Search

We study the production of three electroweak gauge bosons at the LHC, in the effective field theory of the standard model, at dimension six and next-to-leading order in QCD. We present results for inclusive cross-sections and differential distributions, finding that these QCD corrections are large, often vary across the phase-space and notably differ from those observed in the standard model. We then explore the potential of the recently observed triboson production processes for improving the sensitivity brought by electroweak precision observables and diboson data. The additional sensitivity we observe is dominated by resonant Higgs boson contributions, with decays to photon pairs in particular. A global analysis including Higgs boson data is therefore needed for a fair assessment of the future reach of triboson measurements on heavy new physics., Comment: 37 pages, 9 figures, 14 tables

Heavy vector boson dark matter at the TeV scale or higher may be produced non-thermally in a first-order phase transition taking place at a lower energy scale. While the production of vector dark matter has previously been studied for bubble wall collisions, here we calculate production by bubble wall expansion in a plasma, which can be the dominant production mechanism. We compute the results numerically and provide an analytical fit for the vector dark matter density. The numerical fit is also validated for scalar dark matter production, obtaining results in agreement with past literature. We find that vector pair production leads to bubble wall friction with a novel boost factor scaling behaviour compared to transition radiation emission of a single vector. We conclude that TeV-scale WIMP vector dark matter can be efficiently produced non-thermally by first-order phase transitions in a wide region of parameter space where thermal freeze-out is inefficient. In this scenario, the phase transition scale is predicted to be in the sub-GeV to $\mathcal{O}(10)$ TeV range and could therefore be accessible to future gravitational wave detectors., Comment: 39 pages, 13 figures

We study the LHC phenomenology of an Axion Like Particle (ALP) that couples only derivatively with the top quark at tree level. We inspect the radiatively induced couplings with the SM fermions and (gauge) bosons and the associated production and decay mechanisms of the ALP. We focus on the most challenging mass window that remains open for a top-philic ALP, i.e., the range between tens and hundreds of GeV. Not only ALP production processes but also virtual ALP contributions to final states with top quarks are considered in detail. We show how searches through resonant production, such as ALP production in association with a $t\bar t$ pair, are complementary to precision measurements of $t \bar t$ and $t\bar t t \bar t$ final states, the latter being competitive or even more powerful for a top-philic ALP in this mass window. Finally, we explore the scenario where the top-philic ALP acts as a mediator to a dark-matter sector, resulting in missing energy signatures at the LHC. We find that the LHC constraints from $t \bar t$, $t\bar t t \bar t$ and ALP + jet production, together with those from $t \bar t$ + ALP production, can already exclude a large fraction of the parameter space leading to the correct relic abundance., Comment: 45 pages + appendices, 23 figures; matches published version

SMEFT Wilson coefficients are subject to various positivity bounds in order to be consistent with the fundamental principles of S-matrix. Previous bounds on dimension-8 SMEFT operators have been obtained using the positivity part of UV partial wave unitarity and form a (projective) convex cone. We derive a set of linear UV unitarity conditions that go beyond positivity and are easy to implement in an optimization scheme with dispersion relations in a multi-field EFT. Using Higgs scattering as an example, we demonstrate how to obtain closed bounds in the space of the three relevant dimension-8 coefficients, making use of the UV unitarity conditions as well as so-called null constraints that arise from full crossing symmetry. Specifically, we show that they are bounded by inequalities schematically going like $C

We point out that an unnatural hierarchy between certain higher-dimensional operator coefficients in a low-energy Effective Field Theory (EFT) would automatically imply that the Higgs' vacuum expectation value is hierarchically smaller than the EFT cut-off, assuming the EFT emerged from a unitary, causal and local UV completion. Future colliders may have the sensitivity to infer such a pattern of coefficients for a little hierarchy with an EFT cut-off up to $\mathcal{O}(10)$ TeV., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

