Coupling Parameter Space Research Articles

Window for preferred axion models

We discuss phenomenological criteria for defining "axion windows", namely regions in the parameter space of the axion-photon coupling where realistic models live. Currently, the boundaries of this region depend on somewhat arbitrary criteria, and it would be highly desirable to specify them in terms of precise phenomenological requirements. We first focus on hadronic axion models within post-inflationary scenarios, in which the initial abundance of the new vectorlike quarks $Q$ is thermal. We classify their representations $R_Q$ by requiring that $i)$ the $Q$ are sufficiently short lived to avoid issues with long-lived strongly interacting relics, $ii)$ the theory remains weakly coupled up to the Planck scale. The more general case of multiple $R_Q$ is also studied, and the absolute upper and lower bounds on the axion-photon coupling as a function of the axion mass is identified. Pre-inflationary scenarios in which the axion decay constant remains bounded as $f_a\leq 5\cdot 10^{11}\,$GeV allow for axion-photon couplings only about 20% larger. Realistic Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky type of axion models also remain encompassed within the hadronic axion window. Some mechanisms that can allow to enhance the axion-photon coupling to values sizeably above the preferred window are discussed.

Exorcising ghosts in induced gravity

Unitarity of the scale-invariant coupled theory of higher-derivative gravity and matter is investigated. A scalar field coupled with a Dirac fermion is taken as the matter sector. Following the idea of induced gravity the Einstein–Hilbert term is generated via dynamical symmetry breaking of scale invariance. The renormalisation group flows are computed and one-loop RG improved effective potential of scalar is calculated. The scalar field develops a new minimum via the Coleman–Weinberg procedure inducing the Newton constant and masses in the matter sector. The spin-2 problematic ghost and the spin-0 mode of the metric fluctuation get a mass in the broken phase of the theory. The energy dependence of the vacuum expectation value in the RG improved scenario implies a running for the induced parameters. This sets up platform to ask whether it is possible to evade the spin-2 ghost by keeping its mass always above the running energy scale? In broken phase this question is satisfactorily answered for a large domain of coupling parameter space where the ghost is evaded. The spin-0 mode can be made physically realisable or not depending upon the choice of the initial parameters. The induced Newton constant is seen to vanish in the ultraviolet case. By properly choosing parameters it is possible to make the matter fields physically unrealisable.

Cosmological evolution and Solar System consistency of massive scalar-tensor gravity

The scalar-tensor theory of Damour and Esposito-Far\`ese recently gained some renewed interest because of its ability to suppress modifications to General Relativity in the weak field, while introducing large corrections in the strong field of compact objects through a process called scalarization. A large sector of this theory that allows for scalarization, however, has been shown to be in conflict with Solar System observations when accounting for the cosmological evolution of the scalar field. We here study an extension of this theory by endowing the scalar field with a mass to determine whether this allows the theory to pass Solar System constraints upon cosmological evolution for a larger sector of coupling parameter space. We show that the cosmological scalar field goes first through a quiescent phase, similar to the behavior of a massless field, but then it enters an oscillatory phase, with an amplitude (and frequency) that decays (and grows) exponentially. We further show that after the field enters the oscillatory phase, its effective energy density and pressure are approximately those of dust, as expected from previous cosmological studies. Due to these oscillations, we show that the scalar field cannot be treated as static today on astrophysical scales, and so we use time-dependent perturbation theory to compute the scalar-field-induced modifications to Solar System observables. We find that these modifications are suppressed when the mass of the scalar field and the coupling parameter of the theory are in a wide range, allowing the theory to pass Solar System constraints, while in principle possibly still allowing for scalarization.

Multistability in the corticothalamic system

Neural field theory of the corticothalamic system is used to analyze the properties of its steady-state solutions, including their linear stability, in the parameter space of synaptic couplings for physiological parameter ranges representing normal arousal waking states in adult humans. The independent connections of the corticothalamic model define an eight-dimensional parameter space, while specific combinations of these connections parameterize intracortical, corticothalamic, and intrathalamic loops. Multistable regions are systematically identified and the existence of up to five steady-state solutions is confirmed, up to three of which are linearly stable. A key determinant for the existence of five steady states is found to be the number of nonzero connections. This finding had not been previously proposed as the determining factor of high multiplicities of multistability in mesoscopic models of the brain. In the corticothalamic model presented here, multistability occurs when the intrathalamic loop is present (i.e., the reticular nucleus inhibits the relay nuclei), and when the net synaptic effect of the intracortical loop is inhibitory. The signature of these additional waking states is an overall increased level of thalamic activity. It is argued that the additional steady states found may represent hyperarousal states which occur when the corticothalamic projections do not attenuate the activity of the cortex.

