Search

We have investigated the signal for physics beyond the Standard Model via Higgs plus photon final state, hitherto unobserved at the LHC, in the framework of Standard Model Effective Field Theory. Using the relevant dimension-6 operators, we probe two distinct classes of interactions, based on the Lorentz structure of Higgs couplings to gauge bosons and fermions. To begin with, constraints on the Wilson coefficients of these operators have been derived from existing experimental data. We then focus on the hadronic decay of the Higgs boson to two bottom quarks in the boosted regime, leading to a high $p_T$ fat-jet recoiling against a hard photon. Following a CMS Run II search for a resonance decaying into a Higgs boson and a photon, a detailed signal and background analysis for this channel has been done and limits on the relevant Wilson coefficients have been obtained. By performing a cut-based analysis, we identify some kinematic observables that distinguish between signal and SM background. Minimum values of the Wilson coefficients that will yield $3\sigma$ signal significance at the 14 TeV run of the LHC with $3000 ~\rm fb^{-1}$ data, have been obtained. A multivariate analysis using a boosted decision tree and exploiting the jet substructure techniques further help to isolate the regions of phase space where the contribution of SMEFT driven signal is significantly enhanced. Finally, we briefly discuss the parameter dependencies and interpretations of the allowed values of the coefficients on a particularly interesting UV complete model namely, Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model., Comment: 38 pages, 19 figures and 11 tables; version accepted for publication in JHEP

We consider an incarnation of left-right symmetric model with a local gauge symmetry of $SU(3)_C \otimes SU(2)_L \otimes U(1)_L \otimes SU(2)_R \otimes U(1)_R$. Heavy scalars and fermions present in the {\bf 27} of $E_6$ are included in the matter sector along with the Standard Model fermions. Two such colour singlet fermions, $N$ and $l_S$, transforming as bi-doublet and singlet under $SU(2)$s respectively, can be potential candidates for Dark Matter (DM). Assignment of $U(1)$ charges for the matter fields restricts some of the exotic fermions to interact with the SM fermions. We study in some details the prospect of such fermionic dark matters by calculating relic densities and direct detection cross-sections by treating these particles as stand alone relic particles in turn. $N$, when treated as relic particle, would produce a direct-detection cross-section very high compared to the experimental upper limits. However, the interaction rate of $N$ can be controlled by introducing a dimension-6 operator involving two $N$ fields and two SM fermions and appropriately choosing the coupling constant. This in turn, makes the interaction rate of $N$ very high and yields a small relic density. On the other hand, $l_S$ for some chosen mass window, can give us right amount of relic, but its direct detection cross-section is too small. Keeping these in mind, we propose two-component model of DM, where both $N$ and $l_S$ contribute to the relic density, albeit with unequal proportion while the direct detection cross-section limits can be satisfied mainly by $N$ in presence of an extra dimension-6 interaction. We derive limits on such an interaction from XENON experiment., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, to be appeared on NPB

We investigate a variant of Left-Right symmetric model based on $E_6$ inspired $SU(3)_C \otimes SU(2)_L \otimes U(1)_L \otimes SU(2)_R \otimes U(1)_R$ gauge group $(32121)$. Spontaneous breaking of $32121$ down to the Standard Model (SM) gauge group, requires a bi-doublet under $SU(2)_L \otimes SU(2)_R$, a right-handed doublet scalar under $SU(2)_R$ along with a $SU(2)$ singlet scalar boson. Symmetry breaking leads to several neutral and charged massive gauge bosons apart from the SM $W$ and $Z$. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) results for the search of heavy gauge bosons can be used to constrain the vacuum expectation values responsible for giving masses to these extra heavy gauge bosons. Physical spectrum of the scalar bosons contains several neutral CP-even and CP-odd states and a couple of charged scalars apart from the SM-like Higgs boson. We have put constraints on the masses of some of these scalars from the existing LHC data. The possible decay rates and production cross-sections of these scalars have been investigated in some details. Production cross-sections for some of the scalars look promising at 14 TeV and 27 TeV run of the LHC with high luminosity option. As the model stems from Grand Unified group $E_6$, we keep all the fermions present in the $27$-dimensional fundamental representation of $E_6$. Mass limit of one such exotic lepton has also been derived from present LHC data. It is noted that some of these neutral exotic lepton or neutral scalar bosons of this model can serve the purpose of a cold dark matter., Comment: 23 pages, 18 figures, 1 table, Revised version accepted for publication in Physical Review D

