}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$.

We apply the Gauss-Bonnet theorem to the study of light rays in a plasma medium in a static and spherically symmetric gravitational field and also to the study of timelike geodesics followed for test massive particles in a spacetime with the same symmetries. The possibility of using the theorem follows from a correspondence between timelike curves followed by light rays in a plasma medium and spatial geodesics in an associated Riemannian optical metric. A similar correspondence follows for massive particles. For some examples and applications, we compute the deflection angle in weak gravitational fields for different plasma density profiles and gravitational fields.

We continue the exploration of the consistency of a modified-gravity theory that generalizes general relativity by including a dynamical torsion in addition to the dynamical metric. The six-parameter theory we consider was found to be consistent around arbitrary torsionless Einstein backgrounds, in spite of its containing a (notoriously delicate) massive spin-2 excitation. At zero bare cosmological constant, this theory was found to admit a self-accelerating solution whose exponential expansion is sustained by a nonzero torsion background. The scalar-type perturbations of the latter torsionfull self-accelerating solution were recently studied and were found to preserve the number of propagating scalar degrees of freedom, but to exhibit, for some values of the torsion background, some exponential instabilities (of a rather mild type). Here, we study the tensor-type and vector-type perturbations of the torsionfull self-accelerating solution, and of its deformation by a nonzero bare cosmological constant. We find strong, “gradient” instabilities in the vector sector. No tuning of the parameters of the theory can kill these instabilities without creating instabilities in the other sectors. Further work is needed to see whether generic torsionfull backgrounds are prone to containing gradient instabilities, or if the instabilities we found are mainly due to the (generalized) self-accelerating nature of the special de Sitter backgrounds we considered.

We revisit the thermodynamic aspects of the scalar-tensor theory of gravity in the Jordan and in the Einstein frame. Examining the missing links of this theory carefully, we establish the thermodynamic descriptions from the conserved currents and potentials by following both the Noether and the Abbott-Deser-Tekin (ADT) formalism. With the help of conserved Noether current and potential, we define the thermodynamic quantities, which we show to be conformally invariant. Moreover, the defined quantities are shown to fit nicely in the laws of (the first and the second) black hole thermodynamics formulated by the Wald’s method. We stretch the study of the conformal equivalence of the physical quantities in these two frames by following the ADT formalism. Our further study reveals that there is a connection between the ADT and the Noether conserved quantities, which signifies that the ADT approach provide the equivalent thermodynamic description in the two frames as obtained in Noether prescription. Our whole analysis is very general as the conserved Noether and ADT currents and potentials are formulated off-shell and the analysis is exempted from any prior assumption or boundary condition.

We propose a scenario that generates the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe through a multistep phase transition in which SU(3) color symmetry is first broken and then restored. A spontaneous violation of $B-L$ conservation leads to a contribution to the baryon asymmetry that becomes negligible in the final phase. The baryon asymmetry is therefore produced exclusively through the electroweak mechanism in the intermediate phase. We illustrate this scenario with a simple model that reproduces the observed baryon asymmetry. We discuss how future electric dipole moment and collider searches may probe this scenario, though future electric dipole moment searches would require an improved sensitivity of several orders of magnitude.

We compute the birefringence of light in curved Robertson-Walker spacetimes and propose an exotic formula for redshift based on the internal structure of the spinning photon. We then use the Hubble diagram of supernovae to test this formula.

We study evolution of dark matter substructures, especially how they lose mass and change density profile after they fall in gravitational potential of larger host halos. We develop an analytical prescription that models the subhalo mass evolution and calibrate it to results of $N$-body numerical simulations of various scales from very small (Earth size) to large (galaxies to clusters) halos. We then combine the results with halo accretion histories and calculate the subhalo mass function that is physically motivated down to Earth-mass scales. Our results—valid for arbitrary host masses and redshifts—have reasonable agreement with those of numerical simulations at resolved scales. Our analytical model also enables self-consistent calculations of the boost factor of dark matter annihilation, which we find to increase from tens of percent at the smallest (Earth) and intermediate (dwarfs) masses to a factor of several at galaxy size, and to become as large as a factor of $\sim 10$ for the largest halos (clusters) at small redshifts. Our analytical approach can accommodate substructures in the subhalos (sub-subhalos) in a consistent framework, which we find to give up to a factor of a few enhancements to the annihilation boost. The presence of the subhalos enhances the intensity of the isotropic gamma-ray background by a factor of a few, and as the result, the measurement by the Fermi Large Area Telescope excludes the annihilation cross section greater than $\sim 4\times {10}^{-26}{\mathrm{cm}}^3{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ for dark matter masses up to $\sim 200\mathrm{GeV}$.

We study the conditions for the adiabatic resonant conversion of the cold dark matter (CDM) axions into photons in the astrophysically sourced strong magnetic fields such as those in the neutron star magnetosphere. We demonstrate the possibility that the forthcoming radio telescopes such as the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) can probe those photon signals from the CDM axions.

