We perform a parameter fit in the standard model effective field theory (SMEFT) with an emphasis on using regularized linear regression to tackle the issue of the large number of parameters in the SMEFT. In regularized linear regression, a positive definite function of the parameters of interest is added to the usual cost function. A cross-validation is performed to try to determine the optimal value of the regularization parameter to use, but it selects the standard model (SM) as the best model to explain the measurements. Nevertheless as proof of principle of this technique we apply it to fitting Higgs boson signal strengths in SMEFT, including the latest Run-2 results. Results are presented in terms of the eigensystem of the covariance matrix of the least squares estimators as it has a degree model-independent to it. We find several results in this initial work: the SMEFT predicts the total width of the Higgs boson to be consistent with the SM prediction; the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC are currently sensitive to non-resonant double Higgs boson production. Constraints are derived on the viable parameter space for electroweak baryogenesis in the SMEFT, reinforcing the notion that a first order phase transition requires fairly low-scale beyond the SM physics. Finally, we study which future experimental measurements would give the most improvement on the global constraints on the Higgs sector of the SMEFT.

QCD in $0+1$ dimensions is numerically solved via thimble regularization. In the context of this toy model, a general formalism is presented for $SU(N)$ theories. The sign problem that the theory displays is a genuine one, stemming from a (quark) chemical potential. Three stationary points are present in the original (real) domain of integration, so that contributions from all the thimbles associated to them are to be taken into account: we show how semiclassical computations can provide hints on the regions of parameter space where this is absolutely crucial. Known analytical results for the chiral condensate and the Polyakov loop are correctly reproduced: this is in particular trivial at high values of the number of flavors $N_f$. In this regime we notice that the single thimble dominance scenario takes place (the dominant thimble is the one associated to the identity). At low values of $N_f$ computations can be more difficult. It is important to stress that this is not at all a consequence of the original sign problem (not even via the residual phase). The latter is always under control, while accidental, delicate cancelations of contributions coming from different thimbles can be in place in (restricted) regions of the parameter space.

We study the Anderson-like localization transition in the spectrum of the Dirac operator of quenched QCD. Above the deconfining transition we determine the temperature dependence of the mobility edge separating localized and delocalized eigenmodes in the spectrum. We show that the temperature where the mobility edge vanishes and localized modes disappear from the spectrum coincides with the critical temperature of the deconfining transition. We also identify topological charge related close to zero modes in the Dirac spectrum and show that they account for only a small fraction of localized modes, a fraction that is rapidly falling as the temperature increases.

Magnetic properties of octet baryons are investigated within the framework of chiral perturbation theory. Utilizing a power counting for large magnetic fields, the Landau levels of charged mesons are treated exactly giving rise to baryon energies that depend nonanalytically on the strength of the magnetic field. In the small-field limit, baryon magnetic moments and polarizabilities emerge from the calculated energies. We argue that the magnetic polarizabilities of hyperons provide a testing ground for potentially large contributions from decuplet pole diagrams. In external magnetic fields, such contributions manifest themselves through decuplet-octet mixing, for which possible results are compared in a few scenarios. These scenarios can be tested with lattice QCD calculations of the octet baryon energies in magnetic fields.

We compute the transport coefficients, namely, the coefficients of shear and bulk viscosities, as well as thermal conductivity for hot and dense matter. The calculations are performed within the Polyakov quark meson model. The estimation of the transport coefficients is made using the Boltzmann kinetic equation within the relaxation time approximation. The energy-dependent relaxation time is estimated from meson-meson scattering, quark-meson scattering, and quark-quark scattering within the model. In our calculations, the shear viscosity to entropy ratio and the coefficient of thermal conductivity show a minimum at the critical temperature, while the ratio of bulk viscosity to entropy density exhibits a peak at this transition point. The effect of confinement modeled through a Polyakov loop potential plays an important role both below and above the critical temperature.

We use the color glass condensate (CGC) framework to study the production of forward heavy quark-antiquark pairs in unpolarized proton-nucleus or proton-proton collisions in the small-$x$ regime. In the limit of nearly back-to-back jets, the CGC result simplifies into the transverse-momentum dependent (TMD) factorization approach. For massless quarks, the TMD factorization formula involves three unpolarized gluon TMDs: the Weizsäcker-Williams gluon distribution, the adjoint-dipole gluon distribution, and an additional one. When quark masses are kept nonzero, three new gluon TMDs appear—each partnered to one of the aforementioned distributions—which describe the distribution of linearly polarized gluons in the unpolarized small-$x$ target. We show how these six gluon TMDs emerge from the CGC formulation, and we determine their expressions in terms of Wilson line correlators. We calculate them analytically in the McLerran-Venugopalan model, and further evolve them toward smaller values of $x$ using a numerical implementation of Jalilian-Marian-Iancu-McLerran-Weigert-Leonidov-Kovner (JIMWLK) evolution.

