In this paper we consider very weakly interacting and ultra light scalar and pseudoscalar dark matter candidates. We show that quantum gravity has important implications for such models and that the masses of the singlet scalar and pseudoscalar fields must be heavier than $3\times 10^{-3}$ eV. However, if they are gauged, their masses could be much lighter and as light as $10^{-22}\, {\rm eV}$. The existence of new gauge forces in the dark matter sector can thus be probed by atomic clocks or quantum sensors experiments.
Weakly coupled, almost massless, spin 0 particles have been predicted by many extensions of the standard model of particle physics. Recently, the PVLAS group observed a rotation of polarization of electromagnetic waves in vacuum in the presence of transverse magnetic field. This phenomenon is best explained by the existence of a weakly coupled light pseudoscalar particle. However, the coupling required by this experiment is much larger than the conventional astrophysical limits. Here we consider a hypothetical self-interacting pseudoscalar particle which couples weakly with visible matter. Ass…
Inspired by recent lattice measurements, we determine the short-distance (a << r << 1/pi T) as well as large-frequency (1/a >> omega >> pi T) asymptotics of scalar (trace anomaly) and pseudoscalar (topological charge density) correlators at 2-loop order in hot Yang-Mills theory. The results are expressed in the form of an Operator Product Expansion. We confirm and refine the determination of a number of Wilson coefficients; however some discrepancies with recent literature are detected as well, and employing the correct values might help, on the qualitative level, to understand some of the fea…
In the context of a two-Higgs doublet model, supplemented by an additional light pseudoscalar Higgs boson and a stable isosinglet fermion, we consider the possibility of addressing simultaneously the discrepancy from the standard expectation of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon recently measured at Fermilab and the longstanding problem of the dark matter in the universe which can be accounted for by a thermal weakly interacting massive particle. We show that it is indeed possible, for a range of masses and couplings of the new light pseudoscalar and the fermionic states, to explain at …
Fermionic dark matter interacting with the Standard Model sector through a pseudoscalar portal could evade the direct detection constraints while preserving a WIMP miracle. We study the LHC constraints on the pseudoscalar production in simplified models with the pseudoscalar either dominantly coupled to b quarks or tau leptons and explore their implications for the GeV excesses in gamma ray observations. We also investigate models with new vector-like fermions that could realize the simplified models of pseudoscalar portal dark matter. These models yield new decay channels and signatures of ve…
We construct a weakly-coupled renormalizable model to explain the $750\mbox{GeV}$ diphoton excess. The $750\mbox{GeV}$ resonance (denoted as $X(750)$) is interpreted as a pseudoscalar coming from a complex singlet. The model also naturally provides a dark matter candidate. One most attractive feature of the model is that decays of $X(750)$ are all loop-induced so the diphoton rate is not diluted by unwanted tree level branching fractions. Relevant Yukawa interactions need not to be tuned to near non-perturbative region to explain the rate. The model is highly predictive, including the pseudosc…
We discuss universal signals of consistent models of pseudoscalar mediators for collider searches for Dark Matter. Keeping only the degrees of freedom that can not be decoupled due to consistency conditions, we present a universality class of simplified models with pseudoscalar mediators and renormalizable couplings to Standard Model fields. We compute stability and perturbativity constraints, constraints from electroweak precision measurements, collider searches for new heavy particles as well as constraints from relic density measurements and indirect detection experiments searching for sign…
We consider the dynamics of the scalar and pseudoscalar glueballs in the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). By using the instanton model for the QCD vacuum we give the arguments that the nonperturbative gluon-gluon interaction is qualitatively different in the confinement and deconfinement phases. Based on this observation it is shown that above $T_c$ the values of the scalar and pseudoscalar glueball masses might be very small. The estimation of the temperature of scale invariance restoration, at which the scalar glueball becomes massless, is given. We also discuss the Bose-Einstein condensation of th…
