The $U(1)_{B\textrm{--}L}$ symmetry, the essential component in the seesaw mechanism and leptogenesis, is naturally equipped with a massive gauge boson. If this gauge boson is the dark matter, the scenario consistent with the seesaw mechanism predicts the gauge coupling to be of the order of $\mathcal{O}(10^{-19})$ for masses $\lesssim1$ MeV, dominantly decaying into active neutrinos. We stress and explore the important role of astrophysical neutrinos of energies from $\mathcal{O}(1)$ keV to $\sim1$ MeV in testing the well-motivated $B$-$L$ symmetry extension to the Standard Model, which has been missed in the literature to date. Compared to other dark matter models, the neutrino flux in the sub-MeV energy range is a unique prediction in our setup and, once detected, would serve as a smoking gun for the existence of this $B$-$L$ gauge boson and its role as the dark matter particle, opening new windows to tackle cosmological and astrophysical conundra.
GeV-scale dark matter is an increasingly attractive target for direct detection, indirect detection, and collider searches. Especially for masses in the MeV to GeV range, indirect detection is expected to give a leading constraint. In that range, dark matter annihilations into hadronic final states produce a challenging zoo of light hadronic resonances. With an update of Herwig7, we provide a modeling of these processes and study energy spectra from annihilation through a vector mediator. We cover dark matter masses between 250 MeV and 5 GeV and include an error estimate. This opens up new opp…
Light gauge bosons can lead to resonant interactions between high-energy astrophysical neutrinos and the cosmic neutrino background. We study this possibility in detail, considering the ability of IceCube to probe such scenarios. We find the most dramatic effects in models with a very light $Z'$ ($m_{Z'} \lesssim 10$ MeV), which can induce a significant absorption feature at $E_ν \sim\,$5-10$\,{\rm TeV} \times (m_{Z'}/{\rm MeV})^2$. In the case of the inverted hierarchy and a small sum of neutrino masses, such a light $Z'$ can result in a broad and deep spectral feature at $\sim\,$0.1-10$\,{\r…
Besides general features of two-boson mass distributions, experimental results are are discussed. Furthermore, E(38 MeV) and Z(57.5 GeV) are highlighted.
We analyze the inclusive $b(c) \to s(u) μ^+ μ^-$ and the exclusive $B(D^+) \to K(π^+) μ^+ μ^-$ flavour changing neutral current decays in the light of HyperCP boson $X^0$ of mass 214 MeV recently observed in the hyperon decay $Σ^+ \to p μ^+ μ^-$. Using the branching ratio data of the above inclusive and exclusive decays, we obtain constraints on $g_1 (h_1)$ and $g_2 (h_2)$, the scalar and pseudo-scalar coupling constants of the $b-s-X^0 (c-u-X^0)$ vertices.
We present further and more compelling evidence of the existence of E(38), a light boson that most probably couples exclusively to quarks and gluons. Observations presented in a prior paper will be rediscussed for completeness.
If annihilating MeV-scale dark matter particles are responsible for the observed 511 keV emission from the Galactic bulge, then new light gauge bosons which mediate the dark matter annihilations may have other observable consequences. In particular, if such a gauge boson exists and has even very small couplings to Standard Model neutrinos, cosmic neutrinos with ~TeV energies will scatter with the cosmic neutrino background through resonant exchange, resulting in a distinctive spectral absorption line in the high-energy neutrino spectrum. Such a feature could potentially be detected by future h…
Two dedicated experiments on internal pair conversion (IPC) of isoscalar M1 transitions were carried out in order to test a 9 MeV/c2 X-boson scenario. In the 7Li(p,e+e-)8Be reaction at 1.1 MeV proton energy to the predominantly T=0 level at 18.15 MeV, a significant deviation from IPC was observed at large pair correlation angles. In the 11B(d,n e+e-)12C reaction at 1.6 MeV, leading to the 12.71 MeV 1+ level with pure T=0 character, an anomaly was observed at 9 MeV/c2. The compatibility of the results with the scenario is discussed.
