Decaying or annihilating dark matter particles could be detected through gamma-ray emission from the species they decay or annihilate into. This is usually done by modeling the flux from specific dark matter–rich objects such as the Milky Way halo, Local Group dwarfs, and nearby groups. However, these objects are expected to have significant emission from baryonic processes as well, and the analyses discard gamma-ray data over most of the sky. Here we construct full-sky templates for gamma-ray flux from the large-scale structure within $\sim 200\mathrm{Mpc}$ by means of a suite of constrained $N$-body simulations (csiborg) produced using the Bayesian Origin Reconstruction from Galaxies algorithm. Marginalizing over uncertainties in this reconstruction, small-scale structure, and parameters describing astrophysical contributions to the observed gamma-ray sky, we compare to observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to constrain dark matter annihilation cross sections and decay rates through a Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis. We rule out the thermal relic cross section for $s$-wave annihilation for all $m_{\chi }\lesssim 7\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ at 95% confidence if the annihilation produces gluons or quarks less massive than the bottom quark. We infer a contribution to the gamma-ray sky with the same spatial distribution as dark matter decay at $3.3\sigma$. Although this could be due to dark matter decay via these channels with a decay rate $\mathrm{\Gamma }\approx 6\times {10}^{-28}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, we find that a power-law spectrum of index $p=-{2.75}_{-0.46}^{+0.71}$, likely of baryonic origin, is preferred by the data.

Stimulated Hawking radiation in an analog black hole in a Bose-Einstein condensate was reported in 2014, and it was claimed that the stimulation was of the black hole lasing variety. The study was based on the observation of rapidly growing negative-energy waves. We find that the correlations between the Hawking and partner particles are directly observable in the experimental plots, which confirms the stimulated Hawking radiation. We further verify this result with new measurements. Also, the observed Hawking/partner correlations provide a sensitive, background-free probe of the underlying mechanism of the stimulation. The experiment inspired the prediction of the Bogoliubov-Cherenkov-Landau (BCL) mechanism of stimulated Hawking radiation. Through a numerical simulation in which the BCL mechanism is suppressed, we find that the partner particles have an infrared cutoff due to the finite distance between the outer and inner horizons, which limits the rate of black hole lasing. We compute this cutoff for the experiment, and the resulting Bogoliubov coefficient, and black hole lasing rate. This analysis shows that the growth rate of black hole lasing is too slow to explain the observations. It is likely that the observed stimulation was due to the BCL mechanism. Furthermore, zero frequency lasing modes play no role in our numerical simulation.

The decay process ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_b^{-}\to p{K}^{-}{K}^{-}$ is studied with the final-state interaction approach by considering the contributions from the $S$-wave meson-baryon interactions, and also the intermediate state $\mathrm{\Lambda }(1520)$ in the $D$-wave. The low-lying resonances $\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)$ and $\mathrm{\Lambda }(1670)$ have significant contributions, which are both dynamically generated from the $S$-wave final-state interactions with isospin $I=0$. Furthermore, the $\mathrm{\Lambda }(1520)$ state also has important contributions from $D$-wave. With these resonances contributions, the experimental data of the lower $p{K}^{-}$ invariant mass distributions are well-described. We also discuss the contribution of another resonance in the $S$-wave with isospoin $I=1$, which cannot be ignored. Moreover, some of the branching fractions obtained for the corresponding decay channels are consistent with the experimental measurements.

We consider the upscattering of atmospheric neutrinos in the interior of Earth producing heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) which subsequently decay inside large volume detectors (e.g., Super-Kamiokande or DUNE). We compute the flux of upscattered HNLs arriving at a detector and the resultant event rate of visible decay products. Using Super-Kamiokande’s atmospheric neutrino dataset we find new leading constraints for dipole couplings to any flavor with HNL masses between roughly 10 and 100 MeV. For mass mixing with tau neutrinos, we probe new parameter space near HNL masses of $\sim 20\mathrm{MeV}$ with prospects for substantial future improvements. We also discuss prospects at future experiments such as DUNE, JUNO, and Hyper-Kamiokande.