We analyze the constraints obtainable from present data using the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) on extensions of the Standard Model with additional electroweak singlet or triplet scalar fields. We compare results obtained using only contributions that are linear in dimension-6 operator coefficients with those obtained including terms quadratic in these coefficients as well as contributions that are linear in dimension-8 operator coefficients. We also implement theoretical constraints arising from the stability of the electroweak vacuum and perturbative unitarity. Analyzing the models at the dimension-8 level constrains scalar couplings that are not bounded at the dimension-6 level. The strongest experimental constraints on the singlet model are provided by Higgs coupling measurements, whereas electroweak precision observables provide the strongest constraints on the triplet model. In the singlet model the present di-Higgs constraints already play a significant role. We find that the current constraints on model parameters are already competitive with those anticipated from future di- and tri-Higgs measurements. We compare our results with calculations in the full model, exhibiting the improvements when higher-order SMEFT terms are included. We also identify regions in parameter space where the SMEFT approximation appears to break down. We find that the combination of current constraints with the theoretical bounds still admits regions where the SMEFT approach is not valid, particularly for lower scalar boson masses., Comment: 66 Pages, 14 Figures, 4 Tables

Moments of the leptonic angular distribution in the Drell-Yan process have recently been shown to be sensitive probes of a specific class of dimension-8, four-fermion operators in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory, involving a pair of quarks and leptons. The same operators are also subject to positivity bounds, when requiring the associated (unknown) UV completion to obey basic principles of quantum field theory. We perform a phenomenological study to quantify the sensitivity of the high-luminosity LHC to this set of operators and, by extension, the positivity bounds. We further extend the angular basis of moments and consider double differential information to improve the ability to disentangle the different operators, leading to a sensitivity to new physics scales up to 3 TeV. We use this information to explore the violation of positivity at the LHC as a way to test the underlying principles of quantum field theory. Finally, we present a case study which combines our results with information from other (current and prospective) experiments, as well as the positivity cone to infer the properties of possible tree-level UV completions. The data lead to robust, model-independent lower bounds on the $M/\sqrt{g}$ combination of the particle mass and coupling, for states that couple to right-handed leptons and/or up quarks., Comment: 54 pages, 8 figures, 9 tables, version to appear in JHEP

We use the Fitmaker tool to incorporate the recent CDF measurement of $m_W$ in a global fit to electroweak, Higgs, and diboson data in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) including dimension-6 operators at linear order. We find that including any one of the SMEFT operators ${\cal O}_{HWB}$, ${\cal O}_{HD}$, ${\cal O}_{\ell \ell}$ or ${\cal O}_{H \ell}^{(3)}$ with a non-zero coefficient could provide a better fit than the Standard Model, with the strongest pull for ${\cal O}_{HD}$ and no tension with other electroweak precision data. We then analyse which tree-level single-field extensions of the Standard Model could generate such operator coefficients with the appropriate sign, and discuss the masses and couplings of these fields that best fit the CDF measurement and other data. In particular, the global fit favours either a singlet $Z^\prime$ vector boson, a scalar electroweak triplet with zero hypercharge, or a vector electroweak triplet with unit hypercharge, followed by a singlet heavy neutral lepton, all with masses in the multi-TeV range for unit coupling., Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures. References added, extended and clarified discussions, added discussion of the impact of enlarged uncertainties according to PDG prescription. Version accepted for publication in JHEP

The truncation of the standard-model effective field theory, its validity and the associated uncertainties have been discussed in meetings of the LHC EFT WG. Proposals were made by participants to address these issues. No consensus was reached and no formal recommendation is therefore put forward at this time. None of the proposals has been approved or validated and further work is needed to establish a prescription. This note aims at summarizing the proposals and points of debate., Comment: LHC EFT WG note, 8 pages; v2 includes a summary of the additional proposal D

We study single top quark production in association with a $WZ$ pair at the LHC in the context of the Standard Model (SM) and the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). A significant advantage of $tWZ$ compared to other EW top production processes is its sensitivity to unitarity-violating behaviour induced in its $2\to2$ sub-amplitudes through modified EW interactions. At NLO in QCD, $tWZ$ interferes with $t\bar{t}Z$ and $t\bar{t}$ and a method to meaningfully separate it from these overlapping processes needs to be employed. In order to define $tWZ$ production for total rates and differential distributions, we consider the approaches proposed in the literature for similar cases and find that diagram-removal procedures provide reliable results both for the SM and the SMEFT in a suitably defined phase-space region. We provide robust results for total and differential cross sections for $tWZ$ at 13 TeV, including the six relevant dimension-6 operators ($\mathcal{O}_{tW}$,$\mathcal{O}_{tZ}$,$\mathcal{O}_{tG}$,$\mathcal{O}_{\phi Q}^{(-)}$,$\mathcal{O}_{\phi Q}^{(3)}$,$\mathcal{O}_{\phi t}$), also matching short-distance events to parton shower., Comment: 33 pages with tables and figures. v2: minor typos are fixed. v3: minor typos are fixed, v4: minor typos are fixed, version accepted by JHEP

