We study an anisotropic inflationary scenario in teleparallel gravity. We consider a model where the inflaton is nonminimally coupled both to torsion and a vector field, which can lead to anisotropic inflation. In the weak-coupling limit, our results coincide with the results obtained in the general relativistic framework. However, in the strong-coupling regime of the Jordan frame, we show that the anisotropy shear to expansion ratio is a constant, and can be much larger than the slow-roll parameter. Applying a conformal transformation we then work in the Einstein frame, which in teleparallel gravity introduces a different form of coupling between the inflaton and torsion. In this frame we show that in the strong coupling regime the anisotropy shear to expansion ratio is a different constant, that can be made suitably small.

We study general class of small-field axion inflations, which are the mixture of polynomial and sinusoidal functions suggested by the natural and axion monodromy inflations. The axion decay constants leading to the successful axion inflations are severely constrained in order not to spoil the big bang nucleosynthesis and overproduce the isocurvature perturbation originating from the QCD axion. We in turn find that the cosmologically favorable axion decay constants are typically of order the grand unification scale or the string scale, which is consistent with the prediction of closed-string axions.

Muon pairs can be produced in the annihilation of ultrahigh energy (UHE, $E\gtrsim 10^{18}\mathrm{eV}$) photons with low energy cosmic background radiation in the intergalactic space, giving birth to neutrinos. Although the branching ratio of muon pair production is low, products of other channels, which are mainly electron/positron pairs, will probably transfer most of their energies into the new generated UHE photon in the subsequent interaction with the cosmic background radiation via Compton scattering in deep Klein-Nishina regime. The regeneration of these new UHE photons then provides a second chance to produce the muon pairs, enhancing the neutrino flux. We investigate the neutrino production in the propagation of UHE photons in the intergalactic space at different redshifts, considering various competing processes such as pair production, double pair production for UHE photons, and triplet production and synchrotron radiation for UHE electrons. Following the analytic method raised by Gould and Rephaeli, we firstly study the electromagnetic cascade initiated by an UHE photon, with paying particular attention to the leading particle in the cascade process. Regarding the least energetic outgoing particles as energy loss, we obtain the effective penetration length of the leading particle, as well as energy loss rate including the neutrino emission rate in the cascade process. Finally, we find that an extra component of UHE neutrinos will arise from the propagation of UHE cosmic rays due to the generated UHE photons and electron/positrons. However, the flux of this component is quite small, with a flux of at most 10% of that of the conventional cosmogenic neutrino at a few EeV, in the absence of a strong intergalactic magnetic field and a strong cosmic radio background. The precise contribution of extra component depends on several factors, e.g., cosmic radio background, intergalactic magnetic field, and the spectrum of proton, which are discussed in this work.

A thorough account of electromagnetic interactions of massive neutrinos in the theoretical formulation of low-energy elastic neutrino-electron scattering is given. The formalism of neutrino charge, magnetic, electric, and anapole form factors defined as matrices in the mass basis is employed under the assumption of three-neutrino mixing. The flavor change of neutrinos traveling from the source to the detector is taken into account and the role of the source-detector distance is inspected. The effects of neutrino flavor-transition millicharges and charge radii in the scattering experiments are pointed out.

In supersymmetric models with radiatively driven naturalness and light Higgsinos, the top squarks may lie in the 0.5–3 TeV range, and thus, only a fraction of natural parameter space is accessible to LHC searches. We outline the range of top squark and lightest SUSY particle masses preferred by electroweak naturalness in the standard parameter space plane. We note that the branching fraction for $b\to s\gamma$ decay favors top squarks much heavier than 500 GeV. Such a range of top squark mass values is in contrast to previous expectations where $m(\text{stop})<500\mathrm{GeV}$ had been considered natural. In radiative natural SUSY, top squarks decay roughly equally via ${\tilde{t}}_1\to b{\tilde{W}}_1$ and $t{\tilde{Z}}_{1,2}$ where ${\tilde{W}}_1$ and ${\tilde{Z}}_{1,2}$ are Higgsino-like electroweakinos. Thus, top squark pair production should yield all of $t\overline{t}+E_T^{\text{miss}}$, $t\overline{b}+E_T^{\text{miss}}$, $b\overline{t}+E_T^{\text{miss}}$ and $b\overline{b}+E_T^{\text{miss}}$ signatures at comparable rates. We propose that future LHC top squark searches take place within a semisimplified model which corresponds more closely to expectations from theory.

