A light CP-even Standard Model (SM) gauge-singlet scalar $S$ can be produced abundantly in the supernova core, via the nucleon bremsstrahlung process $N N \to N N S$, due to its mixing with the SM Higgs boson. Including the effective $S$ coupling to both nucleons and the pion mediators, we evaluate the production amplitude for the $S$ particle and point out a key difference with the well-known light CP-odd scalar (axion) and vector boson (dark photon) cases. Taking the subsequent decay and re-absorption of $S$ into account, we present a complete calculation of the energy loss rate for the $S$ particle. We then use the SN1987A luminosity constraints to derive updated supernova limits on the mixing of the scalar $S$ with the SM Higgs boson. We find that the mixing angle $\sinθ$ with the SM Higgs is excluded only in the narrow range of $3.9 \times 10^{-7}$ to $7.0 \times 10^{-6}$, depending on the scalar mass up to about 147 MeV, beyond which the supernova limit disappears.
We revisit constraints on dark photons with masses below ~ 100 MeV from the observations of Supernova 1987A. If dark photons are produced in sufficient quantity, they reduce the amount of energy emitted in the form of neutrinos, in conflict with observations. For the first time, we include the effects of finite temperature and density on the kinetic-mixing parameter, epsilon, in this environment. This causes the constraints on epsilon to weaken with the dark-photon mass below ~ 15 MeV. For large-enough values of epsilon, it is well known that dark photons can be reabsorbed within the supernova…
Using recent supernova models, I revisit the Supernova 1987a constraints on scalar/pseudoscalar Axion-Like-Particles (ALPs). On the basis of the neutrino detections, the luminosity of ALPs must be $\lesssim 5\times10^{52} \,\mathrm{erg}/s$ after the core-bounce, and this bound limits ALPs couplings. Contrary to the QCD axion models where all couplings are $\sim 1/f_a$, it has been shown recently that a radion/dilaton could have far different coupling strength to photons and to nucleons. This fact has raised a need to establish the limits on each coupling independently. The bounds from ALPs emi…
Revisiting unitarity of single scalar field with non-minimal coupling
Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe, Institute for Basic Science (IBS)（基础科学研究院宇宙理论物理中心）；Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo（东京大学理学研究科物理学系）；Research Center for the Early Universe (RESCEU), Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo（东京大学理学研究科早期宇宙研究中心）；Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo（东京大学汤川理论物理研究所 Kavli 宇宙物理数学研究所）；Theory Center, IPNS, KEK（高能加速器研究机构理论物理中心）；Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Sokendai)（综合研究大学院大学）
Revisiting the Chern-Simons interaction during inflation with a non-canonical pseudo-scalar
Università degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学）；INFN, Sezione di Padova（意大利国家核物理研究所帕多瓦分部）；Research Center for the Early Universe (RESCEU), Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo（东京大学理学研究系宇宙早期宇宙研究中心）；INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova（意大利国家天体物理研究所帕多瓦天文台）
We revisit the electroweak phase transition in the standard model with a real scalar, utilizing several calculation methods to investigate scheme dependences. We quantify the numerical impacts of Nambu-Goldstone resummation, required in one of the schemes, on the strength of the first-order electroweak phase transition. We also employ a gauge-independent scheme to make a comparison with the standard gauge-dependent results. It is found that the effect of the Nambu-Goldstone resummation is typically $\sim1\%$. Our analysis shows that both gauge-dependent and -independent methods give qualitativ…
We revisit the Scalar Weak Gravity Conjecture and investigate the possibility to impose that scalar interactions dominate over gravitational ones. More precisely, we look for consequences of assuming that, for leading scalar interactions, the corresponding gravitational contribution is sub-dominant in the non-relativistic limit. For a single massive scalar particle, this leads us to compare four-point self-interactions in different type of potentials. For axion-like particles, we retrieve the result of the Axion Weak Gravity Conjecture: the decay constant $f$ is bounded by the Planck mass, $f …
We investigate the Standard Model (SM) extended with a colored charged scalar, leptoquark, having fractional electromagnetic charge $-1/3$. We mostly focus on the decays of the leptoquark into second and third generations via $c\,μ, t\, τ$ decay modes. We perform a PYTHIA-based simulation considering all the dominant SM backgrounds at the LHC with 14\,TeV center of mass energy. Limits have been calculated for the leptoquark mass that can be probed at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 3000 fb$^{-1}$. The leptoquark mass, reconstructed from its decay products into the third generation, ha…
The scotogenic model is a well motivated scenario that provides both an explanation for neutrino masses and for dark matter. We focus on a real scalar dark matter candidate in this model, produced through standard thermal freeze-out. We analyze the parameter space of the model compatible with the observed dark matter relic abundance, direct and indirect detection searches, limits from lepton flavour violating decays and constraints from the neutrino sector. As the mass differences of the dark matter with the neutral and charged states are found to be small, the new scalars and fermions of the …
The theoretical calculation for pseudo--scalars hadronic decays $K \to πa$ is reviewed. %with the Axion-Like-Particle escaping the detection, While one-loop penguin contributions are usually considered, tree-level processes have most often been overlooked in literature. Following the Lepage--Brodsky approach the tree-level contribution to the charged and neutral pseudo--scalar decay in ALP is estimated. Assuming generic ALP couplings to SM fermions, the latest NA62/E949 results for the $K^+ \to π^+ a$ decay and the present/future KOTO results for the $K^0_L \to π^0 a$ decay are used to provide…
