We calculate a full set of one-loop corrections to the Higgs boson coupling constants as well as the electroweak parameters. We compute the decay rate of the standard model-like Higgs boson ($h$) into diphoton. Renormalized Higgs couplings with the weak gauge bosons $hVV$ ($V=W$ and $Z$) and the trilinear coupling $hhh$ are also calculated at the one-loop level in the on-shell scheme. Magnitudes of the deviations in these quantities are evaluated in the parameter regions where the unitarity and vacuum stability bounds are satisfied and the predicted $W$ boson mass at the one-loop level is consistent with the data. We find that there are strong correlations among deviations in the Higgs boson couplings $h\gamma \gamma$, $hVV$ and $hhh$. For example, if the event number of the $pp\to h\to \gamma \gamma$ channel deviates by $+30\%$ ($-40\%$) from the standard model prediction, deviations in the one-loop corrected $hVV$ and $hhh$ vertices are predicted to be about $-0.1\%$ ($-2\%$) and $-10\%$ ($+150\%$), respectively. The model can be discriminated from the other models by accurately measuring these coupling constants in future collider experiments.

We discuss the impact on the stau masses of additional $D$ terms in $U(1)$-extended minimal supersymmetric standard models. We show, explicitly for the B-L supersymmetric standard model, that these contributions can play a crucial role in the explanation of the enhanced diphoton decay rate of a standard-model-like Higgs particle around 125 GeV. Even in the most constrained scenario with universal scalar and gaugino masses, it is possible to obtain a sizable enhancement and, in addition, the correct relic density for the LSP. Furthermore, a lighter $CP$-even scalar that could fit the LEP excess at 98 GeV is viable.

We study the beam spin asymmetry $A_{\mathrm{LU}}^{\sin {\varphi }_h}$ in semi-inclusive ${\pi }^0$ electroproduction contributed by the $T$-odd twist-3 distribution function $g^{\perp }(x,k_T^2)$. We calculate this transverse momentum dependent distribution function for the $u$ and $d$ quarks inside the proton in a spectator model including the scalar and the axial-vector diquark components. Using the model results, we estimate the asymmetry $A_{\mathrm{LU}}^{\sin {\varphi }_h}$ in the $ep\to e^{\prime }{\pi }^{0}X$ process in which the lepton beam is longitudinally polarized. The model prediction is compared with the data measured by the CLAS and HERMES collaborations, and it is found that our numerical results agree with the experimental data reasonably. Especially, our results can well describe the CLAS data at the region where the Bjorken $x$ and the pion transverse momentum is not large. We also make a prediction on the asymmetry $A_{\mathrm{LU}}^{\sin {\varphi }_h}$ in ${\pi }^0$ electroproduction at CLAS12 using the same model calculation.

We study scalar, pseudoscalar, vector, and axial-vector mesons with nonstrange and strange quantum numbers in the framework of a linear sigma model with global chiral $U(N_f{)}_L\times U(N_f{)}_R$ symmetry. We perform a global fit of meson masses, decay widths, as well as decay amplitudes. The quality of the fit is, for a hadronic model that does not consider isospin-breaking effects, surprisingly good. We also investigate the question whether the scalar $\overline{q}q$ states lie below or above 1 GeV and find the scalar states above 1 GeV to be preferred as $\overline{q}q$ states. Additionally, we also describe the axial-vector resonances as $\overline{q}q$ states.

We study the semileptonic differential decay rates of the $B_c$ meson to S-wave charmonia, ${\eta }_c$, and $J/\Psi$ at next-to-leading order accuracy in the framework of nonrelativistic QCD. In the heavy quark limit, $m_b\to \infty$, we obtain analytically the asymptotic expression for the ratio of the next-to-leading order form factor to the leading-order form factor. Numerical results show that the convergence of the ratio is perfect. At the maximum recoil region, we analyze the differential decay rates in detail with various input parameters and polarizations of $J/\psi$, which can now be checked in the LHCb experiment. Phenomenologically, the form factors are extrapolated to the minimal recoil region, and then the $B_c$-to-charmonium semileptonic decay rates are estimated.