The representation of the wave functions of the nucleon resonances within a relativistic framework is a complex task. In a nonrelativistic framework the orthogonality between states can be imposed naturally. In a relativistic generalization, however, the derivation of the orthogonality condition between states can be problematic, particularly when the states have different masses. In this work we study the $N(1520)$ and $N(1535)$ states using a relativistic framework. We considered wave functions derived in previous works, but impose the orthogonality between the nucleon and resonance states using the properties of the nucleon, ignoring the difference of masses between the states (semirelativistic approximation). The $N(1520)$ and $N(1535)$ wave functions are then defined without any adjustable parameters and are used to make predictions for the valence quark contributions to the transition form factors. The predictions compare well with the data particularly for high momentum transfer, where the dominance of the quark degrees of freedom is expected.

The canonical tensor model (CTM) is a rank-three tensor model formulated as a totally constrained system in the canonical formalism. The constraint algebra of CTM has a similar structure as that of the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner formalism of general relativity, and it is studied as a discretized model for quantum gravity. In this paper, we analyze the classical equation of motion (EOM) of CTM in a formal continuum limit through a derivative expansion of the tensor of CTM up to the fourth order, and we show that it is the same as the EOM of a coupled system of gravity and a scalar field derived from the Hamilton-Jacobi equation with an appropriate choice of an action. The action contains a scalar field potential of an exponential form, and the system classically respects a dilatational symmetry. We find that the system has a critical dimension, given by six, over which it becomes unstable due to the wrong sign of the scalar kinetic term. In six dimensions, de Sitter spacetime becomes a solution to the EOM, signaling the emergence of a conformal symmetry, while the time evolution of the scale factor is a power law in dimensions below six.

We study the possibility that massless particles, such as photons, are produced by a gravitational wave. That such a process should occur is implied by tree-level Feynman diagrams such as two gravitons turning into two photons, i.e., $g+g\to \gamma +\gamma$. Here we calculate the rate at which a gravitational wave creates a massless scalar field. This is done by placing the scalar field in the background of a plane gravitational wave and calculating the 4-current of the scalar field. Even in the vacuum limit of the scalar field it has a nonzero vacuum expectation value (similar to what occurs in the Higgs mechanism) and a nonzero current. We associate this with the production of scalar field quanta by the gravitational field. This effect has potential consequences for the attenuation of gravitational waves since the massless field is being produced at the expense of the gravitational field. This is related to the time-dependent Schwinger effect, but with the electric field replaced by the gravitational wave background and the electron/positron field quanta replaced by massless scalar “photons.” Since the produced scalar quanta are massless there is no exponential suppression, as occurs in the Schwinger effect due to the electron mass.

In physically motivated models of quantum spacetime, a $\mathcal{U}(1)$ gauge theory turns into a $\mathcal{U}(\infty )$ gauge theory; hence, free classical electrodynamics is no longer free and neutral fields may have electromagnetic interactions. We discuss the last point for scalar fields, as a way to possibly describe dark matter; we have in mind the gravitational collapse of binary systems or future applications to self-gravitating Bose-Einstein condensates as possible sources of evidence of quantum gravitational phenomena. The effects considered so far, however, seem too faint to be detectable at present.