We discuss two models that are part of a class providing a common explanation for lepton flavor universality violation in $b\to s{l}^{+}{l}^{-}$ decays, the dark matter (DM) problem and the muon ($g-2$) anomaly. The $B$ meson decays and the muon ($g-2$) anomalies are explained by additional one-loop diagrams with DM candidates. The models have one extra fermion field and two extra scalar fields relative to the Standard Model. The $SU(3)$ quantum numbers are fixed by the interaction with the Standard Model fermions in a new Yukawa Lagrangian that connects the dark and the visible sectors. We compare two models, one where the fermion is a singlet and the scalars are doublets under $SU(2{)}_L$ and another one where the fermion is a doublet and the scalars are singlets under $SU(2{)}_L$. We conclude that both models can explain all of the previously mentioned issues simultaneously, while satisfying all other flavor and DM constraints. However, there are crucial differences between how the DM constraints affect the two models leading to a noticeable difference in the allowed DM mass range.

Transverse momentum-dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs) provide three-dimensional imaging of the nucleon in momentum space. With its fundamental importance in understanding the spin structure of the nucleon, the precise measurement of TMDs is considered one of the main physics topics of the proposed Electron-Ion Collider in China (EicC). In this paper, we investigate the impact of future semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) data from EicC on the extraction of TMDs. Taking the Sivers function as an example, we revisited the world SIDIS data, which serves as the input for the simulated EicC data. By performing a combined analysis of the world data and the EicC simulated data, we quantitatively demonstrate that the Sivers functions can be precisely determined for various quark flavors, especially for sea quarks, in the region, $x>0.005$, directly covered by the EicC.

In this paper we investigate the next-to-leading power contribution to the $B_s\to \gamma \gamma$ and $B_s\to \gamma \ell \overline{\ell }$ decays from the strange quark mass effect with the dispersion approach which is QCD inspired and more predictive. We present the analytic expression of the quark mass contribution in the $B_s\to \gamma \gamma$ and $B_s\to \gamma \ell \overline{\ell }$ decays, together with a new term that is missed in the previous study. We also evaluate the resolved photon contribution from the A-type amplitude in $B_s\to \gamma \ell \overline{\ell }$ decay. The numerical results of the strange quark mass contribution to the $B_s\to \gamma \gamma$ decay is about 6% relative to the total branching ratio, while it is relatively small in the $B_s\to \gamma \ell \overline{\ell }$ decay due to the large resonance contribution.

We report details on the axion dark matter search experiment that uses the new technologies of a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet and a Josephson parametric converter (JPC). An 18 T HTS solenoid magnet is developed for this experiment. The JPC is used as the first stage amplifier to achieve a near quantum-limited low-noise condition. A first dark-matter axion search was performed with the 18 T axion haloscope [Youngjae Lee et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 241805 (2022)]. The scan frequency range is from 4.7789 GHz to 4.8094 GHz (30.5 MHz range). No significant signal consistent with Galactic dark matter axion is observed. Our results set the best limit of the axion-photon-photon coupling ($g_{a\gamma \gamma }$) in the axion mass range of $19.764–19.890\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$. Using the Bayesian method, the upper bounds of $g_{a\gamma \gamma }$ are set at $0.98\times |g_{a\gamma \gamma }^{\mathrm{KSVZ}}|$ ($1.11\times |g_{a\gamma \gamma }^{\mathrm{KSVZ}}|$) in the mass ranges of $19.764–19.771\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$ (19.863 to $19.890\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$), and at $1.76\times |g_{a\gamma \gamma }^{\mathrm{KSVZ}}|$ in the mass ranges of $19.772–19.863\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$ with 90% confidence level, respectively. We report design, construction, operation, and data analysis of the 18 T axion haloscope experiment.

