In the context of holography applied to condensed matter physics, we study Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory with curvature squared corrections. This theory has three couplings ${\eta }_i$ for the three $R^2$ invariants and two theory functions: a dilaton potential $V(\varphi )$ and a dilaton-dependent gauge coupling $f(\varphi )$. We find hyperscaling violating (HSV) solutions of this theory, parametrized by dynamical critical exponent $z$ and HSV parameter $\theta$. We obtain restrictions on the form of the theory functions required to support HSV-type solutions using three physical inputs: the null energy condition, causality $z\ge 1$, and $d_{\text{eff}}\equiv d-\theta$ lying in the range $0<d_{\text{eff}}\le d$. The null energy condition constraints are linear in the ${\eta }_i$ and (quartic) polynomial in $d,z,\theta$. The allowed ranges of $z,\theta$ change depending on the signs of ${\eta }_i$. For the case of Einstein-Weyl gravity, we further narrow down the theory functions and solution parameters required for crossover solutions interpolating between HSV, ${\mathrm{AdS}}_{d+2}$ near the boundary, and ${\mathrm{AdS}}_2\times {\mathbb{R}}^d$ in the deep interior.

We consider the time evolution of the adiabatic particle number in both time-dependent electric fields and in de Sitter spaces, and define a superadiabatic particle number in which the (divergent) adiabatic expansion is truncated at optimal order. In this superadiabatic basis, the particle number evolves smoothly in time, according to Berry’s universal adiabatic smoothing of the Stokes phenomenon. This superadiabatic basis also illustrates clearly the quantum interference effects associated with particle production, in particular, for sequences of time-dependent electric field pulses, and in eternal de Sitter space where there is constructive interference in even dimensions and destructive interference in odd dimensions.

While one can in principle augment gravity theory with torsion, it is generally thought that any such torsion effects would be too small to be of consequence. Here we show that this cannot, in general, be the case. We show that the limit of vanishing torsion is not necessarily a continuous one, with the theory obtained in the limit not necessarily coinciding with the theory in which torsion had never been present at all. However, for a standard torsion tensor that is antisymmetric in two of its indices, we have found two cases in which the vanishing torsion limit is in fact continuous, namely Einstein gravity and conformal gravity. For other gravity theories of common interest to possess a continuous limit the torsion tensor would need to be antisymmetric in all three of its indices.

In this article, we derive source integrals, i.e., quasilocal expressions, for multipole moments in axially symmetric and static spacetimes. Usually, these multipole moments are read off the asymptotics of the metric close to spatial infinity. Whereas for the evaluation of the here derived source integrals the geometry has to be known in the region containing all sources, i.e., matter as well as singularities. The source integrals can be written either as volume integrals over such a region or as integrals over the surface of that region. Eventually, these source integrals allow assigning to any spacetime regions its contribution to the total multipole moments of the spacetime. Finally, we give an exemplary application that outlines the usefulness and applicability of the source integrals in, e.g., (non)existence proofs.

In this paper we study wave propagation and scattering near a black hole. In particular, we assume a coherent emission source near the black hole and investigate the wavefront distortion as seen by a distant observer. By ignoring the spin nature of the electromagnetic radiation we model it by a complex scalar field. Then, the propagating wave near the observer can be decomposed using the Laguerre-Gaussian mode basis and its wavefront distortion can be characterized by the decomposition coefficient. We find that this decomposition spectrum is symmetric with respect to the azimuthal quantum number in the case that the wave source is located near a nonrotating (Schwarzschild) black hole, whereas the spectrum is generically asymmetric if the host black hole is rotating (Kerr). The spectral asymmetry, or the net orbital angular momentum carried by the wave, is intimately related to the black-hole spin and mass, the wave frequency and the locations of the source and the observer. We present semianalytical expressions and numerical results for these parameter dependences. If the emitted radiation is temporally coherent, our results show that the secondary images (arising from the orbiting of the wavefront around the black hole) of the source can be almost as bright as its primary image. Separately, in the case of temporally incoherent radiation, we show that the nonfundamental spectrum components in the primary image could be resolved by spatially separated telescopes, although that would be degenerate with the telescope direction. Finally, our results suggest that the black-hole-induced spectral asymmetry is generally too weak to be observed in radio astronomy, even if the observer is located near an optical caustic.

