It was recently shown that a black hole (BH) is the only compact object that can acquire a scalar charge in scalar Gauss-Bonnet (sGB) theory under the small coupling approximation. This leads to the fact that scalar radiation is emitted from a binary containing at least one BH. In this paper, we find the constraints on this theory from BH low-mass x-ray binaries. The main result of this paper is that from the orbital decay rate of A0620-00, we obtained a conservative bound that is six orders of magnitude stronger than the Solar System bound. In addition to this, we look at XTE $\mathrm{J}1118+480$, whose orbital decay rate has been recently measured with an excess compared to the theoretical prediction in general relativity due to the radiation reaction. The cause of this excess is currently unknown. Although it is likely that the cause is of astrophysical origin, here we investigate the possibility of explaining this excess with the additional scalar radiation in sGB theory. We find that there still remains a parameter range where the excess can be explained while also satisfying the constraint obtained from A0620-00. The interesting point is that for most of other alternative theories of gravity, it seems difficult to explain this excess with the additional radiation. This is because it would be difficult to evade the constraints from binary pulsars or they have already been constrained rather strongly from other observations such as solar system experiments. We propose several ways to determine whether the excess is caused by the scalar radiation in sGB gravity including future gravitational wave observations with space-borne interferometers, which can give a constraint three orders of magnitude stronger than that from A0620-00.

We describe the computation of the amplitude $A_2$ for a kaon to decay into two pions with isospin $I=2$. The results presented in [T. Blum et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 141601 (2012)] from an analysis of 63 gluon configurations are updated to 146 configurations giving $\mathrm{Re}{A}_2=1.381(46{)}_{\mathrm{stat}}(258{)}_{\mathrm{syst}}{10}^{-8}\mathrm{GeV}$ and $\mathrm{Im}{A}_2=-6.54(46{)}_{\mathrm{stat}}(120{)}_{\mathrm{syst}}{10}^{-13}\mathrm{GeV}$. $\mathrm{Re}{A}_2$ is in good agreement with the experimental result, whereas the value of $\mathrm{Im}{A}_2$ was hitherto unknown. We are also working toward a direct computation of the $K\to (\pi \pi {)}_{I=0}$ amplitude $A_0$ but, within the Standard Model, our result for $\mathrm{Im}{A}_2$ can be combined with the experimental results for $\mathrm{Re}{A}_0$, $\mathrm{Re}{A}_2$ and ${\epsilon }^{\prime }/\epsilon$ to give $\mathrm{Im}{A}_0/\mathrm{Re}{A}_0=-1.61(28)\times {10}^{-4}$. Our result for $\mathrm{Im}{A}_2$ implies that the electroweak penguin (EWP) contribution to ${\epsilon }^{\prime }/\epsilon$ is $\mathrm{Re}({\epsilon }^{\prime }/\epsilon {)}_{\mathrm{EWP}}=-(6.25\pm {0.44}_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm {1.19}_{\mathrm{syst}})\times {10}^{-4}$.

We study the possibility for the process $pp\to p\gamma p\to p{W}^{-}t(W^{+}\overline{t})X$ with anomalous $Wtb$ couplings in a model-independent effective Lagrangian approach at the LHC. We find 95% confidence level bounds on the anomalous coupling parameters for various values of the integrated luminosity. The improved constraints on the anomalous $Wtb$ couplings have been obtained compared to current limits.

Here we update the global fit of neutrino oscillations in Refs. [T. Schwetz, M. Tortola, and J. W. F. Valle, New J. Phys. 13, 063004 (2011); T. Schwetz, M. Tortola, and J. W. F. Valle, New J. Phys. 13, 109401 (2011)] including the recent measurements of reactor antineutrino disappearance reported by the Double Chooz, Daya Bay, and RENO experiments, together with latest MINOS and T2K appearance and disappearance results, as presented at the Neutrino-2012 conference. We find that the preferred global fit value of ${\theta }_{13}$ is quite large: ${sin}^2{\theta }_{13}\simeq 0.025$ for normal and inverted neutrino mass ordering, with ${\theta }_{13}=0$ now excluded at more than $10\sigma$. The impact of the new ${\theta }_{13}$ measurements over the other neutrino oscillation parameters is discussed as well as the role of the new long-baseline neutrino data and the atmospheric neutrino analysis in the determination of a non-maximal atmospheric angle ${\theta }_{23}$.