I discuss how modified EW interactions lead to energy growth in $2\to 2$ scattering amplitudes and how the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory can be used in conjunction with the Goldstone boson equivalence theorem to better understand the origin of such unitarity violating behaviour. I quantify how applications in constraining top quark electroweak couplings are especially motivated due to our relatively poor understanding of them. I present some highlights of a systematic study of energy growth in EW top scattering amplitudes with a focus on how such effects can be searched for in realistic collider processes, demonstrating some promising avenues for future study., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Contribution to the 2021 EW session of the 55th Rencontres de Moriond

The search for effective field theory deformations of the Standard Model (SM) is a major goal of particle physics that can benefit from a global approach in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). For the first time, we include LHC data on top production and differential distributions together with Higgs production and decay rates and Simplified Template Cross-Section (STXS) measurements in a global fit, as well as precision electroweak and diboson measurements from LEP and the LHC, in a global analysis with SMEFT operators of dimension 6 included linearly. We present the constraints on the coefficients of these operators, both individually and when marginalised, in flavour-universal and top-specific scenarios, studying the interplay of these datasets and the correlations they induce in the SMEFT. We then explore the constraints that our linear SMEFT analysis imposes on specific ultra-violet completions of the Standard Model, including those with single additional fields and low-mass stop squarks. We also present a model-independent search for deformations of the SM that contribute to between two and five SMEFT operator coefficients. In no case do we find any significant evidence for physics beyond the SM. Our underlying $\tt{Fitmaker}$ public code provides a framework for future generalisations of our analysis, including a quadratic treatment of dimension-6 operators., Comment: 80 pages, 21 Figures. v3: Extended and clarified discussions, added WZ and ttbar+gamma measurements to the fit and minor typos in predictions fixed. Version accepted for publication in JHEP

We present the automation of one-loop computations in the standard-model effective field theory at dimension six. Our general implementation, dubbed SMEFT@NLO, covers all types of operators: bosonic, two- and four-fermion ones. Included ultraviolet and rational counterterms presently allow for fully differential predictions, possibly matched to parton shower, up to the one-loop level in the strong coupling or in four-quark operator coefficients. Exact flavor symmetries are imposed among light quark generations and an initial focus is set on top-quark interactions in the fermionic sector. We illustrate the potential of this implementation with novel loop-induced and next-to-leading-order computations relevant for top-quark, electroweak, and Higgs-boson phenomenology at the LHC and future colliders., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables, v2: matches published version, minor changes and new scale choice in four-top-quark production (table II)

We revise the treatment of fermionic dark matter interacting with photons via dimension-5 and -6 effective operators. We show how the application of the effective operators beyond their validity introduces unphysical, gauge violating effects that are relevant for current experimental searches. Restoring gauge invariance by coupling dark matter to the hypercharge gauge field has implications for the parameter space above and below the electroweak scale. We review the phenomenology of these hypercharge form factors at the LHC as well as for direct and indirect detection experiments. We highlight where the electromagnetic and hypercharge descriptions lead to wildly different conclusions about the viable parameter space and the relative sensitivity of various probes. These include a drastic weakening of vector bosons fusion versus mono-jet searches at the LHC, and the incorrect impression that indirect searches could lead to better constraints than direct detection for larger dark matter masses. We find that the dimension-5 operators are strongly constrained by direct detection bounds, while for dimension-6 operators LHC mono-jet searches are competitive or performing better than the other probes we consider., Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables. Matches published version, additional information in figure 1

We present a broad study of collider processes that embed $2 \to 2$ scattering amplitudes involving top quarks in the Electroweak sector. We parametrise the modified interactions using the Standard Model Effective Field Theory framework and discuss how the New Physics effects lead to unitarity violating behaviour at the amplitude level. For each scattering amplitude we compute the helicity amplitudes in the high energy limit paying special attention to the effects of the higher dimensional operators. We also discuss whether and to what extent the unitarity violating effects are retained in physical processes at colliders., Comment: Presented at the European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics (EPS-HEP) 2019, Ghent, Belgium