A gravitational wave inspiral search with a global network of interferometers when carried in a phase coherent fashion mimics a search with two effective synthetic data streams. The streams are constructed by the linear combination of the overwhitened data from individual detectors. We demonstrate here that the two synthetic data streams pertaining to the two polarizations of the gravitational wave can be derived prior to the maximum-likelihood analysis in a most natural way using the technique of singular-value decomposition applied to the network signal-to-noise ratio vector. The singular-value technique combined with the matched filtering in network plus spectral space enables the construction of the synthetic streams. We further show that the network log likelihood ratio is then the sum of the log-likelihood ratios of these synthetic streams. In this formalism, the four extrinsic parameters of the nonspinning inspiral signal, namely, amplitude, initial phase, binary inclination, and the polarization $\{A_0,{\varphi }_a,\epsilon ,\Psi \}$, are mapped to the two amplitudes and two phases, namely, $\{{\mathit{\rho }}_L,{\mathit{\rho }}_R,{\mathrm{\Phi }}_L,{\mathrm{\Phi }}_R\}$. We show that the maximization over the new extrinsic parameters is a straightforward exercise closely linked to the single detector approach in the literature. Toward the end, we connect all the previous works related to the multidetector gravitational wave inspiral search and present in the same notation.

The appearance of positronium poles in a photon propagator in quantum electrodynamics (QED) formally requires a summation of an infinite series of terms in perturbation theory. For physical quantities that are determined by this propagator in high orders of perturbation theory—for example for the electron anomalous magnetic moment—this observation may cause doubts on the validity of perturbative results obtained in traditional ways that ignore potential nonperturbative contributions due to the QED bound states. In this paper we show how these nonperturbative contributions disappear, using the case of the electron anomalous magnetic moment as an example. We also give arguments that emphasize the general nature of this result.

The discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has a great impact on the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM). In the context of the constrained MSSM (CMSSM) and its extension with nonuniversal masses for the MSSM Higgs doublets, sparticles with masses $>1\mathrm{TeV}$ are necessary to reproduce the observed Higgs boson mass of 125–126 GeV. On the other hand, there appears to be a significant amount of discrepancy between the measured muon $g-2$ and the Standard Model prediction. A successful explanation of this discrepancy in the MSSM requires new contributions involving relatively light sparticles with masses $<1\mathrm{TeV}$. In this paper, we attempt to accommodate the two conflicting requirements in a SU(5) inspired extension of the CMSSM. We assign nonuniversal but flavor blind soft supersymmetry breaking masses to the scalar components in $\overline{5}$ and 10 matter supermultiplets. The two MSSM Higgs doublets in the 5, $\overline{5}$ representations of SU(5) are also assigned unequal soft ${\mathrm{mass}}^2$ at $M_{\mathrm{GUT}}$. We identify parameter regions which can simultaneously accommodate the observed Higgs boson mass and the muon $g-2$ data, and which are compatible with other phenomenological constraints such as neutralino dark matter relic abundance and rare B-meson decays. Some regions of the allowed parameter space will be explored at the upgraded LHC and by dark matter direct detection experiments.

In a previous work, a classically scale invariant extension of the standard model was proposed, as a potential candidate for resolving the hierarchy problem, by minimally introducing a complex gauge singlet scalar and generating radiative electroweak symmetry breaking by means of the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. Postulating the singlet sector to respect the $CP$ symmetry, the existence of a stable pseudoscalar dark matter candidate with a mass in the TeV range was demonstrated. Moreover, the model predicted the presence of another physical $CP$-even Higgs boson (with suppressed tree-level couplings), in addition to the 125 GeV scalar discovered by the LHC. The viable region of the parameter space was determined by various theoretical and experimental considerations. In this work, we continue to examine the phenomenological implications of the proposed minimal scenario by considering the constraints from the dark matter relic density, as determined by the Planck Collaboration, as well as the direct detection bounds from the LUX experiment. Furthermore, we investigate the implications of the collider Higgs searches for the additional Higgs boson. Our results are comprehensively demonstrated in unified exclusion plots, which analyze the viable region of the parameter space from all relevant angles, demonstrating the testability of the proposed scenario.

In this paper we perform a systematic study for the three $B\to ({\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-},{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^0,{\pi }^0{\pi }^0)$ decays in the perturbative QCD (pQCD) factorization approach with the inclusion of all currently known next-to-leading order (NLO) contributions from various sources. We found that (a) for the CP-averaged decay rates $Br(B^0\to {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-})$ and $Br(B^{+}\to {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^0)$, the NLO pQCD predictions agree with the data within one standard deviation; (b) for $Br(B^0\to {\pi }^0{\pi }^0)$, however, although the NLO contributions can provide a $\sim 100\%$ enhancement to the leading-order (LO) result, it is still not large enough to interpret the data; and (c) for the CP-violating asymmetries of $B^0\to {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ decay, the NLO pQCD predictions for the central values of ${\mathcal{A}}_{\pi \pi }$ and ${\mathcal{S}}_{\pi \pi }$ have the same sign as the data but are still smaller in magnitude than the measured values. We also examined the relative strength of the LO and NLO contributions from different sources.