We discuss the implications for short-baseline electron neutrino disappearance in the $3+1$ mixing scheme of the recent Troitsk bounds on the mixing of a neutrino with mass between 2 and 100 eV. Considering the Troitsk data in combination with the results of short-baseline ${\nu }_e$ and ${\overline{\nu }}_e$ disappearance experiments, which include the reactor and Gallium anomalies, we derive a $2\sigma$ allowed range for the effective neutrino squared-mass difference between 0.85 and $43{\mathrm{eV}}^2$. The upper bound implies that it is likely that oscillations in distance and/or energy can be observed in radioactive source experiments. It is also favorable for the ICARUS@CERN experiment, in which it is likely that oscillations are not washed out in the near detector. We discuss also the implications for neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay.

The cross section for dijet production in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7\mathrm{TeV}$ is presented as a function of $\tilde{\xi }$, a variable that approximates the fractional momentum loss of the scattered proton in single-diffractive events. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of $2.7{\mathrm{nb}}^{-1}$ collected with the CMS detector at the LHC at low instantaneous luminosities, and uses events with jet transverse momentum of at least 20 GeV. The dijet cross section results are compared to the predictions of diffractive and nondiffractive models. The low-$\tilde{\xi }$ data show a significant contribution from diffractive dijet production, observed for the first time at the LHC. The associated rapidity gap survival probability is estimated.

Double Chooz is unique among modern reactor-based neutrino experiments studying ${\overline{\nu }}_e$ disappearance in that data can be collected with all reactors off. In this paper, we present data from 7.53 days of reactor-off running. Applying the same selection criteria as used in the Double Chooz reactor-on oscillation analysis, a measured background rate of $1.0\pm 0.4$ events/day is obtained. The background model for accidentals, cosmogenic $\beta \mathrm{\text{−}}n$-emitting isotopes, fast neutrons from cosmic muons, and stopped-$\mu$ decays used in the oscillation analysis is demonstrated to be correct within the uncertainties. Kinematic distributions of the events, which are dominantly cosmic-ray-produced correlated-background events, are provided. The background rates are scaled to the shielding depths of two other reactor-based oscillation experiments, Daya Bay and RENO.

In the conventional two-measure theory, the scalar density function $\Phi$ is taken to be $\Phi \equiv {ϵ}^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }{ϵ}_{abcd}({\partial }_{\mu }{\phi }^a)({\partial }_{\nu }{\phi }^b)({\partial }_{\rho }{\phi }^c)({\partial }_{\sigma }{\phi }^d)$, where the indices $a,b,c,d=1$, 2, 3, 4 are internal-space indices. It is more natural to replace the four scalars ${\phi }^a$ by a Lorentz-covariant four-vector ${\phi }^m$ with a local Lorentz index $m=(0)$, (1), (2), (3). We entertain this possibility, and show that the newly proposed Lagrangian respects not only Lorentz covariance, but also global-scale invariance. The crucial equation ${\partial }_{\mu }L=0$ in the conventional two-measure theory also arises in our new formulation, as the ${\phi }^m$-field equation.

We develop a unified scattering approach to dynamical Casimir problems which can be applied to both accelerating boundaries and dispersive objects in relative motion. A general (trace) formula is derived for the radiation from accelerating boundaries. Applications are provided for objects with different shapes in various dimensions, and undergoing rotational or linear motion. Within this framework, photon generation is discussed in the context of a modulated optical mirror. For dispersive objects, we find general results solely in terms of the scattering matrix. Specifically, we discuss the vacuum friction on a rotating object, and the friction on an atom moving parallel to a surface.

Quantum mechanics with a generalized uncertainty principle arises through a representation of the commutator $[\widehat{x},\widehat{p}]=if(\widehat{p})$. We apply this deformed quantization to free scalar field theory for $f_{\pm }=1\pm \beta p^2$. The resulting quantum field theories have a rich fine scale structure. For small wavelength modes, the Green’s function for $f_{+}$ exhibits a remarkable transition from Lorentz to Galilean invariance, whereas for $f_{-}$ such modes effectively do not propagate. For both cases Lorentz invariance is recovered at long wavelengths.