We present a new method for extracting the instantaneous orbital axis only from gravitational wave strains of precessing binary systems observed from a particular observer direction. This method enables us to reconstruct the coprecessing frame waveforms only from observed strains for the ideal case with the high signal-to-noise ratio. Specifically, we do not presuppose any theoretical model of the precession dynamics and coprecessing waveforms in our method. We test and measure the accuracy of our method using the numerical relativity simulation data of precessing binary black holes taken from the SXS Catalog. We show that the direction of the orbital axis is extracted within $\approx 0.07\mathrm{rad}$ error from gravitational waves emitted during the inspiral phase. The coprecessing waveforms are also reconstructed with high accuracy; the mismatch (assuming white noise) between them and the original coprecessing waveforms is typically a few times ${10}^{-3}$ including the merger-ringdown phase, and can be improved by an order of magnitude focusing only on the inspiral waveform. In this method, the coprecessing frame waveforms are not only the purely technical tools for understanding the complex nature of precessing waveforms but also direct observables.

The sensitivity of gravitational wave searches for binary black holes is estimated via the injection and posterior recovery of simulated gravitational wave signals in the detector data streams. When a search reports no detections, the estimated sensitivity is then used to place upper limits on the coalescence rate of the target source. In order to obtain correct sensitivity and rate estimates, the injected waveforms must be faithful representations of the real signals. Up to date, however, injected waveforms have neglected radiation modes of order higher than the quadrupole, potentially biasing sensitivity and coalescence rate estimates. In particular, higher-order modes are known to have a large impact in the gravitational waves emitted by intermediate-mass black holes binaries. In this work, we evaluate the impact of this approximation in the context of two search algorithms run by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration in their search for intermediate-mass black hole binaries in the O1 LIGO Science Run data: a matched filter–based pipeline and a coherent unmodeled one. To this end, we estimate the sensitivity of both searches to simulated signals for nonspinning binaries including and omitting higher-order modes. We find that omission of higher-order modes leads to biases in the sensitivity estimates which depend on the masses of the binary, the search algorithm, and the required level of significance for detection. In addition, we compare the sensitivity of the two search algorithms across the studied parameter space. We conclude that the most recent LIGO-Virgo upper limits on the rate of coalescence of intermediate-mass black hole binaries are conservative for the case of highly asymmetric binaries. However, the tightest upper limits, placed for nearly equal-mass sources, remain unchanged due to the small contribution of higher modes to the corresponding sources.

We present a manifestly Lorentz-covariant description of the phase space of general relativity with the Immirzi parameter. This formulation emerges after solving the second-class constraints arising in the canonical analysis of the Holst action. We show that the new canonical variables give rise to other Lorentz-covariant parametrizations of the phase space via canonical transformations. The resulting form of the first-class constraints in terms of new variables is given. In the time gauge, these variables and the constraints become those found by Barbero.

Recent numerical simulations in general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) provide useful constraints for the interpretation of the GW170817 discovery. Combining the observed data with these simulations leads to a bound on the maximum mass of a cold, spherical neutron star (the TOV limit): $M_{\max }^{\mathrm{sph}}\lesssim 2.74/\beta$, where $\beta$ is the ratio of the maximum mass of a uniformly rotating neutron star (the supramassive limit) over the maximum mass of a nonrotating star. Causality arguments allow $\beta$ to be as high as 1.27, while most realistic candidate equations of state predict $\beta$ to be closer to 1.2, yielding $M_{\max }^{\mathrm{sph}}$ in the range $2.16–2.28M_{\odot }$. A minimal set of assumptions based on these simulations distinguishes this analysis from previous ones, but leads a to similar estimate. There are caveats, however, and they are enumerated and discussed. The caveats can be removed by further simulations and analysis to firm up the basic argument.