We exhibit a mechanism that dynamically adjusts the cosmological constant toward $0^{+}$. The adjustment is quantum mechanical, discharging the cosmological constant in random discrete steps. It renders de Sitter space unstable and triggers its decay toward Minkowski. Since the instability dynamically stops at $\mathrm{\Lambda }=0$, the evolution favors the terminal Minkowski space without a need for anthropics. The mechanism works for any quantum field theory coupled to gravity.

We present a new technique for measuring the stray electric field in precision space inertial sensors by modulating the electric charge of a free-falling test mass and measuring the resulting coherent Coulomb force. The free charge of the test mass is controlled by ultraviolet photoemission using a pulsed light source synchronized with an oscillating potential capacitively induced on the test mass. We can modulate the test mass charge sinusoidally at an arbitrarily chosen frequency by varying the phase of the UV light pulses relative to the induced test mass potential at the appropriate rate. This technique allows us to optimize the precision of the measurement by choosing a modulation frequency that is within the most sensitive band of the sensor. We present an experimental validation of this approach using an inertial sensor integrated with a torsion pendulum, measuring the equivalent stray potential of the sensor with milliVolt precision in ${10}^4\mathrm{s}$. We discuss the applicability of this technique for the upcoming Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) gravitational-wave observatory.

We report on the first calculation of the longitudinal and transverse light front distribution amplitudes of the $D^{*}$ and $D_s^{*}$ mesons and their first four moments. As a by-product, we also obtain these distribution amplitudes for the $\rho$, $\varphi$, $K^{*}$, and $J/\mathrm{\Psi }$ mesons and confirm a prediction of lattice QCD for the vector kaon: while the longitudinal distribution amplitude is almost symmetric, the transverse one is oblique implying that the strange quark carries more momentum.

We derive new functional renormalization group flows for quantum gravity, in any dimension. The key new achievement is that the equations apply for any theory of gravity whose underlying $\mathrm{Lagrangian}\sim f(R_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma })$ is a function of the Riemann tensor and the inverse metric. The results centrally exploit the benefits of maximally symmetric spaces for the evaluation of operator traces. The framework is highly versatile and offers a wide range of new applications to study quantum gravitational effects in extensions of Einstein gravity, many of which have hitherto been out of reach. The phase diagram and sample flows for Einstein-Hilbert gravity, Gauss-Bonnet, and selected higher-order theories of gravity are given. We also provide an algorithm to find the flow for general polynomial Riemann curvature interactions. The setup vastly enhances the reach of fixed point searches, enabling novel types of search strategies including across the operator space spanned by polynomial curvature invariants, and in extensions of general relativity relevant for cosmology. Further implications and links with unimodular versions of gravity are indicated.

The Higgs branch of 4D $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal field theories can be analyzed via the Hilbert series of the Higgs branch or, in special cases, by computing the Hall-Littlewood index. For any class $\mathcal{S}$ theory corresponding to a genus-zero Riemann surface, they are conjectured to be identical. We present several families of counterexamples. We find that for any class $\mathcal{S}$ theory with four or more ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$-twisted punctures, they do not match. We construct 3D mirrors for such theories and analyze their Coulomb branch Hilbert series to compute the Higgs branch Hilbert series of the 4D theory. We further construct $a=c$ theories in class $\mathcal{S}$ using the twisted punctures, and these theories, which includes the ${\widehat{D}}_4(SU(2n+1))$ theories, have Hall-Littlewood index different from the Hilbert series of the Higgs branch. We conjecture that this is the case for all $a=c$ theories with nonempty Higgs branch, including $\mathcal{N}\ge 3$ superconformal field theories.

