Scalar Quarks Research Articles

J/\u03c8 elliptic and triangular flow in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt{s_{mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV

The inclusive J/ψ elliptic (v2) and triangular (v3) flow coefficients measured at forward rapidity (2.5 < y < 4) and the v2 measured at midrapidity (|y| < 0.9) in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt{s_{mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported. The entire Pb-Pb data sample collected during Run 2 is employed, amounting to an integrated luminosity of 750 μb−1 at forward rapidity and 93 μb−1 at midrapidity. The results are obtained using the scalar product method and are reported as a function of transverse momentum pT and collision centrality. At midrapidity, the J/ψ v2 is in agreement with the forward rapidity measurement. The centrality averaged results indicate a positive J/ψ v3 with a significance of more than 5σ at forward rapidity in the pT range 2 < pT< 5 GeV/c. The forward rapidity v2, v3, and v3/v2 results at low and intermediate pT (pT ≲ 8 GeV/c) exhibit a mass hierarchy when compared to pions and D mesons, while converging into a species-independent curve at higher pT. At low and intermediate pT, the results could be interpreted in terms of a later thermalization of charm quarks compared to light quarks, while at high pT, path-length dependent effects seem to dominate. The J/ψ v2 measurements are further compared to a microscopic transport model calculation. Using a simplified extension of the quark scaling approach involving both light and charm quark flow components, it is shown that the D-meson vn measurements can be described based on those for charged pions and J/ψ flow.

Probing the Partonic Degrees of Freedom in High-Multiplicity p-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV.

We investigate the role of partonic degrees of freedom in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV carried out at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) by studying the production and collective flow of identified hadrons at intermediate p_{T} via the coalescence of soft partons from the viscous hydrodynamics (VISH2+1) and hard partons from the energy loss model, linear Boltzmann transport (LBT). We find that combining these intermediate p_{T} hadrons with the low p_{T} hadrons from the hydrodynamically expanding fluid and high p_{T} hadrons from the fragmentation of quenched jets, the resulting hydro-dynamics-coalescence-fragmentation model provides a nice description of measured p_{T} spectra and differential elliptic flow v_{2}(p_{T}) of pions, kaons, and protons over the p_{T} range from 0 to 6GeV. We further demonstrate the necessity of including the quark coalescence contribution to reproduce the experimentally observed approximate number of constituent quark scaling of hadron v_{2} at intermediate p_{T}. Our results thus indicate the importance of partonic degrees of freedom and also hint at the possible formation of quark-gluon plasma in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions at the LHC.

Precise prediction for the mass of the light MSSM Higgs boson for the case of a heavy gluino

State-of-the-art predictions for the mass of the lightest MSSM Higgs boson usually involve the resummation of higher-order logarithmic contributions obtained within an effective-field-theory (EFT) approach, often combined with a fixed-order calculation into a hybrid result. For the phenomenologically interesting case of a significant hierarchy between the gluino mass and the masses of the scalar top quarks the predictions suffer from large theoretical uncertainties related to non-decoupling power-enhanced gluino contributions in the EFT results employing the DR‾ renormalisation scheme. We demonstrate that the theoretical predictions in the heavy gluino region are vastly improved by the introduction of a suitable renormalisation scheme for the EFT calculation. It is shown that within this scheme a recently proposed resummation of large gluino contributions is absorbed into the model parameters, resulting in reliable and numerically stable predictions in the heavy-gluino region. We also discuss the integration of the results into the public code FeynHiggs.