In 1979 Penrose hypothesized that the arrows of time are explained by the hypothesis that the fundamental laws are time irreversible [R. Penrose, in General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey (1979)]. That is, our reversible laws, such as the standard model and general relativity are effective, and emerge from an underlying fundamental theory which is time irreversible. In [M. Cortês and L. Smolin, Phys. Rev. D 90, 084007 (2014); 90, 044035 (2014); 93, 084039 (2016)] we put forward a research program aiming at realizing just this. The aim is to find a fundamental description of physics above the Planck scale, based on irreversible laws, from which will emerge the apparently reversible dynamics we observe on intermediate scales. Here we continue that program and note that a class of discrete dynamical systems are known to exhibit this very property: they have an underlying discrete irreversible evolution, but in the long term exhibit the properties of a time reversible system, in the form of limit cycles. We connect this to our original model proposal in [M. Cortês and L. Smolin, Phys. Rev. D 90, 084007 (2014)], and show that the behaviors obtained there can be explained in terms of the same phenomenon: the attraction of the system to a basin of limit cycles, where the dynamics appears to be time reversible. Further than that, we show that our original models exhibit the very same feature: the emergence of quasiparticle excitations obtained in the earlier work in the space-time description is an expression of the system’s convergence to limit cycles when seen in the causal set description.

We consider an Unruh-DeWitt detector in inertial and circular motion in Minkowski spacetime of arbitrary dimension, coupled to a quantized scalar field with the Lorentz-violating dispersion relation $\omega =|\mathbf{k}|f(|\mathbf{k}|/M_{\star })$, where $M_{\star }$ is the Lorentz-breaking scale. Assuming that $f$ dips below unity somewhere, we show that an inertial detector experiences large low-energy Lorentz violations in all spacetime dimensions greater than two, generalizing previous results in four dimensions. For a detector in circular motion, we show that a similar low-energy Lorentz violation occurs in three spacetime dimensions, and we lay the analytic groundwork for examining circular motion in all dimensions greater than three, generalizing previous work by Stargen, Kajuri and Sriramkumar in four dimensions. The circular motion results may be relevant for the prospects of observing the circular motion Unruh effect in analogue laboratory systems.

Under certain conditions the collision and intercommutation of two cosmic strings can result in the formation of a third string, with the three strings then remaining connected at Y-junctions. The kinematics and dynamics of collisions of this type have been the subject of analytical and numerical analyses in the special case in which the strings are Nambu-Goto. Cosmic strings, however, may well carry currents, in which case their dynamics is not given by the Nambu-Goto action. Our aim is to extend the kinematic analysis to more general kinds of string model. We focus in particular on the collision of strings described by conservative elastic string models, characteristic of current carrying strings, and which are expected to form in a cosmological context. As opposed to Nambu-Goto strings collisions, we show that in this case the collision cannot lead to the formation of a third elastic string: if dynamically such a string forms then the joining string must be described by a more general equation of state. This process will be studied numerically in a forthcoming publication.

Since the report of the PeV–TeV neutrinos by the IceCube Collaboration, various particle physics models have been proposed to explain the neutrino spectrum by dark matter particles decaying into neutrinos and other standard model particles. In such scenarios, simultaneous $\gamma$-ray emission is commonly expected. Therefore, multimessenger connections are generally important for the indirect searches of dark matters. The recent development of $\gamma$-ray astronomy puts stringent constraints on the properties of dark matter, especially by observations with the Fermi $\gamma$-ray satellite in the last several years. Motivated by the lack of $\gamma$-ray as well as the shape of the neutrino spectrum observed by IceCube, we discuss a scenario in which the DM is a PeV scale particle which couples strongly to other invisible particles and its decay products do not contain a charged particle. As an example to realize such possibilities, we consider a model of fermionic dark matter that decays into a neutrino and many invisible fermions. The dark matter decay is secluded in the sense that the emitted products are mostly neutrinos and dark fermions. One remarkable feature of this model is the resulting broadband neutrino spectra around the energy scale of the dark matter. We apply this model to multi-PeV dark matter, and discuss possible observable consequences in light of the IceCube data. In particular, this model could account for the large flux at medium energies of $\sim 10–100\mathrm{TeV}$, possibly as well as the second peak at PeV, without violating the stringent $\gamma$-ray constraints from Fermi and air-shower experiments such as CASA-MIA.

The radio intensity and polarization footprint of a cosmic-ray induced extensive air shower is determined by the time-dependent structure of the current distribution residing in the plasma cloud at the shower front. In turn, the time dependence of the integrated charge-current distribution in the plasma cloud, the longitudinal shower structure, is determined by interesting physics which one would like to extract, such as the location and multiplicity of the primary cosmic-ray collision or the values of electric fields in the atmosphere during thunderstorms. To extract the structure of a shower from its footprint requires solving a complicated inverse problem. For this purpose we have developed a code that semianalytically calculates the radio footprint of an extensive air shower given an arbitrary longitudinal structure. This code can be used in an optimization procedure to extract the optimal longitudinal shower structure given a radio footprint. On the basis of air-shower universality we propose a simple parametrization of the structure of the plasma cloud. This parametrization is based on the results of Monte Carlo shower simulations. Deriving the parametrization also teaches which aspects of the plasma cloud are important for understanding the features seen in the radio-emission footprint. The calculated radio footprints are compared with microscopic CoREAS simulations.

