Current searches for compact binary mergers by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors assume for simplicity the two bodies are not spinning. If the binary contains compact objects with significant spin, then this can reduce the sensitivity of these searches, particularly for black hole-neutron star binaries. In this paper we investigate the effect of neglecting precession on the sensitivity of searches for spinning binaries using nonspinning waveform models. We demonstrate that in the sensitive band of Advanced LIGO, the angle between the binary’s orbital angular momentum and its total angular momentum is approximately constant. Under this constant precession cone approximation, we show that the gravitational-wave phasing is modulated in two ways: a secular increase of the gravitational-wave phase due to precession and an oscillation around this secular increase. We show that this secular evolution occurs in precisely three ways, corresponding to physically different apparent evolutions of the binary’s precession about the line of sight. We estimate the best possible fitting factor between any nonprecessing template model and a single precessing signal, in the limit of a constant precession cone. Our closed-form estimate of the fitting factor depends only the geometry of the in-band precession cone; it does not depend explicitly on binary parameters, detector response, or details of either signal model. The precessing black hole-neutron star waveforms least accurately matched by nonspinning waveforms correspond to viewing geometries where the precession cone sweeps the orbital plane repeatedly across the line of sight, in an unfavorable polarization alignment.

The purpose of this paper is to present a unified description of mass generation mechanisms that have been investigated so far and that are called the Mach and Higgs proposals. In our mechanism, gravity acts merely as a catalyst and the final expression of the mass depends neither on the intensity nor on the particular properties of the gravitational field. We shall see that these two strategies to provide mass for all bodies that operate independently and competitively can be combined into a single unified theoretical framework. As a consequence of this new formulation we are able to present an answer to the question: what is the origin of the mass of the Higgs boson?

Considerable recent attention has focussed on the prospects to use the cosmic microwave background (CMB) trispectrum to probe the physics of the early universe. Here we evaluate the probability distribution function (PDF) for the standard estimator ${\widehat{\tau }}_{\mathrm{nl}}$ for the amplitude ${\tau }_{\mathrm{nl}}$ of the CMB trispectrum both for the null hypothesis (i.e., for Gaussian maps with ${\tau }_{\mathrm{nl}}=0$) and for maps with a nonvanishing trispectrum (${\tau }_{\mathrm{nl}}\ne 0$). We find these PDFs to be highly non-Gaussian in both cases. We also evaluate the variance with which the trispectrum amplitude can be measured, $⟨\Delta {\widehat{\tau }}_{\mathrm{nl}}^2⟩$, as a function of its underlying value, ${\tau }_{\mathrm{nl}}$. We find a strong dependence of this variance on ${\tau }_{\mathrm{nl}}$. We also find that the variance does not, given the highly non-Gaussian nature of the PDF, effectively characterize the distribution. Detailed knowledge of these PDFs will therefore be imperative in order to properly interpret the implications of any given trispectrum measurement. For example, if a CMB experiment with a maximum multipole of $l_{\max }=1500$ (such as the Planck satellite) measures ${\widehat{\tau }}_{\mathrm{nl}}=0$ then at the 95% confidence level our calculations show that we can conclude ${\tau }_{\mathrm{nl}}\le 1005$; assuming a Gaussian PDF but with the correct ${\tau }_{\mathrm{nl}}$-dependent variance we would incorrectly conclude ${\tau }_{\mathrm{nl}}\le 4225$; further neglecting the ${\tau }_{\mathrm{nl}}$-dependence in the variance we would incorrectly conclude ${\tau }_{\mathrm{nl}}\le 361$.

In this paper we study the renormalization effects of the quark flavor mixings and the Higgs self-coupling in a five-dimensional model where the boson fields are propagating in the bulk while the matter fields are localized to the brane. We first explore the evolution behaviors for the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix in this scenario. Then, in light of the recent LHC bounds on the Higgs mass, we find that the Higgs self-coupling evolution has an improved vacuum stability condition, which is in contrast with that of Standard Model and the Universal Extra Dimension scenario, where the theory has a much lower ultraviolet cutoff.