Theoretical uncertainties in the MSSM Higgs boson mass calculation

The remaining theoretical uncertainties from unknown higher-order corrections in the prediction for the light Higgs-boson mass of the MSSM are estimated. The uncertainties associated with three different approaches that are implemented in the publicly available code FeynHiggs are compared: the fixed-order diagrammatic approach, suitable for low SUSY scales, the effective field theory (EFT) approach, suitable for high SUSY scales, and the hybrid approach which combines the fixed-order and the EFT approaches. It is demonstrated for a simple single-scale scenario that the result based on the hybrid approach yields a precise prediction for low, intermediate and high SUSY scales with a theoretical uncertainty of up to sim 1.5,, mathrm {GeV} for large stop mixing and sim 0.5,, mathrm {GeV} for small stop mixing. The uncertainty estimate of the hybrid calculation approaches the uncertainty estimate of the fixed-order result for low SUSY scales and the uncertainty estimate of the EFT approach for high SUSY scales, while for intermediate scales it is reduced compared to both of the individual results. The estimate of the theoretical uncertainty is also investigated in scenarios with more than one mass scale. A significantly enhanced uncertainty is found in scenarios where the gluino is substantially heavier than the scalar top quarks. The uncertainty estimate presented in this paper will be part of the public code FeynHiggs.

Energy dependence study of directed flow inAu+Aucollisions using an improved coalescence in a multiphase transport model

The rapidity-odd component of directed flow ($v_{1}$) of identified hardons ($\pi^{\pm}$, $K^{\pm}$, $K^{0}_{S}$, $p$, $\bar{p}$, $\phi$, $\Xi$, $\bar{\Xi}$, $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$) and partons ($u$, $\bar{u}$, $d$, $\bar{d}$, $s$, $\bar{s}$) in Au+Au collisions at various beam energies ($\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 7.7, 11.5, 14.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 54.4, 62.4, 200 GeV) using a multi-phase transport model is analyzed. A data driven approach (inspired from the experimental analysis) is performed here to distinguish the transported and produced quarks which are found to have different directed flow values at various collision beam energies. The coalescence sum rule (Number of Constituent Quark scaling) violation is observed at lower energies where hadronic matters dominate. The strange quark ($s$) and $\phi$ meson slope (d$v_{1}$/d$y$) show a double sign change around 14.5 GeV, unlike other partons and hadrons. It suggests that strange quark is more sensitive to the softening of Equation of State (EoS).

Pseudo-Goldstone dark matter confronts cosmic ray and collider anomalies

Persistent excesses in the spectra of gamma rays from the galactic center and cosmic ray antiprotons can be explained by dark matter of mass $50\sim 65$\,GeV annihilating into $b$ quarks, but this is typically hard to reconcile with direct detection constraints. We resolve this tension using a simple class of models, where dark matter is a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson, having naturally momentum-suppressed couplings to nuclei. Exploring the parameter space of the model, we find that it can explain the cosmic ray anomalies while remaining compatible with constraints from the relic abundance and annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies. In certain regions of parameter space, the Higgs-dark matter coupling can help stabilize the Higgs potential up to the Planck scale. The scalar partner of the dark matter is an extra Higgs boson, that can explain a tentative diphoton excess observed by CMS, and an excess of $b\bar b$ signal from LEP, if its mass is $\sim 96$\,GeV and the model is extended to include a heavy scalar quark. This extended model predicts a monochromatic gamma-ray line near 64 GeV, at a level close to current experimental sensitivity, from dark matter annihilations in the galaxy.

Proton decay in flux compactifications

We study proton decay in a six-dimensional orbifold GUT model with gauge group SO(10)×U(1)A. Magnetic U(1)A flux in the compact dimensions determines the multiplicity of quark-lepton generations, and it also breaks supersymmetry by giving universal GUT scale masses to scalar quarks and leptons. The model can successfully account for quark and lepton masses and mixings. Our analysis of proton decay leads to the conclusion that the proton lifetime must be close to the current experimental lower bound. Moreover, we find that the branching ratios for the decay channels p → e+π0 and p → μ+π0 are of similar size, in fact the latter one can even be dominant. This is due to flavour non-diagonal couplings of heavy vector bosons together with large off-diagonal Higgs couplings, which appears to be a generic feature of flux compactifications.