In this work, we search for $\gamma$-ray emission from nearby Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) and candidates with the publicly available Pass 8 data of Fermi-LAT. Our sample includes 12 sources with the distances $<50\mathrm{kpc}$. Very weak $\gamma$-ray excesses ($\sim 2\sigma$) are found in some dSphs/candidates, consistent with those reported in the previous literature. Intriguingly, the peak test statistic (TS) value of the weak emission from Reticulum II rises continually. If interpreted as dark matter (DM) annihilation, the peak TS value is 13.5 for the annihilation channel of $\chi \chi \to {\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-}$ and the DM mass of $m_{\chi }\sim 16\mathrm{GeV}$. The combination of all these nearby sources yields a more significant (with local significance $>4\sigma$) $\gamma$-ray signal.

The bulk viscosity of hot QCD medium has been obtained in the presence of strong magnetic field. The present investigation involves the estimation of the quark damping rate and subsequently the thermal relaxation time for quarks in the presence of magnetic field while realizing the hot QCD medium as an effective Grand-canonical ensemble of effective gluons and quarks antiquarks. The dominant process in the strong field limit is $1\to 2$ ($g\to q\overline{q}$), which contributes to the bulk viscosity in the most significant way. Further, setting up the linearized transport equation in the framework of an effective kinetic theory with hot QCD medium effects and employing the relaxation time approximation, the bulk viscosity has been estimated in lowest Landau level and beyond. The temperature dependence of the ratio of the bulk viscosity to entropy density indicates its rising behavior near the transition temperature.

We extend the phase diagram of SU(N) gauge-fermion theories as a function of the number of flavors and colors to the region in which asymptotic freedom is lost. We argue, using large $N_f$ results, for the existence of an ultraviolet interacting fixed point at a sufficiently large number of flavors opening up to a second ultraviolet conformal window in the number of flavors vs colors phase diagram. We first review the state-of-the-art for the large $N_f$ beta function and then estimate the lower boundary of the ultraviolet window. The theories belonging to this new region are examples of safe non-Abelian quantum electrodynamics, termed here safe QCD. Therefore, according to Wilson, they are fundamental. An important critical quantity is the fermion mass anomalous dimension at the ultraviolet fixed point that we determine at leading order in $1/N_f$. We discover that its value is comfortably below the bootstrap bound. We also investigate the Abelian case and find that at the potential ultraviolet fixed point the related fermion mass anomalous dimension has a singular behavior suggesting that a more careful investigation of its ultimate fate is needed.

We have studied the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model with three right-handed neutrinos, and investigated whether there still is a parameter region consistent with all experimental data/limits such as the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, the dark matter abundance and the lithium primordial abundance. Using Casas-Ibarra parametrization, we have found a very narrow parameter space of the complex orthogonal matrix elements where the lightest slepton can have a long lifetime, which is necessary for solving the lithium problem. We have studied three cases of the right-handed neutrino mass ratio (i) $M_2=2\times M_1$, (ii) $M_2=4\times M_1$, (iii) $M_2=10\times M_1$, while $M_3=40\times M_1$ is fixed. We have obtained the mass range of the lightest right-handed neutrino that lies between $10^9$ and $10^{11}\mathrm{GeV}$. The important result is that its upper limit is derived by solving the lithium problem and the lower limit comes from leptogenesis. Lepton flavor violating decays such as $\mu \to e\gamma$ in our scenario are in the reach of MEG-II and Mu3e.

We construct a thermal dark matter model with annihilation mediated by a resonance to explain the positron excess observed by PAMELA, Fermi-LAT and AMS-02, while satisfying constraints from cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements. The challenging requirement is that the resonance has twice the dark matter mass to one part in a million. We achieve this by introducing an $SU(3{)}_f$ dark flavor symmetry that is spontaneously broken to $SU(2{)}_f\times U(1{)}_f$. The resonance is the heaviest state in the dark matter flavor multiplet, and the required mass relation is protected by the vacuum structure and supersymmetry from radiative corrections. The pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons (PNGBs) from the dark flavor symmetry breaking can be slightly lighter than one GeV and dominantly decay into two muons just from kinematics, with subsequent decay into positrons. The PNGBs are produced in resonant dark matter semiannihilation, where two dark matter particles annihilate into an anti–dark matter particle and a PNGB. The dark matter mass in our model is constrained to be below around 1.9 TeV from fitting thermal relic abundance, AMS-02 data and CMB constraints. The superpartners of Standard Model (SM) particles can cascade decay into a light PNGB along with SM particles, yielding a correlated signal of this model at colliders. One of the interesting signatures is a resonance of a SM Higgs boson plus two collimated muons, which has superb discovery potential at LHC Run 2.