It was recently proposed that the effects usually attributed to particle dark matter on galaxy scales are due to the displacement of dark energy by baryonic matter, a paradigm known as emergent gravity. This formalism leads to predictions similar to modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) in spherical symmetry, but not quite identical. In particular, it leads to a well defined transition between the Newtonian and the modified gravitational regimes, a transition depending on both the Newtonian acceleration and its first derivative with respect to radius. Under the hypothesis of the applicability of this transition to aspherical systems, we investigate whether it can reproduce observed galaxy rotation curves. We conclude that the formula leads to marginally acceptable fits with strikingly low best-fit distances, low stellar mass-to-light ratios, and a low Hubble constant. In particular, some unobserved wiggles are produced in rotation curves because of the dependence of the transition on the derivative of the Newtonian acceleration, leading, even in the most favorable case, to systematically less good fits than MOND. Then, applying the predicted transition from emergent gravity in a regime where it should a priori be applicable, i.e. in spherical symmetry and outside of the bulk of matter, we show that the predictions for the secular advances of Solar System planets’ perihelia are discrepant with the data by seven orders of magnitude, ruling out the present emergent gravity weak-field formula with high confidence.

We consider rotating black hole solutions in five-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory with a negative cosmological constant and a generic value of the Chern-Simons coupling constant $\lambda$. Using both analytical and numerical techniques, we focus on cohomogeneity-1 configurations, with two equal-magnitude angular momenta, which approach at infinity a globally anti-de Sitter background. We find that the generic solutions share a number of basic properties with the known Cvetič, Lü, and Pope black holes which have $\lambda =1$. New features occur as well; for example, when the Chern-Simons coupling constant exceeds a critical value, the solutions are no longer uniquely determined by their global charges. Moreover, the black holes possess radial excitations which can be labelled by the node number of the magnetic gauge potential function. Solutions with small values of $\lambda$ possess other distinct features. For instance, the extremal black holes there form two disconnected branches, while not all near-horizon solutions are associated with global solutions.

We discuss the conditions under which plane electromagnetic and gravitational waves can be amplified by a rotating black hole due to superradiant scattering. We show, in particular, that amplification can occur for low-frequency waves with an incidence angle parametrically close to 0 (or $\pi$) with respect to the black hole spin axis and with a parametrically small left (or right) polarization. This is the case of the radiation emitted by a spinning electric/magnetic dipole or gravitational quadrupole orbiting a black hole companion at large radius and corotating with the latter. This can yield observable effects of superradiance, for example, in neutron star-stellar mass black hole binaries, as well as in triple systems composed by a compact binary orbiting a central supermassive black hole. Due to superradiance, the total source luminosity in these systems exhibits a characteristic orbital modulation that may lead to significant observational signatures, thus paving the way for testing, in the near future, one of the most peculiar predictions of general relativity.

The early inspiral phase of a compact binary coalescence is well modeled by the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation to the orbital energy and gravitational wave flux. The transition from the inspiral phase to the plunge can be defined by the minimum energy circular orbit (MECO). In the extreme mass-ratio limit the PN energy equals the energy of the (post-Newtonian expanded) exact Kerr solution. However, for comparable-mass systems the MECO of the PN energy does not exist when bodies have large spins and no analytical solution to the end of the inspiral is known. By including the exact Kerr limit, we extract a well-defined minimum of the orbital energy beyond which the plunge or merger occurs. We study the hybrid condition for a number of cases of both black hole and neutron stars and compare to other commonly employed definitions. Our method can be used for any known order of the post-Newtonian series and enables the MECO condition to be used to define the end of the inspiral phase for highly spinning, comparable mass systems.

In this paper we present a construction of effective cosmological models which describe the propagation of a massive quantum scalar field on a quantum anisotropic cosmological spacetime. Each obtained effective model is represented by a rainbow metric in which particles of distinct momenta propagate on different classical geometries. Our analysis shows that upon certain assumptions and conditions on the parameters determining such anisotropic models, we surprisingly obtain a unique deformation parameter $\beta$ in the modified dispersion relation of the modes, hence, inducing an isotropic deformation despite the general starting considerations. We then ensure the recovery of the dispersion relation realized in the isotropic case, studied in [M. Assanioussi, A. Dapor, and J. Lewandowski, Phys. Lett. B 751, 302 (2015)], when some proper symmetry constraints are imposed, and we estimate the value of the deformation parameter for this case in loop quantum cosmology context.