Enhanced di-Higgs signal from hidden scalar QCD at leading-order in the scale-symmetry limit

We develop an effective-model description arising from a recently proposed scale-invariant hidden scalar-QCD, which has been used to explain the dynamical origin of the electroweak scale. In addition to the previous works, our new effective model includes the dynamical scale-anomaly effect from the hidden QCD gluons, to explicitly break the classical-scale invariance at the level of an effective field theory, which is known as the leading-order scale-symmetry (LOSS). In the phenomenological analysis, the proposed model predicts a light composite dilaton composed of hidden scalar quarks and gluons with the mass around electroweak scale (around 280 GeV), and has only one input parameter, which is the mixing angle between the Higgs boson and the composite dilaton. Our result for the dilaton mass is in accord with the lattice simulation for scalar QCD, where the scalar-quark bound states acquire a large effective mass from the hidden gluon contribution. Furthermore, we predict several significant deviations from the SM, like the diHiggs production cross sections (maximally about 10 times larger than the SM prediction), that could be directly tested at the high luminosity LHC. It is also the first study for the diHiggs production signal predicted from a scale(conformal)-invariant hidden sector, even from dark/hidden QCD. Our proposed effective model is thus significantly different than the conventional realization of scale-invariant hidden-scalar QCD without the scale anomaly effect, and can potentially provide a competitive explanation for many exotic phenomena beyond the standard model, such as new dark matter candidates and a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition.

Quasiparton distribution functions: Two-dimensional scalar and spinor QCD

We construct the quasi-parton distributions of mesons for two-dimensional QCD with either scalar or spinor quarks using the $1/N_c$ expansion. We show that in the infinite momentum limit, the parton distribution function is recovered in both leading and sub-leading order in $1/N_c$.

Interference effects in toverline{t} production at the LHC as a window on new physics

Many extensions of the Standard Model (SM) contain (pseudo)scalar bosons with masses in the TeV range. At hadron colliders, such particles would predominantly be produced in gluon fusion and would decay into top quark pair final sates, a signal that interferes with the large QCD background ggto toverline{t} . This phenomenon is of interest for searches for by the LHC experiments. Here, we consider the signal and background interference in this process and study it in various benchmark scenarios, including models with extra singlet (pseudo)scalar resonances, two-Higgs doublet models (2HDM), and the minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM with parameters chosen to obtain the measured light Higgs mass (the hMSSM). We allow for the possible exchanges of beyond the SM vector-like particles as well as scalar quarks. We calculate the possible interference effects including realistic estimates of the attainable detection efficiency and mass resolution. Studies of our benchmark scenarios indicate that searches with an LHC detector could permit the observation of the toverline{t} final states or constrain significantly large regions of the parameter spaces of the benchmark scenarios.

Equilibrium of nuclear matter in QCD sum rules

We calculate the nucleon parameters in symmetric nuclear matter employing the QCD sum rules approach. We focus on the average energy per nucleon and study the equilibrium states of the matter. We treat the matter as a relativistic system of interacting nucleons. Assuming the dependence of the nucleon mass on the light quark mass $m_q$ to be more important than that of nucleon interactions we find that the contribution of the relativistic nucleons to the scalar quark condensate can be expressed as that caused by free nucleons at rest multiplied by the density dependent factor $F(\rho)$. We demonstrate that there are no equilibrium states while we include only the condensates with dimension $d \leq 3$. There are equilibrium states if we include the lowest order radiative corrections and the condensates with $d \leq 4$. They manifest themselves for the nucleon sigma term $\sigma_N >60$ MeV. Including the condensates with $ d \leq 6$ we find equilibrium states of nuclear matter for $\sigma_N> 41$ MeV. In all cases the equilibrium states are due to influence of the relativistic motion of the nucleons composing the matter on the scalar quark condensate.

Search for pair-produced resonances decaying to quark pairs in proton-proton collisions at s=13 TeV

A general search for the pair production of resonances, each decaying to two quarks, is reported. The search is conducted separately for heavier resonances (masses above 400 GeV), where each of the four final-state quarks generates a hadronic jet resulting in a four-jet signature, and for lighter resonances (masses between 80 and 400 GeV), where the pair of quarks from each resonance is collimated and reconstructed as a single jet resulting in a two-jet signature. In addition, a b-tagged selection is applied to target resonances with a bottom quark in the final state. The analysis uses data collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$, from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The mass spectra are analyzed for the presence of new resonances, and are found to be consistent with standard model expectations. The results are interpreted in the framework of $R$-parity-violating supersymmetry assuming the pair production of scalar top quarks decaying via the hadronic coupling $\lambda_{312}''$ or $\lambda_{323}''$, and upper limits on the cross section as a function of the top squark mass are set. These results probe a wider range of masses than previously explored at the LHC, and extend the top squark mass limits in the $\widetilde{\mathrm{t}}$ $\to$ qq$'$ scenario.

