The three-dimensional galaxy power spectrum is a powerful probe of primordial non-Gaussianity and additional general relativistic (GR) effects on large scales, which can be constrained by the current and upcoming large-scale structure surveys. In this work, we calculate the linear-order relativistic power spectrum in the spherical Fourier-Bessel (SFB) basis, a coordinate system that preserves the geometry of the curved sky and fully accounts for the wide-angle effect. In particular, we model the GR effects present in the discrete SFB power spectrum, which is a more efficient and stable decomposition of the galaxy density field compared to the continuous SFB basis in the presence of radial windows. To validate our GR calculations, we introduce a mapping between the angular power spectrum and the SFB power spectrum, and we compare our calculations with outputs from class. We discuss the rich pattern of GR effects in the SFB basis and compare the GR effects to the local primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) effect. The Doppler and lensing effects have different angular and Fourier dependence compared to the PNG in the SFB basis, while the gravitational potential term is more degenerate with the PNG and comparable to a signal of $f_{\mathrm{NL}}\sim 1$. We also discuss the potential opportunities of extracting the lensing effect through SFB modes in upcoming LSS surveys.

Millilensed gravitational waves (GWs) can potentially be identified by the interference signatures caused by $\sim \mathcal{O}(10–100)\mathrm{ms}$ time delays between multiple overlapping lensed signals. However, distinguishing millilensed GWs from GWs generated by precessing binary black-hole mergers can be challenging due to their apparent similar waveform shapes. This morphological similarity may be an obstacle to template-based searches to correctly identifying the origin of observed GWs and poses a fundamental question: Can we discern millilensed GW signals from signals produced by precessing binary black holes? In this study, we investigate the feasibility of distinguishing between these GWs by performing a proof-of-principle injection study of simulated millilensed precessing GW signals, within the context of ground-based LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detector network detections. We compare signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) computed using templates with different hypotheses (lensed or unlensed and precessing or nonprecessing) for the target signal. We further show from the parameter estimation study that, while the recovery of lensing magnification is sensitive to the inclusion of precession in the recovery model, it is possible to identify millilensing in precessing GW signals with an SNR of 18. The recovery of precession in the presence of lensing is more challenging but improves significantly for signals with an SNR of 40. Nonetheless, neglecting millilensing effects results in biases in the recovered spins, revealing the importance of accounting for these effects in accurate GW signal analysis.

We propose a novel method (floz), based on normalizing flows, to estimate the Bayesian evidence (and its numerical uncertainty) from a preexisting set of samples drawn from the unnormalized posterior distribution. We validate it on distributions whose evidence is known analytically, up to 15 parameter space dimensions, and compare with two state-of-the-art techniques for estimating the evidence: nested sampling (which computes the evidence as its main target) and a $k$-nearest-neighbors technique that produces evidence estimates from posterior samples. Provided representative samples from the target posterior are available, our method is more robust to posterior distributions with sharp features, especially in higher dimensions. For a simple multivariate Gaussian, we demonstrate its accuracy for up to 200 dimensions with ${10}^5$ posterior samples. floz has wide applicability, e.g., to estimate evidence from variational inference, Markov chain Monte Carlo samples, or any other method that delivers samples and their likelihood from the unnormalized posterior density. As a physical application, we use floz to compute the Bayes factor for the presence of the first overtone in the ringdown signal of the gravitational wave data of GW150914, finding good agreement with nested sampling.

Elementary particles such as quarks and gluons are expected to be fundamental degrees of freedom at ultra high temperatures or densities, while natural phenomena in our daily lives are described in terms of hadronic degrees of freedom. Massive neutron stars and remnants of binary neutron star mergers may contain quark matter, but it is not known how the transition from hadron matter to quark matter occurs. Different transition scenarios predict different gravitational waveforms emitted from binary neutron star mergers. If the difference between the equations of state occurs at sufficiently high density, it is expected that the difference between waveforms mainly appears in the merger or the postmerger phase rather than in the inspiral phase. The typical frequency of gravitational waves after the coalescence is higher than 2 kHz, which is difficult to observe using current detectors. Aiming at seeing whether the representative equations of state proposed by Fujimoto et al. (2023) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 091404 (2023).] can be distinguished by observation of gravitational waves emitted from binary neutron star mergers, we performed Bayesian model selection for those representative scenarios and investigated whether observations with future detectors will allow us to identify the correct model. We assume that the relatively low density equation of state around the nuclear saturation density is completely known from accumulated observations. Under this assumption, we find that it is reasonable to expect to be able to identify the correct transition scenario with third-generation detectors or specialized detectors with high sensitivity at high frequencies designed for postmerger signal observation, e.g., NEMO.