The determination of the $W$-boson mass through an analysis of the decay charged-lepton transverse momentum distribution has a sizable uncertainty due to the imperfect knowledge of the relevant parton distribution functions (PDFs). In this paper, a quantitative assessment of the $W$-boson mass uncertainty at the LHC resulting from the PDF uncertainty is examined. We use the CT14 NNLO PDFs with a NNLL + NNLO calculation (ResBos) to simulate the $W$-boson production and decay kinematics. The uncertainty of the $W$-boson mass determination is then determined as a function of the boson and lepton …
Precise determinations of the masses of the $W$ boson and of the top quark could stringently test the radiative structure of the Standard Model (SM) or provide evidence for new physics. We analyze the excellent prospects at a muon collider for measuring $M_W$ and $m_t$ in the $W^+W^-$ and $ZH$ threshold regions. With an integrated luminosity of 10 (100) fb$^{-1}$, the W-boson mass could be measured to a precision of 20 (6) MeV, provided that theoretical and experimental systematics are understood. A measurement of $ΔM_W=6$ MeV would constrain the mass of a $\sim 100$ GeV Higgs to about $\pm 10…
We explore a scenario that the dark matter is a boson condensate created by the misalignment mechanism, in which a spin 0 boson (an axion-like particle) and a spin 1 boson (the dark photon) are considered, respectively. We find that although the sub-MeV dark matter boson is extremely stable, the huge number of dark matter particles in a galaxy halo makes the decaying signal detectable. A galaxy halo is a large structure bounded by gravity with a typical $\sim10^{12}$ solar mass, and the majority of its components are made of dark matter. For the axion-like particle case, it decays via $ϕ\to γγ…
Recently, the CDF collaboration has reported the precise measurement of the W boson mass, $M_W = 80433.5\pm 9.4 \,$MeV, based on $8.8$ fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV $p\bar{p}$ collision data from the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. This is about $7σ$ away from the Standard Model prediction, $M_{W}^{\rm SM}=80357 \pm 6 \,$MeV. Such a large discrepancy may be partially due to exotic particles that radiatively alter the relation between the W and Z boson masses. In this Letter, we study singlet extensions of the Standard Model focusing on the shift of the W boson mass. In the minimal…
We reply to a very recent Comment arxiv:1204.2349 by Bernhard, Friedrich, Schlueter, and Schoenning for the COMPASS Collaboration, in which it is stated that Monte-Carlo simulations of COMPASS data do not support any interpretation of a peaked structure in diphoton invariant-mass distributions below the neutral pion mass in terms of a new resonance. Here we show, by directly comparing the simulations to the COMPASS data themselves, that the authors' claim is not substantiated by the Monte-Carlo results presented in the Comment.
We consider the existence of the state X^0 (214 MeV) in Sigma^+ -> p mu^+ mu^- decay found by the HyperCP collaboration. We assume that a fundamental spin zero boson X^0 coupled to quarks leads to flavor changing s -> d X^0 process. We estimate the scalar and pseudoscalar coupling constants by considering Sigma^+ -> p X^0 and K^+ -> pi^+ X^0 processes, and find that pseudoscalar coupling dominates. We then evaluate the branching ratios for K_L -> pi^0 pi^0 X^0, pi^+ pi^- X^0 and Omega^- -> Xi^- X^0 decays. All these rates are found to be in the measurable ranges. We also comment on X^0 couplin…
An anomaly observed recently in the $^8$Be nuclear transition by the Atomki collaboration hints at a weakly-coupled, light new gauge boson with a mass of about $17$ MeV. In this paper, we propose that this new gauge boson comes from a short-distance structure of the spacetime, rather than from an extension of the Standard Model through adding an extra $\mathrm{U}(1)$ gauge symmetry. The dominant contribution to the relevant matrix element of the $^8$Be nuclear transition is given by the axial couplings. In order to account for the $^8$Be anomaly and satisfy the current experimental constraints…
A model has been proposed in which neutral scalar particles chi, of mass 1-10 MeV, annihilate through the exchange of a light vector boson U, of mass 10-100 MeV, to produce the 511 keV line observed emanating from the center of the galaxy. The chi interacts weakly with normal matter and is a viable dark matter candidate. If the U-boson couples to quarks as well as to electrons, it could enhance the branching ratio for the rare decay pi0 -> e+e-. A recent measurement by the KTeV Collaboration lies three standard deviations above a prediction by Dorokhov and Ivanov, and we relate this excess to …
We demonstrate that a measurement of the Bjorken process $e^+e^-, μ^+μ^-\to ZH$ in the threshold region can yield a precise determination of the Higgs boson mass. With an integrated luminosity of $100 fb^{-1}$, it is possible to measure the Higgs mass to within 60 MeV (100 MeV) for m_H=100 GeV (150 GeV).