The Type-II seesaw model is a well-motivated new physics scenario to address the origin of the neutrino mass issue. We show that this model can easily accommodate an absolutely stable vacuum until the Planck scale, however with strong limit on the exotic scalar masses and the corresponding mixing angle. We examine the model prediction at the current and future high luminosity run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for the scalar masses and mixing angles fixed at such high-scale valid region. Specifically, we device the associated and pair production of the charged scalars as a new probe of the…
Revisiting Singlet Fermion Dark Matter with a Scalar Portal: Connecting Higgs Phenomenology and Strong Electroweak Phase Transition
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati（印度理工学院古瓦哈提分校）；Gokhale Memorial Girls’ College（戈卡尔纪念女子学院）；University of Delhi（德里大学）；Central China Normal University（华中师范大学）
Given the elusive nature of neutrinos, their self-interaction is particularly difficult to probe. Nevertheless, upper limits on the strength of such an interaction can be set by using data from terrestrial experiments. In this work we focus on additional contributions to the invisible decay width of $Z$ boson as well as the leptonic $τ$ decay width in the presence of a neutrino coupling to a relatively light scalar. For invisible $Z$ decays we derive a complete set of constraints by considering both three-body bremsstrahlung as well as the loop correction to two-body decays. While the latter i…
Bose-Einstein-condensed dark matter, also called scalar-field dark matter (SFDM), has become a popular alternative to cold dark matter (CDM), because it predicts galactic cores, in contrast to the cusps of CDM halos ("cusp-core problem"). We continue the study of SFDM with a strong, repulsive self-interaction; the Thomas-Fermi regime of SFDM (SFDM-TF). In this model, structure formation is suppressed below a scale related to the TF radius $R_\text{TF}$, which is close to the radius of central cores in these halos. We investigate for the first time the impact of baryons onto realistic galactic …
Cosmological $α$-attractors stand out as particularly compelling models to describe inflation in the very early universe, naturally meeting tight observational bounds from cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. We investigate $α$-attractor potentials in the presence of an inflection point, leading to enhanced curvature perturbations on small scales. We study both single- and multi-field models, driven by scalar fields living on a hyperbolic field space. In the single-field case, ultra-slow-roll dynamics at the inflection point is responsible for the growth of the power spectrum, while …
Non-standard interactions (NSI) of neutrinos with matter mediated by a scalar field would induce medium-dependent neutrino masses which can modify oscillation probabilities. Generating observable effects requires an ultra-light scalar mediator. We derive general expressions for the scalar NSI using techniques of quantum field theory at finite density and temperature, including the long-range force effects, and discuss various limiting cases applicable to the neutrino propagation in different media, such as the Earth, Sun, supernovae and early Universe. We also analyze various terrestrial and s…
We revisit the renormalisation group equations (RGE) for general renormalisable gauge theories at one- and two-loop accuracy. We identify and correct various mistakes in the literature for the $β$-functions of the dimensionful Lagrangian parameters (the fermion mass, the bilinear and trilinear scalar couplings) as well as the dimensionless quartic scalar couplings. There are two sources for these discrepancies. Firstly, the known expressions for the scalar couplings assume a diagonal wave-function renormalisation which is not appropriate for models with mixing in the scalar sector. Secondly, t…
Stimulated by the renewed observation of $D_{s0}^{*}(2317)$ signal and its updated mass value $2318.3\pm1.2\pm1.2~\mbox{MeV}/c^{2}$ in the process $e^{+}e^{-}\rightarrow D_{s}^{*+}D_{s0}^{*}(2317)^{-}+c.c.$ by BESIII Collaboration, we devote to reinvestigate $D_{s0}^{*}(2317)$ as a $0^{+}$ tetraquark state from QCD sum rules. Technically, four different possible currents are adopted and high condensates up to dimension $12$ are included in the operator product expansion (OPE) to ensure the quality of QCD sum rule analysis. In the end, we obtain the mass value $2.37^{+0.50}_{-0.36}~\mbox{GeV}$ …
In this work we numerically re-examine the loop-induced WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section for the simplified dark matter models and the constraint set by the latest direct detection experiment. We consider a fermion, scalar or vector dark matter component from five simplified models with leptophobic spin-0 mediators coupled only to Standard Model quarks and dark matter particles. The tree-level WIMP-nucleon cross sections in these models are all momentum-suppressed. We calculate the non-suppressed spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections from loop diagrams and investigate the constrain…
We revisit the calculation of nonfactorizable corrections induced by charm-quark loops in exclusive FCNC $B$-decays. For the sake of clarity, we make use of a field theory with scalar particles: this allows us to focus on the conceptual issues and to avoid technical complications related to particle spins in QCD. We perform a straightforward calculation of the appropriate correlation function and show that it requires the knowledge of the full generic three-particle distribution amplitude with non-aligned arguments, $\langle 0|\bar s(y)G_{μν}(x)b(0)|B(p)\rangle$. Moreover, the dependence of th…
