Journal Club

Seminar Room

Monday 4th of March, 2019

Hour: 10:00

Title: Naturalness without new particles

Presented by: Roberto Vega-Morales

Ref: https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.06758v1

Abstract:

We demonstrate that the physics which resolves naturalness problems need not take the form of new particles and can sometimes manifest itself as higher dimensional operators. As a proof of principle, we present a simple model where the scale of new particles is parametrically separated from that estimated via naturalness arguments applied to self-quartic couplings. In this example, new particles appear far above the scale m/λ−−√, where m is the mass of the particle and λ is its self-quartic coupling. The shift symmetry responsible for resolving the naturalness problem involves higher dimensional operators rather than new particles.

Hour: 10:00

Title: Positivity bounds on vector boson scattering at the LHC

Presented by: Pawel Kozow

Ref: https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.00010v2

Abstract:

Weak vector boson scattering (VBS) is a sensitive probe of new physics effects in the electroweak symmetry breaking. Currently, experimental results at the LHC are interpreted in the effective field theory approach, where possible deviations from the Standard Model in the quartic-gauge-boson couplings are often described by 18 dimension-8 operators. By assuming that a UV completion exists, we derive a new set of theoretical constraints on the coefficients of these operators, i.e. certain combinations of coefficients must be positive. These constraints imply that the current effective approach to VBS has a large redundancy: only about 2% of the full parameter space leads to a UV completion. By excluding the remaining unphysical region of the parameter space, these constraints provide guidance for future VBS studies and measurements.

Hour: 10:00

Title: Relaxation of the Cosmological Constant

Presented by: Roberto Vega-Morales

Ref: https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.06793v1

Abstract:

We present a model that naturally tunes a large positive cosmological constant to a small cosmological constant. A slowly rolling scalar field decreases the cosmological constant to a small negative value, causing the universe to contract, thus reheating it. An expanding universe with a small positive cosmological constant can be obtained, respectively, by coupling this solution to any model of a cosmological bounce and coupling the scalar field to a sector that undergoes a technically natural phase transition at the meV scale. A robust prediction of this model is a rolling scalar field today with some coupling to the standard model. This can potentially be experimentally probed in a variety of cosmological and terrestrial experiments, such as probes of the equation of state of dark energy, birefringence in the cosmic microwave background and terrestrial tests of Lorentz violation.

Hour: 10:00

Title: Thick Branes in Extra Dimensions and Suppressed Dark Couplings

Presented by: José Santiago Pérez

Ref: https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.08339v1

Abstract:

In this paper we show that the interaction between new light dark matter mediators and the SM particles can be naturally suppressed if one employs a single, flat extra dimension (ED). In this setup, the SM fields are localized in a finite width `fat' brane, similar to models of Universal Extra Dimensions (UED), while DM, in turn, is confined to a thin brane at the opposite end of the ED interval. Including brane localized kinetic terms on the fat brane for the mediator fields, the resulting coupling between the SM and these light mediators can be several orders of magnitude smaller than the corresponding ones between the mediators and DM which we assume to be a typical gauge coupling. We investigate the implications of this scenario for both vector (i.e., dark photon, DP) and scalar mediator fields in the 5-D bulk. In this setup kinetic mixing, which is usually employed to suppress light mediator couplings, is not required. Here we assume that the SM particles couple to the DP via their B−L charges while the DP couples to the DM via a dark charge. Both the vector DP couplings and the corresponding Higgs portal couplings with the SM are shown to be natural small in magnitude with a size dependent on ratio of the 5-D compactification radius, R−1∼0.1−1 GeV, and the SM brane thickness, L−1∼2−10 TeV, a range chosen to avoid LHC and other experimental constraints. In this framework one can obtain the observed value of the DM relic abundance for a wide range of parameter choices, while the constrains due to direct DM detection and the invisible width of the Higgs do not impose significant challenges to the model. Finally, this mechanism can lead to distinct signatures in both present and upcoming experiments as it combines some common features of UED and DP models in a single ED setup.