We investigate the modification of the Higgs signals from vector boson fusion at the LHC arising from higher-dimensional effective operators involving quarks, electroweak gauge bosons and the 125-GeV scalar discovered in 2012. Taking a few of the admissible dimension-6 operators as illustration, we work within the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) and identify kinematic variables that can reflect the presence of such effective operators. The useful variables turn out to be the geometric mean of the transverse momenta of the two forward jets produced in VBF and the rapidity difference between the two forward jets. We identify the shift in event population caused by the effective operators in the same, spanned by the above kinematic variables. Minimum values of the Wilson coefficients of the chosen dimension-6 operators are identified, for which they can be probed at the $3\sigma$ level in the high luminosity run of the LHC at 14 TeV. Projected exclusion limits on some of the couplings, obtained from our analysis, can significantly improve the limits on such couplings derived from electroweak precision data., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures and 4 tables; figure 10 is supplementary; comments added and references updated; conclusions unchanged. Accepted for publication in PRD

Solvothermal synthesis of MoS2 based quantum dots (QDs) and the performance evaluation of bare QDs for the detection of aqueous As (III) oxidative state at room temperature and neutral pH over an extremely wide range (0.1 ppb to 1000 ppb) is reported here. Concentration-dependent photoluminescence (PL) of the QDs was found to be enhanced up to 50 ppb and then suppressed till 1000 ppb, showing two distinctive slopes for enhancement and suppression. Passivation of trap states or defects of QDs may be the possible reason for enhancement, and the formation of extremely small glassy As2S3 particles on the QD surface may be the possible reason for suppression. The pattern of optical absorption of QDs is featureless but shows an enhanced absorbance in the near UV range below 300 nm, which increases with As (III) concentration up to 50 ppb and then decreases following the PL pattern. The MoS2 QDs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Xray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis, and PL spectroscopy. The enhancement and suppression results can be fitted excellently with the modified Stern-Volmer equation, and the detection of arsenic is possible using these linear fit equations as calibration curves.

We study the collider phenomenology of non minimal universal extra dimensional (nmUED) model in the context of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. nmUED is an incarnation of the Standard Model in $(4+1)$ space-time dimensions compactified on an $\bf{S_1}/\bf{Z_2}$ orbifold supplemented with boundary localized operators with unknown coefficients. These coefficients parametrize the radiative corrections which are somehow arbitrary due to the lack of knowledge of the cut-off scale of such effective theory. It is possible to tune the masses and couplings of the Kaluza Klein (KK) excitations by tuning these parameters. Two scenarios with different mass hierarchies among the KK-excitations have been considered. A detailed study of production cross-sections and different decay modes of KK-particles are also presented. We calculate the correlated bounds on masses of KK-particles using the LHC $nl + mj + E\!\!\!\!/_T$ data (in case of production of strongly interacting particles) and $3l + E\!\!\!\!/_T$ data (in case of electroweak productions). We work in a KK-parity conserving scenario where the lightest KK-particle is a potential dark (DM) matter candidate. We use the additional constraints coming from the observed DM relic density of the universe to identify the allowed parameter space. The current status of a nmUED model in the light of DM direct detection data is also examined. The present investigation reveals that production and subsequent leptonic decays of KK-electroweak gauge bosons as massive as 1 TeV, lead to observable trilepton signature with a luminosity of 1 ab$^{-1}$ which will be realized in near future., Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures

We estimate contributions from Kaluza-Klein excitations of third generation quarks and gauge bosons to the branching ratio of $B\rightarrow X_s\gamma$ decay process in 5-Dimensional Universal Extra Dimensional scenario with non-vanishing boundary localised terms. This model is conventionally known as non-minimal Universal Extra Dimensional model. We have derived the lower limit on the size of the extra dimension by comparing our theoretical estimation of the branching ratio which includes next-to-next-to leading order QCD corrections with its experimentally measured value. Coefficients of the boundary localised terms have also been constrained. 95 \% C.L. lower limit on inverse of radius of compactification ($R^{-1}$) can be as large as 670 GeV for some choice of the value of coefficients of boundary localised terms., Comment: Typos corrected, published version