It has been shown that the non-Abelian solitonic vortex string supported in four-dimensional (4D) $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric QCD (SQCD) with the U(2) gauge group and $N_f=4$ quark flavors becomes a critical superstring. This string propagates in the ten-dimensional space formed by a product of the flat 4D space and an internal space given by a Calabi-Yau noncompact threefold, namely, the conifold. The spectrum of low-lying closed string states in the associated type-IIA string theory was found and interpreted as a spectrum of hadrons in 4D $\mathcal{N}=2$ SQCD. In particular, the lowest string state appears to be a massless BPS baryon associated with the deformation of the complex structure modulus $b$ of the conifold. In the previous work the deformation of the ten-dimensional background with nonzero Neveu-Schwarz 3-form flux was considered and interpreted as a switching on a particular choice of quark masses in 4D SQCD. This deformation was studied to leading order at small 3-form flux. In this paper we study the back reaction of the nonzero 3-form flux on the metric and the dilaton introducing the ansatz with several warp factors and solving the gravity equations of motion. We show that 3-form flux produces a potential for the conifold complex structure modulus $b$, which leads to the runaway vacuum. At the runaway vacuum warp factors disappear, while the conifold degenerates. In 4D SQCD we relate this to the flow to the U(1) gauge theory upon switching on quark masses and decoupling of two flavors.

We consider the analytic continuation of ($p+q$)-dimensional Minkowski space (with $p$ and $q$ even) to $(p,q)$ signature, and study the conformal boundary of the resulting “Klein space.” Unlike the familiar $(-+++\cdots )$ signature, now the null infinity $\mathcal{I}$ has only one connected component. The spatial and timelike infinities ($i^0$ and $i^{\prime }$) are quotients of generalizations of AdS spaces to nonstandard signature. Together, $\mathcal{I}$, $i^0$, and $i^{\prime }$ combine to produce the topological boundary $S^{p+q-1}$ as an $S^{p-1}\times S^{q-1}$ fibration over a null segment. The highest weight states (the $L$-primaries) and descendants of $SO(p,q)$ with integral weights give rise to natural scattering states. One can also define $H$-primaries which are highest weight with respect to a signature-mixing version of the Cartan-Weyl generators that leave a point on the celestial $S^{p-1}\times S^{q-1}$ fixed. These correspond to massless particles that emerge at that point and are Mellin transforms of plane wave states.

For a given entanglement entropy of quantum field theory, we investigate how to reconstruct its dual geometry by applying the Ryu-Takayanagi formula and the deep learning method. In the holographic setup, the radial coordinate is identified with the energy scale of the dual quantum field theory. Therefore, the holographic dual geometry can describe how physical properties of a quantum field theory change along the renormalization group flow. Intriguingly, we show that the reconstructed geometry only from the entanglement entropy data can give us more information about other physical properties like thermodynamic quantities in the infrared region.

Any approach to pure quantum gravity must eventually face the question of coupling quantum matter to the theory. In the past, several ways of coupling matter to spin foam quantum gravity have been proposed, but the dynamics of the coupled matter-gravity system is challenging to explore. To take first steps toward uncovering the influence quantum matter has on spin foam models, we couple free, massive scalar lattice field theory to a restricted, semiclassical 4D spin foam model, called quantum cuboids. This model can be understood as a superposition of hypercuboidal (and, thus, irregular) lattices. Both theories are coupled by defining scalar lattice field theory on irregular lattices via discrete exterior calculus and then superimposing these theories by summing over spin foam configurations. We compute expectation values of geometric and matter observables using Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques. From the observables, we identify a regime in parameter space, in which the spin foam possesses a finite total volume and looks on average like a regular lattice with an emergent lattice spacing dependent on the mass of the scalar field. We also measure the two-point correlation function and correlation length of the scalar field in relation to the geodesic distance encoded in the spin foam. Our results are consistent with the correlation function of ordinary scalar lattice field theory defined on a fixed regular lattice with the emergent lattice spacing and the same mass. We conclude that, in this regime of the model, the scalar field is not sensitive to the fluctuations of the spin foam and effectively behaves as if it is defined on a fixed regular lattice.