Current searches for the gravitational-wave signature of compact binary mergers rely on matched-filtering data from interferometric observatories with sets of modeled gravitational waveforms. These searches currently use model waveforms that do not include the higher-order mode content of the gravitational-wave signal. Higher-order modes are important for many compact binary mergers and their omission reduces the sensitivity to such sources. In this work we explore the sensitivity loss incurred from omitting higher-order modes. We present a new method for searching for compact binary mergers using waveforms that include higher-order mode effects, and evaluate the sensitivity increase that using our new method would allow. We find that, when evaluating sensitivity at a constant rate-of-false alarm, and when including the fact that signal-consistency tests can reject some signals that include higher-order mode content, we observe a sensitivity increase of up to a factor of 2 in volume for high mass ratio, high total-mass systems. For systems with equal mass, or with total mass $\sim 50M_{\odot }$, we see more modest sensitivity increases, $<10\%$, which indicates that the existing search is already performing well. Our new search method is also directly applicable in searches for generic compact binaries.

We investigate the real-time evolution of quarkonium bound states in a quark-gluon plasma in one dimension using an improved QCD-based stochastic potential model. This model describes the quarkonium dynamics in terms of a Schrödinger equation with an in-medium potential and two noise terms encoding the residual interactions between the heavy quarks and the medium. The probabilities of bound states in a static medium and in a boost-invariantly expanding quark-gluon plasma are discussed. We draw two conclusions from our results: One is that the outcome of the stochastic potential model is qualitatively consistent with the experimental data in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The other is that the noise plays an important role in order to describe quarkonium dynamics in medium; in particular, it causes decoherence of the quarkonium wave function. The effectiveness of decoherence is controlled by a new length scale $l_{\mathrm{corr}}$. It represents the noise correlation length and its effect has not been included in existing phenomenological studies.

With the full data sample of $772\times {10}^{6}B\overline{B}$ pairs recorded by the Belle detector at the KEKB electron-positron collider, the decay $\overline{B}\to D^{*}{\tau }^{-}{\overline{\nu }}_{\tau }$ is studied with the hadronic $\tau$ decays ${\tau }^{-}\to {\pi }^{-}{\nu }_{\tau }$ and ${\tau }^{-}\to {\rho }^{-}{\nu }_{\tau }$. The $\tau$ polarization $P_{\tau }(D^{*})$ in two-body hadronic $\tau$ decays is measured, as well as the ratio of the branching fractions $R(D^{*})=\mathcal{B}(\overline{B}\to D^{*}{\tau }^{-}{\overline{\nu }}_{\tau })/\mathcal{B}(\overline{B}\to D^{*}{\ell }^{-}{\overline{\nu }}_{\ell })$, where ${\ell }^{-}$ denotes an electron or a muon. Our results, $P_{\tau }(D^{*})=-0.38\pm 0.51{(\text{stat})}_{-0.16}^{+0.21}(\text{syst})$ and $R(D^{*})=0.270\pm 0.035{(\text{stat})}_{-0.025}^{+0.028}(\text{syst})$, are consistent with the theoretical predictions of the standard model. The polarization values of $P_{\tau }(D^{*})>+0.5$ are excluded at the 90% confidence level.

Based on a sample of $1.31\times {10}^{9}J/\psi$ events collected with the BESIII detector, the matrix elements for the decays ${\eta }^{\prime }\to \eta {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ and ${\eta }^{\prime }\to \eta {\pi }^0{\pi }^0$ are determined using 351,016 ${\eta }^{\prime }\to (\eta \to \gamma \gamma ){\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ and 56,249 ${\eta }^{\prime }\to (\eta \to \gamma \gamma ){\pi }^0{\pi }^0$ events with background levels less than 1%. Two commonly used representations are used to describe the Dalitz plot density. We find that an assumption of a linear amplitude does not describe the data well. A small deviation of the obtained matrix elements between ${\eta }^{\prime }\to \eta {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ and ${\eta }^{\prime }\to \eta {\pi }^0{\pi }^0$ is probably caused by the mass difference between charged and neutral pions or radiative corrections. No cusp structure in ${\eta }^{\prime }\to \eta {\pi }^0{\pi }^0$ is observed.