The tidal Love numbers of self-gravitating compact objects describe their response to external tidal perturbations, such as those from a companion in a binary system, offering valuable insights into their internal structure. For static tidal fields, asymptotically flat black holes in vacuum exhibit vanishing Love numbers in general relativity, even though this property is sensitive to the presence of an external environment. In this work we study the tidal deformability of black holes surrounded by thin accretion disks, showing that the Love numbers could be large enough to mask any effect of modified gravity and to intrinsically limit tidal tests of black-hole mimickers. Furthermore, we investigate the measurability of the tidal parameters with next-generation gravitational wave experiments, like LISA and Einstein Telescope. Our findings suggest that these parameters could be measured with high precision, providing a powerful tool to probe the environment around coalescing binary systems.

I discuss the usability of the gravitational wave detector, the laser interferometer space antenna, for studying the orientational distribution of compact white dwarf binaries in the Galactic bulge. I pay special attention to measuring the dipole pattern of the distribution around the Galactic rotation axis. Based on the new formulation, which leverages the parity properties of the involved systems, I found that the apparent thickness of the bulge in the sky became critical for the dipole measurement. I also discuss the extra-Galactic studies for black hole binaries and neutron star binaries with midband detectors, such as the big bang observer and DECi-hertz interferometer gravitational wave observatory.

The QCD axion and axionlike particles are compelling candidates for galactic dark matter. Theoretically, axions can convert into photons in the presence of a strong external magnetic field, which means it is possible to search for them experimentally. One approach is to use radio telescopes with high-resolution spectrometers to look for axion-photon conversion in the magnetospheres of neutron stars. In this paper, we describe the results obtained using a novel approach where we used the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to search for radio transients produced by collisions between neutron stars and dark matter clumps known as axion miniclusters. We used the versatile GBT astronomical spectrometer and the X-band receiver (8–10 GHz) to observe the core of Andromeda. Our measurements are sensitive to axions with masses between 33 and $42\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$ with $\mathrm{\Delta }{m}_a=3.8\times {10}^{-4}\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$. This paper gives a description of the search method we developed, including observation and analysis strategies. Given our analysis algorithm choices and the instrument sensitivity ($\sim 2\mathrm{mJy}$ in each spectral channel), we did not find any candidate signals greater than $5\sigma$. We are currently implementing this search method in other spectral bands.

Rotating bosonic dark matter halos are considered as potential candidates for modeling dark matter in galactic halos. These bosonic dark matter halos can be viewed as a dilute and very extended version of bosonic stars, and the methods used for the calculation and analysis of the latter objects can be directly applied. Bosonic stars, a hypothetical type of astrophysical objects, are categorized into two primary families, based on the nature of the particles composing them: Einstein-Klein-Gordon stars and Proca stars. We examine various models from both families and the rotation curves which their contribution induces in different galaxies, to identify the most plausible candidates that explain the flattening of orbital velocities observed in galactic halos. By exploring different combinations of our dark matter models with observable galactic features, we propose an interesting source to compensate for the apparent lack of matter in dwarf and spiral galaxies, providing a possible explanation for this long-standing astronomical puzzle.

The speed of gravitational waves $v_g$ can be measured with the time delay between gravitational-wave detectors. Our study provides a more precise measurement of $v_g$ using gravitational-wave signals only, compared with previous studies. We select 52 gravitational-wave events that were detected with high confidence by at least two detectors in the first three observing runs (O1, O2, and O3) of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. We use Markov chain Monte Carlo and nested sampling to estimate the $v_g$ posterior distribution for each of those events. We then combine their posterior distributions to find the 90% credible interval of the combined $v_g$ distribution for which we obtain ${0.99}_{-0.02}^{+0.02}c$ without the use of more accurate sky localization from the electromagnetic signal associated with GW170817. Restricting attention to the 50 binary black hole events generates the same result, while the use of the electromagnetic sky localization for GW170817 gives a tighter constraint of ${0.99}_{-0.02}^{+0.01}c$. The abundance of gravitational wave events allows us to apply hierarchical Bayesian inference on the posterior samples to simultaneously constrain all nine coefficients for Lorentz violation in the nondispersive, nonbirefringent limit of the gravitational sector of the Standard-Model Extension test framework. We compare the hierarchical Bayesian inference method with other methods of combining limits on Lorentz violation in the gravity sector that are found in the literature.