We propose a procedure to cross-validate Monte Carlo implementations of the standard model effective field theory. It is based on the numerical comparison of squared amplitudes computed at specific phase-space and parameter points in pairs of implementations. Interactions are fully linearised in the effective field theory expansion. The squares of linear effective field theory amplitudes and their interference with standard-model contributions are compared separately. Such pairwise comparisons are primarily performed at tree level and a possible extension to the one-loop level is also briefly considered. We list the current standard model effective field theory implementations and the comparisons performed to date., Comment: agreement achieved under the auspices of the LHC Top and Electroweak Working Groups, and of the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group

Modified interactions in the electroweak sector may lead to scattering amplitudes that grow with energy compared to their Standard Model (SM) counterparts. We present a detailed study of all $2\to2$ scattering amplitudes involving at least one top quark and a pair of EW bosons. We analyse the high energy behaviour of the amplitudes using the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) to parametrise the departures from the SM. We discuss the origin of the energy growth that arise from effective contact interactions by appealing to the Goldstone equivalence theorem and find that the amplitudes obey expected patterns of (non-)interference. The results are connected to unitary-violating behaviour in the framework of anomalous SM interactions. Therein, we identify the appearance of additional growth due to the violation of $SU(2)$ gauge symmetry that leads to substantial differences between the SMEFT and the anomalous couplings approaches. We also discuss the embeddings of the scattering amplitudes into physical collider processes, presenting the parametric SMEFT sensitivity to relevant top quark operators and paying special attention to the extent to which the high energy behaviour of the $2\to2$ amplitude is retained in the actual processes accessible at colliders. The effective $W$ approximation is exploited to gain analytical insight into the embeddings of the $2\to2$ helicity amplitudes. Finally, we provide a compendium of processes detailing numerous directions in which the SMEFT parameter space can be accessed through high energy top quark processes in current and future colliders., Comment: 68 pages, 46 Figures. Matches version published in JHEP

In the context of the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT), we study the LHC sensitivity to four fermion operators involving heavy quarks by employing cross section measurements in the $t\bar{t}b\bar{b}$ final state. Starting from the measurement of total rates, we progressively exploit kinematical information and machine learning techniques to optimize the projected sensitivity at the end of Run III. Indeed, in final states with high multiplicity containing inter-correlated kinematical information, multi-variate methods provide a robust way of isolating the regions of phase space where the SMEFT contribution is enhanced. We also show that training for multiple output classes allows for the discrimination between operators mediating the production of tops in different helicity states. Our projected sensitivities not only constrain a host of new directions in the SMEFT parameter space but also improve on existing limits demonstrating that, on one hand, $t\bar{t}b\bar{b}$ production is an indispensable component in a future global fit for top quark interactions in the SMEFT, and on the other, multi-class machine learning algorithms can be a valuable tool for interpreting LHC data in this framework., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Proceeding on poster presented at the 11th International Workshop on Top Quark Physics (TOP 2018)

At the LHC, top quarks can be produced singly with a sizeable rate via electroweak interactions. This process probes a limited set of top-quark electroweak couplings, i.e. , the same entering the top-quark decay, yet at higher scales and with a different sensitivity. Requiring the production of a $Z$ or $H$ boson in association with single-top significantly extends the sensitivity of this process to new physics, opening up the unique possibility of testing top-Higgs, top-gauge, triple gauge, gauge-Higgs interactions without being dominated by QCD interactions. We consider $tZj$ and $tHj$ production at the LHC, providing predictions at next-to-leading accuracy in QCD in the framework of the standard model effective field theory, including all relevant operators up to dimension six. We perform the first complete study of the sensitivity to new interactions of these processes, highlighting the interplay and complementarity among $tj$, $tZj$ and $tHj$ in simultaneously constraining top-quark, triple gauge, and gauge-Higgs interactions in the current and future runs at the LHC., Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures

The detection of production of a pair of Higgs bosons before the end of LHC operation would be clear evidence of New Physics (NP). As searches for non-resonant production of Higgs pairs are being designed it is of particular importance to be able to conveniently present current experimental results in terms of limits in the most 'model-independent' fashion possible. In this article we provide an analytic parametrization of the {\it differential} Higgs-pair production at the LHC in the effective field theory (EFT) extension of the SM. It results from a fit to the theory prediction for the $gg \to hh$ cross section at the 13\,TeV at the LHC. Subsequently the resulting formula is used for a reweighing technique that allows to recast exclusion bounds from ATLAS and CMS HH$\to\gamma\gamma\,b\bar{b}$ searches to any point of the considered EFT parameter space. We demonstrate with a fast simulation of the LHC detectors that with this approach it is possible to cover the continuously of the EFT parameter space, taking correctly into account the efficiencies of signal selections, without the necessity of rerunning a large number of full detector simulations. Finally, the resulting exclusion bounds are confronted to several explicit models such as setups with additional scalars, including 2HDM, vector-like fermions, and minimal composite Higgs models, mapped to the EFT., Comment: First version, a V2 with more tools should be coming soon

We study the impact of dimension-six operators of the standard model effective field theory relevant for vector-boson fusion and associated Higgs boson production at the LHC. We present predictions at the next-to-leading order accuracy in QCD that include matching to parton showers and that rely on fully automated simulations. We show the importance of the subsequent reduction of the theoretical uncertainties in improving the possible discrimination between effective field theory and standard model results, and we demonstrate that the range of the Wilson coefficient values allowed by a global fit to LEP and LHC Run~I data can be further constrained by LHC Run~II future results., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures; version accepted by EPJC

We present predictions for the associated production of a Higgs boson at NLO+PS accuracy, including the effect of anomalous interactions between the Higgs and gauge bosons. We present our results in different frameworks, one in which the interaction vertex between the Higgs boson and Standard Model $W$ and $Z$ bosons is parameterized in terms of general Lorentz structures, and one in which Electroweak symmetry breaking is manifestly linear and the resulting operators arise through a six-dimensional effective field theory framework. We present analytic calculations of the Standard Model and Beyond the Standard Model contributions, and discuss the phenomenological impact of the higher order pieces. Our results are implemented in the NLO Monte Carlo program MCFM, and interfaced to shower Monte Carlos through the {\sc Powheg} box framework., Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, v2 matches published version, includes fixes to figures and text and added discussion of effect of the EFT operators on EW parameters

The Forward-Backward Asymmetry (AFB) in Z' physics is commonly only thought of as an observable which possibly allows one to profiling a Z' signal by distinguishing different models embedding such (heavy) spin-1 bosons. In this brief review, we examine the potential of AFB in setting bounds on or even discovering a Z' at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and proof that it might be a powerful tool for this purpose. We analyse two different scenarios: Z's with a narrow and wide width, respectively. We find that, in both cases, AFB can complement the conventional searches in accessing Z' signals traditionally based on cross section measurements only., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1504.03168

We introduce Rosetta, a program allowing for the translation between different bases of effective field theory operators. We present the main functions of the program and provide an example of usage. One of the Lagrangians which Rosetta can translate into has been implemented into FeynRules, which allows Rosetta to be interfaced into various high-energy physics programs such as Monte Carlo event generators. In addition to popular bases choices, such as the Warsaw and Strongly Interacting Light Higgs bases already implemented in the program, we also detail how to add new operator bases into the Rosetta package. In this way, phenomenological studies using an effective field theory framework can be straightforwardly performed., Comment: 12 pages, Matches version to be published in EPJC

New pseudo-scalars, often called axion-like particles (ALPs), abound in model-building and are often associated with the breaking of a new symmetry. Traditional searches and indirect bounds are limited to light axions, typically in or below the KeV range for ALPs coupled to photons. We present collider bounds on ALPs from mono-$\gamma$, tri-$\gamma$ and mono-jet searches in a model independent fashion, as well as the prospects for the LHC and future machines. We find that they are complementary to existing searches, as they are sensitive to heavier ALPs and have the capability to cover an otherwise inaccessible region of parameter space. We also show that, assuming certain model dependent correlations between the ALP coupling to photons and gluons as well as considering the validity of the effective description of ALP interactions, mono-jet searches are in fact more suitable and effective in indirectly constraining ALP scenarios., Comment: Version accepted by JHEP, new limits from LHC tri-photon added. 24 pages, 5 figures