Search

Abstract Due to the pseudo-scalar nature of the axion-like particle (ALP), the CP-conserving production of two Higgs bosons via the ALP necessarily involves an additional Z or γ boson. We examine the existing constraints from di-Higgs searches at Run 2 of the LHC and find that, despite the presence of extra objects in the final state, these searches are sensitive to a combination of ALP couplings to gluons and three-bosons in the TeV scale range. Additionally, we propose a specialized search strategy incorporating an energetic leptonic Z boson. This refined ALP-induced production process would allow for the identification of the h h → 4 b-jet final state and could potentially probe the TeV scale using data from Run 2 of the LHC. This production process can also occur through a coupling between the top quark and the ALP. We translate the current constraints on di-Higgs production into new limits on the ALP-top coupling.

Abstract The non-vanishing neutrino mass strongly hints the existence of right-handed neutrinos (RHNs), singlets of the standard model (SM). However, they are highly decoupled from the SM and difficult to probe. In this work, we consider the Majorana RHNs from the type-I seesaw mechanism may well mix with the heavy neutral lepton dwelling in certain vector-like lepton (VLL), thus acquiring a sizable electroweak charge. Such a simple scenario yields many interesting consequences, and the imprint on oblique corrections, well expected from the mass splitting between components of VLL by virtue of VLL-RHN mixing, is our focus here. We analytically calculate the Peskin-Takeuchi parameters S, T and U with full details, carefully treating the Majorana loop to obtain the self consistent expressions free of divergence. Then, we constrain on the VLL-RHN system which only gives a sizable T parameter using the PDG-2021 data and CDF-II data, separately, by imposing T ≲ O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (0.1). It is found that for the RHN and VLL below the TeV scale, with a properly large mixing, stands in the frontier of the electroweak precision test such as W-boson mass.

Abstract We study the leading loop-level phenomenology of composite Higgs models via the effective field theory of a strongly interacting light Higgs and top quark (SILH+TQ). We systematically analyze the renormalization group evolution (RGE) of tree-generated operators in the SILH+TQ scenario, finding large mixings of flavor non-universal operators into those affecting electroweak precision observables. We show that these model-independent RG contributions are more important than typical estimates for finite parts. Flavor non-universal effects are completely captured by examining three options for the top mixing: fully composite q L 3 $$ {q}_L^3 $$ , equal compositeness, and fully composite t R . In the most phenomenologically viable case of a fully composite t R , we show that the strongest bound on the natural parameter space comes from next-to-leading log running of the 4-top operator O tt = t ¯ R γ μ t R t ¯ R γ μ t R $$ {\mathcal{O}}_{tt}=\left({\overline{t}}_R{\gamma}_{\mu }{t}_R\right)\left({\overline{t}}_R{\gamma}^{\mu }{t}_R\right) $$ into the Peskin-Takeuchi T parameter. In general, we find that this 2-loop effect allows existing electroweak precision data to give better constraints on 4-top operators than high-energy probes from top production at the LHC. Independent of the top mixing, we find that a future tera-Z machine such as FCC-ee has the potential to probe composite Higgs models up to a scale of m ∗ ≳ 25 TeV, and test the naturalness of the electroweak scale at the ≲ 10−4 level.

Abstract Tri-boson production together with vector-boson scattering is a privileged channel to study the electroweak structure of the Standard Model. Upcoming LHC running stages will allow to measure these processes at unprecedented accuracy and for all possible final states, which requires to push theory predictions to still unexplored frontiers. In this work we present the first calculation for the process pp → μ + μ − e+ ν ejj at the LHC in a tri-boson phase space. We evaluate the three LO contributions, namely the O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (α 6), which contains the genuine tri-boson signature, along with the O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (α s α 5) and O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ ( α s 2 $$ {\alpha}_{\textrm{s}}^2 $$ α 4), and the two O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (α 7) and O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (α s α 6) NLO corrections. The calculation is based on full Standard-Model matrix elements, including all resonant and non-resonant terms, complete spin correlations and interference effects. Integrated and differential cross sections are presented for a fiducial region inspired by High Luminosity LHC prospect studies. We find electroweak corrections of −14% for the fiducial cross section, almost twice as large as for other tri-boson processes.

Abstract We present SMEFiT3.0, an updated global SMEFT analysis of Higgs, top quark, and diboson production data from the LHC complemented by electroweak precision observables (EWPOs) from LEP and SLD. We consider recent inclusive and differential measurements from the LHC Run II, alongside with a novel implementation of the EWPOs based on independent calculations of the relevant EFT contributions. We estimate the impact of HL-LHC measurements on the SMEFT parameter space when added on top of SMEFiT3.0, through dedicated projections extrapolating from Run II data. We quantify the significant constraints that measurements from two proposed high-energy circular e + e − colliders, the FCC-ee and the CEPC, would impose on both the SMEFT parameter space and on representative UV-complete models. Our analysis considers projections for the FCC-ee and the CEPC based on the latest running scenarios and includes Z-pole EWPOs, fermion-pair, Higgs, diboson, and top quark production, using optimal observables for both the W + W − and the t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ channels. The framework presented in this work may be extended to other future colliders and running scenarios, providing timely input to ongoing studies towards future high-energy particle physics facilities.

