Effective Field Theory Research Articles

Numerical tests of the large charge expansion

We perform Monte-Carlo measurements of two and three-point functions of charged operators in the critical O(2) model in 3 dimensions. Our results are compatible with the predictions of the large charge superfluid effective field theory. To obtain reliable measurements for large values of the charge, we improved the Worm algorithm and devised a measurement scheme which mitigates the uncertainties due to lattice and finite size effects.

Study on the sensitivity of the Higgs boson couplings in photon–photon collision at CLIC and muon collider

In a model-independent way, we explore the potential of photon-induced interactions with the process γ*γ* → ZZ to investigate CP-conserving and CP-violating dimension-six operators of Higgs-gauge boson couplings using the standard model effective field theory. The existence of anomalous H γ γ and HZZ couplings is discussed at 3 TeV compact linear collider (CLIC) and 10 TeV muon collider (MuC) with integrated luminosities of 5 and 10 ab−1, respectively. All signal and relevant background events are generated in MadGraph and passed through PYTHIA for parton showering and hadronization. The detector effects are evaluated using CLIC and MuC detector cards tuned in Delphes. We report the 95% confidence level limits on the Wilson coefficients c¯γ , c¯HB , c¯HW , c̃γ , c̃HB , and c̃HW and compare them with the experimental and phenomenological limits.

Beta functions of 2D adjoint QCD

We discuss the long-distance physics of 2D adjoint QCD when it is viewed as an effective field theory and determine the β functions for its two classically marginal four-Fermi operators. These four-fermion terms preserve the invertible symmetries of the kinetic terms, and they have important implications at long distances if they are generated at short distances. Our results are likely to be important for future numerical lattice Monte Carlo studies of 2D adjoint QCD. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Holography of linear dilaton spacetimes from the bottom up

The linear dilaton (LD) background is the keystone of a string-derived holographic correspondence beyond AdSd+1/CFTd. This motivates an exploration of the (d+1)-dimensional linear dilaton spacetime (LDd+1) and its holographic properties from the low-energy viewpoint. We first notice that the LDd+1 space has simple conformal symmetries, that we use to shape an effective field theory (EFT) on the LD background. We then place a brane in the background to study holography at the level of quantum fields and gravity. We find that the holographic correlators from the EFT feature a pattern of singularities at certain kinematic thresholds. We argue that such singularities can be used to bootstrap the putative d-dimensional dual theory using techniques analogous to those of the cosmological bootstrap program. Turning on finite temperature, we study the holographic fluid emerging on the brane in the presence of a bulk black hole. We find that the holographic fluid is pressureless for any d due to a cancellation between Weyl curvature and dilaton stress tensor, and verify consistency with the time evolution of the theory. From the fluid thermodynamics, we find a universal temperature and Hagedorn behavior for any d. This matches the properties of a CFT2 with large TT¯ deformation, and of little string theory for d=6. We also find that the holographic fluid entropy exactly matches the bulk black hole Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. Both the fluid equation of state and the spectrum of quantum fluctuations suggest that the d-dimensional dual theory arising from LDd+1 is generically gapped. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

B-modes from galaxy cluster alignments in future surveys

Intrinsic alignment (IA) of source galaxies represents an important contaminant for upcoming cosmic shear surveys. In particular, it is expected on general grounds that IA contains a B-mode while the weak lensing signal does not. Thus, a detection of B-modes offers the possibility to study directly the IA signal of the sources. Galaxy clusters exhibit strong IA and are therefore a natural candidate to look for a B-mode signal. We forecast the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for B-modes from IA of galaxy clusters in the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). We use a perturbative model for the IA multipoles based on the Effective Field Theory of Intrinsic Alignments (EFT of IA), which has recently been validated against N-body simulations. We forecast SNR ≈12 and find that this detectability is not significantly impacted by different analysis choices. Lastly, we also apply our forecast to clusters in the redMaPPer SDSS and DESY1 samples. We find SNR ≈5 and SNR ≈3, respectively, suggesting a detection is within reach, provided accurate redshift information is available.