Equal-time commutators of different components of the energy-momentum tensor at spatially separated points are calculated for a relativistic quantum Fermi gas at finite temperature and density. Different definitions of such components, also known as different pseudogauges, are used and smeared with a Gaussian profile characterized by the width $\sigma$. In this way, we introduce observables that may represent measurements of energy and momentum in a spatial region of size $\sigma$. We find that the obtained commutators are sensitive to the pseudogauge chosen if the probed systems or the spatial separation are small. The pseudogauge dependence is expected as different quantum operators are analyzed in this case. On the other hand, we find that for sufficiently large probed systems or with large separation, the studied commutators are pseudogauge independent.

Open system dynamics of an electron is studied in the presence of radiation field, confined between two parallel conducting pates. It has been suggested in previous works that the quantized zero-point modes of this field lead to finite decoherence effects, possibly due to the Casimir force. However, in this work it is shown that the decoherence found in previous works is due to the sudden switching on of the system-environment interaction and due to the acceleration of the electron enforced by the background paths whose superposition was analyzed. The work discusses important theoretical aspects of the setup and shows that, while coherence might be lost due to bremsstrahlung induced by an external or the image potential, it cannot be lost due to the mere presence of the quantum vacuum fluctuations between the plates.

Radiative symmetry breaking provides an appealing explanation for electroweak symmetry breaking and addresses the hierarchy problem. We present a comprehensive phenomenological study of this scenario, focusing on its key feature: the logarithmic-shaped potential. This potential gives rise to a relatively light scalar boson that mixes with the Higgs boson and leads to first-order phase transitions (FOPTs) in the early Universe. Our study includes providing exact and analytical solutions for the vacuum structure and scalar interactions, classifying four patterns of cosmic thermal history, and calculating the supercooled FOPT and gravitational waves (GWs). A detailed treatment of the FOPT dynamics reveals that an ultra-supercooled FOPT does not always imply strong GW signals, due to its short duration. By combining future collider and GW experiments, we can probe the conformal symmetry breaking scales up to ${10}^5–{10}^8\mathrm{GeV}$.

This work addresses the calculation of local form factors involved in the theoretical predictions of semileptonic $B$-meson decays at low $q^2$. We present a new approach to the method of QCD light-cone sum rule with $B$-meson light-cone distribution amplitudes. In our strategy, we bypass the semiglobal quark-hadron duality (QHD) approximation which usually contributes an unknown and potentially large systematic error to the prediction of form factors. We trade this improvement for an increased reliance on higher-order contributions in perturbation theory. Unlike the systematic error from semiglobal QHD, truncation errors are assessable and systematically improvable, hence allowing robust predictions of form factors. For the transitions $B\to \pi ,\rho ,K^{(*)}$, our predictions agree with the literature for all form factors at $q^2=0$.

The chiral magnetic effect and the chiral vortical effect induce a correlation between baryon and electric currents. We show that this correlation can be detected using a new observable: a mixed baryon-electric charge correlator. This correlator is proportional to the baryon asymmetry, suggesting a novel way to separate the chiral effects from the background in heavy-ion collisions.

Building on a previous work [Han et al., arXiv:2403.17492], we illustrate that the leading-twist light-cone distribution amplitudes (LCDAs) defined in heavy-quark effective theory (HQET) can be determined through lattice simulations of quasidistribution amplitudes (quasi-DAs) with a large momentum component $P^z$. Exploiting heavy-quark spin symmetry, we show that the LCDAs for a heavy pseudoscalar and vector meson in the context of HQET exhibit degeneracy, and the degeneracy allows for the utilization of quasi-DAs for both pseudoscalar and vector mesons on the lattice. We then derive the relevant short-distance coefficients for the matching between LCDAs defined with QCD fields and HQET LCDAs at the one-loop level. The incorporation of these three quasi-DAs can not only confirm the methodology introduced in Han et al. [arXiv:2403.17492] but also provides possible insight into power corrections. Discrepancies between the corresponding results offer a valuable perspective for estimating power corrections within the system which are imperative for precise investigations into heavy-meson LCDAs in the future particularly in the context of lattice QCD.