Prospects for axion detection in natural SUSY with mixed axion-higgsino dark matter: back to invisible?

Under the expectation that nature is natural, we extend the Standard Model to include SUSY to stabilize the electroweak sector and PQ symmetry to stabilize the QCD sector. Then natural SUSY arises from a Kim-Nilles solution to the SUSY μ problem which allows for a little hierarchy where μ∼ fa2/MP∼ 100−300 GeV while the SUSY particle mass scale mSUSY∼ 1−10 TeV ≫ μ. Dark matter then consists of two particles: a higgsino-like WIMP and a SUSY DFSZ axion. The range of allowed axion mass values ma depends on the mixed axion-higgsino relic density. The range of ma is actually restricted in this case by limits on WIMPs from direct and indirect detection experiments. We plot the expected axion detection rate at microwave cavity experiments. The axion-photon-photon coupling is severely diminished by charged higgsino contributions to the anomalous coupling. In this case, the axion may retreat, at least temporarily, back into the regime of near invisibility. From our results, we urge new ideas for techniques which probe both deeper and more broadly into axion coupling versus axion mass parameter space.

Vacuum stability in an extended standard model with a leptoquark

We investigate the standard model (SM) with the extension of a charged scalar having fractional electromagnetic charge of $-1/3$ unit and with lepton and baryon number violating couplings at tree level. Without directly taking part in the electro-weak (EW) symmetry breaking, this scalar can affect stability of the EW vacuum via loop effects. The impact of such a scalar, i.e., a leptoquark on the perturbativity of SM dimensionless couplings as well as on new physics couplings has been studied at two-loop order. The vacuum stability of the Higgs potential is checked using one-loop renormalization group (RG) improved effective potential approach with two-loop beta function for all the couplings. From the stability analysis various bounds are drawn on parameter space by identifying the region corresponding to metastability and stability of the EW vacuum. Later we also address the Higgs mass fine-tuning issue via Veltman condition and the presence of such scalar increases the scale up to which the theory can be considered as reasonably fine-tuned. All these constraints give a very predictive parameter space for leptoquark couplings which can be tested at present and future colliders. Especially, a leptoquark with mass $\mathcal{O}\,$(TeV) can give rise to lepton-quark flavor violating signatures via decaying into the $t\, \tau$ channel at tree level, which can be tested at the LHC or future colliders.

HYPERNUCLEAR MATTER IN COMPACT STARS

We discuss the recently developed energy density functional for hypernuclear matter, which is based on simultaneous calculation of heavy single-$\Lambda$ hypernuclei and compact stars containing hypernuclear core. The nucleonic matter is described in terms of a density-dependent parametrization of nucleon-meson couplings, whereas the hyperonmeson couplings are deduced from the octet model. We identify the parameter space of hyperon-meson couplings for which massive stellar configurations with $M \leq 2.1 M_\odot$ exist and at the same time the laboratory $\Lambda$-hypernuclear data can be described.

Constraints on leptoquark models from IceCube data

Leptoquarks in the mass range of 500-1000 GeV can be resonantly produced in significant numbers by PeV neutrino interacting with nuclei at IceCube. We compute the event rates of leptoquark production and decay events and use the 3-year IceCube data for PeV energy events to find the allowed range of the leptoquarks mass and coupling parameter space. We use a low-scale quark lepton unification model based on the $SU(4)_C \otimes SU(2)_L\otimes U(1)_R$ gauge group where leptoquark couplings which give rise to proton decay are forbidden by the symmetry. We constrain the parameters of this model and point out signals of leptoquarks in this model which may be seen in PeV energy IceCube events in the future.

Vector resonances in weak-boson-fusion at future pp colliders

We present a first estimate of the reach of future pp colliders, the 14 TeV LHC and a futuristic 100 TeV pp collider, on a vector resonance, specifically a W′, produced via weak-boson-fusion, and decaying dominantly into tb. The analysis is motivated by Composite Higgs, Randall-Sundrum and Little Higgs scenarios, which predict the existence of vector resonances with a large coupling to W and Z longitudinal bosons. In particular, in composite Higgs models with partial compositeness, the standard Drell-Yan production channel is suppressed at large coupling while the weak-boson-fusion is enhanced and could thus provide a unique opportunity to directly test the large coupling regime of the theory. We outline a search strategy for the W′ in the weak-boson-fusion channel and present the reach of future colliders on the W′ mass vs coupling parameter space.