If a light Higgs boson with mass 125 GeV is fermiophobic, or partially fermiophobic, then the minimal supersymmetric standard model is excluded. The minimal supersymmetric fermiophobic Higgs scenario can naturally be formulated in the context of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) that admits $Z_3$ discrete symmetries. In the fermiophobic NMSSM, the supersymmetry naturalness criteria are relaxed by a factor $N_c{y}_t^4/g^4\sim 25$, removing the little hierarchy problem and allowing sparticle masses to be naturally of order 2–3 TeV. This scale motivates wino or Higgsino dark matter. The SUSY flavor and $CP$ problems as well as the constraints on sparticle and Higgs boson masses from $b\to s\gamma$, $B_s\to \mu \mu$ and direct LHC searches are relaxed in the fermiophobic NMSSM. The price to pay is that a new, yet unknown, mechanism must be introduced to generate fermion masses. We show that in the fermiophobic NMSSM the radiative Higgs boson branchings to $\gamma \gamma$, $\gamma Z$ can be modified compared to the fermiophobic and ordinary standard model predictions, and fit present collider data better. Suppression of dark matter scattering off nuclei explains the absence of signal in XENON100.

In two recent papers [K. R. Dienes and B. Thomas, Phys. Rev. D 85, 083523 (2012)] [K. R. Dienes and B. Thomas, Phys. Rev. D 85, 083524 (2012)] we introduced “dynamical dark matter” (DDM), a new framework for dark-matter physics in which the requirement of stability is replaced by a delicate balancing between lifetimes and cosmological abundances across a vast ensemble of individual dark-matter components whose collective behavior transcends that normally associated with traditional dark-matter candidates. We also presented an explicit model involving axions in large extra spacetime dimensions, and demonstrated that this model has all of the features necessary to constitute a viable realization of the general DDM framework. In this paper, we complete our study by performing a general analysis of all phenomenological constraints which are relevant to this bulk-axion DDM model. Although the analysis in this paper is primarily aimed at our specific DDM model, many of our findings have important implications for bulk-axion theories in general. Our analysis can also serve as a prototype for phenomenological studies of theories in which there exist large numbers of interacting and decaying particles.

The lack of experimental evidence for supersymmetry motivates $R$-parity violating realizations of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. Dropping $R$-parity, alternative symmetries have to be imposed in order to stabilize the proton. We determine the possible discrete $R$ and non-$R$ symmetries, which allow for renormalizable $R$-parity violating terms in the superpotential and which, at the effective level, are consistent with the constraints from nucleon decay. Assuming a gauge origin, we require the symmetry to be discrete gauge anomaly-free, allowing also for cancellation via the Green Schwarz mechanism. Furthermore, we demand lepton number violating neutrino mass terms either at the renormalizable or nonrenormalizable level. In order to solve the $\mu$ problem, the discrete $Z_N$ or $Z_N^R$ symmetries have to forbid any bilinear superpotential operator at tree level. In the case of renormalizable baryon number violation, the smallest possible symmetry satisfying all conditions is a unique hexality $Z_6^R$. In the case of renormalizable lepton number violation, the smallest symmetries are two hexalities, one $Z_6$ and one $Z_6^R$.

We explore how rotational invariance is systematically recovered from calculations on hyper-cubic lattices through the use of smeared lattice operators that smoothly evolve into continuum operators with definite angular momentum as the lattice-spacing is reduced. Perturbative calculations of the angular momentum violation associated with such operators at tree level and at one loop are presented in $\lambda {\varphi }^4$ theory and QCD. Contributions from these operators that violate rotational invariance occur at tree-level, with coefficients that are suppressed by $\mathcal{O}(a^2)$ in the continuum limit. Quantum loops do not modify this behavior in $\lambda {\varphi }^4$, nor in QCD if the gauge-fields are smeared over a comparable spatial region. Consequently, the use of this type of operator should, in principle, allow for Lattice QCD calculations of the higher moments of the hadron structure functions.

We calculate the $\omega \to {\pi }^0{\gamma }^{*}$ and $\varphi \to {\pi }^0{\gamma }^{*}$ electromagnetic transition form factors based on dispersion theory, relying solely on a previous dispersive analysis of the corresponding three-pion decays and the pion vector form factor. We compare our findings to recent measurements of the $\omega \to {\pi }^0{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$ decay spectrum by the NA60 collaboration, and strongly encourage experimental investigation of the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka forbidden $\varphi \to {\pi }^0{\ell }^{+}{\ell }^{-}$ decays in order to understand the strong deviations from vector-meson dominance found in these transition form factors.