We investigate the potential of high-energy astrophysical events, from which both massless and massive signals are detected, to probe fundamental physics. In particular, we consider how strong gravitational lensing can induce time delays in multimessenger signals from the same source. Obvious messenger examples are massless photons and gravitational waves, and massive neutrinos, although more exotic applications can also be imagined, such as to massive gravitons or axions. The different propagation times of the massive and massless particles can, in principle, place bounds on the total neutrino mass and probe cosmological parameters. Whilst measuring such an effect may pose a significant experimental challenge, we believe that the “massive time delay” represents an unexplored fundamental physics phenomenon.

Motivated by a diphoton anomaly observed by ATLAS and CMS we develop an SFitter analysis for a combined electroweak-Higgs sector, and a scalar portal at the LHC. The theoretical description is based on the linear effective Lagrangian for the Higgs and gauge fields, combined with an additional singlet scalar. The key target is the extraction of reliable information on the portal structure of the combined scalar potential. For the specific diphoton anomaly we find that the new state might well form such a Higgs portal. To obtain more conclusive results we define and test the connection of the Wilson coefficients in the Higgs and heavy scalar sectors, as suggested by a portal setup.

Hadronic form factors for semileptonic decay of the ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c$ are calculated in a nonrelativistic quark model. The full quark model wave functions are employed to numerically calculate the form factors to all relevant orders in ($1/m_c$, $1/m_s$). The form factors obtained satisfy relationships expected from the heavy quark effective theory (HQET). The differential decay rates and branching fractions are calculated for transitions to the ground state and a number of excited states of $\mathrm{\Lambda }$. The branching fraction of the semileptonic decay width to the total width of ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c$ has been calculated and compared with other theoretical estimates and experimental results. The branching fractions for ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c\to {\mathrm{\Lambda }}^{*}{l}^{+}{\nu }_l\to \mathrm{\Sigma }\pi l^{+}{\nu }_l$ and ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c\to {\mathrm{\Lambda }}^{*}{l}^{+}{\nu }_l\to N\overline{K}{l}^{+}{\nu }_l$ are also calculated. Apart from decays to the ground state $\mathrm{\Lambda }(1115)$, it is found that decays through the $\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)$ provide a significant portion of the branching fraction ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c\to X_{s}l{\nu }_l$. A new estimate for $f=B({\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to \mathrm{\Lambda }{l}^{+}{\nu }_l)/B({\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to X_s{l}^{+}{\nu }_l)$ is obtained.

Differential cross sections for a $W$ boson produced in association with jets are measured in a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $19.6{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. The $W$ bosons are identified through their decay mode $W\to \mu \nu$. The cross sections are reported as functions of jet multiplicity, transverse momenta, and the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta ($H_{\mathrm{T}}$) for different jet multiplicities. Distributions of the angular correlations between the jets and the muon are examined, as well as the average number of jets as a function of $H_{\mathrm{T}}$ and as a function of angular variables. The measured differential cross sections are compared with tree-level and higher-order recent event generators, as well as next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order theoretical predictions. The agreement of the generators with the measurements builds confidence in their use for the simulation of $W+\text{jets}$ background processes in searches for new physics at the LHC.

The pair-production process in the presence of strong linearly polarized laser fields with a subcycle structure is considered. Laser pulses with different envelope shapes are examined by means of a nonperturbative numerical approach. As generic cases, we analyze two different “flat” envelope shapes and two shapes without a plateau as a function of various characteristic parameters including the carrier-envelope phase, respectively. The resonant Rabi oscillations, the momentum distribution of particles created, and the total number of pairs are studied. It is demonstrated that all these characteristics are very sensitive to the pulse shape.

We investigate the response of the bound state structure of a two-boson system, within a Yukawa model with a scalar boson exchange, to the inclusion of the cross-ladder contribution to the ladder kernel of the Bethe-Salpeter equation. The equation is solved by means of the Nakanishi integral representation and light-front projection. The valence light-front wave function and electromagnetic form factor, considering both ladder and ladder plus cross-ladder kernels, are studied in detail. Their asymptotic forms are found to be quite independent of the inclusion of the cross-ladder kernel, for a given binding energy. The asymptotic decrease of form factor agrees with the counting rules. This analysis can be generalized to fermionic systems, with a wide application in the study of the meson structure.