Combining chromomagnetic and four-fermion operators with leading SMEFT operators for gg → hh at NLO QCD

We present the calculation of the contribtuions from the chromomagnetic and four-top-quark-operators within Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) to Higgs boson pair production in gluon fusion, combined with QCD corrections that are at NLO with full mt-dependence for the leading operators. We study the effects of these operators on the total cross section and the invariant mass distribution of the Higgs-boson pair, at \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\sqrt{s}$$\\end{document} = 13.6 TeV. These subleading operators are implemented in the generator ggHH_SMEFT, in the same Powheg-Box-V2 framework as the leading operators, such that their effects can be easily studied in a unified setup.

Sudden breakdown of effective field theory near cool Kerr-Newman black holes

It was recently shown that (near-)extremal Kerr black holes are sensitive probes of small higher-derivative corrections to general relativity. In particular, these corrections produce diverging tidal forces on the horizon in the extremal limit. We show that adding a black hole charge makes this effect qualitatively stronger. Higher-derivative corrections to the Kerr-Newman solution produce tidal forces that scale inversely in the black hole temperature. We find that, unlike the Kerr case, for realistic values of the black hole charge large tidal forces can arise before quantum corrections due to the Schwarzian mode become important, so that the near-horizon behavior of the black hole is dictated by higher-derivative terms in the effective theory.

Semi-inclusive single-jet production in DIS at next-to-leading order in the Color Glass Condensate

Within the Color Glass Condensate (CGC) effective field theory, we derive the next-to-leading order (NLO) cross-section for the single-jet semi-inclusive cross-section in deep inelastic scattering (DIS) at small x, for both longitudinally and transversely polarized virtual photons. We provide analytic expressions, valid at finite Nc and suitable for numerical evaluation, for both the cross-section differential in rapidity and transverse momentum and the cross-section differential in rapidity only. Our NLO formulae demonstrate that the very forward rapidity regime is plagued by large double logarithmic corrections coming from phase space constraints on soft gluons close to the kinematic threshold for jet production. A joint resummation of small-x and threshold logarithms at single logarithmic accuracy is proposed to remedy the instability of the cross-section in this regime. By integrating over the single-jet phase space, we recover known results for the NLO DIS structure functions at small x, previously obtained using the optical theorem.

First constraints on WIMP-nucleon effective field theory couplings in an extended energy region from LUX-ZEPLIN

Following the first science results of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber operating from the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA, we report the initial limits on a model-independent nonrelativistic effective field theory describing the complete set of possible interactions of a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) with a nucleon. These results utilize the same 5.5 t fiducial mass and 60 live days of exposure collected for the LZ spin-independent and spin-dependent analyses while extending the upper limit of the energy region of interest by a factor of 7.5 to 270 keV. No significant excess in this high energy region is observed. Using a profile-likelihood ratio analysis, we report 90% confidence level exclusion limits on the coupling of each individual nonrelativistic WIMP-nucleon operator for both elastic and inelastic interactions in the isoscalar and isovector bases. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Tuning to the edge of the abyss in SU(5)

I show that if a dimensionless parameter is tuned to be close to the boundary of the positivity domain and symmetry breaking is driven by a cubic term in the Lagrangian, the scale of the physics of symmetry breaking in a quantum field theory as measured by the Higgs mass can be much greater than the dimensional scales in the classical Lagrangian. Radiative corrections produce large and physically important corrections, helping to stabilize the large VEV. The resulting picture contrasts sharply with the “modern” view of QFT as an effective field theory. I describe how this mechanism might produce the GUT scale in an SU(5) model in which the dimensional parameters in the Lagrangian are at the low scale.

Low-Energy Dipole Strength in 8\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$^8$$\\end{document}He

In this work, we present new ab initio coupled-cluster calculations of dipole-excited state properties of 8\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$^8$$\\end{document}He based on the chiral effective field theory interaction 1.8/2.0 (EM). We focus on the dipole polarizability, and compare the results to our previous study [Phys. Rev. C 105, 034313 (2022)] and subsequent theoretical work. With the aim of connecting the presence of low-lying dipole strength to structure properties of 8\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$^8$$\\end{document}He, we compute the point-neutron radius, finding excellent agreement with available experimental data, and investigate its correlation with the dipole polarizability.

Walls, bubbles and doom — the cosmology of HEFT

As experiment charts new territory at the electroweak scale, the enterprise to characterise all possible theories becomes all the more necessary. In the absence of new particles, this ambitious enterprise is attainable and has led to the Higgs Effective Field Theory (HEFT) as the most general characterising framework, containing the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) as a subspace. The characterisation of this theory space led to the dichotomy SMEFT vs. HEFT SMEFT as the two possible realisations of symmetry breaking. The criterion to distinguish these two possibilities is non-local in field space, and phenomena which explore field space beyond the neighbourhood of the vacuum manifold are in a singular position to tell them apart. Cosmology allows for such phenomena, and this work focuses on HEFT SMEFT, the less explored of the two options, to find that first order phase transitions with detectable gravitational wave remnants, domain wall formation and vacuum decay in the far, far distant future can take place and single out HEFT SMEFT. Results in cosmology are put against LHC constraints, and the potential of future ground- and space-based experiments to cover parameter space is discussed.

Species Scale and Primordial Gravitational Waves

AbstractThe species scale is a field‐dependent UV cut‐off for any effective field theory weakly coupled to gravity. In this letter, it is shown that in the context of inflationary cosmology, a detection of primordial gravitational waves will set an upper bound on the decay rate of the species scale. Specifically, this is derived in terms of the tensor‐to‐scalar ratio of power spectra of primordial perturbations. Given the targets of current and next generation experiments, it is shown that any successful detection would signify that this upper limit is of the order of unity, which is consistent with recent discussions in the literature.

Constraining new physics models from μ→e\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mu \\rightarrow e $$\\end{document} observables in bottom-up EFT

Upcoming experiments will improve the sensitivity to μ→e\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mu \\rightarrow e$$\\end{document} processes by several orders of magnitude, and could observe lepton flavour-changing contact interactions for the first time. In this paper, we investigate what could be learned about New Physics from the measurements of these μ→e\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mu \\rightarrow e$$\\end{document} observables, using a bottom-up effective field theory (EFT) approach and focusing on three popular models with new particles around the TeV scale (the type II seesaw, the inverse seesaw and a scalar leptoquark). We showed in a previous publication that μ→e\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mu \\rightarrow e$$\\end{document} observables have the ability to rule out these models because none can fill the whole experimentally accessible parameter space. In this work we give more details on our EFT formalism and present more complete results. We discuss the impact of some observables complementary to μ→e\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mu \\rightarrow e$$\\end{document} transitions (such as the neutrino mass scale and ordering, and LFV τ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\ au $$\\end{document} decays) and draw attention to the interesting appearance of Jarlskog-like invariants in our expressions for the low-energy Wilson coefficients.

Radiative corrections for factorized jet observables in heavy ion collisions

I look at the renormalization of the medium structure function and a medium induced jet function in a factorized cross section for jet substructure observables in Heavy Ion collisions. This is based on the formalism developed in [1], which uses an Open quantum system approach combined with the Effective Field Theory (EFT) for forward scattering to derive a factorization formula for jet observables which work as hard probes of a long lived dilute Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) medium. I show that the universal medium structure function that captures the observable independent physics of the QGP has both rapidity and UV anomalous dimensions that appear due to medium induced Bremsstrahlung. The resulting Renormalization Group (RG) equations correspond to the BFKL equation and the running of the QCD coupling respectively. I present the first results for the numerical impact of resummation using these RG equations on the mean free path of the jet in the medium. I also briefly discuss the prospects of extending this formalism for a short lived dense medium.

Effective field theories and finite-temperature properties of zero-dimensional superradiant quantum phase transitions

Effective field theories and finite-temperature properties of zero-dimensional superradiant quantum phase transitions

Non-minimal coupling, negative null energy, and effective field theory

The non-minimal coupling of scalar fields to gravity has been claimed to violate energy conditions, leading to exotic phenomena such as traversable wormholes, even in classical theories. In this work we adopt the view that the non-minimal coupling can be viewed as part of an effective field theory (EFT) in which the field value is controlled by the theory’s cutoff. Under this assumption, the average null energy condition, whose violation is necessary to allow traversable wormholes, is obeyed both classically and in the context of quantum field theory. In addition, we establish a type of "smeared" null energy condition in the non-minimally coupled theory, showing that the null energy averaged over a region of spacetime obeys a state dependent bound, in that it depends on the allowed field range. We finally motivate our EFT assumption by considering when the gravity plus matter path integral remains semi-classically controlled.

Complexity in tame quantum theories

Inspired by the notion that physical systems can contain only a finite amount of information or complexity, we introduce a framework that allows for quantifying the amount of logical information needed to specify a function or set. We then apply this methodology to a variety of physical systems and derive the complexity of parameter-dependent physical observables and coupling functions appearing in effective Lagrangians. In order to implement these ideas, it is essential to consider physical theories that can be defined in an o-minimal structure. O-minimality, a concept from mathematical logic, encapsulates a tameness principle. It was recently argued that this property is inherent to many known quantum field theories and is linked to the UV completion of the theory. To assign a complexity to each statement in these theories one has to further constrain the allowed o-minimal structures. To exemplify this, we show that many physical systems can be formulated using Pfaffian o-minimal structures, which have a well-established notion of complexity. More generally, we propose adopting sharply o-minimal structures, recently introduced by Binyamini and Novikov, as an overarching framework to measure complexity in quantum theories.

EFTofLSS meets simulation-based inference: σ 8 from biased tracers

Cosmological inferences typically rely on explicit expressions for the likelihood and covariance of the data vector, which normally consists of a set of summary statistics. However, in the case of nonlinear large-scale structure, exact expressions for either likelihood or covariance are unknown, and even approximate expressions can become very cumbersome, depending on the scales and summary statistics considered. Simulation-based inference (SBI), in contrast, does not require an explicit form for the likelihood but only a prior and a simulator, thereby naturally circumventing these issues. In this paper, we explore how this technique can be used to infer σ 8 from a Lagrangian effective field theory (EFT) based forward model for biased tracers. The power spectrum and bispectrum are used as summary statistics to obtain the posterior of the cosmological, bias and noise parameters via neural density estimation. We compare full simulation-based inference with cases where the data vector is drawn from a Gaussian likelihood with sample and analytical covariances. We conclude that, for k max = 0.1hMpc-1 and 0.2hMpc-1, the form of the covariance is more important than the non-Gaussianity of the likelihood, although this conclusion is expected to depend on the cosmological parameter inferred, the summary statistics considered and range of scales probed.

Analysis of BOSS galaxy data with weighted skew-spectra

We present the first application of the weighted skew-spectra to analyze non-Gaussian information in galaxy survey data. Using the tree-level galaxy skew-spectra together with the one-loop power spectrum multipoles, we analyze the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) galaxy clustering data, and target our search towards the equilateral bispectrum shape of primordial non-Gaussianity. We use the Effective Field Theory model for the galaxy power spectrum and bispectrum, and account for systematic effects, such as the survey geometry. From our likelihood analysis, we find f NL equil = -34+296 -334 at 68% CL, consistent with previous works, while systematic errors from our treatment of the survey geometry lead to an unreliable estimation of f NL ortho. We further constrain the bias and counterterm parameters, while keeping the cosmology fixed to Planck 2018 values. As a check, we also validate our analysis pipeline using the Nseries simulation suite.