The last missing correction to the muon lifetime in the Standard Model at O(alpha^2) coming from gauge and Higgs boson loops is presented. The associated contribution to the parameter Delta r in the on-shell scheme ranges from 6 times 10^{-5} to -4 times 10^{-5} for Higgs boson masses from 100 GeV to 1 TeV. This result translates into a shift of the W boson mass which does not exceed +/- 1 MeV in the same range and amounts in particular to approximately -0.8 MeV for a 115 GeV Higgs boson.
A reported ${17~}$MeV boson, which has been proposed as an explanation to the $^{8}$Be and $^{4}$He anomaly, is investigated in the context of its possible influence to neutron stars structure. Implementing a $m_{X}$=17 MeV to the nuclear equation of state using different incompressibility values K$_{0}$=245 MeV and K$_{0}$=260 MeV and solving Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations, we estimate an upper limit of ${M_{TOV}\thickapprox 2.4M\odot}$ for a non rotating neutron star with span in radius ${R}$ between ${11.5~}$km to ${14~}$km. Moving away from pure - NN with admixture of 10\% protons an…
Precise determinations of the masses of the $W$ boson and of the top quark could stringently test the radiative structure of the Standard Model (SM) or provide evidence for new physics. We analyze the excellent prospects at a muon collider for measuring $M_W$ and $m_t$ in the $W^+W^-$ and $t\bar t$ threshold regions. With an integrated luminosity of 10 (100) fb$^{-1}$, the $W$-boson mass could be measured to a precision of 20 (6) MeV, and the top-quark mass to a precision of 200 (70) MeV, provided that theoretical and experimental systematics are understood. A measurement of $Δm_t=200$ MeV for…
Multimessenger Astronomy Beyond the Standard Model: New Window from Quantum Sensors
University of Delaware（特拉华大学）；High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)（高能加速器研究机构）；The University of Tokyo（东京大学）；Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)（高级研究大学院大学）
We investigate various search strategies for light vector boson $X$ in $\mathcal{O}(10)~{\rm MeV}$ mass range using $J/Ψ$ associated channels at BESIII and Belle II: (i) $J/Ψ\to η_c X$ with $10^{10} J/Ψ$s at BESIII, (ii) $J/Ψ(η_c +X) +\ell \bar{\ell}$ production at Belle~II, and (iii) $J/Ψ+X$ with the displaced vertex in $X\to e^+e^-$ decay are analyzed and the future sensitivities at Belle II with 50 ${\rm ab}^{-1}$ luminosity are comprehensively studied. By requiring the displaced vertex to be within the beam pipe, the third method results in nearly background-free analysis, and the vector b…
We present evidence for the existence of a light scalar particle that most probably couples exclusively to gluons and quarks. Theoretical and phenomenological arguments are presented to support the existence of a light scalar boson for confinement and quark-pair creation. Previously observed interference effects allow to set a narrow window for the scalar's mass and also for its flavor-mass-dependent coupling to quarks. Here, in order to find a direct signal indicating its production, we study published BABAR data on leptonic bottomonium decays. We observe a clear excess signal in the invarian…
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…
Studies of axion-like particles (ALPs) commonly focus on a single type of interaction, for example couplings only to photons. Most ALP models however predict correlations between different couplings, which change the phenomenology in important ways. For example, an MeV-scale ALP coupled to Standard Model gauge bosons at high energies will in general interact with photons, $W^\pm$ and $Z$ bosons as well as mesons and nucleons at low energies. We study the implications of such scenarios and point out that astrophysical constraints, in particular from SN1987A, may be substantially relaxed, openin…
We survey the phenomenological constraints on abelian gauge bosons having masses in the MeV to multi-GeV mass range (using precision electroweak measurements, neutrino-electron and neutrino-nucleon scattering, electron and muon anomalous magnetic moments, upsilon decay, beam dump experiments, atomic parity violation, low-energy neutron scattering and primordial nucleosynthesis). We compute their implications for the three parameters that in general describe the low-energy properties of such bosons: their mass and their two possible types of dimensionless couplings (direct couplings to ordinary…
An independent result for the two loop fermionic contributions to the muon lifetime in the Standard Model is obtained. Deviations are found with respect to \cite{Freitas:2000gg}, which result in a shift of the W boson mass by approximately -1.3 MeV over the range of Higgs boson masses from 100 GeV to 1 TeV. Supplied with the bosonic contributions from \cite{Awramik:2002wn,Onishchenko:2002ve,Awramik:2002vu}, this shift, due to the complete electroweak contributions, varies from -2.4 MeV to -0.6 MeV. Additionally, a new test of the matching procedure defining the Fermi constant is presented, whi…
We calculate the change in the effective mass and width of a Z boson in the environment of a quark-gluon plasma under the conditions expected in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC. The change in width is predicted to be only about 1 MeV at a temperature of 1 GeV, compared to the natural width of 2490$\pm$7 MeV. The mass shift is even smaller. Hence no observable effects are to be expected.