Abstract Measuring vector-boson scattering beyond the fully-leptonic final state is becoming possible at the LHC, which demands to have a solid control on the theory predictions for all final states of this class of processes. In this work we present a full off-shell leading-order calculation for the process pp → ℓ + ν ℓ + 4j in two fiducial regions which are particularly relevant for its experimental measurement. In addition to the fully electroweak order, i.e. O α 6 $$ \mathcal{O}\left({\alpha}^6\right) $$ , we complement our results with O α s α 5 $$ \mathcal{O}\left({\alpha}_{\textrm{s}}{\alpha}^5\right) $$ and O α s 2 α 4 $$ \mathcal{O}\left({\alpha}_{\textrm{s}}^2{\alpha}^4\right) $$ for inclusive predictions. At O α 6 $$ \mathcal{O}\left({\alpha}^6\right) $$ we present for the first time a systematic treatment of the process in double-pole approximation and we perform a detailed study of its range of validity by considering inclusive and differential predictions compared to the full off-shell calculation.

Abstract In this work, the sensitivity of future germanium-based reactor neutrino experiments to the weak mixing angle sin2 θ W , and to the presence of new light vector bosons is investigated. By taking into account key experimental features with their uncertainties and the application of a data-driven and state-of-the-art reactor antineutrino spectrum, the impact of detection threshold and experimental exposure is assessed in detail for an experiment relying on germanium semiconductor detectors. With the established analysis framework, the precision on the Weinberg angle, and capability of probing the parameter space of a universally coupled mediator model, as well as a U(1)B−L-symmetric model are quantified. Our investigation finds the next-generation of germanium-based reactor neutrino experiments in good shape to determine the Weinberg angle sin2 θ W with < 10% precision using the low-energetic neutrino channel of CEνNS. In addition, the current limits on new light vector bosons determined by reactor experiments can be lowered by about an order of magnitude via the combination of both CEνNS and EνeS. Consequently, our findings provide strong phenomenological support for future experimental endeavours close to a reactor site.

Abstract In this work, we present the first full NLO predictions for the process pp → μ + ν μ e+ ν ejj at the LHC in a typical tri-boson phase space. The NLO corrections reach 50% at the level of the fiducial cross section and have a very different hierarchy with respect to vector-boson-scattering phase spaces. By comparing the cross section of the full off-shell process with the sum of contributing on-shell electroweak-boson production subchannels, we find that the process is dominated by WWW and WH production, while vector-boson-scattering topologies still play a non-negligible role. In addition, NLO QCD predictions matched to parton shower which are supplemented by approximate electroweak corrections are provided. For the fiducial cross section, the electroweak corrections turn out to be small but the QCD corrections reach 47%. For the inclusive cross section, matching to parton shower affects the predictions by 7%. However, for differential distributions corrections due to the parton shower can be much more sizeable, depending on the region of phase space.

Abstract We study the capabilities of a muon collider, at 3 and 10 TeV center-of-mass energy, of probing the interactions of the Higgs boson with the muon. We consider all the possible processes involving the direct production of EW bosons (W, Z and H) with up to five particles in the final state. We study these processes both in the HEFT and SMEFT frameworks, assuming that the dominant BSM effects originate from the muon Yukawa sector. Our study shows that a Muon Collider has sensitivity beyond the high-luminosity LHC, especially as it does not rely on the Higgs-decay branching fraction to muons. A 10 TeV muon collider provides a unique sensitivity on muon and (multi-) Higgs interactions, significantly better than the 3 TeV option. Particularly, we find searches based purely on multi-Higgs production to be particularly effective in probing these couplings.

Abstract This paper presents the inaugural investigation of beyond the Standard Model (BSM) radiation processes, framed as a generalized, process- and model-independent parton shower algorithm within Herwig 7, based on direct translations of Universal FeynRules Output (UFO) constructed via Herwig’s ufo2herwig module. Leveraging the fact that shower kinematics are dictated by the spins of involved particles, we calculate comprehensive helicity-dependent branching kernels for all feasible splittings of scalars, fermions, and vector bosons, tailored to Herwig 7’s angular-ordering (AO) parton shower algorithm. Utilizing these kernels, we derive BSM splitting functions in the quasi-collinear limit, ensuring compatibility with the Standard Model (SM) and supersymmetry (SUSY) splitting functions when analogous parameter conditions are applied. These newly derived functions have been integrated into the Herwig 7 event generator framework. Comparative analyses with fixed-order matrix element calculations show good agreement for single radiation events. Moreover, the results showcase the influence of BSM radiation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and envisage its implications for future collider endeavours. This research augments our comprehension of BSM radiation effects, with significant bearings on present and prospective collider-based inquiries.

Abstract We present the two-loop mixed strong-electroweak virtual corrections to the charged current Drell-Yan process. The final-state collinear singularities are regularised by the lepton mass. The evaluation of all the relevant Feynman integrals, including those with up to two different internal massive lines, has been worked out relying on semi-analytical techniques, using complex-valued masses. We can provide, at any arbitrary phase-space point, the solution as a power series in the W-boson mass, around a reference value. Starting from these expansions, we can prepare a numerical grid for any value of the W-boson mass within their radius of convergence in a negligible amount of time.