We present a next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) realization of a general quark mass scheme (S-ACOT-$\chi$) in deep inelastic scattering and explore the impact of NNLO terms on heavy-quark structure functions $F_{2,L}^c(x,Q)$. An amended QCD factorization theorem for DIS is discussed that validates the S-ACOT-$\chi$ scheme to all orders in the QCD coupling strength. As a new feature, kinematical constraints on collinear production of heavy quarks that are crucial near the heavy-quark threshold are included in the amended factorization theorem. An algorithmic procedure is outlined for implementing this scheme at NNLO by using mass-dependent and massless results from literature. At two loops in QCD cut diagrams, the S-ACOT-$\chi$ scheme reduces scale dependence of heavy-quark DIS cross sections as compared to the fixed-flavor number scheme.

Using data taken with the CLEO III detector, $1.09{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ at ${\rm Y}(1S)$ and $1.28{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ at ${\rm Y}(2S)$, branching fractions have been measured for the first time for exclusive decays of each resonance into different final states consisting of 4–10 light hadrons, pions (including up to $2{\pi }^0$), kaons, and protons. Significant strength is found in 73 decay modes of ${\rm Y}(1S)$ and 17 decay modes of ${\rm Y}(2S)$, with branching fractions ranging from $0.3\times {10}^{-5}$ to $110\times {10}^{-5}$. Upper limits at 90% confidence level are presented for the other decay modes.

We study the process $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to J/\psi {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ with initial-state-radiation events produced at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy collider. The data were recorded with the BABAR detector at center-of-mass energies 10.58 and 10.54 GeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of $454{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. We investigate the $J/\psi {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ mass distribution in the region from 3.5 to $5.5\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$. Below $3.7\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ the $\psi (2S)$ signal dominates, and above $4\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ there is a significant peak due to the $Y(4260)$. A fit to the data in the range $3.74–5.50\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ yields a mass value $4245\pm 5(\mathrm{stat})\pm 4(\mathrm{syst})\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$ and a width value ${114}_{-15}^{+16}(\mathrm{stat})\pm 7(\mathrm{syst})\mathrm{MeV}$ for this state. We do not confirm the report from the Belle Collaboration of a broad structure at $4.01\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$. In addition, we investigate the ${\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ system which results from $Y(4260)$ decay.

A remarkably tight relation is observed between the Newtonian gravity sourced by the baryons and the actual gravity in galaxies of all sizes. This can be interpreted as the effect of a single, effective force law depending on acceleration. This is, however, not the case in larger systems with much deeper potential wells such as galaxy clusters. Here we explore the possibility of an effective force law reproducing mass discrepancies in all extragalactic systems when depending on both acceleration and the deepness of the potential well. We exhibit, at least at a phenomenological level, one such possible construction in the classical gravitational potential theory. The framework, dubbed extended modified Newtonian dynamics, is able to reproduce the observed mass discrepancies in both galaxies and galaxy clusters, and to produce multicenter systems with offsets between the peaks of gravity and the peaks of the baryonic distribution.

We discuss the phenomenology and cosmology of a Standardlike Model inspired by string theory, in which the gauge fields are localized on D-branes wrapping certain compact cycles on an underlying geometry, whose intersection can give rise to chiral fermions. The energy scale associated with string physics is assumed to be near the Planck mass. To develop our program in the simplest way, we work within the construct of a minimal model with gauge-extended sector $U(3{)}_B\times Sp(1{)}_L\times U(1{)}_{I_R}\times U(1{)}_L$. The resulting $U(1)$ content gauges the baryon number $B$, the lepton number $L$, and a third additional Abelian charge $I_R$ which acts as the third isospin component of an $SU(2{)}_R$. All mixing angles and gauge couplings are fixed by rotation of the $U(1)$ gauge fields to a basis diagonal in hypercharge $Y$ and in an anomaly-free linear combination of $I_R$ and $B-L$. The anomalous $Z^{\prime }$ gauge boson obtains a string scale Stückelberg mass via a 4D version of the Green-Schwarz mechanism. To keep the realization of the Higgs mechanism minimal, we add an extra $SU(2)$ singlet complex scalar, which acquires a VEV and gives a TeV-scale mass to the nonanomalous gauge boson $Z^{\prime \prime }$. The model is fully predictive and can be confronted with dijet and dilepton data from LHC8 and, eventually, LHC14. We show that $M_{Z^{\prime \prime }}\approx 3–4\mathrm{TeV}$ saturates current limits from the CMS and ATLAS Collaborations. We also show that for $M_{Z^{\prime \prime }}\lesssim 5\mathrm{TeV}$, LHC14 will reach discovery sensitivity $\gtrsim 5\sigma$. After that, we demonstrate in all generality that $Z^{\prime \prime }$ milliweak interactions could play an important role in observational cosmology. Finally, we examine some phenomenological aspects of the supersymmetric extension of the D-brane construct.

