Axion-like particles (ALPs) are predicted by many extensions of the Standard Model (SM). When ALP mass lies in the range of MeV to GeV, the cosmology and astrophysics will be largely irrelevant. In this work, we investigate such light ALPs through the ALP-strahlung process $pp \to V a (\to γγ)$ at the 14 TeV LHC with an integrated luminosity of 3000 fb$^{-1}$ (HL-LHC). With the photon-jet algorithm, we demonstrate that our approach can probe the mass range of ALPs, which is inaccessible to previous LHC experiments. The obtained result can surpass the existing limits on ALP-photon coupling in the ALP mass range from 0.3 GeV to 10 GeV.
In these proceedings we use recent LHC heavy-ion data to set a limit on axion-like particles coupling to electromagnetism with mass in the range 10-100 GeV. We recast ATLAS data as per the strategy proposed in 1607.06083, and find results in-line with the projections given there.
The production of axionlike particles (ALP) in ultraperipheral $PbPb$ collisions (UPHIC) is investigated considering the energies of the next run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and of the future High Energy -- LHC (HE -- LHC) and Future Circular Collider (FCC). Assuming four different combinations for the ALP mass and coupling and the typical exclusivity cuts for central and forward detectors, we estimate the cross section and invariant mass, rapidity, transverse momentum and {acoplanarity} distributions associated to the diphoton final state produced in the $γγ\rightarrow a \rightarrow γγ…
The QCD axion provides an elegant solution to the Strong CP Problem. While the minimal realization is vulnerable to the so-called "Axion Quality Problem", we will consider a more robust realization in the presence of a mirror sector related to the Standard Model by a (softly broken) $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry. We point out that the resulting "heavy" axion, while satisfying all theoretical and observational constraints, has a large and uncharted parameter space which allows it to be probed at the LHC as a Long-Lived Particle (LLP). The small defining axionic coupling to gluons results in a challen…
Axion-like particles (ALPs), relatively light (pseudo-)scalars coupled to two gauge bosons, are a common feature of many extensions of the Standard Model. Up to now there has been a gap in the sensitivity to such particles in the MeV to 10 GeV range. In this note we show that LEP data on $Z\toγγ$ decays provides significant constraints in this range (and indeed up to the $Z$-mass). We also discuss the sensitivities of LHC and future colliders. Particularly the LHC shows promising sensitivity in searching for a pseudo-scalar with $4 \lesssim m_a \lesssim 60$ GeV in the channel $pp \to 3 γ$ with…
Highly boosted axion-like particles decaying into photon pairs are notoriously hard to detect at the LHC. The collimated decay photons cannot be individually reconstructed using only electromagnetic calorimeter information, making the signal less distinguishable from background. In this note we propose a search strategy to address this issue, exploiting the fact that a fraction of the decay photons convert into electron-positron pairs inside the tracking detector. The resulting tracks can be resolved with high resolution, allowing to separate the two collimated photons and resolve a displaced …
Supersymmetric models with spontaneously broken approximate R-symmetry contain a light spin 0 particle, the R-axion. The properties of the particle can be a powerful probe of the structure of the new physics. In this paper, we discuss the possibilities of the R-axion detection at the LHC experiments. It is challenge to observe this light particle in the LHC environment. However, for typical values in which the mass of the R-axion is a few hundred MeV, we show that those particles can be detected by searching for displaced vertices from R-axion decay.
Axion-like particles (ALPs) appear in various new physics models with spontaneous global symmetry breaking. When the ALP mass is in the range of MeV to GeV, the cosmology and astrophysics bounds are so far quite weak. In this work, we investigate such light ALPs through the ALP-strahlung production processes $pp \to W^\pm a, Z a$ with the sequential decay $a \to γγ$ at the 14 TeV LHC with an integrated luminosity of 3000 fb$^{-1}$ (HL-LHC). Building on the concept of jet image which uses calorimeter towers as the pixels of the image and measures a jet as an image, we investigate the potential …
We propose a new collider probe for axion-like particles (ALPs), and more generally for pseudo-Goldstone bosons: non-resonant searches which take advantage of the derivative nature of their interactions with Standard Model particles. ALPs can participate as off-shell mediators in the $s$-channel of $2 \to 2$ scattering processes at colliders like the LHC. We exemplify the power of this novel type of search by deriving new limits on ALP couplings to gauge bosons via the processes $p p \to Z Z$, $p p \to γγ$ and $p p \to j j$ using Run 2 CMS public data, probing previously unexplored areas of th…
The search at hadron colliders for new massive resonances of a few 100 GeVs that couple effectively to colored states is an extremely challenging issue, due principally to the presence of large QCD multijet backgrounds at this energy, rendering the searches at the LHC particularly difficult. Recently, it was realized that these large backgrounds could be overcome by demanding one high-$p_T$ jet from initial-state radiation (ISR) and by means of novel jet-reconstruction techniques through which the resulting hadronized products of the massive resonances are reconstructed as a fat-jet, a unique …
We argue that a large region of so far unconstrained parameter space for axion-like particles (ALPs), where their couplings to the Standard Model are of order $(0.01\!-\!1)\,\mbox{TeV}^{-1}$, can be explored by searches for the exotic Higgs decays $h\to Za$ and $h\to aa$ in Run-2 of the LHC. Almost the complete region in which ALPs can explain the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon can be probed by searches for these decays with subsequent decay $a\toγγ$, even if the relevant couplings are loop suppressed and the $a\toγγ$ branching ratio is less than~1.