We calculate the $1D$, $2P$, and $2S$ mass spectra of the singly bottom baryons and their strong decay widths. The calculations are performed within a harmonic oscillator quark model that incorporates the spin, spin-orbit, isospin, and flavor interactions. To obtain the model parameters, we conducted a fit using only 13 of the 22 experimentally observed states. Our predictions align well with the observed states, showing a root-mean-square deviation of 9.6 MeV. We calculate the three-quark strong decay widths within the ${}^3{P}_0$ model, which has only one free parameter, the pair creation strength ${\gamma }_0$; this is the first time that the ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_b\eta$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b\rho$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b^{*}\rho$, ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_b{\eta }^{\prime }$, ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_b\omega$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_{b}K$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{\prime }K$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{*}K$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b{K}^{*}$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{\prime }{K}^{*}$, and ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{*}{K}^{*}$ channels have been considered in the calculation of the strong decay widths of the excited ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_b$ states; the ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b\eta$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_{b}K$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b\rho$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b^{*}\rho$, ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_b\rho$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b^{*}\eta$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b{\eta }^{\prime }$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b^{*}{\eta }^{\prime }$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{\prime }K$,${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{*}K$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b{K}^{*}$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{\prime }{K}^{*}$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{*}{K}^{*}$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b\omega$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b^{*}\omega$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_8{B}_s$, $\mathrm{\Delta }B$, $N(1520)B$, $N(1535)B$, $N(1680)B$, and $N(1720)B$ channels in the calculation of the strong decay widths of the excited ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b$ states; the ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_b{K}^{*}$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b\rho$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{\prime }\rho$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{*}\rho$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b{K}^{*}$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_b^{*}{K}^{*}$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b{\eta }^{\prime }$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{\prime }{\eta }^{\prime }$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{*}{\eta }^{\prime }$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b\omega$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{\prime }\omega$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{*}\omega$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b\varphi$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{\prime }\varphi$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{*}\varphi$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_8{B}_s$, ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_8{B}^{*}$, and ${\mathrm{\Sigma }}_{10}B$ channels in the calculation of the strong decay widths of the excited ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b$ and ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{\prime }$ states; the ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b{K}^{*}$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{\prime }{K}^{*}$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{*}{K}^{*}$, ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_b\eta$, ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_b^{*}\eta$, ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_b\varphi$, ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_b^{*}\varphi$, ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_b{\eta }^{\prime }$, ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_b^{*}{\eta }^{\prime }$, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_{8}B$, and ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_{10}B$ channels in the calculation of the strong decay widths of the ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_b$ states. Moreover, in Appendix D, we give the flavor couplings that can be useful for other articles. In Appendix E, our partial decay widths are reported for each open flavor channel; these may be useful to the LHCb, ATLAS, and CMS experimentalists in order to plan in which particular channels to look for missing bottom baryons. The experimental masses and widths of the discovered ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_b(6146{)}^0$ and ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_b(6152{)}^0$ states are consistent with our mass and width predictions for the $D_{\lambda }$ excitations with quantum numbers ${\mathbf{J}}^P={\frac{\mathbf{3}}{\mathbf{2}}}^{+}$ and ${\mathbf{J}}^P={\frac{\mathbf{5}}{\mathbf{2}}}^{+}$, respectively. Moreover, the masses and widths of the new ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b(6327{)}^0$ and ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b(6333{)}^0$ states agree with our calculations for the $D_{\lambda }$ excitations with quantum numbers ${\mathbf{J}}^P={\frac{\mathbf{3}}{\mathbf{2}}}^{+}$ and ${\mathbf{J}}^P={\frac{\mathbf{5}}{\mathbf{2}}}^{+}$, respectively. Finally, we calculate the electromagnetic decay widths from $P$-wave states to ground states. We give the exact analytical expressions of the spin-flip and orbit-flip transition amplitudes, both of which are functions of the photon-transferred momentum. The electromagnetic decays are dominant when the strong decays are suppressed. A relevant case is the ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_b^{-}$ missing spin excitation, with ${\mathbf{J}}^P={\frac{\mathbf{3}}{\mathbf{2}}}^{+}$, which cannot decay strongly, but has a nonvanishing predicted electromagnetic decay width in the ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_b^{-}\gamma$ channel. Therefore, we suggest the ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_b^{-}\gamma$ electromagnetic decay channel as a golden channel in which to search for this state. In all of our calculations, we report the uncertainties related to the experimental and model errors by means of the Monte Carlo bootstrap method.