Abstract We consider neutral- and charged-current Drell Yan lepton-pair production at hadron colliders, and include dominant classes of electroweak and mixed QCD-electroweak corrections to all orders in perturbation theory. The accurate description of these physical effects is vital for a precise determination of fundamental Standard Model parameters, such as the W-boson mass and the electroweak mixing angle, as well as for a solid assessment of the associated theoretical uncertainties. Our state-of-the-art resummation reaches next-to-leading-logarithmic accuracy in both the electroweak and the mixed QCD-electroweak perturbative expansions, including constant terms at first order beyond Born level in both couplings, i.e. at order α and α s α. These effects are incorporated on top of QCD predictions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading-logarithmic accuracy, which include constant terms at third order in the strong coupling. Our results retain, for the first time at this accuracy, full dependence on the kinematics of the final-state leptons, thereby enabling a realistic comparison with experimental analyses at the differential level in presence of fiducial cuts. We present a phenomenological analysis of the impact of electroweak corrections in relevant observables at the LHC. We find visible shape distortions in resummation-dominated kinematical regions with respect to pure-QCD predictions, highlighting the importance of a complete description, not limited to QCD, for precision Drell Yan physics.

Abstract We examine how different assumptions about the hadronic vacuum polarization, the W boson mass, and the forward-backward asymmetry in b-quarks at the Z pole can impact the precision electroweak fit. We study the implications for a kinetically mixed dark photon, addressing the complementarity of precision bounds and direct searches, particularly in the case where the dark photon can decay into the dark sector, and we consider implications for future Large Hadron Collider searches. We comment on cases where the precision effects of the dark photon may not be well-described by the oblique parameters.

Abstract We introduce a useful framework for high-precision studies of the neutron beta decay by merging the current algebra description and the fixed-order effective field theory calculation of the electroweak radiative corrections to the neutron axial form factor. We discuss the advantages of this hybrid method and show that it only requires a minimal amount of lattice QCD inputs to achieve a 10−4 theory accuracy for the Standard Model prediction of the neutron lifetime and the axial-to-vector coupling ratio λ, both important to the search for physics beyond the Standard Model.

Abstract The cross-section for the production of an electroweak gauge boson (G = W ± , Z 0, γ) at forward rapidities in pp collisions is derived within the color-dipole S-matrix framework. We present the full expressions for the differential cross-section of the qp → GX process in the impact parameter and transverse momentum spaces, considering the longitudinal and transverse polarizations of the gauge boson. The particular cases associated with the Drell-Yan process and real photon production are discussed. We demonstrate that the final formulae are expressed in terms of the dipole-proton cross-section or the unintegrated gluon distribution, and can be used to estimate the impact of the saturation effects in the gauge boson production at the LHC and future colliders.

Abstract The neutrino force results from the exchange of a pair of neutrinos. A neutrino background can significantly influence this force. In this work, we present a comprehensive calculation of the neutrino force in various neutrino backgrounds with spin dependence taken into account. In particular, we calculate the spin-independent and spin-dependent parity-conserving neutrino forces, in addition to the spin-dependent parity-violating neutrino forces with and without the presence of a neutrino background for both isotropic and anisotropic backgrounds. Compared with the vacuum case, the neutrino background can effectively violate Lorentz invariance and lead to additional parity-violating terms that are not suppressed by the velocity of external particles. We estimate the magnitude of the effect of atomic parity-violation experiments, and it turns out to be well below the current experimental sensitivity.