We propose a new search for Axion-Like Particles (ALPs), targeting Vector Boson Scattering (VBS) processes at the LHC. We consider nonresonant ALP-mediated VBS, where the ALP participates as an off-shell mediator. This process occurs whenever the ALP is too light to be produced resonantly, and it takes advantage of the derivative nature of ALP interactions with the electroweak Standard Model bosons. We study the production of $ZZ$, $Zγ$, $W^\pm γ$, $W^\pm Z$ and $W^\pm W^\pm$ pairs with large diboson invariant masses in association with two jets. Working in a gauge-invariant framework, upper l…
We present a new calculation of axion-like particle (ALP) production in the semi-exclusive photon-initiated (PI) channel, that is either with intact outgoing protons or rapidity gaps present in the final state, and with no colour flow between the colliding LHC protons. This is the first full treatment of this process, accounting for both the possibility of proton dissociation and the survival factor probability of no additional proton-proton interactions, including its kinematic and process dependence. We present the expected event yields in the case that either one or both protons are require…
We study collider implications of variant axion models which naturally avoid the cosmological domain wall problem. We find that in such models the branching ratio of $h \to γγ$ can be enhanced by a factor of 5 up to 30 as compared with the standard model prediction. The $h \to γγ$ process is therefore a promising channel to discover a light Higgs boson at the LHC and to probe the Peccei-Quinn charge assignment of the standard model fields from Yukawa interactions.
This article describes a search for low-mass axion-like particles (ALPs) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). If ALPs were produced at the LHC via gluon-gluon fusion and decayed to bosons, the energy dependence of the measured diboson cross-sections would differ from the Standard Model expectation. Measurements of $WW$ and $Zγ$ differential cross-sections by the ATLAS collaboration are interpreted to constrain ALP couplings to $W$-, $Z$-bosons and photons assuming gluon-gluon-fusion production.
The addition of the QCD axion to the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) not only solves the strong CP problem but also modifies the dark sector with new dark matter candidates. While SUSY axion phenomenology is usually restricted to searches for the axion itself or searches for the ordinary SUSY particles, this work focuses on scenarios where the axion's superpartner, the axino, may be detectable at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the decays of neutralinos displaced from the primary vertex. In particular, we focus on the KSVZ axino within the hadronic axion window. The decay lengt…
We describe two different important measurements to be performed at the LHC. The Mueller Navelet jet and jet gap jet cross section represent a test of BFKL dynamics and we perform a NLL calculation of these processes and compare it with recent Tevatron measurements. The study of the $WWγγ$ couplings at the LHC using the forward detectors proposed in the ATLAS Forward Physics project as an example allows to probe higgsless and extradimension models via anomalous quartic couplings since the reach is improved by four orders of magnitude with respect to the LEP results.
We show that ultra-peripheral heavy-ion collisions at the LHC can be used to search for axion-like particles with mass below 100 GeV. The $Z^4$ enhanced photon-photon luminosity from the ions provides a large exclusive production rate, with a signature of a resonant pair of back-to-back photons and no other activity in the detector. In addition, we present both new and updated limits from recasting multi-photon searches at LEP II and the LHC, which are more stringent than those currently in the literature for the mass range 100 MeV to 100 GeV.
We assess the impact of searches at flavor factories for new neutral resonances that couple to both photons and gluons. These are well motivated by "heavy axion" solutions of the strong CP problem and by frameworks addressing both Dark Matter and the Higgs hierarchy problem. We use LHCb public diphoton data around the Bs mass to derive the current best limit on these resonances for masses between 4.9 and 6.3 GeV. We estimate that a future LHCb dedicated search would test an axion decay constant of O(TeV) for axion masses in the few-to-tens of GeV, being fully complementary to the low mass ATLA…
In this talk we discuss recent results on the impact of LHC jet data on global fits of parton distribution functions using theoretical predictions at NNLO in QCD supplemented by electroweak (EW) corrections.