We estimate the values of Yukawa couplings of a light pseudoscalar A with a mass of about 17 MeV, which would explain the $^8Be$ anomaly observed in the Atomki pair spectrometer experiment. The resulting couplings of A to up and down type quarks are about 0.3 times the coupling of the standard Higgs boson. Then constraints from K and B decays require that loop contributions to flavour changing vertices cancel at least at the 10% level. Constraints from beam dump experiments require the coupling of A to electrons to be larger than about 4 times the coupling of the standard Higgs boson, leading …
We present a hypothesis that the anomaly in the folding angle distribution of electron-positron pairs, emitted in the decay of the excited levels of nucleus $^{8}$Be and $^{4}$He can be related to the cluster structure of the decaying state. Furthermore, we present a hypothesis that the potentially observed boson with re st mass $m_{X}$=17 MeV can mediate the nucleon-nucleon interaction at the low-energy regime of QCD, in particular in the weakly bound cluster state p+$^{7}$Li,$^{3}$H. We present a possible equations of state of symmetric nuclear matter corresponding to the vector meson mass $…
The impact of higher-order final-state photonic corrections on the precise determination of the W-boson mass at the Tevatron and LHC colliders is evaluated. The W-mass shift from a fit to the transverse mass distribution is found to be about 10 MeV in the W --> mu nu channel and a few MeV in the W --> e nu channel. The calculation, which is implemented in the Monte Carlo event generator HORACE for data analysis, can contribute to reduce the uncertainty associated to the W mass measurement at present and future hadron collider experiments.
We study the change in the di-photon invariant mass distribution for Higgs boson decays to two photons, due to interference between the Higgs resonance in gluon fusion and the continuum background amplitude for gluon pair to photon pair. Previously, the apparent Higgs mass was found to shift by around 100 MeV in the Standard Model in the leading order approximation, which may potentially be experimentally observable. We compute the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the apparent mass shift, which reduce it by about 40%. The apparent mass shift may provide a way to measure, or at least bo…
In the paper, we study the properties of the $Z$-boson hadronic decay width by using the $\mathcal{O}(α_s^4)$-order quantum chromodynamics (QCD) corrections with the help of the principle of maximum conformality (PMC). By using the PMC single-scale approach, we obtain an accurate renormalization scale-and-scheme independent perturbative QCD (pQCD) correction for the $Z$-boson hadronic decay width, which is independent to any choice of renormalization scale. After applying the PMC, a more convergent pQCD series has been obtained; and the contributions from the unknown $\mathcal{O}(α_s^5)$-order…
Within the framework of transverse-momentum-dependent factorization, we investigate for the first time the impact of a flavor-dependent intrinsic transverse momentum of quarks on the production of $W^{\pm}$ bosons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV. We estimate the shift in the extracted value of the $W$ boson mass $M_W$ induced by different choices of flavor-dependent parameters for the intrinsic quark transverse momentum by means of a template fit to the transverse-mass and the lepton transverse-momentum distributions of the $W$-decay products. We obtain $-6\leq ΔM_{W^+} \leq …
The $W$ boson mass recently reported by the CDF collaboration shows a deviation from the standard model prediction with an excess at $7σ$ level. We investigate two simple extensions of the standard model with an extra $U(1)$ dark sector. One is the $U(1)_x$ extension, where the $U(1)_x$ gauge field mixes with the standard model through gauge kinetic terms. The other is a general $U(1)_{\mathbf{A} Y+\mathbf{B} q}$ extension of the standard model. Fitting various experimental constraints we find the $U(1)_x$ extension with only kinetic mixing can enhance the $W$ boson mass for at most 10~MeV. Wh…
We introduce neutrino astronomy starting from the observational fact that Nature accelerates protons and photons to energies in excess of 10^{20} and 10^{13} eV, respectively. Although the discovery of cosmic rays dates back a century, we do not know how and where they are accelerated. We review the observations as well as speculations about the sources. Among these gamma ray bursts and active galaxies represent well-motivated speculations because these are also the sources of the highest energy gamma rays, with emission observed up to 20 TeV, possibly higher. We discuss why cosmic accelerator…
Gamma-ray Astronomy studies cosmic accelerators through their electromagnetic radiation in the energy range between ~100 MeV and ~100 TeV. The present most sensitive observations in this energy band are performed, from space, by the Large Area Telescope onboard the Fermi satellite and, from Earth, by the Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes MAGIC, H.E.S.S. and VERITAS. These instruments have revolutionized the field of Gamma-ray Astronomy, discovering different populations of gamma-ray emitters and studying in detail the non-thermal astrophysical processes producing this high-energy radiation. The…