We point out that perturbation theory in conjunction with the renormalization group (RG) puts a severe constraint on the structure of the large-N non-perturbative glueball propagators in SU(N) pure YM, in QCD and in n=1 SUSY QCD with massless quarks, or in any confining asymptotically-free gauge theory massless in perturbation theory. For the scalar and pseudoscalar glueball propagators in pure YM and QCD with massless quarks we check in detail the RG-improved estimate to the order of the leading and next-to-leading logarithms by means of a remarkable three-loop computation by Chetyrkin et al.…
The coupled quark Dyson-Schwinger and meson Bethe-Salpeter equations in rainbow-ladder truncation for spin-0 mesons are solved in Wigner-Weyl phase in the chiral limit and beyond, retaining only the ultraviolet finite terms of the phenomenologically most successful Maris-Tandy interaction. This allows to reveal and discuss the scalar and pseudoscalar meson masses in a chirally symmetric setting without additional medium effects. Independent of the current-quark mass, the found solutions are spacelike, i.\,e.\ have negative squared masses. The current-quark mass dependence of meson masses, lept…
We consider an Abelian model with a CP-conserving Higgs potential spanned by two complex Higgs fields. The CP invariance of the Higgs potential is then broken explicitly beyond the Born approximation by introducing soft-CP-violating Yukawa interactions. Based on the non-renormalization theorem, we derive the consistency conditions under which a CP-odd counterterm exists and, at the same time, renders the one-loop-induced mixing of a CP-even Higgs boson with a CP-odd Higgs scalar ultra-violet finite. The novel CP-odd tadpole renormalization may then be determined from the minimization constrain…
The need for purely laboratory-based light pseudoscalar particles searches has been emphasized many times in the literature, since astrophysical bounds on these particles rely on several assumptions to calculate the flux produced in stellar plasmas. In this paper we study the use of light from synchrotron accelerators as a source for a photon regeneration experiment also know as "light shining through a wall". Such an experiment can significantly improve present limits on the pseudoscalar particle mass and the pseudoscalar-photon coupling constant obtained from laser experiments. This is possi…
Non-minimal simplified extensions of the Standard Model have gained considerable currency in the context of dark matter searches at the LHC, since they predict enhanced mono-Higgs and mono-$W/Z$ signatures over large parts of the parameter space. However, these non-minimal models obviously lack the simplicity and directness of the original simplified models, and are more heavily dependent on the model assumptions. We propose to classify these models generically on the basis of additional mediator(s) and dark matter particles. As an example, we take up a scenario involving multiple pseudoscalar…
Radiation propagating over cosmological distances can probe light weakly interacting pseudoscalar (or scalar) particles. The existence of a spin-0 field changes the dynamical symmetries of electrodynamics. It predicts spontaneous generation of polarization of electromagnetic waves due to mode mixing in the presence of background magnetic field.We illustrate this by calculations of propagation in a uniform medium, as well as in a slowly varying background medium, and finally with resonant mixing. Highly complicated correlations between different Stokes parameters are predicted depending on the …
Many dark matter models involving weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) feature new, relatively light pseudoscalars that mediate dark matter pair annihilation into Standard Model fermions. In particular, simple models of this type can explain the gamma ray excess originating in the Galactic Center as observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope. In many cases the pseudoscalar's branching ratio into WIMPs is suppressed, making these states challenging to detect at colliders through standard dark matter searches. Here, we study the prospects for observing these light mediator states at the …
Production of Leptophilic Bosons in Ultradegenerate Relativistic Matter
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)（意大利国家核物理研究所）；Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI)（格兰萨索科学研究所）；Università degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学）；Max-Planck-Institut für Physik（马克斯·普朗克物理学研究所）
Axion-like fields are naturally generated by a mechanism of anomaly cancellation of one or more anomalous gauge abelian symmetries at the Planck scale, emerging as duals of a two-form from the massless bosonic sector of string theory. This suggests an analogy of the Green-Schwarz mechanism of anomaly cancellation, at field theory level, which results in one or more Stueckelberg pseudoscalars. In the case of a single Stueckelberg pseudoscalar $b$, vacuum misalignments at phase transitions in the early Universe at the GUT scale provide a small mass - due to instanton suppression of the periodic …