We apply the effective approach to evaluating semiclassical relational dynamics to the closed Friedman-Robertson-Walker cosmological model filled with a minimally coupled massive scalar field. This model is interesting for studying relational dynamics in a more general setting because (i) it features a nontrivial coupling of the relational clock to the evolving degrees of freedom, (ii) no temporally global clock variable exists, and (iii) it is nonintegrable, which is typical for generic dynamical systems. The effective approach is especially well geared for addressing the concept of relational evolution in this context, since it enables one to switch between different clocks and yields a consistent (temporally) local time evolution with transient observables so long as semiclassicality holds. We provide evidence that relational evolution in this model universe, while possible for sufficiently semiclassical states, generically breaks down in the region of maximal expansion. This is rooted in a defocusing of classical trajectories, which leads to a rapid spreading of states that are initially sharply peaked and to a mixing of internal time directions in this region. These results are qualitatively compared to previous work on this model, revisiting conceptual issues that have been raised earlier in the literature.

We use gauge/string duality to model some hybrid heavy-quark potentials. The potentials under consideration cannot be described by a single Nambu-Goto string. This is why we call them “exotic.” For ${\Sigma }_u^{-}$, the result is in quite good agreement with lattice simulations.

The classical limit of polymer quantum theories yields a one-parameter family of “effective” theories labeled by $\lambda$. Here we consider such families for constrained theories and pose the problem of taking the “continuum limit,” $\lambda \to 0$. We put forward criteria for such a question to be well-posed, and propose a concrete strategy based on the definition of appropriately constructed Dirac observables. We analyze two models in detail, namely a constrained oscillator and a cosmological model arising from loop quantum cosmology. For both of these models we show that the program can indeed be completed, provided one makes a particular choice of $\lambda$-dependent internal time with respect to which the dynamics is described and compared. We show that the limiting theories exist and discuss the corresponding limit. These results might shed some light on the problem of defining the corresponding continuum limit for quantum constrained systems.

We derive the geodesic equation of motion in the presence of weak gravitational fields produced by relativistic sources such as cosmic strings, decomposed into scalar, vector and tensor parts. To test the result, we perform the first N-body simulations with relativistic weak gravitational external fields. Our test case is a moving straight string, for which we recover the well-known result for the impulse on nonrelativistic particles. We find that the vector (gravito-magnetic) force is an essential contributor. Our results mean that it is now possible to incorporate straightforwardly into N-body simulations all weak relativistic sources, including networks of cosmic defects.

Employing the operator method, we obtain log-square quasinormal modes and frequencies of a graviton around the Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli (BTZ) black hole at the tricritical point of the generalized massive gravity. The log-square quasinormal frequencies are also obtained by considering a finite temperature conformal field theory. This shows the AdS/LCFT correspondence at the tricritical point approximately. We discuss a truncation process to the unitary theory on the BTZ black hole background.

Starting from the assumption that the present accelerated expansion of the Universe is driven by a chameleon scalar field, the function describing a direct coupling between the matter content of the Universe and the scalar field is derived from cosmological considerations. In progressing from cosmology towards astrophysical scales, this function is used to estimate the influence that such nonminimal coupling may have on the properties of usual (polytropic) stars whose matter can interact directly with the cosmological chameleon. It is shown that in order to obtain sizes and masses of compact configurations supported by the chameleon scalar field comparable to those of usual stars, it is necessary to assume that the pressure of the matter content of the Universe is substantially different from zero. The question of a possible manifestation of the effects of the nonminimal coupling in laboratory experiments is also discussed.