Z boson production in bottom-quark fusion: a study of b-mass effects beyond leading order

We compute the total cross-section for Z boson production in bottom-quark fusion, applying to this case the method we previously used for Higgs production in bottom fusion. Namely, we match, through the FONLL procedure, the next-to-next-to-leading-log five-flavor scheme result, in which the b quark is treated as a massless parton, with the next-to-leading-order mathcal{O}(alpha _s^3) four-flavor scheme computation in which bottom is treated as a massive final-state particle. Also, we add to our formalism the possibility of varying the heavy quark matching scale. The results obtained with the FONLL formalism can thus be compared directly to recent results obtained in various approximations, and used as a proxy to assess and discuss the issues of scale dependence and treatment of heavy quarks. Finally, We use our results in order to improve the prediction for the total Z production cross-section.

Dark matter for b \u2192 s\u03bc+\u03bc\u2212 anomaly in a gauged U(1)X model

We propose a new physics model which has a cold dark matter candidate and can explain the b → sμ+μ− anomaly at the same time. Our model includes a scalar quark tilde{q} and a scalar lepton tilde{ell} which are SU(2)L-doublet as well as a Dirac fermion N which is SU(2)L-singlet. The new particles are charged under a gauged U(1)X group which is spontaneously broken to a discrete Z2 symmetry by a dark scalar S. The remnant Z2 symmetry stabilizes the dark matter. Box diagrams with tilde{q} , tilde{ell} , and N running inside the loop can generate the correct Wilson coefficients C9μ = − C10μ to accommodate the b → sμ+μ− anomaly while avoiding constraints such as {B}_s-{overline{B}}_s mixing. The dark matter annihilation into a second generation lepton pair via t-channel tilde{ell} -exchanging process plays an important role in producing the current dark matter relic abundance of the universe, showing a strong interplay between the flavor and dark matter physics. We also discuss dark-gauge-interaction-dominated and Higgs-portal-dominated scenarios for dark matter physics.

COHERENT analysis of neutrino generalized interactions

Effective neutrino-quark generalized interactions are entirely determined by Lorentz invariance, so they include all possible four-fermion non derivative Lorentz structures. They contain neutrino-quark non-standard interactions as a subset, but span over a larger set that involves effective scalar, pseudoscalar, axial and tensor operators. Using recent COHERENT data, we derive constraints on the corresponding couplings by considering scalar, vector and tensor quark currents and assuming no lepton flavor dependence. We allow for mixed neutrino-quark Lorentz couplings and consider two types of scenarios in which: (i) one interaction at the nuclear level is present at a time, (ii) two interactions are simultaneously present. For scenarios (i) our findings show that scalar interactions are the most severely constrained, in particular for pseudoscalar-scalar neutrino-quark couplings. In contrast, tensor and non-standard vector interactions still enable for sizable effective parameters. We find as well that an extra vector interaction improves the data fit when compared with the result derived assuming only the standard model contribution. In scenarios (ii) the presence of two interactions relaxes the bounds and opens regions in parameter space that are otherwise closed, with the effect being more pronounced in the scalar-vector and scalar-tensor cases. We point out that barring the vector case, our results represent the most stringent bounds on effective neutrino-quark generalized interactions for mediator masses of order $\sim 1\,$GeV. They hold as well for larger mediator masses, case in which they should be compared with limits from neutrino deep-inelastic scattering data.