We consider the energy-energy correlation (EEC) function in high-energy electron-positron annihilation to hadrons. In the back-to-back (two-jet) region, we perform the all-order resummation of the logarithmically enhanced contributions in QCD perturbation theory up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (${\mathrm{N}}^3\mathrm{LL}$) accuracy. Away from the back-to-back region, we consistently combine resummed predictions with the known fixed-order results up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO), and we are able to obtain an accurate fit of the $\mathcal{O}({\alpha }_S^3)$ remainder function from the numerical QCD computation of the full spectrum. All perturbative terms up to order ${\alpha }_S^3$ are included in our calculation, and a nontrivial cross-check in the back-to-back region is obtained by comparing the soft collinear effective theory analytic calculation against the corresponding numerical QCD computation. In particular, the values of the $\mathcal{O}({\alpha }_S^3)$ resummation coefficients have been numerically verified. We regularize the Landau singularity of the QCD coupling within the so-called minimal prescription, and we discuss the reduction of the perturbative scale dependence of distributions at higher orders, as a means to estimate the corresponding residual perturbative uncertainty. Finally, after introducing within a dispersive approach nonperturbative power corrections, we are able to obtain an accurate description of experimental data at the LEP and SLC accelerators.

We reveal the double pole structures of the manifestly exotic tetraquark state $X_1(2900)$ in the scenario of $P$-wave ${\overline{D}}^{*}{K}^{*}$ dimeson resonance. We find that the observed enhancement signal associated with $X_1(2900)$ in $B^{+}\to D^{+}{D}^{-}{K}^{+}$ by LHCb contains two $P$-wave poles denoted as $T_{cs1-}(2900)$ and $T_{cs1-}^{\prime }(2900)$, respectively. After considering the channel couplings among the $\overline{D}K$, ${\overline{D}}^{*}K$, $\overline{D}{K}^{*}$ and ${\overline{D}}^{*}{K}^{*}$ and the width of the $K^{*}$ meson, the masses and widths of the $S$-wave pole $T_{cs0+}(2900)$ and two $P$-wave poles $T_{cs1-}(2900)$ and $T_{cs1-}^{\prime }(2900)$ coincide with those of the $X_0(2900)$ and $X_1(2900)$ remarkably, which provides strong support for identifying $X_0(2900)$ and $X_1(2900)$ as ${\overline{D}}^{(*)}{K}^{(*)}$ dimeson states. Furthermore, we extensively calculate all $S$-wave and $P$-wave ${\overline{D}}^{(*)}{K}^{(*)}$ systems up to $J=3$ and predict four new isoscalar charmed-strange dimeson-type tetraquark states: an $S$-wave state $T_{cs1+}(2900)$ with quantum number $J^P=1^{+}$, three $P$-wave states $T_{cs1-}(2760)$ with $J^P=1^{-}$, $T_{cs0-}(2760)$ with $J^P=0^{-}$ and $T_{cs2-}(2900)$ with $J^P=2^{-}$. These near-threshold poles can be searched for at LHCb, Belle II and BESIII.

We investigate isoscalar axial-vector mesons using a coupled-channel formalism. The kernel amplitudes are constructed from meson-exchange diagrams in the $t$ and $u$ channels, which are derived from effective Lagrangians based on hidden local symmetry. We incorporate six channels: $\pi \rho$, $\eta \omega$, $K{\overline{K}}^{*}$, $\eta \varphi$, ${\eta }^{\prime }\omega$, and ${\eta }^{\prime }\varphi$, and solve the off-shell coupled integral equations. We first discuss the dynamical generation of the $h_1(1170)$. The pole diagram for $h_1(1595)$ has a certain effect on the generation of $h_1(1170)$. We observe two poles at $(1387-i6)\mathrm{MeV}$ and $(1452-i51)\mathrm{MeV}$, which exhibit a two-pole structure of the $h_1(1415)$ meson. This two-pole structure may resolve the discrepancy in the experimental data on the mass of $h_1(1415)$. The results show that the lower pole couples strongly to the $K{\overline{K}}^{*}$ channel, while the higher pole couples predominantly to the $\eta \varphi$ channel. This provides insights into the nature of $h_1$ mesons and explains possible discrepancies in the mass of $h_1(1415)$.