Generalized transverse-momentum dependent parton distributions (GTMDs) encode the most general parton structure of hadrons. Here we focus on two twist-2 GTMDs which are denoted by $F_{1,4}$ and $G_{1,1}$ in parts of the literature. As already shown previously, both GTMDs have a close relation to orbital angular momentum of partons inside a hadron. However, recently even the mere existence of $F_{1,4}$ and $G_{1,1}$ has been doubted. We explain why this claim does not hold. We support our model-independent considerations by calculating the two GTMDs in the scalar diquark model and in the quark-target model, where we also explicitly check the relation to orbital angular momentum. In addition, we compute $F_{1,4}$ and $G_{1,1}$ at large transverse momentum in perturbative quantum chromodynamics and show that they are nonzero.

We provide resolution of an old issue in the weak coupling computation of the chiral magnetic effect (CME) current, where free chiral fermion theory gives two different results depending on the order of the two limits, $\omega \to 0$ (frequency) and $k\to 0$ (spatial momentum). We first argue based on hydrodynamics that in any reasonable interacting theory of chiral fermions the noncommutativity between the two limits should be absent, and we demonstrate this at weak coupling regime in two different frameworks: kinetic theory in the relaxation time approximation and diagrammatic computation with resummation of damping rate. In the latter computation, we also show that the “pinch” singularity, which would make a summation of ladder diagrams necessary, as in the P-even correlation function, is absent in the relevant P-odd correlation function. The correct value of chiral magnetic effect current is reproduced even in the presence of relaxation dynamics in both computations.

The general, universal formalism for semi-inclusive charged-current (anti)neutrino-nucleus reactions is given for studies of any hadronic system, namely, either nuclei or the nucleon itself. The detailed developments are presented with the former in mind and are further specialized to cases where the final-state charged lepton and an ejected nucleon are presumed to be detected. General kinematics for such processes are summarized, and then explicit expressions are developed for the leptonic and hadronic tensors involved and for the corresponding responses according to the usual charge, longitudinal and transverse projections, keeping finite the masses of all particles involved. In the case of the hadronic responses, general symmetry principles are invoked to determine which contributions can occur. Finally, the general leptonic-hadronic tensor contraction is given as well as the cross section for the process.

Short range nucleon-nucleon correlations in nuclei ($NN$ SRC) carry important information on nuclear structure and dynamics. $NN$ SRC have been extensively probed through two-nucleon knockout reactions in both pion and electron scattering experiments. We report here on the detection of two-nucleon knockout events from neutrino interactions and discuss their topological features as possibly involving $NN$ SRC content in the target argon nuclei. The ArgoNeuT detector in the Main Injector neutrino beam at Fermilab has recorded a sample of 30 fully reconstructed charged-current events where the leading muon is accompanied by a pair of protons at the interaction vertex, 19 of which have both protons above the Fermi momentum of the Ar nucleus. Out of these 19 events, four are found with the two protons in a strictly back-to-back high momenta configuration directly observed in the final state and can be associated to nucleon resonance pionless mechanisms involving a pre-existing short range correlated $np$ pair in the nucleus. Another fraction (four events) of the remaining 15 events has a reconstructed back-to-back configuration of an $np$ pair in the initial state, a signature compatible with one-body quasielastic interaction on a neutron in a short range correlation (SRC) pair. The detection of these two subsamples of the collected (${\mu }^{-}+2p$) events suggests that mechanisms directly involving nucleon-nucleon SRC pairs in the nucleus are active and can be efficiently explored in neutrino-argon interactions with the Liquid Argon Time Projection chamber technology.

Results are presented from data recorded in 2009 by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider for the double-longitudinal spin asymmetry, $A_{LL}$, for ${\pi }^0$ and $\eta$ production in $\sqrt{s}=200\mathrm{GeV}$ polarized $p+p$ collisions. Comparison of the ${\pi }^0$ results with different theory expectations based on fits of other published data showed a preference for small positive values of gluon polarization, $\mathrm{\Delta }G$, in the proton in the probed Bjorken $x$ range. The effect of adding the new 2009 ${\pi }^0$ data to a recent global analysis of polarized scattering data is also shown, resulting in a best fit value $\mathrm{\Delta }{G}_{\text{DSSV}}^{[0.05,0.2]}=0.06_{-0.15}^{+0.11}$ in the range $0.05<x<0.2$, with the uncertainty at $\mathrm{\Delta }{\chi }^2=9$ when considering only statistical experimental uncertainties. Shifting the PHENIX data points by their systematic uncertainty leads to a variation of the best-fit value of $\mathrm{\Delta }{G}_{\text{DSSV}}^{[0.05,0.2]}$ between 0.02 and 0.12, demonstrating the need for full treatment of the experimental systematic uncertainties in future global analyses.