We report the first results on a direct search for a new 16.7 MeV boson (X) which could explain the anomalous excess of e+e- pairs observed in the excited Be-8 nucleus decays. Due to its coupling to electrons, the X could be produced in the bremsstrahlung reaction e- Z -> e- Z X by a 100 GeV e- beam incident on an active target in the NA64 experiment at the CERN SPS and observed through the subsequent decay into an e+e- pair. With 5.4\times 10^{10} electrons on target, no evidence for such decays was found, allowing to set first limits on the X-e^- coupling in the range 1.3\times 10^{-4} < ε_e…
Recently the CDF Collaboration has announced a new precise measurement of the $W$-boson mass $M_W$ that deviates from the Standard Model (SM) prediction by $7σ$. The discrepancy in $M_W$ is about $Δ_W\simeq70$ MeV and probably caused by a beyond the SM physics. Within a certain scenario of extension of the SM, we obtain the relation $Δ_W\simeq\frac{3α}{8π}M_W\simeq70$ MeV, where $α$ is the electromagnetic fine structure constant. The main conjecture is the appearance of longitudinal components of the $W$-bosons as the Goldstone bosons of a spontaneously broken additional $SU(2)$ global symmetr…
Direct searches of dark matter are performed at accelerator facilities. The existence of a new vector boson has been postulated in different scenarios where in the most basic scheme the coupling to the SM can be achieved via a kinetic mixing term due to the U boson. The KLOE experiment at DA$ϕ$NE searched for the U boson both in Dalitz decays of the $ϕ$ meson and in continuum events. For all of these searches an upper limit for the U boson coupling $ε^{2}$ has been established in the mass range $50 \, \text{MeV} < m_U < 1000\,\text{MeV}$. A summary of the different models and searches along wi…
The presently most accurate prediction for the W-boson mass in the Standard Model is obtained by combining the complete two-loop result with the known higher-order QCD and electroweak corrections. The numerical impact of the different contributions is analysed in detail. A simple parametrisation of the full result is presented, which approximates the full result for M_W to better than 0.5 MeV for 10 GeV < M_H < 1 TeV if the other parameters are varied within their combined 2 sigma region around their experimental central values. The different sources of remaining theoretical uncertainties are …
We analyze the prospects for detecting the three neutral Higgs bosons of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model in the intense-coupling regime at e+e- colliders. Due to the small mass differences between the Higgs states in this regime and their relative large total decay widths, the discrimination between the particles is challenging at the LHC and in some cases even impossible. We propose to use the missing mass technique in the Higgs-strahlung process in e+e- collisions to distinguish between the two CP-even Higgs eigenstates h and H, relying on their b b-bar decay in th…
The 6.8$σ$ anomaly in excited 8Be nuclear decays via internal pair creation is fit well by a new particle interpretation. In a previous analysis, we showed that a 17 MeV protophobic gauge boson provides a particle physics explanation of the anomaly consistent with all existing constraints. Here we begin with a review of the physics of internal pair creation in 8Be decays and the characteristics of the observed anomaly. To develop its particle interpretation, we provide an effective operator analysis for excited 8Be decays to particles with a variety of spins and parities and show that these co…
The $O$(MeV) spin-1 U-boson has been proposed to mediate the interaction among electron-positron and $O$(MeV) dark matter, in order to account for the 511 keV $γ$-ray observation by SPI/INTEGRAL. In this paper the observability of such kind of U-boson at BESIII is investigated through the processes $e^+e^- \to U γ$ and $e^+e^- \to J/Ψ\to e^+e^- U$. We find that BESIII and high luminosity B-factories have the comparable capacity to detect such U-boson. If U-boson decays mainly into dark matter, i.e. invisibly, BESIII can measure the coupling among U-boson and electron-positron $g_{eR}$ (see tex…
The experiment of Krasznahorkay \textit{et al} observed the transition of a $\rm{^{8}Be}$ excited state to its ground state and accompanied by an emission of $e^{+}e^{-}$ pair with 17 MeV invariant mass. This 6.8$σ$ anomaly can be fitted by a new light gauge boson. We consider the new particle as a $U(1)$ gauge boson, $Z'$, which plays as a portal linking dark sector and visible sector. In particular, we study the new $U(1)$ gauge symmetry as a hidden or non-hidden group separately. The generic hidden $U(1)$ model, referred to as dark $Z$ model, is excluded by imposing various experimental con…
Once weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are unambiguously detected in direct-detection experiments, the challenge will be to determine what one may infer from the data. Here, I examine the prospects for reconstructing the local speed distribution of WIMPs in addition to WIMP particle-physics properties (mass, cross sections) from next-generation cryogenic and liquid-noble direct-detection experiments. I find that the common method of fixing the form of the velocity distribution when estimating constraints on WIMP mass and cross sections means losing out on the information on the spee…
We present an analysis of two-loop mixed QCD and electroweak corrections to the decay of the Z boson into light quarks. We find that the naive factorization of QCD and electroweak corrections does not describe correctly the two-loop effects. The nonfactorizable corrections shift the width of the Z boson by approximately -0.55(3) MeV and increase the central value of the strong coupling constant determined at LEP by 0.001.