We present the two-loop mixed strong-electroweak virtual corrections to the charged current Drell-Yan process. The final-state collinear singularities are regularised by the lepton mass. The evaluation of all the relevant Feynman integrals, including those with up to two different internal massive lines, has been worked out relying on semi-analytical techniques, using complex-valued masses. We can provide, at any arbitrary phase-space point, the solution as a power series in the W-boson mass, around a reference value. Starting from these expansions, we can prepare a numerical grid for any value of the W-boson mass within their radius of convergence in a negligible amount of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider neutral- and charged-current Drell Yan lepton-pair production at hadron colliders, and include dominant classes of electroweak and mixed QCD-electroweak corrections to all orders in perturbation theory. The accurate description of these physical effects is vital for a precise determination of fundamental Standard Model parameters, such as the W-boson mass and the electroweak mixing angle, as well as for a solid assessment of the associated theoretical uncertainties. Our state-of-the-art resummation reaches next-to-leading-logarithmic accuracy in both the electroweak and the mixed QCD-electroweak perturbative expansions, including constant terms at first order beyond Born level in both couplings, i.e. at order α and αsα. These effects are incorporated on top of QCD predictions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading-logarithmic accuracy, which include constant terms at third order in the strong coupling. Our results retain, for the first time at this accuracy, full dependence on the kinematics of the final-state leptons, thereby enabling a realistic comparison with experimental analyses at the differential level in presence of fiducial cuts. We present a phenomenological analysis of the impact of electroweak corrections in relevant observables at the LHC. We find visible shape distortions in resummation-dominated kinematical regions with respect to pure-QCD predictions, highlighting the importance of a complete description, not limited to QCD, for precision Drell Yan physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how different assumptions about the hadronic vacuum polarization, the W boson mass, and the forward-backward asymmetry in b-quarks at the Z pole can impact the precision electroweak fit. We study the implications for a kinetically mixed dark photon, addressing the complementarity of precision bounds and direct searches, particularly in the case where the dark photon can decay into the dark sector, and we consider implications for future Large Hadron Collider searches. We comment on cases where the precision effects of the dark photon may not be well-described by the oblique parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper we explore pp → W ± (ℓ ± ν)γ to O 1 / Λ 4 $$ \mathcal{O}\left(1/{\Lambda}^4\right) $$ in the SMEFT expansion. Calculations to this order are necessary to properly capture SMEFT contributions that grow with energy, as the interference between energy-enhanced SMEFT effects at O 1 / Λ 2 $$ \mathcal{O}\left(1/{\Lambda}^2\right) $$ and the Standard Model is suppressed. We find that there are several dimension eight operators that interfere with the Standard Model and lead to the same energy growth, ~ O E 4 / Λ 4 $$ \mathcal{O}\left({E}^4/{\Lambda}^4\right) $$ , as dimension six squared. While energy-enhanced SMEFT contributions are a main focus, our calculation includes the complete set of O 1 / Λ 4 $$ \mathcal{O}\left(1/{\Lambda}^4\right) $$ SMEFT effects consistent with U(3)5 flavor symmetry. Additionally, we include the decay of the W ± → ℓ ± ν, making the calculation actually q ¯ q ′ → ℓ ± νγ $$ \overline{q}{q}^{\prime}\to {\ell}^{\pm}\nu \gamma $$ . As such, we are able to study the impact of non-resonant SMEFT operators, such as L † σ ¯ μ τ I L Q † σ ¯ ν τ I Q $$ \left({L}^{\dagger }{\overline{\sigma}}^{\mu }{\tau}^IL\right)\left({Q}^{\dagger }{\overline{\sigma}}^{\nu }{\tau}^IQ\right) $$ B μν , which contribute to q ¯ q ′ → ℓ ± νγ $$ \overline{q}{q}^{\prime}\to {\ell}^{\pm}\nu \gamma $$ directly and not to q ¯ q ′ → W ± γ $$ \overline{q}{q}^{\prime}\to {W}^{\pm}\gamma $$ . We show several distributions to illustrate the shape differences of the different contributions.

Abstract We apply machine-learning techniques to the effective-field-theory analysis of the e + e − → W + W − processes at future lepton colliders, and demonstrate their advantages in comparison with conventional methods, such as optimal observables. In particular, we show that machine-learning methods are more robust to detector effects and backgrounds, and could in principle produce unbiased results with sufficient Monte Carlo simulation samples that accurately describe experiments. This is crucial for the analyses at future lepton colliders given the outstanding precision of the e + e − → W + W − measurement (~ 10 −4 in terms of anomalous triple gauge couplings or even better) that can be reached. Our framework can be generalized to other effective-field-theory analyses, such as the one of e + e − → t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ or similar processes at muon colliders.

Abstract We study the interactions of axion-like particles (ALPs) with the Standard Model particles, aiming to probe their phenomenology via non-resonant searches at the LHC. These interactions are mediated by higher dimensional effective operators within two possible frameworks of linearly and non-linearly realised electroweak symmetry breaking. We consider the ALPs to be light enough to be produced on-shell and exploit their derivative couplings with the SM Higgs boson and the gauge bosons. We will use the high momentum transfer processes, namely hZ, Zγ, WW and WWγ production from pp collisions. We derive upper limits on the gauge-invariant interactions of ALPs with the electroweak bosons and/or Higgs boson that contribute to these processes, from the re-interpretation of the latest Run 2 available LHC data. The constraints we obtain are strong for ALP masses below 100 GeV. These allowed effective interactions in the ALP parameter space yield better significance at HL-LHC and thus, offer promising avenues for subsequent studies. Furthermore, we augment our cut-based analysis with gradient-boosted decision trees, which improve the statistical significance distinctly across these interaction channels. We briefly compare the results with the complementary probe of these couplings via direct production of ALPs in association with the Higgs boson or a vector boson.

Abstract We compute the six oblique parameters S, T, U, V, W, X in a New Physics Model with an arbitrary number of new fermions, in arbitrary representations of SU(2) × U(1), and mixing arbitrarily among themselves. We show that S and U are automatically finite, but T is finite only if there is a specific relation between the masses of the new fermions and the representations of SU(2) × U(1) that they sit in. We apply our general computation to two illustrative cases.

Abstract We calculate the neutrino-electron elastic scattering cross section, extending the results previously obtained in ref. [1], in the presence of generic new interactions that take into account all the effects caused by finite neutrino masses. We address the potential significance of a heavy neutrino sector during precision measurements, particularly for tau neutrinos scattering with masses in the MeV range, for which the existing upper bounds on |U τ4|2 would result in conceivably measurable contributions. Finally, we comment on the possibility to distinguish between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos, including the analysis of the new emerging parameters and its application to illustrative model-dependent scenarios.