Addition of boundary localised kinetic and Yukawa terms to the action of a 5-dimensional Standard Model would non-trivially modify the Kaluza-Klein spectra and some of the interactions among the Kaluza-Klein excitations compared to the minimal version of this model, in which, these boundary terms are not present. In the minimal version of this framework known as Universal Extra Dimensional model, special assumptions are made about these unknown, beyond the cut-off contributions to restrict the number of unknown parameters of the theory to a minimal. We estimate the contribution of Kaluza-Klein modes to the branching ratios of $B_{s(d)}\rightarrow\mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ in the framework of non-minimal Universal Extra Dimensional, at one loop level. The results have been compared to the experimental data to constrain the parameters of this model. From the measured decay branching ratio of $B_s \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-$ (depending on the values of boundary localised parameters) lower limit on $R^{-1}$ can be as high as 800 GeV. We have briefly reviewed the bounds on nmUED parameter space coming from electroweak precision observables. The present analysis ($B_s \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-$) has ruled out new regions of parameter space in comparison to the analysis of electroweak data. We have revisited the bound on $R^{-1}$ in Universal Extra Dimensional model, which came out to be 454 GeV. This limit on $R^{-1}$ in Universal Extra Dimensional framework is not as competitive as the limits derived from the consideration of relic density or Standard Model Higgs boson production and decay to $W^+ W^-$. Unfortunately, $B_{d}\rightarrow\mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ decay branching ratio would not set any significant limit on $R^{-1}$ in a minimal or non-minimal Universal Extra Dimensional model., Comment: 31 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables: Several changes made in text and figures. Version accepted for publication in PRD

We calculate the effective $Z b\bar b$ coupling at one loop level, in the framework of non-minimal Universal Extra Dimensional (nmUED) model. Non-minimality in Universal Extra Dimensional (UED) framework is realized by adding kinetic and Yukawa terms with arbitrary coefficients to the action at boundary points of the extra space like dimension. A recent estimation of the Standard Model (SM) contribution to $Zb\bar{b}$ coupling at two loop level, points to a $1.2\sigma$ discrepancy between the experimental data and the SM estimate. We compare our calculation with the difference between the SM prediction and the experimental estimation of the above coupling and constrain the parameter space of nmUED. We also review the limit on compactification radius of UED in view of the new theoretical estimation of SM contribution to $Z b\bar{b}$ coupling. For suitable choice of coefficients of boundary-localized terms, 95\% C.L. lower limit on $R^{-1}$ comes out to be in the ballpark of 800 GeV in the framework of nmUED; while in UED, the lower limit on $R^{-1}$ is 350 GeV which is a marginal improvement over an earlier estimate., Comment: Version to be published in JHEP

Electroweak observables are highly sensitive to the loop corrections. Therefore, a proper gauge-fixing mechanism is always needed to define the propagators which are involved in Feynman loop amplitude. With this spirit we compute gauge-fixing mechanism in five dimensional (5-D) Universal Extra-Dimensional (UED) model with boundary localised terms (BLTs). These BLTs are not 5-D operators in four-dimensional (4-D) effective theory but some sort of boundary conditions on the respective fields at the fixed points of $S^1/Z_2$ orbifold. Furthermore, these BLTs non-trivially modify the Kaluza-Klein (KK) spectra and some of the interactions among the KK-excitations compared to the minimal UED (mUED), in which, these BLTs are absent. In this note we calculate the gauge-fixing mechanism in the electroweak sector of such non-trivial UED scenario. Moreover, we discuss the composition and masses of Goldstone and any physical scalar that emerge after the symmetry breaking in this set up with different choices of gauge., Comment: 9 pages, title has been changed, matched with the published version

In universal extra-dimensional models a conserved Z_2 parity stabilizes the lightest Kaluza-Klein particle, a dark-matter candidate. Boundary-localized kinetic terms, in general, do not preserve this symmetry. We examine, in the presence of such terms, the single production of Kaluza-Klein excitations of the neutral electroweak gauge bosons and their decay to zero-mode fermion-antifermion pairs. We explore how experiments at the Large Hadron Collider constrain the boundary-localized kinetic terms for different compactification radii., Comment: Written version of talk at Delhi-LC2012, submitted to the Editors of the Conference Proceedings in August 2013, based on work reported in arXiv: 1205.4334 [hep-ph]