In the light of the discovery of a 126 GeV Standard-Model-like Higgs boson at the LHC, we evaluate the achievable accuracies for direct measurements of the width, mass, and the s-channel resonant production cross section of the Higgs boson at a proposed muon collider. We find that with a beam energy resolution of R=0.01% (0.003%) and integrated luminosity of 0.5 fb^{-1} (1 fb^{-1}), a muon collider would enable us to determine the Standard-Model-like Higgs width to +/- 0.35 MeV (+/- 0.15 MeV) by combining two complementary channels of the WW^* and b\bar b final states. A non-Standard-Model Hig…
Measuring the electron antineutrino component of the cosmic diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB) is the next ambitious goal for low-energy neutrino astronomy. The largest flux is expected in the lowest accessible energy bin. However, for E < 15 MeV a possible signal can be mimicked by a solar electron antineutrino flux that originates from the usual 8B neutrinos by spin-flavor oscillations. We show that such an interpretation is possible within the allowed range of neutrino electromagnetic transition moments and solar turbulent field strengths and distributions. Therefore, an unambiguo…
We propose the use of three-dimensional Dirac materials as targets for direct detection of sub-MeV dark matter. Dirac materials are characterized by a linear dispersion for low-energy electronic excitations, with a small band gap of O(meV) if lattice symmetries are broken. Dark matter at the keV scale carrying kinetic energy as small as a few meV can scatter and excite an electron across the gap. Alternatively, bosonic dark matter as light as a few meV can be absorbed by the electrons in the target. We develop the formalism for dark matter scattering and absorption in Dirac materials and calcu…
The complete fermionic two-loop contributions to the prediction for the W-boson mass from muon decay in the electroweak Standard Model are evaluated exactly, i.e. no expansion in the top-quark and the Higgs-boson mass is made. The result for the W-boson mass is compared with the previous result of an expansion up to next-to-leading order in the top-quark mass. The predictions are found to agree with each other within about 5 MeV. A simple parameterization of the new result is presented, approximating the full result better than 0.4 MeV for M_H < 1 TeV.
Currently, there are a number of light-shining-through-walls experiments searching for hidden photons -- light, sub-eV-scale, abelian gauge bosons beyond the standard model which mix kinetically with the standard photon. We show that in the case that one of these experiments finds evidence for hidden photons, laser communications through matter, using methods from free-space optics, can be realized in the very near future, with a channel capacity of more than 1 bit per second, for a distance up to the Earth's diamater.
Motivated by an anomaly observed in the decay of an excited state of Beryllium by the Atomki collaboration, we study an extension of the Standard Model with a gauged $U(1)'$ symmetry in presence of a 2-Higgs Doublet Model structure of the Higgs sector. We show that this scenario complies with a variety of experimental results and is able to explain the potential presence of a resonant spin-1 gauge boson, $Z'$, with a mass of 17 MeV in the Atomki experimental data, for appropriate choices of $U(1)'$ charges and Yukawa interactions.
By using the LHC and Tevatron measurements of the cross sections to various decay channels relative to the standard model Higgs boson, the total width of the putative 125 GeV Higgs boson is determined as 6.1 +7.7-2.9 MeV. We describe a way to estimate the branching fraction for Higgs decay to dark matter. We also discuss a No-Go theorem for the gammagamma signal of the Higgs boson at the LHC.