Abstract Recently, the CMS and ATLAS collaborations have announced the results for H → Z[→ ℓ + ℓ − ]γ with ℓ = e or μ [1, 2], where H → Zγ is a sub-process of H → ℓ + ℓ − γ. This semi-leptonic Higgs decay gets both resonant and non-resonant contributions from the loop-induced H → Z[→ ℓ + ℓ − ]γ. To probe further features coming from these contributions to H → ℓ + ℓ − γ, we argue that the polarization of the final state leptons is also an important parameter. We show that the interference of resonant and non-resonant contributions, which is negligible in the case of unpolarized leptons, plays a significant role when considering the polarization of the final state lepton. For this purpose, we have calculated the polarized decay rates and the longitudinal (P L ), normal (P N ), and transverse (P T ) polarization asymmetries. We find that these asymmetries purely come from the loop contributions and are helpful to further investigate the resonant and non-resonant nature of H → Z[→ ℓ + ℓ − ]γ decay. We observe that for ℓ = e, μ, the longitudinal decay rate is highly suppressed around m ℓℓ ≈ 60 GeV when the final lepton spin is − 1 2 $$ -\frac{1}{2} $$ , dramatically increasing the corresponding lepton polarization asymmetries. Furthermore, we analyze another observable, the ratio of decay rates R i ± ll ′ $$ {R}_{i\pm}^{{\mathcal{ll}}^{\prime }} $$ , where ℓ and ℓ ′ refer to different final state lepton generations. Precise measurements of these observables at the HL-LHC and the planned e + e − collider can provide fertile ground to test not only the SM but also to examine the signatures of possible NP beyond the SM.

Abstract In this paper, we discuss the possibility to probe a nearly-degenerate Z ′ -Z system by analyzing the Z-lineshape at an electron-positron collider. Compared with the usual Z ′ in the literature well separated with the standard model (SM) Z boson in mass, the nearly-degenerate Z ′ -Z mixing affects the observed effective “oblique parameters” $$\widetilde{S}$$ , $$\widetilde{T}$$ , $$\widetilde{U}$$ , and the effective deviation of “number of neutrino species” $$\delta {\widetilde{N}}_{\nu }$$ in a more complicated way and cannot be simply computed perturbatively up to a particular order. Aiming at solving this problem, we write down a general simplified effective Lagrangian and enumerate some parameter spaces corresponding to some typical models, and suggest a method to extract the constraints by looking into the line-shape of the Z-like resonance at an electron-positron collider.

Abstract By tagging one or two intact protons in the forward direction, it is possible to select and measure exclusive photon-fusion processes at the LHC. The same processes can also be measured in heavy ion collisions, and are often denoted as ultraperipheral collisions (UPC) processes. Such measurements open up the possibility of probing certain dimension-8 operators and their positivity bounds at the LHC. As a demonstration, we perform a phenomenological study on the γγ → ℓ + ℓ − processes, and find out that the measurements of this process at the HL-LHC provide reaches on a set of dimension-8 operator coefficients that are comparable to the ones at future lepton colliders. We also point out that the γq → γq process could potentially have better reaches on similar types of operators due to its larger cross section, but a more detailed experimental study is need to estimate the signal and background rates of this process. The validity of effective field theory (EFT) and the robustness of the positivity interpretation are also discussed.

Abstract Radiative corrections in pole approximation, which are based on the leading contribution in a systematic expansion of amplitudes about resonance poles, naturally decompose into factorizable corrections attributed to the production or decay of the resonance and non-factorizable corrections induced by soft photon (or gluon) exchange between those subprocesses. In this paper we complete an earlier calculation of mixed QCD × electroweak corrections of $$\mathcal{O}\left({\alpha }_{{\text{s}}}\alpha \right)$$ to the neutral-current Drell-Yan cross section in pole approximation by including the previously neglected corrections that are solely related to the Z-boson production process. We present numerical results both for differential distributions and for the forward-backward asymmetry differential in the lepton-pair invariant mass, which is the key observable in the measurement of the effective weak mixing angle at the LHC. Carefully disentangling the various types of factorizable and non-factorizable corrections, we find (as expected in our earlier work) that the by far most important contribution at $$\mathcal{O}\left({\alpha }_{{\text{s}}}\alpha \right)$$ originates from the interplay of initial-state QCD corrections and electroweak final-state corrections.

Abstract We investigate the sensitivity of the FASERν detector, a novel experimental setup at the LHC, to probe and constrain generalized neutrino interactions (GNI). Employing a comprehensive theoretical framework, we model the effects of generalized neutrino interactions on neutrino-nucleon deep inelastic scattering processes within the FASERν detector. By considering all the neutrino channels produced at the LHC, we perform a statistical analysis to determine the sensitivity of FASERν to constrain these interactions. Our results demonstrate that FASERν can place stringent constraints on the GNI effective couplings. Additionally, we study the relation between GNI and a minimal Leptoquark model where the SM is augmented by a singlet Leptoquark with hypercharge 1/3. We have found that the sensitivities for various combinations of the Leptoquark Yukawa couplings are approximately O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (1), particularly when considering a Leptoquark mass in the TeV range.

Abstract We implement electroweak renormalisation schemes involving the effective weak mixing angle to NLO in Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). After developing the necessary theoretical machinery, we analyse a select set of electroweak precision observables in such input schemes. An attractive feature is that large corrections from top-quark loops appearing in other schemes are absorbed into the definition of the effective weak mixing angle. On the other hand, the renormalisation condition which achieves this involves a large number of flavour-specific SMEFT couplings between the Z boson and charged leptons, motivating simple flavour assumptions such as minimal flavour violation for practical applications. The results of this paper provide a valuable new component for estimating systematic uncertainties in SMEFT fits by performing analyses in multiple input schemes.