We study coherent interaction of cosmic background neutrinos (CBNs) with matter of periodic structure. The mixing and small masses of neutrinos discovered in neutrino oscillation experiments indicate that CBNs that have very low energy today should be in mass states and can transform from one mass state to another in interaction with electrons in matter. We show that in a coherent scattering process a periodic matter structure designed to match the scale of the mass square difference of neutrinos can enhance the conversion of CBNs from one mass state to another. Energy of CBNs can be released in this scattering process, and momentum transfer from CBNs to electrons in target matter can be obtained.

We report the measurement of the branching fraction, the polarization, and the parameters of the time-dependent $CP$ violation in $B^0\to D^{*+}{D}^{*-}$ decays using a data sample of $772\times {10}^{6}B\overline{B}$ pairs, collected at the ${\rm Y}(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ collider. We obtain a branching fraction of $\mathcal{B}=(7.82\pm 0.38\pm 0.63)\times {10}^{-4}$, a $CP$-odd fraction of $R_{\perp }=0.138\pm 0.024\pm 0.006$ and, additionally, a fraction of the longitudinal component in the transversity base of $R_0=0.624\pm 0.029\pm 0.011$. The measured values of the parameters of the $CP$ violation are $S_{D^{*+}{D}^{*-}}=-0.79\pm 0.13\pm 0.03$ and $A_{D^{*+}{D}^{*-}}=0.15\pm 0.08\pm 0.04$.

We explicitly construct all kink solitons arising in the recent study of Auzzi, Bolognesi, and Shifman of a monopole confinement problem in $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric QCD. In particular, we show that all finite-energy kink solitons must be Bogomol’nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield.

Using the exact renormalization group equation approach and background field method, we investigate the one-loop problem in a six-dimensional conformal gravity theory whose Lagrangian takes the same form as the holographic Weyl anomaly of multiple coincident M5-branes. We choose the backgrounds to be the symmetric Einstein spaces including $S^6$, $C{P}^3$, $S^2\times S^4$, $S^2\times C{P}^2$, $S^3\times S^3$, and $S^2\times S^2\times S^2$. Evaluating the functional sums gives power-law and logarithmic divergences. We extract from the specific values of logarithmic divergence on the above backgrounds, the coefficient in front of Euler density, and two linear equations constraining the coefficients in front of three type-B conformal invariants. As a test of the effectiveness of the exact renormalization group equation approach to quantum conformal gravity, we reexamine the one-loop problem in four-dimensional conformal gravity and confirm the logarithmic divergence derived from the generalized Schwinger-DeWitt method.

We present a proof of the no hair theorems corresponding to free massive nonperturbative Pauli-Fierz spin-2 and perturbative massive spin-$1/2$ fields for stationary axisymmetric de Sitter black hole spacetimes of dimension four with two commuting Killing vector fields. The applicability of these results for asymptotically flat and anti-de Sitter spacetimes are also discussed.

Global-local duality is the equivalence of seemingly different regulators in eternal inflation. For example, the light-cone time cutoff (a global measure, which regulates time) makes the same predictions as the causal patch (a local measure that cuts off space). We show that global-local duality is far more general. It rests on a redundancy inherent in any global cutoff: at late times, an attractor regime is reached, characterized by the unlimited exponential self-reproduction of a certain fundamental region of spacetime. An equivalent local cutoff can be obtained by restricting to this fundamental region. We derive local duals to several global cutoffs of interest. The new scale factor cutoff is dual to the short fat geodesic, a geodesic of fixed infinitesimal proper width. Vilenkin’s comoving apparent horizon cutoff is equivalent to the Hubbletube, whose width is proportional to the local Hubble volume. The famous youngness problem of the proper time cutoff can be readily understood by considering its local dual, the incredible shrinking geodesic.

Although the standard $\Lambda \mathrm{CDM}$ model describes the cosmic microwave background radiation and the large-scale structure of the Universe with great success, it has some tensions with observations in the effective number of neutrino species (dark radiation) and the number of small-scale structures (overabundance problem). Here we propose a scenario which can relax these tensions by producing both dark matter and dark radiation by late decays of heavy particles. Thanks to the generation mechanism, dark matter is rather warm, so that the small-scale structure problem is resolved. This scenario can be naturally realized in the supersymmetric axion model, in which axions produced by saxion decays provide dark radiation, while axinos from saxion decays form warm dark matter. We identify a parameter region of the supersymmetric axion model satisfying all known cosmological constraints.