We consider discretized gravity in 4+2 dimensions compactified on a disk of constant negative curvature. The curvature of the disk avoids the presence of dangerous ultra-light scalar modes but comes also along with a high multiplicity of states potentially jeopardizing a good strong-coupling behavior of the discretized theory. We demonstrate that for Standard Model matter propagating on the five-dimensional boundary submanifold of the disk, the strong coupling scale, as seen by an observer, can be parametrically larger than the local Planck scale. As a consequence, we obtain a description of w…
The current experimental data allow for a sub-TeV colourless weak-singlet scalar or pseudoscalar. If such a singlet field is present together with TeV-range vectorlike top and bottom partners, there is a possibility that the heavy quarks decay dominantly to the singlet state and a third-generation quark, and the singlet state decays to quark and boson pairs. Such a possibility may arise in various models but it has not been explored experimentally, especially in the context of vectorlike-quark searches. We consider some minimal models, covering the possible weak representations of the top and …
We solve the Bethe-Salpeter equation in order to calculate the spectrum of pseudoscalar, vector and scalar meson bound states for light as well as heavy quarks, extending our previous calculation of pseudoscalar mesons. The fermion propagators appearing in the equation are obtained by solving the Schwinger-Dyson equation consistently with the Bethe-Salpeter equation, a procedure necessary for demonstrating the Goldstone nature of the pion in the chiral limit. We probe in our calculations a model for the gluon propagator which leads to the expected three dimensional potential in configuration s…
We present a brief overview of a new generation of high-precision laboratory and astrophysical measurements to search for ultralight (sub-eV) axion, axion-like pseudoscalar and scalar dark matter, which form either a coherent condensate or topological defects (solitons). In these new detection methods, the sought effects are linear in the interaction constant between dark matter and ordinary matter, which is in stark contrast to traditional searches for dark matter, where the sought effects are quadratic or higher order in the underlying interaction constants (which are extremely small).
We present our study of bound states of the fourth generation quarks in the range of 500 to 700 GeV,where we expect binding energies are mainly of Yukawa origin, with QCD subdominant. Near degeneracy of their masses exhibits a new "isospin". We find the most interesting is the production of a color octet, isosinglet vector meson via $q\bar q \to ω_8$. Its leading decay modes are $π_8^\pm W^\mp$, $π_8^0Z^0$, and constituent quark decay, with $q\bar q$ and $t\bar t'$ and $b\bar b'$ subdominant. The color octet, isovector pseudoscalar $π_8$ meson decays via constituent quark decay, or to $Wg$. Th…
Experiments designed to measure neutrino oscillations also provide major opportunities for discovering very weakly coupled states. In order to produce neutrinos, experiments such as LSND collide thousands of Coulombs of protons into fixed targets, while MINOS and MiniBooNE also focus and then dump beams of muons. The neutrino detectors beyond these beam dumps are therefore an excellent arena in which to look for long-lived pseudoscalars or for vector bosons that kinetically mix with the photon. We show that these experiments have significant sensitivity beyond previous beam dumps, and are able…
We study an economical model of weakly-interacting massive particle dark matter (DM) which has spin 3/2 and interacts with the 125-GeV Higgs boson via effective scalar and pseudoscalar operators. We apply constraints on the model from the relic density data, LHC measurements of the Higgs boson, and direct and indirect searches for DM, taking into account the effective nature of the DM-Higgs couplings. We show that this DM is currently viable in most of the mass region from about 58 GeV to 2.3 TeV and will be probed more stringently by ongoing and upcoming experiments. Nevertheless, the presenc…
We report results from searches of pseudoscalar and vector bosonic super-weakly interacting massive particles (super-WIMP) in the TEXONO experiment at the Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Station, using 314.15 kg days of data from $n$-type Point-Contact Germanium detector. The super-WIMPs are absorbed and deposit total energy in the detector, such that the experimental signatures are spectral peaks corresponding to the super-WIMP mass. Measured data are compatible with the background model, and no significant excess of super-WIMP signals are observed. We derived new upper limits on couplings of electro…