Abstract In this work, we complete our CT18qed study with the neutron’s photon parton distribution function (PDF), which is essential for the nucleus scattering phenomenology. Two methods, CT18lux and CT18qed, based on the LUXqed formalism and the DGLAP evolution, respectively, to determine the neutron’s photon PDF have been presented. Various low-Q 2 non-perturbative variations have been carefully examined, which are treated as additional uncertainties on top of those induced by quark and gluon PDFs. The impacts of the momentum sum rule as well as isospin symmetry violation have been explored and turned out to be negligible. A detailed comparison with other neutron’s photon PDF sets has been performed, which shows a great improvement in the precision and a reasonable uncertainty estimation. Finally, two phenomenological implications are demonstrated with photon-initiated processes: neutrino-nucleus W-boson production, which is important for the near-future TeV–PeV neutrino observations, and the axion-like particle production at a high-energy muon beam-dump experiment.

Abstract Extracting maximal information from experimental data requires access to the likelihood function, which however is never directly available for complex experiments like those performed at high energy colliders. Theoretical predictions are obtained in this context by Monte Carlo events, which do furnish an accurate but abstract and implicit representation of the likelihood. Strategies based on statistical learning are currently being developed to infer the likelihood function explicitly by training a continuous-output classifier on Monte Carlo events. In this paper, we investigate the usage of Monte Carlo events that incorporate the dependence on the parameters of interest by reweighting. This enables more accurate likelihood learning with less training data and a more robust learning scheme that is more suited for automation and extensive deployment. We illustrate these advantages in the context of LHC precision probes of new Effective Field Theory interactions.

Abstract In this article we study the phenomenological implications of multiple Higgs boson production from longitudinal vector boson scattering in the context of effective field theories. We find compact representations for effective tree-level amplitudes with up to four final state Higgs bosons. Total cross sections are then computed for scenarios relevant at the LHC in which we find the general Higgs Effective Theory (HEFT) prediction avoids the heavy suppression observed in Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT).

Abstract Recent developments in the Standard Model analysis of semileptonic charged-current processes involving light quarks have revealed ~ 3σ tensions in Cabibbo universality tests involving meson, neutron, and nuclear beta decays. In this paper, we explore beyond the Standard Model explanations of this so-called Cabibbo Angle Anomaly in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), including not only low-energy charged current processes (‘L’), but also electroweak precision observables (‘EW’) and Drell-Yan collider processes (‘C’) that probe the same underlying physics across a broad range of energy scales. The resulting ‘CLEW’ framework not only allows one to test explanations of the Cabibbo Angle Anomaly, but is set up to provide near model-independent analyses with minimal assumptions on the flavor structure of the SMEFT operators. Besides the global analysis, we consider a large number of simpler scenarios, each with a subset of SMEFT operators, and investigate how much they improve upon the Standard Model fit. We find that the most favored scenarios, as judged by the Akaike Information Criterion, are those that involve right-handed charged currents. Additional interactions, namely oblique operators, terms modifying the Fermi constant, and operators involving right-handed neutral currents, play a role if the CDF determination of the W mass is included in the analysis.