Next-to-leading order QCD corrections to inclusive heavy-flavor production in polarized deep-inelastic scattering

We provide a first calculation of the complete next-to-leading order QCD corrections for heavy flavor contributions to the inclusive structure function $g_1$ in longitudinally polarized deep-inelastic scattering. The results are derived with largely analytical methods and retain the full dependence on the heavy quark's mass. We discuss all relevant technical details of the calculation and present numerical results for the heavy quark scaling functions. We perform important crosschecks to verify our results in the known limit of photoproduction and for the unpolarized electroproduction of heavy quarks. We also compare our calculations to the available, partial results in the polarized case, in particular, in the limit of asymptotically large photon virtualities, and analyze the behavior of the scaling functions near threshold. First steps towards phenomenological applications are taken by providing some estimates for inclusive charm production in polarized deep-inelastic scattering at a future electron-ion collider and studying their sensitivity to the polarized gluon distribution. The residual dependence of heavy quark electroproduction on unphysical factorization and renormalization scales and on the heavy quark mass is investigated.

Nucleon quark distribution functions from the Dyson–Schwinger equations

We present results for the nucleon's leading-twist spin-independent valence parton distribution functions obtained from a theoretical framework based on the Dyson–Schwinger equations (DSEs) of QCD that previously gave an excellent description of nucleon electromagnetic form factors. Key dynamical elements selected by experience with the rainbow-ladder truncation of the DSEs are implemented. We utilize nucleon bound state amplitudes from the Poincaré-covariant Faddeev equation that implements the dominant scalar and axial-vector quark–quark correlations. This framework is used to numerically evaluate the first 20 moments of the valence u and d quark distribution functions, from which the x-dependence of the distributions is found to be well constrained. We find good agreement with empirical parameterizations of experimental data and make the prediction that the d/u ratio in the x→1 limit, invariant under scale evolution, takes the value d/u→0.087±0.010. We find that this ratio is rather sensitive to the strength of axial-vector diquark correlations. However, contrary to a naive expectation, our result for the d/u ratio in the x→1 limit does not vanish when only scalar diquark correlations are present, although it is an order-of-magnitude smaller than our d/u result that also includes axial-vector diquarks. The valence quark distribution results are set in a broader context via a simple pion cloud model estimate of sea-quark light-cone momenta and gluon light-cone momentum.

Color–flavor locked strangelets with confinement and perturbative interactions

The properties of color–flavor locked (CFL) strangelets are investigated with the latest quark mass scaling that includes both linear confinement and leading-order perturbative interactions. With a self-consistent thermodynamics, we find that the perturbative interaction increases CFL strangelets’ radius and energy per baryon, while the one-gluon-exchange interaction has the opposite effects. With the increasing of the baryon number [Formula: see text], the energy per baryon decreases the electric charge per baryon and approaches to zero eventually. Specially at comparatively large [Formula: see text], the electric charge is nearly proportional to the two-third power of [Formula: see text] with the proportional coefficient to be about half of that in the conventional bag model.

Diagrammatic representation of scalar QCD and sign problem at nonzero chemical potential

We consider QCD at strong coupling with scalar quarks coupled to a chemical potential. Performing the link integrals we present a diagrammatic representation of the path integral weight. It is based on mesonic and baryonic building blocks, in close analogy to fermionic QCD. Likewise, the baryon loops are subject to a manifest conservation of the baryon number. The sign problem is expected to disappear in this representation and we do confirm this for three flavors, where a scalar baryon can be built and thus a dependence on the chemical potential occurs. For higher flavor number we analyse examples for a potential sign problem in the baryon sector and conjecture that all weights are positive upon exploring the current conservation of each flavor.

Azimuthal anisotropy of strange hadrons in U+U collisions at √SNN = 193 GeV at RHIC

We present the measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of strange hadrons (K0s, ϕ and Λ) at mid-rapidity (|y| &lt; 1.0) in U+U collisions at [see formula in PDF] = 193 GeV using the STAR detector at RHIC. We present the centrality and transverse momentum dependence of flow coefficients υn for n = 2, 3, 4. A strong centrality dependence of υ2 is observed for the particles K0s, ϕ and Λ in U+U collisions at [see formula in PDF] = 193 GeV similar to Au+Au collisions at [see formula in PDF] = 200 GeV. We studied the number of constituent quark scaling (NCQ) of the flow coefficients. The NCQ scaling of the flow coefficients holds within uncertainties for the particles studied in the U+U collisions. We also present the comparison of the results to the AMPT transport model.