We suggest that, if current measurements of inclusive jet production for central rapidities at the LHC are extended to lower transverse momenta, one could define a visible cross section sensitive to the unitarity bound set by the recent determination of the inelastic proton-proton cross section.
We investigate the possible detection of the Hypercharge Axion (HCA) in colliders. The HCA is a hypothetical pseudoscalar that couples to weak hypercharge topological density and could potentially explain the dominance of matter over antimatter in the observable universe. If the HCA exists, it can be produced in colliders via vector boson fusion or in association with a photon or with a Z boson, and detected by looking for its decay into photons or Z bosons. We find that for certain values of the HCA mass and coupling scales, both of the order of a TeV, existing data from the Large Hadron Coll…
We propose that the 750 GeV resonance, presumably observed in the early LHC Run 2 data, could be a heavy composite axion that results from condensation of a hypothetical quark in a high-colour representation of conventional QCD. The model, motivated by a recently proposed solution to the strong CP problem, is very economical and is essentially defined by the properties of the additional quark - its colour charge, hypercharge and mass. The axion mass and its coupling to two photons (via axial anomaly) can be computed in terms of these parameters. The axion is predominantly produced via photon f…
The existence of an axion-like particle (ALP) would induce anomalous scattering of light by light. This process can be probed at the Large Hadron Collider in central exclusive production of photon pairs in proton-proton collisions by tagging the surviving protons using forward proton detectors. Using a detailed simulation, we estimate the expected bounds on the ALP--photon coupling for a wide range of masses. We show that the proposed search is competitive and complementary to other collider bounds for masses above 600 GeV, especially for resonant ALP production between 600 GeV and 2 TeV. Our …
Probing the Axion--Photon--Dark Photon Interaction with LHC Mono-Photons and Fermi-LAT Gamma-Ray Lines
National Taiwan Normal University（台湾师范大学）；Sichuan University（四川大学）；National Center for Theoretical Sciences, National Taiwan University（台湾大学理论科学中心）；Phenikaa Institute for Advanced Study, Phenikaa University（菲尼亚卡大学先进研究院）
We derive a new bound on diphoton resonances using inclusive diphoton cross section measurements at the LHC, in the so-far poorly constrained mass range between the Upsilon and the SM Higgs. This bound sets the current best limit on axion-like particles that couple to gluons and photons, for masses between 10 and 65 GeV. We also estimate indicative sensitivities of a dedicated diphoton LHC search in the same mass region, at 7, 8 and 14 TeV. As a byproduct of our analysis, we comment on the axion-like particle interpretation of the CMS excesses in low-mass dijet and diphoton searches.
The implementation of exclusive diffractive production of Higgs boson and dijets in the FPMC (Forward Physics Monte Carlo) framework is presented following the models by Khoze, Martin, Ryskin and Cudell, Dechambre, Hernandez and Ivanov. The predictions of the models are compared to the CDF measurement of exclusive jets and the uncertainties on the Higgs boson and jet production cross sections at the LHC are discussed.
In these proceedings I review recent theoretical predictions describing processes involving vector bosons and jets at the LHC. Such processes possess very distinctive phenomenologies and their theoretical accuracy is very different. I focus here on three illustrative cases: the production of a Z boson in association with a b jet, W-pair production in association with a jet, and vector-boson scattering. Some of these theoretical results are also compared to experimental data.
The mass of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson was constrained by the Large Electron-Positron (LEP) collider to be above 114.4 GeV. Simple extensions of the scalar sector like adding singlets and/or doublets allow the lightest Higgs to be much lighter via a reduction in its coupling to gauge bosons. Such a light Higgs could have evaded the LEP searches but could be detected at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the process pp -> h j -> tau^+ tau^- j, where j is a resolved jet. We conclude that in some Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) extensions of the scalar sector, a very light Higgs state co…
In these proceedings, we highlight some aspects of the recent computation of NNLO QCD corrections for W production in association with a charm jet at the LHC. The results are presented in the form of cross sections and differential distributions and are compared to ATLAS data.
A fundamental characteristic of hadron colliders is the abundant production of jets, which then are studied to learn about hard QCD, the proton structure, or nonperturbative effects. In the following the latest results and developments from the LHC experiments on jet cross sections, event shapes, flavour and rapidity dependence, and cross section ratios are presented. The ratio of the inclusive 3-jet to the inclusive 2-jet event cross section is used for a first determination of the strong coupling constant at the TeV scale.
The feasibility studies of the central exclusive jet production at the LHC using the proton tagging technique are presented. Three classes of data taking scenarios are considered: double tag at high pile-up, single tag at low pile-up and double tag at low pile-up. Analyses were performed at the c.m. energy of 14 TeV for the ATLAS experiment, but are also valid for the CMS/TOTEM detectors.