We suppose that there is new physics (NP) in $\overline{b}\to \overline{s}$ transitions and examine its effect on the angular distribution of $B_q^0\to V_1{V}_2$ ($q=d$, $s$), where $V_{1,2}$ are vector mesons. We find that, in the presence of such NP, the formulas relating the parameters of the untagged, time-integrated angular distribution to certain observables (polarization fractions, $CP$-violating triple-product asymmetries, $CP$-conserving interference term) must be modified from their standard model forms. This modification is due in part to a nonzero $B_q^0\mathrm{\text{−}}{\overline{B}}_q^0$ width difference, which is significant only for $B_s^0$ decays. We reanalyze the $B_s^0\to \varphi \varphi$ data to see the effect of these modifications. As $\Delta {\Gamma }_s/2{\Gamma }_s\sim 10\%$, there are $O(10\%)$ changes in the derived observables. These are not large but may be important given that one is looking for signals of NP. In addition, if the NP contributes to the $\overline{b}\to \overline{s}$ decay, the measurement of the untagged time-dependent angular distribution provides enough information to extract all the NP parameters.

A fraction of active galactic nuclei producing very high-energy (VHE) $\gamma$ rays are located in galaxy clusters. The magnetic field present in the intracluster medium would lead to conversions of VHE photons into axionlike particles (ALPs), which are a generic prediction of several extensions of the Standard Model. ALPs produced in this way would traverse cosmological distances unaffected by the extragalactic background light at variance with VHE photons which undergo a substantial absorption. Eventually, a nontrivial fraction of ALPs would reconvert into VHE photons in the magnetic field of the Milky Way. This mechanism produces a significant hardening of the VHE spectrum of active galactic nuclei in galaxy clusters. As a specific example we consider the energy spectra of two observed VHE $\gamma$-ray sources located in galaxy clusters, namely 1ES $0414+009$ at redshift $z=0.287$ and Mkn 501 at $z=0.034$. We find that the hardening in the observed spectra becomes relevant at $E\gtrsim 1\mathrm{TeV}$. The detection of this signature would allow one to indirectly probe the existence of ultralight ALPs with mass $m_a\lesssim {10}^{-8}\mathrm{eV}$ and photon-ALP coupling $g_{a\gamma }\lesssim {10}^{-10}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-1}$ with the presently operating imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes like H.E.S.S., MAGIC, VERITAS and CANGAROO-III and even more likely with the planned detectors like Cherenkov Telescope Array, High Altitude Water Cherenkov Experiment and Hundred*i Square-km Cosmic ORigin Explorer. An independent laboratory check of ultralight ALPs invoked in this mechanism can be performed with the planned upgrade of the photon regeneration experiment Any Light Particle Search at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron and with the next generation solar axion detector International Axion Observatory.

We compute the full nonperturbative ghost and gluon two-point Green functions by using gauge field configurations with $N_f=2$ and $N_f=2+1+1$ twisted-mass quark flavors. We use simulations with several different light quark masses, heavy quark masses close to that of the strange and charm quarks, and the lightest pseudoscalar masses ranging from 270 to 510 [MeV]. Quark flavor effects on both the gluon and the ghost propagators are then investigated in a wide range of momenta, bridging the deep infrared and intermediate momenta domain of QCD interactions in the presence of dynamical quarks. The ghost-gluon vertex is also indirectly probed through a consistency requirement among the lattice data for the gluon and ghost propagators and the ghost propagator Schwinger-Dyson equation. The effective full QCD coupling is finally constructed, and its dependence on the presence of dynamical fermions scrutinized.

The effect of the complex phase of the fermion determinant is a key question related to the sign problem in finite-density QCD. Recently it has been shown that ignoring the complex phase—the phase quenching—does not change the expectation values of a class of observables in a certain region of the phase diagram when a number of colors $N_c$ is large. In this paper, we study the effect of the phase quenching within the frameworks of effective models and holographic models. We show, in a unified manner, that the phase quenching gives exact results for a class of fermionic observables (e.g., chiral condensate) in the mean-field approximation and for gauge-invariant gluonic observables (e.g., Polyakov loop) to one-meson-loop corrections beyond mean field. We also discuss implications for the lattice simulations and confirm good quantitative agreement between our prediction and existing lattice QCD results. Therefore the phase quenching provides a rather accurate answer already at $N_c=3$ with small $1/N_c$ corrections which can be taken into account by the phase reweighting.

In an effort to access dense baryonic matter relevant for compact stars in a unified framework that handles both single baryon and multibaryon systems on the same footing, we first address a holographic dual action for a single baryon focusing on the role of the infinite tower of vector mesons deconstructed from five dimensions. To leading order in ’t Hooft coupling $\lambda =N_c{g}_{\mathrm{YM}}^2$, one has the Bogomol’nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) Skyrmion that results when the warping of the bulk background and the Chern-Simons term in the Sakai-Sugimoto (SS) $\mathrm{D}4/\mathrm{D}8-\overline{\mathrm{D}8}$ model are ignored. The infinite tower was found by Sutcliffe to induce flow to a conformal theory, i.e., the BPS. We compare this structure to that of the SS model consisting of a 5D Yang-Mills action in warped space and the Chern-Simons term in which higher vector mesons are integrated out while preserving hidden local symmetry and valid to $O({\lambda }^0)$ and $O(p^4)$ in the chiral counting. We point out the surprisingly important role of the $\omega$ meson that figures in the Chern-Simons term that encodes chiral anomaly in the baryon structure and that may be closely tied to short-range repulsion in nuclear interactions.

The paper is devoted to vector or pseudoscalar heavy quarkonia production ${\psi }^{{(}^{\prime })}$, $B_s^{(*)}$ in association with three or five charged $\pi$ mesons in exclusive $B_c$-meson decays. Using available form factor parametrizations and spectral functions of $W\to 3\pi$, $W\to 5\pi$ transitions, we obtain branching fractions of these decays and distributions over the invariant mass of the $(n\pi )$ system.

Within the nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) factorization framework, we investigate the inclusive production of the $h_c$ meson associated with either light hadrons or charmed hadrons at $B$ factory energy $\sqrt{s}=10.58\mathrm{GeV}$. Both the leading color-singlet and color-octet channels are included. For the $h_c$ production associated with light hadrons, the total production rate is dominated by the color-octet channel, thus the future measurement of this process may impose useful constraints on the value of the color-octet matrix element $⟨{\mathcal{O}}_8^{h_c}({}^{1}S_0)⟩$; for the $h_c$ production associated with charmed hadrons, the total production rate is about one order of magnitude smaller, and dominated by the color-singlet channel.

We reinvestigate the possibility of $X(3872)$ as a $D{\overline{D}}^{*}$ molecule with $J^{PC}=1^{++}$ within the framework of both the one-pion-exchange model and the one-boson-exchange model. After careful treatment of the $S$-$D$ wave mixing, the mass difference between the neutral and charged $D(D^{*})$ mesons and the coupling of the $D{\overline{D}}^{*}$ pair to $D^{*}{\overline{D}}^{*}$, a loosely bound molecular state $X(3872)$ emerges quite naturally with large isospin violation in its flavor wave function. For example, the isovector component is 26.24% if the binding energy is 0.30 MeV, where the isospin breaking effect is amplified by the tiny binding energy. After taking into account the phase space difference and assuming the $3\pi$ and $2\pi$ come from a virtual omega and rho meson respectively, we obtain the ratio of these two hidden-charm decay modes: $\mathcal{B}(X(3872)\to {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}{\pi }^{0}J/\psi )/\mathcal{B}(X(3872)\to {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}J/\psi )=0.42$ for the binding energy being 0.3 MeV, which is consistent with the experimental value.

We study the possible constraints on nonstandard interaction (NSIs) in a model-independent way by considering the recent results from the T2K and Daya Bay neutrino oscillations experiments. Using the perturbation method we present generic formulas (suitable for T2K baseline and for large ${\theta }_{13}$ as evident from Daya Bay) for the probability of oscillation for ${\nu }_{\mu }\to {\nu }_e$, taking into account NSIs at the source (${ϵ}^s$), the detector (${ϵ}^d$), and during propagation (${ϵ}^m$) of neutrinos through matter. Two separate cases of perturbation with small (slightly large) NSI [${ϵ}_{\alpha \beta }^m\sim 0.03(0.18)$] are discussed in detail. Using various possible presently allowed NSI values we reanalyze numerically the ${\theta }_{13}-\delta$ allowed region given by recent T2K experimental data. We obtain model-independent constraints on NSIs in the $\delta -{ϵ}_{\alpha \beta }^m$ plane using the ${\theta }_{13}$ value as measured by Daya Bay, where $\delta$ is the $CP$ violating phase. Depending on $\delta$ values, significant constraints on ${ϵ}_{e\tau }$ and ${ϵ}_{\tau \tau }$, in particular, are possible for both hierarchies of neutrino masses. Corresponding to T2K’s 66% confidence level result, the constraints on ${ϵ}_{\tau \tau }$ are shown to be independent of any $\delta$ value.