AN INTEGRABLE AND EXACTLY SOLVABLE NON-HERMITIAN BCS HAMILTONIAN AND GENERALISED EXCLUSION STATISTICS

It is more than three decades since the quantum inverse scattering method and the algebraic Bethe ansatz have been presented and applied in the area of many body quantum systems. These methods are playing crucial roles in the development of novel integrable and exactly solvable models. The purpose of the present dissertation is to apply quantum inverse scattering method to new contexts. The first system under consideration describes the interactions of spin half impurities in an isotropic Heisenberg spin chain with periodic boundary condition. By employing quantum inverse scattering method and Bethe ansatz techniques, the Hamiltonian, Bethe ansatz and associated eigenvalues of the model are given. The properties of the system are also discussed. The main results of this thesis are obtained from an integrable and exactly solvable non-Hermitian Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer pairing Hamiltonian with two independent, real-valued coupling parameters. Using numerical methods, we investigated the behaviour of the spectrum of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian as the coupling parameters are varied. This allows for an identification of boundary lines in the coupling parameter space for regions of strictly real spectra. According to their dependence on the coupling parameters, the Bethe ansatz solutions may be categorized into two classes on the boundary lines. It will be discussed how these solutions could be associated to exotic quasi-particles obeying generalised exclusion statistics, in the sense proposed by Haldane in 1991.

Efimov-like phase of a three-stranded DNA and the renormalization-group limit cycle.

A three-stranded DNA with short range base pairings only is known to exhibit a classical analog of the quantum Efimov effect, viz., a three-chain bound state at the two-chain melting point where no two are bound. By using a nonperturbative renormalization-group method for a rigid duplex DNA and a flexible third strand, with base pairings and strand exchange, we show that the Efimov-DNA is associated with a limit cycle type behavior of the flow of an effective three-chain interaction. The analysis also shows that thermally generated bubbles play an essential role in producing the effect. A toy model for the flow equations shows the limit cycle in an extended three-dimensional parameter space of the two-chain coupling and a complex three-chain interaction.

Unitarity constraints on dimension-six operators

We obtain the partial-wave unitarity constraints on dimension-six operators stemming from the analyses of vector boson and Higgs scattering processes as well as the inelastic scattering of standard model fermions into electroweak gauge bosons. We take into account all coupled channels, all possible helicity amplitudes, and explore a six-dimensional parameter space of anomalous couplings. Our analysis shows that for those operators affecting the Higgs couplings, present 90% confidence level constraints from global data analysis of Higgs and electroweak data are such that unitarity is not violated if $\sqrt{s}\leq 3.2\;{\rm TeV}$. For the purely gauge-boson operator $O_{WWW}$, the present bounds from triple-gauge boson analysis indicate that within its presently allowed 90% confidence level range unitarity can be violated in $f\bar f' \to V V'$ at center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}\geq 2.4\;{\rm TeV}$.

Dark photons as fractional cosmic neutrino masquerader

Recently, Weinberg proposed a Higgs portal model with a spontaneously broken global U(1) symmetry in which Goldstone bosons may be masquerading as fractional cosmic neutrinos. We extend the model by gauging the U(1) symmetry. This gives rise to the so-called dark photon and dark Higgs. The dark photons can constitute about 0.912 (0.167) to the effective number of light neutrino species if they decouple from the thermal bath before the pions become non-relativistic and after (before) the QCD transition. Restriction on the parameter space of the portal coupling and the dark Higgs mass is obtained from the freeze-out condition of the dark photons. Combining with the collider data constraints on the invisible width of the standard model Higgs requires the dark Higgs mass to be less than a few GeV.

Equation of state of hypernuclear matter: tuning hyperon-scalar-meson couplings

We discuss to which extent the modifications of the hyperon-scalar-meson coupling constants affect the equation of state (EoS) hypernuclear matter. The study is carried out within a relativistic density functional theory. The nucleonic matter is described in terms of a density-dependent parametrization of nucleon-meson couplings, whereas the hyperon-meson couplings are deduced from the octet model. We identify the parameter space of hyperon-meson couplings for which massive stellar configurations with M ≤ 2.25M⊙ exist. We also discuss the EoS at finite temperatures with and without of a trapped neutrino component and show that neutrinos stiffen the EoS and change qualitatively the composition of stellar matter.