Measurements of transverse-single-spin asymmetries ($A_N$) in $p+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=62.4$ and 200 GeV with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider are presented. At midrapidity, $A_N$ is measured for neutral pion and eta mesons reconstructed from diphoton decay, and, at forward rapidities, neutral pions are measured using both diphotons and electromagnetic clusters. The neutral-pion measurement of $A_N$ at midrapidity is consistent with zero with uncertainties a factor of 20 smaller than previous publications, which will lead to improved constraints on the gluon Sivers function. At higher rapidities, where the valence quark distributions are probed, the data exhibit sizable asymmetries. In comparison with previous measurements in this kinematic region, the new data extend the kinematic coverage in $\sqrt{s}$ and $p_T$, and it is found that the asymmetries depend only weakly on $\sqrt{s}$. The origin of the forward $A_N$ is presently not understood quantitatively. The extended reach to higher $p_T$ probes the transition between transverse momentum dependent effects at low $p_T$ and multiparton dynamics at high $p_T$.

Dimension-five photon ($\gamma$) scalar ($\varphi$) interaction terms usually appear in the bosonic sector of unified theories of electromagnetism and gravity. In these theories the three propagation eigenstates are different from the three field eigenstates. The dispersion relation in an external magnetic field shows that, for a non-zero energy ($\omega$), out of the three propagating eigenstates one has superluminal phase velocity $v_p$. During propagation, another eigenstate undergoes amplification or attenuation, showing signs of an unstable system. The remaining one maintains causality. In this paper, using techniques from optics as well as gravity, we identify the energy ($\omega$) interval outside which $v_p\le c$ for the field eigenstates $|{\gamma }_{\parallel }⟩$ and $|\varphi ⟩$, and stability of the system is restored. The behavior of group velocity $v_g$ is also explored in the same context. We conclude by pointing out its possible astrophysical implications.

Four-point one-loop nonsupersymmetric pure Yang-Mills amplitudes with the duality between color and kinematics manifest have been constructed in previous work. Here, we extend the discussion to fermions and scalars circulating in the loop with all external gluons. This gives another nontrivial loop-level example showing that the duality between color and kinematics holds in nonsupersymmetric gauge theory. The construction is valid in any spacetime dimension and written in terms of formal polarization vectors. We also convert these expressions into a four-dimensional form with explicit external helicity states. Using this, we compare our results to one-loop duality-satisfying amplitudes that are already present in literature.

The radiation emitted by a black hole (BH) during its evaporation has to have some degree of quantum coherence to accommodate a unitary time evolution. We parametrize the degree of coherence by the number of coherently emitted particles $N_{\text{coh}}$ and show that it is severely constrained by the equivalence principle. We discuss, in this context, the fate of a shell of matter that falls into a Schwarzschild BH. Two points of view are considered: that of a stationary external observer and that of the shell itself. From the perspective of the shell, the near-horizon region has an energy density proportional to $N_{\text{coh}}^2$ in Schwarzschild units. So, if $N_{\text{coh}}$ is parametrically larger than the square root of the BH entropy $S_{\mathrm{BH}}^{1/2}$, a firewall or more generally a “wall of smoke” forms and the equivalence principle is violated while the BH is still semiclassical. To have a degree of coherence that is parametrically smaller than $S_{\mathrm{BH}}^{1/2}$, one has to introduce a new sub-Planckian gravitational length scale, which likely also violates the equivalence principle. And so our previously proposed model which has $N_{\text{coh}}=S_{\mathrm{BH}}^{1/2}$ is singled out. From the external-observer perspective, we find that the time it takes for the information about the state of the shell to get re-emitted from the BH is inversely proportional to $N_{\text{coh}}$. When the rate of information release becomes of order unity, the semiclassical approximation starts to break down and the BH becomes a perfect reflecting information mirror.

We analytically compute, to linear order in the mass ratio, the “geodetic” spin-precession frequency of a small spinning body orbiting a large (nonspinning) body to the eight-and-a-half post-Newtonian order, thereby extending previous analytical knowledge which was limited to the third post-Newtonian level. These results are obtained applying analytical gravitational self-force theory to the first-derivative level generalization of Detweiler’s gauge-invariant redshift variable. We compare our analytic results with strong-field numerical data recently obtained by Dolan et al. [Phys. Rev. D 89, 064011 (2014)]. Our new, high-post-Newtonian-order results capture the strong-field features exhibited by the numerical data. We argue that the spin precession will diverge as $\approx -0.14/(1-3y)$ as the light ring is approached. We transcribe our kinematical spin-precession results into a corresponding improved analytic knowledge of one of the two (gauge-invariant) effective gyrogravitomagnetic ratios characterizing spin-orbit couplings within the effective-one-body formalism. We provide simple, accurate analytic fits both for spin precession and the effective gyrogravitomagnetic ratio. The latter fit predicts that the linear-in-mass-ratio correction to the gyrogravitomagnetic ratio changes sign before reaching the light ring. This strong-field prediction might be important for improving the analytic modeling of coalescing spinning binaries.