We calculate the neutrino-electron elastic scattering cross section, extending the results previously obtained in ref. [1], in the presence of generic new interactions that take into account all the effects caused by finite neutrino masses. We address the potential significance of a heavy neutrino sector during precision measurements, particularly for tau neutrinos scattering with masses in the MeV range, for which the existing upper bounds on |Uτ4|2 would result in conceivably measurable contributions. Finally, we comment on the possibility to distinguish between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos, including the analysis of the new emerging parameters and its application to illustrative model-dependent scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore pp → W±(ℓ±ν)γ to O 1 / Λ 4 in the SMEFT expansion. Calculations to this order are necessary to properly capture SMEFT contributions that grow with energy, as the interference between energy-enhanced SMEFT effects at O 1 / Λ 2 and the Standard Model is suppressed. We find that there are several dimension eight operators that interfere with the Standard Model and lead to the same energy growth, ~ O E 4 / Λ 4 , as dimension six squared. While energy-enhanced SMEFT contributions are a main focus, our calculation includes the complete set of O 1 / Λ 4 SMEFT effects consistent with U(3)5 flavor symmetry. Additionally, we include the decay of the W±→ ℓ±ν, making the calculation actually q ¯ q ′ → ℓ ± νγ . As such, we are able to study the impact of non-resonant SMEFT operators, such as L † σ ¯ μ τ I L Q † σ ¯ ν τ I Q Bμν, which contribute to q ¯ q ′ → ℓ ± νγ directly and not to q ¯ q ′ → W ± γ . We show several distributions to illustrate the shape differences of the different contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compute the six oblique parameters S, T, U, V, W, X in a New Physics Model with an arbitrary number of new fermions, in arbitrary representations of SU(2) × U(1), and mixing arbitrarily among themselves. We show that S and U are automatically finite, but T is finite only if there is a specific relation between the masses of the new fermions and the representations of SU(2) × U(1) that they sit in. We apply our general computation to two illustrative cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the CMS and ATLAS collaborations have announced the results for H → Z[→ ℓ+ℓ−]γ with ℓ = e or μ [1, 2], where H → Zγ is a sub-process of H → ℓ+ℓ−γ. This semi-leptonic Higgs decay gets both resonant and non-resonant contributions from the loop-induced H → Z[→ ℓ+ℓ−]γ. To probe further features coming from these contributions to H → ℓ+ℓ−γ, we argue that the polarization of the final state leptons is also an important parameter. We show that the interference of resonant and non-resonant contributions, which is negligible in the case of unpolarized leptons, plays a significant role when considering the polarization of the final state lepton. For this purpose, we have calculated the polarized decay rates and the longitudinal (PL), normal (PN), and transverse (PT) polarization asymmetries. We find that these asymmetries purely come from the loop contributions and are helpful to further investigate the resonant and non-resonant nature of H → Z[→ ℓ+ℓ−]γ decay. We observe that for ℓ = e, μ, the longitudinal decay rate is highly suppressed around mℓℓ ≈ 60 GeV when the final lepton spin is − 1 2 , dramatically increasing the corresponding lepton polarization asymmetries. Furthermore, we analyze another observable, the ratio of decay rates R i ± ll ′ , where ℓ and ℓ′ refer to different final state lepton generations. Precise measurements of these observables at the HL-LHC and the planned e+e− collider can provide fertile ground to test not only the SM but also to examine the signatures of possible NP beyond the SM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By tagging one or two intact protons in the forward direction, it is possible to select and measure exclusive photon-fusion processes at the LHC. The same processes can also be measured in heavy ion collisions, and are often denoted as ultraperipheral collisions (UPC) processes. Such measurements open up the possibility of probing certain dimension-8 operators and their positivity bounds at the LHC. As a demonstration, we perform a phenomenological study on the γγ → ℓ+ℓ− processes, and find out that the measurements of this process at the HL-LHC provide reaches on a set of dimension-8 operator coefficients that are comparable to the ones at future lepton colliders. We also point out that the γq → γq process could potentially have better reaches on similar types of operators due to its larger cross section, but a more detailed experimental study is need to estimate the signal and background rates of this process. The validity of effective field theory (EFT) and the robustness of the positivity interpretation are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiative corrections in pole approximation, which are based on the leading contribution in a systematic expansion of amplitudes about resonance poles, naturally decompose into factorizable corrections attributed to the production or decay of the resonance and non-factorizable corrections induced by soft photon (or gluon) exchange between those subprocesses. In this paper we complete an earlier calculation of mixed QCD × electroweak corrections of to the neutral-current Drell-Yan cross section in pole approximation by including the previously neglected corrections that are solely related to the Z-boson production process. We present numerical results both for differential distributions and for the forward-backward asymmetry differential in the lepton-pair invariant mass, which is the key observable in the measurement of the effective weak mixing angle at the LHC. Carefully disentangling the various types of factorizable and non-factorizable corrections, we find (as expected in our earlier work) that the by far most important contribution at originates from the interplay of initial-state QCD corrections and electroweak final-state corrections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss the possibility to probe a nearly-degenerate Z′-Z system by analyzing the Z-lineshape at an electron-positron collider. Compared with the usual Z′ in the literature well separated with the standard model (SM) Z boson in mass, the nearly-degenerate Z′-Z mixing affects the observed effective “oblique parameters” , , , and the effective deviation of “number of neutrino species” in a more complicated way and cannot be simply computed perturbatively up to a particular order. Aiming at solving this problem, we write down a general simplified effective Lagrangian and enumerate some parameter spaces corresponding to some typical models, and suggest a method to extract the constraints by looking into the line-shape of the Z-like resonance at an electron-positron collider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the interactions of axion-like particles (ALPs) with the Standard Model particles, aiming to probe their phenomenology via non-resonant searches at the LHC. These interactions are mediated by higher dimensional effective operators within two possible frameworks of linearly and non-linearly realised electroweak symmetry breaking. We consider the ALPs to be light enough to be produced on-shell and exploit their derivative couplings with the SM Higgs boson and the gauge bosons. We will use the high momentum transfer processes, namely hZ, Zγ, WW and WWγ production from pp collisions. We derive upper limits on the gauge-invariant interactions of ALPs with the electroweak bosons and/or Higgs boson that contribute to these processes, from the re-interpretation of the latest Run 2 available LHC data. The constraints we obtain are strong for ALP masses below 100 GeV. These allowed effective interactions in the ALP parameter space yield better significance at HL-LHC and thus, offer promising avenues for subsequent studies. Furthermore, we augment our cut-based analysis with gradient-boosted decision trees, which improve the statistical significance distinctly across these interaction channels. We briefly compare the results with the complementary probe of these couplings via direct production of ALPs in association with the Higgs boson or a vector boson. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We apply machine-learning techniques to the effective-field-theory analysis of the e+e− → W+W− processes at future lepton colliders, and demonstrate their advantages in comparison with conventional methods, such as optimal observables. In particular, we show that machine-learning methods are more robust to detector effects and backgrounds, and could in principle produce unbiased results with sufficient Monte Carlo simulation samples that accurately describe experiments. This is crucial for the analyses at future lepton colliders given the outstanding precision of the e+e− → W+W− measurement (~ 10−4 in terms of anomalous triple gauge couplings or even better) that can be reached. Our framework can be generalized to other effective-field-theory analyses, such as the one of e+e− → t t ¯ or similar processes at muon colliders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the sensitivity of the FASERν detector, a novel experimental setup at the LHC, to probe and constrain generalized neutrino interactions (GNI). Employing a comprehensive theoretical framework, we model the effects of generalized neutrino interactions on neutrino-nucleon deep inelastic scattering processes within the FASERν detector. By considering all the neutrino channels produced at the LHC, we perform a statistical analysis to determine the sensitivity of FASERν to constrain these interactions. Our results demonstrate that FASERν can place stringent constraints on the GNI effective couplings. Additionally, we study the relation between GNI and a minimal Leptoquark model where the SM is augmented by a singlet Leptoquark with hypercharge 1/3. We have found that the sensitivities for various combinations of the Leptoquark Yukawa couplings are approximately O (1), particularly when considering a Leptoquark mass in the TeV range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We implement electroweak renormalisation schemes involving the effective weak mixing angle to NLO in Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). After developing the necessary theoretical machinery, we analyse a select set of electroweak precision observables in such input schemes. An attractive feature is that large corrections from top-quark loops appearing in other schemes are absorbed into the definition of the effective weak mixing angle. On the other hand, the renormalisation condition which achieves this involves a large number of flavour-specific SMEFT couplings between the Z boson and charged leptons, motivating simple flavour assumptions such as minimal flavour violation for practical applications. The results of this paper provide a valuable new component for estimating systematic uncertainties in SMEFT fits by performing analyses in multiple input schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we complete our CT18qed study with the neutron's photon parton distribution function (PDF), which is essential for the nucleus scattering phenomenology. Two methods, CT18lux and CT18qed, based on the LUXqed formalism and the DGLAP evolution, respectively, to determine the neutron's photon PDF have been presented. Various low-Q2 non-perturbative variations have been carefully examined, which are treated as additional uncertainties on top of those induced by quark and gluon PDFs. The impacts of the momentum sum rule as well as isospin symmetry violation have been explored and turned out to be negligible. A detailed comparison with other neutron's photon PDF sets has been performed, which shows a great improvement in the precision and a reasonable uncertainty estimation. Finally, two phenomenological implications are demonstrated with photon-initiated processes: neutrino-nucleus W-boson production, which is important for the near-future TeV–PeV neutrino observations, and the axion-like particle production at a high-energy muon beam-dump experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extracting maximal information from experimental data requires access to the likelihood function, which however is never directly available for complex experiments like those performed at high energy colliders. Theoretical predictions are obtained in this context by Monte Carlo events, which do furnish an accurate but abstract and implicit representation of the likelihood. Strategies based on statistical learning are currently being developed to infer the likelihood function explicitly by training a continuous-output classifier on Monte Carlo events. In this paper, we investigate the usage of Monte Carlo events that incorporate the dependence on the parameters of interest by reweighting. This enables more accurate likelihood learning with less training data and a more robust learning scheme that is more suited for automation and extensive deployment. We illustrate these advantages in the context of LHC precision probes of new Effective Field Theory interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we study the phenomenological implications of multiple Higgs boson production from longitudinal vector boson scattering in the context of effective field theories. We find compact representations for effective tree-level amplitudes with up to four final state Higgs bosons. Total cross sections are then computed for scenarios relevant at the LHC in which we find the general Higgs Effective Theory (HEFT) prediction avoids the heavy suppression observed in Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in the Standard Model analysis of semileptonic charged-current processes involving light quarks have revealed ~ 3σ tensions in Cabibbo universality tests involving meson, neutron, and nuclear beta decays. In this paper, we explore beyond the Standard Model explanations of this so-called Cabibbo Angle Anomaly in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), including not only low-energy charged current processes ('L'), but also electroweak precision observables ('EW') and Drell-Yan collider processes ('C') that probe the same underlying physics across a broad range of energy scales. The resulting 'CLEW' framework not only allows one to test explanations of the Cabibbo Angle Anomaly, but is set up to provide near model-independent analyses with minimal assumptions on the flavor structure of the SMEFT operators. Besides the global analysis, we consider a large number of simpler scenarios, each with a subset of SMEFT operators, and investigate how much they improve upon the Standard Model fit. We find that the most favored scenarios, as judged by the Akaike Information Criterion, are those that involve right-handed charged currents. Additional interactions, namely oblique operators, terms modifying the Fermi constant, and operators involving right-handed neutral currents, play a role if the CDF determination of the W mass is included in the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this work we present a complete three-loop renormalisation of an abelian chiral gauge theory within the Breitenlohner-Maison/’t Hooft-Veltman (BMHV) scheme of dimensional regularisation (DReg). In this scheme the γ 5-matrix appearing in gauge interactions is a non-anticommuting object, leading to a breaking of gauge and BRST invariance. Employing an efficient method based on the quantum action principle, we obtain the complete three-loop counterterm action which serves both to render the theory finite and to restore gauge and BRST invariance. The UV singular counterterms involve not only higher order ϵ-poles but also new counterterm structures emerging at the three-loop level for the first time; the finite symmetry-restoring counterterms are restricted to the same structures as at lower loop orders, just with different coefficients, aligning with our expectations. Both the singular and the finite counterterms include structures which cannot be obtained by the standard multiplicative renormalisation. Our results demonstrate that a rigorous treatment of chiral gauge theories with γ 5 defined in the BMHV scheme at the multi-loop level is possible and that the obtained counterterm action is suitable for computer implementations, allowing automated calculations without ambiguities caused by γ 5.