Spatiotemporal patterning of uterine excitation patterns in human labour

The mechanisms leading to the initiation of normal, premature or dysfunctional human labour are poorly understood, as animal models are inappropriate, and experimental studies are limited. Computational modelling provides a means of linking non-invasive clinical data with the results of in vitro cell and tissue physiology. Nonlinear wave processes – propagation in an excitable medium – provides a quantitatively testable description of mechanisms of premature and full term labour, and a view of changes in uterine electrophysiology during gestation as a trajectory in excitation and intercellular coupling parameter space. Propagation phenomena can account for both premature and full term labour.

Unitary and Renormalizable Theory of Higher Derivative Gravity

In 3+1 space-time dimensions, fourth order derivative gravity is perturbatively renormalizable. Here it is shown that it describes a unitary theory of gravitons (with/without an additional scalar) in a limited coupling parameter space which includes standard cosmology. The running of gravitational constant which includes contribution of graviton is computed. It is shown that generically Newton's constant vanishes at short distance in this perturbatively renormalizable and unitary theory.

Surface operators in $ \mathcal{N} $ = 2 4d gauge theories

N=2 four dimensional gauge theories admit interesting half BPS surface operators preserving a (2,2) two dimensional SUSY algebra. Typical examples are (2,2) 2d sigma models with a flavor symmetry which is coupled to the 4d gauge fields. Interesting features of such 2d sigma models, such as (twisted) chiral rings, and the tt* geometry, can be carried over to the surface operators, and are affected in surprising ways by the coupling to 4d degrees of freedom. We will describe in detail a relation between the parameter space of twisted couplings of the surface operator and the Seiberg-Witten geometry of the bulk theory. We will discuss a similar result about the tt* geometry of the surface operator. We will predict the existence and general features of a wall-crossing formula for BPS particles bound to the surface operator.

Light charged Higgs bosons decaying to charm and bottom quarks in models with two or more Higgs doublets

Searches for light charged Higgs bosons (H^\pm) in the decay of top quarks, t -> H^\pm b, are being carried out at the LHC and at the Tevatron. It is assumed that the dominant decay channels for such an H^\pm state are either H^\pm -> \tau\nu or H^\pm -> cs, and separate searches are performed with comparable sensitivity to the parameters m_{H^\pm} and tanbeta of the scalar potential. The branching ratio for the decay H^\pm -> cb can be as large as 80% in the Aligned Two Higgs Doublet Model and in models with three or more Higgs doublets with natural flavour conservation, while satisfying the constraint from b -> s gamma for m_{H^\pm} < m_t. Although the current search strategy for H^\pm -> cs is also sensitive to H^\pm -> cb, a considerable gain in sensitivity could be obtained by tagging the b quark from the decay H^\pm -> cb. Such an analysis, which could be readily performed at the Tevatron and in the 7 TeV and 8 TeV runs of the LHC, would probe a parameter space of the fermionic couplings of H^\pm in the above models which at present cannot be probed by experimental observables in flavour physics.

Inflation and dark matter in two Higgs doublet models

AbstractWe consider the Higgs inflation in the extension of the Standard Model with two Higgs doublets coupled to gravity non-minimally. In the presence of an approximate global U(1) symmetry in the Higgs sector, both radial and angular modes of neutral Higgs bosons drive inflation where large non-Gaussianity is possible from appropriate initial conditions on the angular mode. We also discuss the case with single-field inflation for which the U(1) symmetry is broken to aZ2subgroup. We show that inflationary constraints, perturbativity and stability conditions restrict the parameter space of the Higgs quartic couplings at low energy in both multi- and single-field cases. Focusing on the inert doublet models whereZ2symmetry remains unbroken at low energy, we show that the extra neutral Higgs boson can be a dark matter candidate consistent with the inflationary constraints. The doublet dark matter is always heavy in multi-field inflation while it can be light due to the suppression of the co-annihilation in single-field inflation. The implication of the extra quartic couplings on the vacuum stability bound is also discussed in the light of the recent LHC limits on the Higgs mass.

Short distance freedom of quantum gravity

Fourth order derivative gravity in 3+1 dimensions is perturbatively renormalizable and is shown to describe a unitary theory of gravitons in a limited coupling parameter space. The running gravitational constant which includes graviton contribution is computed. Generically, gravitational Newtonʼs constant vanishes at short distances in this perturbatively renormalizable and unitary theory.