We derive inequalities between the area, the angular momentum, and the charges for axisymmetric closed outermost stably marginally outer trapped surfaces, embedded in dynamical and, in general, nonaxisymmetric spacetimes satisfying the Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton-matter equations. In proving the inequalities, we assume that the dilaton potential is non-negative and that the matter energy-momentum tensor satisfies the dominant energy condition.

A unified framework for theories of modified gravity will be an essential tool for interpreting the forthcoming deluge of cosmological data. We present such a formalism, the parameterized post-Friedmann framework (PPF), which parameterizes the cosmological perturbation theory of a wide variety of modified gravity models. PPF is able to handle spin-0 degrees of freedom from new scalar, vector, and tensor fields, meaning that it is not restricted to simple models based solely on cosmological scalar fields. A direct correspondence is maintained between the parameterization and the underlying space of theories, which allows us to build up a “dictionary” of modified gravity theories and their PPF correspondences. In this paper we describe the construction of the parameterization and demonstrate its use through a number of worked examples relevant to the current literature. We indicate how the formalism will be implemented numerically, so that the dictionary of modified gravity can be pitted against forthcoming observations.

Null geodesics of normal and phantom Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton black holes are determined analytically by the Weierstrass elliptic functions. The black hole parameters other than the mass enter, with the appropriate signs, the formula for the angle of deflection to the second order in the inverse of the impact parameter allowing for the identification of the nature of matter (phantom or normal). Such identification is also possible via the time delay formula and observation of relativistic images. Scattering experiences may favor black holes of Einstein-anti-Maxwell-dilatonic theory for their high relative discrepancy with respect to the Schwarzschild value. For the cases we restrict ourselves to, phantom black holes are characterized by the absence of many-world and two-world null geodesics.

Motivated by the desire to test modified gravity theories exhibiting the Vainshtein mechanism, we solve in various physically relevant limits, the retarded Galileon Green’s function (for the cubic theory) about a background sourced by a massive spherically symmetric static body. The static limit of our result will aid us, in a forthcoming paper, in understanding the impact of Galileon fields on the problem of motion in the solar system. In this paper, we employ this retarded Green’s function to investigate the emission of Galileon radiation generated by the motion of matter lying deep within the Vainshtein radius $r_v$ of the central object: acoustic waves vibrating on its surface, and the motion of compact bodies gravitationally bound to it. If $\lambda$ is the typical wavelength of the emitted radiation, and $r_0$ is the typical distance of the source from the central mass, with $r_0\ll r_v$, then, compared to its noninteracting massless scalar counterpart, we find that the Galileon radiation rate is suppressed by the ratio $(r_v/\lambda {)}^{-3/2}$ at the monopole and dipole orders at high frequencies $r_v/\lambda \gg 1$. However, at high enough multipole order, the radiation rate is enhanced by powers of $r_v/r_0$. At low frequencies $r_v/\lambda \ll 1$, and when the motion is nonrelativistic, Galileon waves yield a comparable rate for the monopole and dipole terms, and are amplified by powers of the ratio $r_v/r_0$ for the higher multipoles.

The accurate calculation of the long-term phase evolution of gravitational wave (GW) forms from extreme (intermediate) mass-ratio inspirals [E(I)MRIs] is an inevitable step to extract information from this system. In order to achieve this goal, it is believed that we need to understand the gravitational self-forces. However, it has not been quantitatively demonstrated that the second-order self-forces are necessary for this purpose. In this paper, we revisit the problem to estimate the order of magnitude of the dephasing caused by the second-order self-forces on a small body in a quasicircular orbit around a Kerr black hole, based on the knowledge of the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation and invoking the energy balance argument. In particular, we focus on the averaged dissipative part of the self-force, since it gives the leading-order contribution among their various components. To avoid the possibility of the energy flux of GWs becoming negative, we propose a new simple resummation called exponential resummation, which assures the positivity of the energy flux. In order to estimate the magnitude of the yet-unknown second-order self-forces, here we point out the scaling property in the absolute value of the PN coefficients of the energy flux. Using these new tools, we evaluate the expected magnitude of dephasing. Our analysis indicates that the dephasing due to the second-order self-forces for quasicircular E(I)MRIs may be well captured by the 3 PN energy flux, once we obtain all the spin-dependent terms, except for the case with an extremely large spin of the central Kerr black hole.

Quantum-gravity effects might generate Lorentz invariance violation by the interaction of energetic particles with the foamy structure of the space-time. As a consequence, particles may not travel at the universal speed of light. We propose to constrain the Lorentz invariance violation for energetic neutrinos exploiting the ${\nu }_e$ neutronization burst from the next galactic supernova (SN). This prompt signal is expected to produce a sharp peak in the SN ${\nu }_e$ light curve with a duration of $\sim 25\mathrm{ms}$. However, the presence of the energy-dependent Lorentz invariance violation would significantly spread out the time structure of this signal. We find that the detection the SN ${\nu }_e$ burst from a typical galactic explosion at $d=10\mathrm{kpc}$ in a Mton-class water Cerenkov detector would be sensitive to a quantum-gravity mass scale $M_{\mathrm{QG}}\sim {10}^{12}\mathrm{GeV}$ ($2\times {10}^5\mathrm{GeV}$) for the linear (quadratic) energy dependence of the Lorentz invariance violation. These limits are valid for both super and subluminal neutrino velocity and are also independent of the neutrino mass hierarchy.

We propose a possibility of the 125 GeV Higgs being a pseudo-Goldstone boson in supersymmetry with extra vectorlike fermions. Higgs mass is obtained from loops of top quark and vectorlike fermions from the global symmetry breaking scale $f$ at around TeV. The $\mu$, $B\mu /\mu \sim f$ are generated from the dynamics of global symmetry breaking and the Higgs quartic coupling vanishes at $f$ as $\tan \beta \simeq 1$. The relation of $m_{\mathrm{soft}}\sim 4\pi M_Z$ with $f\sim \mu \sim m_{\mathrm{soft}}\sim \mathrm{TeV}$ is obtained, and large $\mu$ does not cause a fine-tuning for the electroweak symmetry breaking. The Higgs-to-diphoton rate can be enhanced from the loop of uncolored vectorlike matters. The stability issue of the Higgs potential with vectorlike fermions can be cured if the UV model with the Goldstone picture is provided.

A method is developed for calculating the jet mass distribution at hadron colliders using an expansion about the kinematic threshold. In particular, we consider the mass distribution of jets of size $R$ produced in association with a hard photon at the Large Hadron Collider. Expanding around the kinematic threshold, where all the energy goes into the jet and the photon, provides a clean factorization formula and allows for the resummation of logarithms associated with soft and collinear divergences. All of the large logarithms of jet mass are resummed at next-to-leading logarithmic level, and all the global logarithms at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic level. A key step in the derivation is the factorization of the soft function into pieces associated with single scales and a remainder which contains nonglobal structure. This step, which is standard in traditional resummation, is implemented in effective field theory which is then used to resum the large logarithms using the renormalization group in a systematically improvable manner.

We examine the large-order behavior of a recently proposed renormalization-group-improved expansion of the Adler function in perturbative QCD, which sums in an analytically closed form the leading logarithms accessible from renormalization-group invariance. The expansion is first written as an effective series in powers of the one-loop coupling, and its leading singularities in the Borel plane are shown to be identical to those of the standard “contour-improved” expansion. Applying the technique of conformal mappings for the analytic continuation in the Borel plane, we define a class of improved expansions, which implement both the renormalization-group invariance and the knowledge about the large-order behavior of the series. Detailed numerical studies of specific models for the Adler function indicate that the new expansions have remarkable convergence properties up to high orders. Using these expansions for the determination of the strong coupling from the hadronic width of the $\tau$ lepton we obtain, with a conservative estimate of the uncertainty due to the nonperturbative corrections, ${\alpha }_s(M_{\tau }^2)={0.3189}_{-0.0151}^{+0.0173}$, which translates to ${\alpha }_s(M_Z^2)={0.1184}_{-0.0018}^{+0.0021}$.