Superpartners of goldstino -- scalar and pseudoscalar sgoldstinos -- interact weakly with ordinary particles. One or both of them may be light. We consider a class of supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model in which interactions of sgoldstinos with quarks and gluons conserve parity but do not conserve quark flavor. If the pseudoscalar sgoldstino $P$ is light, m_P<(m_K-2m_π), and the scalar sgoldstino is heavier, m_S>(m_K-m_π), an interesting place for experimental searches is the poorly explored area of three-body decays of kaons, K^0_{S,L}\toπ^+π^- P, K^0_{S,L}\toπ^0π^0 P and K^+\toπ^…
Superconducting targets have recently been proposed for the direct detection of dark matter as light as a keV, via elastic scattering off conduction electrons in Cooper pairs. Detecting such light dark matter requires sensitivity to energies as small as the superconducting gap of O(meV). Here we show that these same superconducting devices can detect much lighter DM, of meV to eV mass, via dark matter absorption on a conduction electron, followed by emission of an athermal phonon. We demonstrate the power of this setup for relic kinetically mixed hidden photons, pseudoscalars, and scalars, sho…
Axions and other pseudoscalar fields comprise an interesting class of ultralight dark matter candidates, that may independently play a role in solving the strong $CP$ problem. In the presence of $CP$-violating sources, these pseudoscalar fields can develop a coherent non-derivative coupling to nucleons, $\bar g_{aNN}$, thus mediating `mass-mass' and `mass-spin' forces in matter that can be probed experimentally. We revisit the non-perturbative generation of these $CP$-odd axion forces, and refine estimates of $\bar g_{aNN}$ generated by the EDMs and color EDMs of quarks. We also revisit the St…
Axions or similar hypothetical pseudoscalar bosons may have a small CP-violating scalar Yukawa interaction g_s(N) with nucleons, causing macroscopic monopole-dipole forces. Torsion-balance experiments constrain g_p(e) g_s(N), whereas g_p(N) g_s(N) is constrained by the depolarization rate of ultra-cold neutrons or spin-polarized nuclei. However, the pseudoscalar couplings g_p(e) and g_p(N) are strongly constrained by stellar energy-loss arguments and g_s(N) by searches for anomalous monopole-monopole forces, together providing the most restrictive limits on g_p(e) g_s(N) and g_p(N) g_s(N). The…
The OSQAR photon regeneration experiment searches for pseudoscalar and scalar axion-like particles by the method of "Light Shining Through a Wall", based on the assumption that these weakly interacting sub-eV particles couple to two photons to give rise to quantum oscillations with optical photons in strong magnetic field. No excess of events has been observed, which constrains the di-photon coupling strength of both pseudoscalar and scalar particles down to $5.7 \cdot 10^{-8}$ GeV$^{-1}$ in the massless limit. This result is the most stringent constraint on the di-photon coupling strength eve…
Heavy-ion collisions generate a huge magnetic field of the order of $10^{18} G $ for the duration of about 0.2 fm/c. This time may become an order of magnitude longer if the electrical conductivity of quark matter is large. We calculate the conductivity in the regime of high density and show that contrary to naive expectations it only weakly depends on the MF.
Ultra High Energy cosmogenic neutrinos may represent a unique opportunity to unveil possible new physics interactions once restricted to the neutrino sector only. In the present paper we study the observable effects of a secret active-sterile interactions, mediated by a pseudoscalar, on the expected flux of cosmogenic neutrinos. The results show that for masses of sterile neutrinos and pseudoscalars of hundreds MeV, necessary to evade cosmological, astrophysical and elementary particle constraints, the presence of such new interactions can significantly change the energy spectrum of cosmogenic…
We combine and extend the analyses of effective scalar, vector, Majorana and Dirac fermion Higgs portal models of dark matter (DM), in which DM couples to the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson via an operator of the form $\mathcal{O}_{\textrm{DM}}\, H^\dagger H$. For the fermion models, we take an admixture of scalar $\overlineψ ψ$ and pseudoscalar $\overlineψ iγ_5 ψ$ interaction terms. For each model, we apply constraints on the parameter space based on the Planck measured DM relic density and the LHC limits on the Higgs invisible branching ratio. For the first time, we perform a consistent stu…
The detection of ultralight dark matter through interactions with nucleons, electrons, and photons has been explored in depth. In this work we propose to use precision muon experiments, specifically muon g-2 and electric dipole moment measurements, to detect ultralight dark matter that couples predominantly to muons. We set direct, terrestrial limits on DM-muon interactions using existing g-2 data, and show that a time-resolved reanalysis of ongoing and upcoming precession experiments will be sensitive to dark matter signals. Intriguingly, we also find that the current muon g-2 anomaly can be …