We investigate the impact of the latest data on Higgs boson branching ratios on the minimal model with a Universal Extra Dimension (mUED). Combining constraints from vacuum stability requirements with these branching ratio measurements we are able to make realistic predictions for the signal strengths in this model. We use these to find a lower bound of 1.3 TeV on the size parameter $R^{-1}$ of the model at 95% confidence level, which is far more stringent than any other reliable bound obtained till now., Comment: Minor changes, mostly in the context of LHC bounds on mUED models, some references added

In five-dimensional universal extra-dimensional models compactified on an $S^1/Z_2$ orbifold four-dimensional kinetic terms are allowed at the two fixed points. If these terms are unequal then Kaluza-Klein (KK) parity is broken. Within such a framework we consider resonant production of the n = 1 KK-gluon at the Large Hadron Collider and its subsequent decay to $t\bar{t}$, where both production and decay are KK-parity non-conserving. We use, for the first time, the exclusion data for a $t\bar{t}$ resonance obtained by the ATLAS collaboration to limit the mass ranges of quark and gluon excitations of the KK-parity-violating model which are found to be in the ballpark of 900 GeV., Comment: v2: Results based on 8 TeV LHC data, Figures and discussions now in terms of exclusion regions of KK-excitation masses, Published version

In universal extra dimension (UED) models with one compactified extra dimension, a Z_2 symmetry, termed KK-parity, ensures the stability of the lightest Kaluza-Klein particle (LKP). This symmetry leads to two fixed points. In non-minimal versions of UED boundary-localised terms (BLT) for different fields are included at these fixed points and KK-parity may be violated. However, BLTs with same strength at both points induce a new Z_2 symmetry which restores the stability of the LKP. We show that the BLTs serve to relax the bounds set on the compactification scale in UED by the dark matter relic density requirement. At the same time, the precision of the dark matter measurements severely correlates the BLT parameters of gauge bosons and fermions. Depending on the parameter values, the LKP can be chosen to be the level-1 photon, which is essentially the B^(1), or the level-1 Z-boson, basically the W_3^(1). We find that in the latter case the relic density is too small for a W_3^(1) with a \sim 1 TeV mass. We also explore the prospects of direct detection of an LKP which matches the observed dark matter relic density., Comment: 23 pages including Appendix, 6 figures, Minor typographical improvements,Publish version

The exotic physical properties of graphene have led to intense research activities on the synthesis and characterization of graphene composites during the last decade. In this article the methods developed for preparation of such materials and the different application areas are reviewed. The composites discussed are of two types, viz; graphene/polymer and inorganic/ graphene. The techniques of ex-situ hybridization and in-situ hybridization have been pointed out. Some of the application areas are batteries and ultracapacitor for energy storage and fuel cell and solar cell for energy generation and some of the possible future directions of research have been discussed., Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures

If the new boson is lying in the narrow mass range between 122 - 127 GeV is confirmed to be a Higgs boson, then stability of the electroweak vacuum in a minimal model with a universal extra dimension (mUED) will require a much lower cutoff for the theory than has been envisaged earlier. We show that this low cutoff would lead to important changes in much of the mUED phenomenology studied till now. In particular, prospects for LHC searches for n = 1 states are rather limited, while resonant n = 2 states may go completely undetected. Prospects for detection at the ILC and CLIC are less affected., Comment: Revised and updated version, some typos fixed and references added

In universal extra-dimensional models a conserved $Z_2$ parity ensures the stability of the lightest Kaluza-Klein particle, a potential dark-matter candidate. We show here that boundary-localized kinetic terms, in general, do not preserve this symmetry. We examine the single production of a Kaluza-Klein excitation of the photon and its decay to zero-mode fermion-antifermion pairs in the presence of such terms. We explore how experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN can help constrain the boundary-localized kinetic terms for different choices of the compactification radius., Comment: Major changes included in this version with some new results

Nickel nanosheets of thickness 0.6 nm were grown within the nanochannels of Na-4 mica template. The specimens show magnetodielectric effect at room temperature with a change of dielectric constant as a function of magnetic field, the electric field frequency varying from 100 to 700 kHz. A decrease of 5% in the value of dielectric constant was observed up to a field of 1.2 Tesla. This is explained by an inhomogeneous two-component composite model as theoretically proposed recently. The present approach will open up synthesis of various nanocomposites for sensor applications., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures