Large Extra Dimensions Research Articles

Search for new phenomena in events with a photon and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at s = 13 $$ \sqrt{s}=13 $$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in events with an energetic photon and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 $\rm fb^{-1}$. The observed data are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. Exclusion limits are presented in models of new phenomena including pair production of dark matter candidates or large extra spatial dimensions. In a simplified model of dark matter and an axial-vector mediator, the search excludes mediator masses of up to 710 GeV for dark matter candidate masses up to 150 GeV. In an effective theory of dark matter production, values of the suppression scale $M_*$ up to 570 GeV are excluded and the effect of truncation for various coupling values is reported. For the ADD large extra spatial dimension model the search places more stringent limits than earlier searches in the same event topology, excluding $M_{\rm D}$ up to about 2.3 (2.8) TeV for two (six) additional spatial dimensions; the limits are reduced by 20--40% depending on the number of additional spatial dimensions when applying a truncation procedure.

Scalar dark matter in an extra dimension inspired model

In this work we consider a singlet scalar propagating in a flat large extra dimension. The first Kaluza-Klein mode associated to this singlet scalar will be a viable dark matter candidate. The tower of new particles enriches the calculation of the relic density due effect of coannihilation. For large mass splitting, the model converges to the predictions of the singlet dark matter model. For nearly degenerate mass spectrum, coannihilations increase the cross-sections used for direct and indirect dark matter searches. We investigate the impact of the Kaluza-Klein tower associated to singlet scalar for indirect and direct detection of dark matter.

Radiation of charged black holes and modified dispersion relation

We investigate the effects of a modified dispersion relation proposed by Majhi and Vagenas on the Reissner-Nordstrom black hole thermodynamics in a universe with large extra dimensions. It is shown that entropy, temperature and heat capacity receive new corrections and charged black holes in this framework have less degrees of freedom and decay faster compared to black holes in the Hawking picture. We also study the emission rate of black hole and compare our results with other quantum gravity approaches. In this regard, the existence of the logarithmic prefactor and the relation between dimensions and charge are discussed. This procedure is not only valid for a single horizon spacetime but it is also valid for the spacetimes with inner and outer horizons.

Search for contact interactions and large extra dimensions in the dilepton final state using proton-proton collisions at [formula omitted] with the ATLAS detector

A search is conducted for non-resonant new phenomena in dielectron and dimuon final states, originating from either contact interactions (CI) or large extra dimensions (LED). The full LHC 2012 proton-proton collision dataset at s=8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector is used, corresponding to 20 fb-1. The invariant mass spectrum is used as a discriminating variable and for the first time in ATLAS CI searches, angular information is used to construct a forward-backward asymmetry to increase the search sensitivity. Lower limits are set on the CI scale Λ between 15.4 TeV and 26.3 TeV, and on the string scale MS for large extra spatial dimensions, from 3.2 TeV to 5.0 TeV. This 8 TeV result includes additional CI helicity models and LED formalism results to the 7 TeV ATLAS search.

Constraining new physics scenarios in neutrino oscillations

We consider the data of the Daya Bay experiment to constrain the parameter space of models where sterile neutrinos can propagate in a large compactified extra dimension (LED) and models where non-standard interactions affect the neutrino production and detection (NSI). I will show that compactification radius R in LED scenarios can be constrained at the level of 0.57 μm for normal ordering and of 0.19 μm for inverted ordering, at 2σ confidence level. For the NSI model, reactor data put a strong upper bound on the parameter εee at the level of 10-3, whereas the main effect of εeμ and εeτ is a worsening of the determination of θ13.

Neutrino oscillations with MINOS and MINOS+

The MINOS experiment ran from 2003 until 2012 and collected a data sample including 10.71×1020 protons-on-target (POT) of beam neutrinos, 3.36×1020 POT of beam antineutrinos and an atmospheric neutrino exposure of 37.88 kt yrs. The final measurement of the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters, Δm322 and θ23, came from a full three flavour oscillation analysis of the combined CC νμ and CC ν‾μ beam and atmospheric samples and the CC νe and CC ν‾e appearance samples. This analysis yielded the most precise measurement of the atmospheric mass splitting Δm322 performed to date. The results are |Δm322|=[2.28–2.46]×10−3 eV2 (68%) and sin2⁡θ23=0.35–0.65 (90%) in the normal hierarchy, and |Δm322|=[2.32–2.53]×10−3 eV2 (68%) and sin2⁡θ23=0.34–0.67 (90%) in the inverted hierarchy. The successor to MINOS in the NOνA era at FNAL, MINOS+, is now collecting data mostly in the 3–10 GeV region, and an analysis of νμ disappearance using the first 2.99×1020 POT of data produced results very consistent with those from MINOS. Future data will further test the standard neutrino oscillation paradigm and allow for improved searches for exotic phenomena including sterile neutrinos, large extra dimensions and non-standard interactions.

SLED phenomenology: curvature vs. volume

We assess the question whether the SLED (Supersymmetric Large Extra Dimensions) model admits phenomenologically viable solutions with 4D maximal symmetry. We take into account a finite brane width and a scale invariance (SI) breaking dilaton-brane coupling, both of which should be included in a realistic setup. Provided that the microscopic size of the brane is not tuned much smaller than the fundamental bulk Planck length, we find that either the 4D curvature or the size of the extra dimensions is unacceptably large. Since this result is independent of the dilaton-brane couplings, it provides the biggest challenge to the SLED program. In addition, to clarify its potential with respect to the cosmological constant problem, we infer the amount of tuning on model parameters required to obtain a sufficiently small 4D curvature. A first answer was recently given in [arXiv:1508.01124], showing that 4D flat solutions are only ensured in the SI case by imposing a tuning relation, even if a brane-localized flux is included. In this companion paper, we find that the tuning can in fact be avoided for certain SI breaking brane-dilaton couplings, but only at the price of worsening the phenomenological problem. Our results are obtained by solving the full coupled Einstein-dilaton system in a completely consistent way. The brane width is implemented using a well-known ring regularization. In passing, we note that for the couplings considered here the results of [arXiv:1508.01124] (which only treated infinitely thin branes) are all consistently recovered in the thin brane limit, and how this can be reconciled with the concerns about their correctness, recently brought up in [arXiv:1509.04201].

Black hole based tests of general relativity

General relativity has passed all solar system experiments and neutron star based tests, such as binary pulsar observations, with flying colors. A more exotic arena for testing general relativity is in systems that contain one or more black holes. Black holes are the most compact objects in the Universe, providing probes of the strongest-possible gravitational fields. We are motivated to study strong-field gravity since many theories give large deviations from general relativity only at large field strengths, while recovering the weak-field behavior. In this article, we review how one can probe general relativity and various alternative theories of gravity by using electromagnetic waves from a black hole with an accretion disk, and gravitational waves from black hole binaries. We first review model-independent ways of testing gravity with electromagnetic/gravitational waves from a black hole system. We then focus on selected examples of theories that extend general relativity in rather simple ways. Some important characteristics of general relativity include (but are not limited to) (i) only tensor gravitational degrees of freedom, (ii) the graviton is massless, (iii) no quadratic or higher curvatures in the action, and (iv) the theory is four-dimensional. Altering a characteristic leads to a different extension of general relativity: (i) scalar–tensor theories, (ii) massive gravity theories, (iii) quadratic gravity, and (iv) theories with large extra dimensions. Within each theory, we describe black hole solutions, their properties, and current and projected constraints on each theory using black hole based tests of gravity. We close this review by listing some of the open problems in model-independent tests and within each specific theory.

Fine-tuning with brane-localized flux in 6D supergravity

There are claims in the literature that the cosmological constant problem could be solved in a braneworld model with two large (micron-sized) supersymmetric extra dimensions. The mechanism relies on two basic ingredients: First, the cosmological constant only curves the compact bulk geometry into a rugby shape while the 4D curvature stays flat. Second, a brane-localized flux term is introduced in order to circumvent Weinberg's fine-tuning argument, which otherwise enters here through a backdoor via the flux quantization condition. In this paper, we show that the latter mechanism does not work in the way it was designed: The only localized flux coupling that guarantees a flat on-brane geometry is one which preserves the scale invariance of the bulk theory. Consequently, Weinberg's argument applies, making a fine-tuning necessary again. The only remaining window of opportunity lies within scale invariance breaking brane couplings, for which the tuning could be avoided. Whether the corresponding 4D curvature could be kept under control and in agreement with the observed value will be answered in our companion paper [arXiv:1512.03800].

Features of electroweak symmetry breaking in five dimensional SUSY models

We explore the phenomenological predictions of a supersymmetric standard model, with a large extra dimension and unifying gauge couplings. The modified five dimensional renormalisation group equations make it possible to obtain light, maximally mixed stops, with a low scale of supersymmetry breaking and a low unification scale. This allows the fine-tuning to be lowered right down to the barrier coming directly from experimental lower limits on the stop masses. We also show that attempts at modifying the SUSY breaking pattern to obtain more natural soft terms at the high scale do not give the expected fine-tuning relaxation, and only RGE effects turn out to be effective in generating a lower fine-tuning.

Bounds on large extra dimensions from the simulation of black hole events at the LHC

If large extra dimensions exist, the Planck scale may be as low as a TeV and microscopic black holes may be produced in high-energy particle collisions at this energy scale. We simulate microscopic black hole formation at the Large Hadron Collider and compare the simulation results with recent experimental data by the Compact Muon Solenoid collaboration. The absence of observed black hole events in the experimental data allows us to set lower bounds on the Planck scale and various parameters related to microscopic black hole formation for a number ($3-6$) of extra dimensions. Our analysis sets lower bounds on the fundamental Planck scale ranging from 0.6 TeV to 4.8 TeV for black holes fully decaying into Standard Model particles and 0.3 TeV to 2.8 TeV for black holes settling down to a remnant, depending on the minimum allowed black hole mass at formation. Formation of black holes with mass less than 5.2 TeV to 6.5 TeV (SM decay) and 2.2 TeV to 3.4 TeV (remnant) is excluded at 95\% C.L. Our analysis shows consistency with and difference from the CMS results.

Double Higgs boson production with a jet substructure analysis to probe extra dimensions

In this paper, we perform a comprehensive study to probe the effects of large extra dimensions through double Higgs production in proton-proton collisions at the center-of-mass energies of 14, 33, 100 TeV. We concentrate on the channel in which both Higgs bosons decay into $b\bar{b}$ pair and take into account the main background contributions through realistic Monte-Carlo simulations. In order to achieve an efficient event reconstruction and a good background rejection, jet substructure techniques are used to efficiently capture the boosted Higgs bosons in the final state. The expected limits on the model parameters are obtained based on the invariant mass and the angular properties of the final state objects. Depending on the number of extra dimensions, bounds up to 6.1, 12.5, 28.1 TeV are set on the model parameter at proton-proton collisions with the center-of-mass energies of 14, 33, and 100 TeV, respectively.

Self-tuning at large (distances): 4D description of runaway dilaton capture

We complete here a three-part study (see also arXiv:1506.08095 and arXiv:1508.00856 ) of how codimension-two objects back-react gravitationally with their environment, with particular interest in situations where the transverse ‘bulk’ is stabilized by the interplay between gravity and flux-quantization in a dilaton-Maxwell-Einstein system such as commonly appears in higher-dimensional supergravity and is used in the Supersymmetric Large Extra Dimensions (SLED) program. Such systems enjoy a classical flat direction that can be lifted by interactions with the branes, giving a mass to the would-be modulus that is smaller than the KK scale. We construct the effective low-energy 4D description appropriate below the KK scale once the transverse extra dimensions are integrated out, and show that it reproduces the predictions of the full UV theory for how the vacuum energy and modulus mass depend on the properties of the branes and stabilizing fluxes. In particular we show how this 4D theory learns the news of flux quantization through the existence of a space-filling four-form potential that descends from the higher-dimensional Maxwell field. We find a scalar potential consistent with general constraints, like the runaway dictated by Weinberg’s theorem. We show how scale-breaking brane interactions can give this potential minima for which the extra-dimensional size, l, is exponentially large relative to underlying physics scales, r B , with l 2 = r 2 e − φ where −φ ≫ 1 can be arranged with a small hierarchy between fundamental parameters. We identify circumstances where the potential at the minimum can (but need not) be parametrically suppressed relative to the tensions of the branes, provide a preliminary discussion of the robustness of these results to quantum corrections, and discuss the relation between what we find and earlier papers in the SLED program.

Large volume susy breaking with a solution to the decompactification problem

We study heterotic ground states in which supersymmetry is broken by coupling the momentum and winding charges of two large extra dimensions to the R-charges of the supersymmetry generators. The large dimensions give rise to towers of heavy string thresholds that contribute to the running of the gauge couplings. In the general case, these contributions are proportional to the volume of the two large dimensions and invalidate the perturbative string expansion. The problem is evaded if the susy breaking sectors arise as a spontaneously broken phase of N=4→N=2→N=0 supersymmetry, provided that N=4 supersymmetry is restored on the boundary of the moduli space. We discuss the mechanism in the case of Z2×Z2 orbifolds, which requires that the twisted sector that contains the large extra dimensions has no fixed points. We analyze the full string partition function and show that the twisted sectors distribute themselves in non-aligned N=2 orbits, hence preserving the solution to the string decompactification problem. Remarkably, we find that the contribution to the vacuum energy from the N=2→N=0 sectors is suppressed, and the only substantial contribution arises from the breaking of the N=4 sector to N=0.

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at [Formula: see text]TeV with the ATLAS detector.

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb{}^{-1} of sqrt{s}=8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with p_{mathrm {T}}> 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between E_{mathrm {T}}^{mathrm {miss}}>150 GeV and E_{mathrm {T}}^{mathrm {miss}}> 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presented.

Constraining extra space dimensions using precision molecular spectroscopy

Highly accurate measurements of quantum level energies in molecular systems provide a test ground for new physics, as such effects could manifest themselves as minute shifts in the quantum level structures of atoms and molecules. For the lightest molecular systems, neutral molecular hydrogen (H2, HD and D2) and the molecular hydrogen ions (H+2, HD+ and D+2), weak force effects are several orders weaker than current experimental and theoretical results, while contributions of Newtonian gravity and the strong force at the characteristic molecular distance scale of 1 Å can be safely neglected. Comparisons between experiment and QED calculations for these molecular systems can be interpreted in terms of probing large extra space dimensions, under which gravity could become much stronger than in ordinary 3-D space. Under this assumption, using the spectra of H2 we have derived constraints on the compactification scales for extra dimensions within the Arkani-Hamed-Dimopoulos-Dvali (ADD) framework, and constraints on the brane separation and bulk curvature within the Randall-Sundrum (RS-I and RS-II) frameworks.

Search for dark matter, extra dimensions, and unparticles in monojet events in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text

Results are presented from a search for particle dark matter (DM), extra dimensions, and unparticles using events containing a jet and an imbalance in transverse momentum. The data were collected by the CMS detector in proton–proton collisions at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7,text {fb}^text {-1}at a centre-of-mass energy of 8,{mathrm{TeV}},. The number of observed events is found to be consistent with the standard model prediction. Limits are placed on the DM-nucleon scattering cross section as a function of the DM particle mass for spin-dependent and spin-independent interactions. Limits are also placed on the scale parameter M_mathrm {D} in the Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos, and Dvali (ADD) model of large extra dimensions, and on the unparticle model parameter {{Lambda _mathrm{U}}} . The constraints on ADD models and unparticles are the most stringent limits in this channel and those on the DM-nucleon scattering cross section are an improvement over previous collider results.

Probing new physics scenarios in accelerator and reactor neutrino experiments

We perform a detailed combined fit to the disappearence data of the Daya Bay experiment and the appearance and disappearance data of the Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) one in the presence of two models of new physics affecting neutrino oscillations, namely a model where sterile neutrinos can propagate in a large compactified extra dimension and a model where non-standard interactions (NSI) affect the neutrino production and detection. We find that the Daya Bay ⨁ T2K data combination constrains the largest radius of the compactified extra dimensions to be μm at 2σ C.L. (for the inverted ordering of the neutrino mass spectrum) and the relevant NSI parameters in the range , for particular choices of the charge parity violating phases.

Search for physics beyond the standard model in dilepton mass spectra in proton-proton collisions at s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV

Dimuon and dielectron mass spectra, obtained from data resulting from proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV and recorded by the CMS experiment, are used to search for both narrow resonances and broad deviations from standard model predictions. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.6 (19.7) inverse femtobarns for the dimuon (dielectron) channel. No evidence for non-standard-model physics is observed and 95% confidence level limits are set on parameters from a number of new physics models. The narrow resonance analyses exclude a Sequential Standard Model Z'[SSM] resonance lighter than 2.90 TeV, a superstring-inspired Z'[psi] lighter than 2.57 TeV, and Randall-Sundrum Kaluza-Klein gravitons with masses below 2.73, 2.35, and 1.27 TeV for couplings of 0.10, 0.05, and 0.01, respectively. A notable feature is that the limits have been calculated in a model-independent way to enable straightforward reinterpretation in any model predicting a resonance structure. The observed events are also interpreted within the framework of two non-resonant analyses: one based on a large extra dimensions model and one based on a quark and lepton compositeness model with a left-left isoscalar contact interaction. Lower limits are established on M[S], the scale characterizing the onset of quantum gravity, which range from 4.9 to 3.3 TeV, where the number of additional spatial dimensions varies from 3 to 7. Similarly, lower limits on Lambda, the energy scale parameter for the contact interaction, are found to be 12.0 (15.2) TeV for destructive (constructive) interference in the dimuon channel and 13.5 (18.3) TeV in the dielectron channel.

Constraints on extra dimensions from precision molecular spectroscopy

Accurate investigations of quantum-level energies in molecular systems are shown to provide a testing ground to constrain the size of compactified extra dimensions. This is made possible by recent progress in precision metrology with ultrastable lasers on energy levels in neutral molecular hydrogen (H2, HD, and D2) and molecular hydrogen ions (H2+, HD+, and D2+). Comparisons between experiment and quantum electrodynamics calculations for these molecular systems can be interpreted in terms of probing large extra dimensions, under which conditions gravity will become much stronger. Molecules are a probe of spacetime geometry at typical distances where chemical bonds are effective (i.e., at length scales of an Å). Constraints on compactification radii for extra dimensions are derived within the Arkani-Hamed-Dimopoulos-Dvali framework, while constraints for curvature or brane separation are derived within the Randall-Sundrum framework. Based on the molecular spectroscopy of D2 molecules and HD+ ions, the compactification size for seven extra dimensions (in connection to M-theory defined in 11 dimensions) of equal size is shown to be limited to . While limits on compactification sizes of extra dimensions based on other branches of physics are compared, the prospect of further tightening constraints from the molecular method is discussed.