We perform a feasibility study to search for axion-like particles (ALPs) using vector boson fusion (VBF) processes at the LHC. We work in an effective field theory framework with cutoff scale $Λ$ and ALP mass $m_{a}$, and assume that ALPs couple to photons with strength $\propto 1/Λ$. Assuming proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV, we present the total VBF ALP production cross sections, ALP decay widths and lifetimes, and relevant kinematic distributions as a function of $m_{a}$ and $Λ$. We consider the $a\toγγ$ decay mode to show that the requirement of an energetic diphoton pair co…
The invisible variant axion model is very attractive as it is free from the domain wall problem. This model requires at least two Higgs doublets at the electroweak scale, with one Higgs doublet carrying a nonzero Peccei-Quinn (PQ) charge and the other being neutral under the PQ $\text U(1)$ symmetry. We consider a scenario where only the right-handed top quark is charged under the PQ symmetry and couples with the PQ-charged Higgs doublet. As a general prediction of this model, the top quark can decay to the observed standard model-like Higgs boson $h$ and the charm or up quark, $t\to h~ c/u$, …
Weak scale supersymmetry is a highly motivated extension of the Standard Model that has a strong degree of support from data. It provides several viable dark matter candidates: the lightest neutralino (a WIMP), the gravitino, and the axion/axino supermultiplet. The LHC turn-on is imminent. The discovery of supersymmetry at the LHC will go a long way towards establishing the nature of dark matter. I present arguments why mainly axion cold dark matter is a better fit for supersymmetric models than neutralinos. I also argue that Yukawa-unified SUSY GUT theories based on SO(10) with mixed axion/ax…
Rice University（莱斯大学）；Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University（哈佛黑洞倡议项目）；Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics（哈佛-史密森尼天体物理中心）；University of Texas at San Antonio（德克萨斯大学圣安东尼奥分校）
We study the discovery potential of axion-like particles (ALP), pseudo-scalars weakly coupled to Standard Model fields, at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Our focus is on ALPs coupled to the electromagnetic field, which would induce anomalous scattering of light-by-light. This can be directly probed in central exclusive production of photon pairs in ultra-peripheral collisions at the LHC in proton and heavy ion collisions. We consider non-standard collision modes of the LHC, such as argon-argon collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7$ TeV and proton-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 8.16$ TeV to a…
We propose a framework in which the QCD axion has an exponentially large coupling to photons, relying on the "clockwork" mechanism. We discuss the impact of present and future axion experiments on the parameter space of the model. In addition to the axion, the model predicts a large number of pseudo-scalars which can be light and observable at the LHC. In the most favorable scenario, axion Dark Matter will give a signal in multiple axion detection experiments and the pseudo-scalars will be discovered at the LHC, allowing to determine most of the parameters of the model.
Ultra-light dark matter may consist of axion-like particles with masses below 10^(-19) eV. Two-photon interactions of these particles affect the polarization of radiation propagating through the dark matter. Coherent oscillations of the Bose condensate of the particles induce periodic changes in the plane of polarisation of emission passing through the condensate. We estimate this effect and analyze MOJAVE VLBA polarization observations of bright downstream features in the parsec-scale jets of active galaxies. Through the non-observation of periodic polarization changes, we are able to constra…
Axion-like particles (ALPs) are pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons associated with spontaneously broken global symmetries emerging in many extensions of the Standard Model. Assuming the most general effective Lagrangian up to dimension-5 operators for an ALP interacting with the SM fields, we investigate for the first time the sensitivity of the LHC13 to the ALP production in association with a di-jet. This study is focused on light ALPs which appear as invisible particles at the detector. Performing a realistic detector simulation and deploying a multivariate technique to best discriminate the sig…
We compare the jet-path length and beam-energy dependence of the pion nuclear modification factor and a parton-jet nuclear modification factor at RHIC and LHC. We contrast predictions based on a linear pQCD and a highly non-linear hybrid-AdS holographic model of jet-energy loss. We find that both models require a reduction of the jet-medium coupling from RHIC to LHC to account for the measured pion nuclear modification factor. In case of the parton-jet nuclear modification factor, however, which serves as a lower bound for the LO jet nuclear modification factor of reconstructed jets, the extra…
Recent data on the azimuthal and transverse momentum dependence of high-pT>10 GeV pion nuclear modification factors in nuclear collisions at RHIC/BNL and LHC/CERN are analyzed in terms of a wide class of jet-energy loss models and a variety of transverse expanding collective flow backgrounds. RHIC data at 200 AGeV are found to be surprisingly consistent with rather different dE/dx models when coupled to recent 2+1D minimally viscous QGP flow field predictions. However, extrapolations to LHC, with parameters fixed at RHIC, favor running coupling QCD based energy-loss models over fixed coupling …
