The key to the phenomenological success of inflation models with axion and SU(2) gauge fields is the isotropic background of the SU(2) field. Previous studies showed that this isotropic background is an attractor solution during inflation starting from anisotropic (Bianchi type I) spacetime; however, not all possible initial anisotropic parameter space was explored. In this paper, we explore more generic initial conditions without assuming the initial slow-roll dynamics. We find some initial anisotropic parameter space which does not lead to the isotropic background, but to violation of slow-roll conditions, terminating inflation prematurely. The basin of attraction increases when we introduce another scalar field acting as inflaton and make the axion-SU(2) system a spectator sector. Therefore, the spectator axion-SU(2) model is phenomenologically more attractive.

We calculate the two-loop beta functions of the right-handed neutrino mass matrix in the Standard Model extended with right-handed neutrinos. We show that two-loop quantum effects induced by the heavier right-handed neutrinos can induce sizable contributions (sometimes dominant) to the physical masses of the lighter right-handed neutrinos. These effects can significantly affect the masses of the active neutrinos in the seesaw mechanism and the low-energy phenomenology.

We examine the robustness of collider phenomenology predictions for a dark sector scenario with QCD-like properties. Pair production of dark quarks at the LHC can result in a wide variety of signatures, depending on the details of the new physics model. A particularly challenging signal results when prompt production induces a parton shower that yields a high multiplicity of collimated dark hadrons with subsequent decays to Standard Model hadrons. The final states contain jets whose substructure encodes their non-QCD origin. This is a relatively subtle signature of strongly coupled beyond the Standard Model dynamics, and thus it is crucial that analyses incorporate systematic errors to account for the approximations that are being made when modeling the signal. We estimate theoretical uncertainties for a canonical substructure observable designed to be sensitive to the gauge structure of the underlying object, the two-point energy correlator e₂^{(β )}, by computing envelopes between resummed analytic distributions and numerical results from Pythia. We explore the separability against the QCD background as the confinement scale, number of colors, number of flavors, and dark quark masses are varied. Additionally, we investigate the uncertainties inherent to modeling dark sector hadronization. Simple estimates are provided that quantify one's ability to distinguish these dark sector jets from the overwhelming QCD background. Such a search would benefit from theory advances to improve the predictions, and the increase in statistics using the data to be collected at the high luminosity LHC.

The double copy relates scattering amplitudes in gauge and gravity theories. It has also been extended to classical solutions, and a number of approaches have been developed for doing so. One of these involves expressing fields in a variety of (super-)gravity theories in terms of convolutions of gauge fields, including also BRST ghost degrees of freedom that map neatly to their corresponding counterparts in gravity. In this paper, we spell out how to use the convolutional double copy to map gauge and gravity solutions in the manifest Lorenz and de Donder gauges respectively. We then apply this to a particular example, namely the point charge in pure gauge theory. As well as clarifying how to use the convolutional approach, our results provide an alternative point of view on a recent discussion concerning whether point charges map to the Schwarzschild solution, or the more general two-parameter JNW solution, which includes a dilaton field. We confirm the latter.

A galaxy's morphological features encode details about its gas content, star formation history, and feedback processes, which play important roles in regulating its growth and evolution. We use deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to learn a galaxy's optical morphological information in order to estimate its neutral atomic hydrogen (H I) content directly from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) gri image cutouts. We are able to accurately predict a galaxy's logarithmic H I mass fraction, ${ \mathcal M }\equiv \mathrm{log}({M}_{{\rm{H}}{\rm\small{I}}}/{M}_{\star })$ , by training a CNN on galaxies in the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey (ALFALFA) 40% sample. Using pattern recognition, we remove galaxies with unreliable ${ \mathcal M }$ estimates. We test CNN predictions on the ALFALFA 100%, extended Galaxy Evolution Explorer Arecibo SDSS Survey, and Nançay Interstellar Baryons Legacy Extragalactic Survey catalogs, and find that the CNN consistently outperforms previous estimators. The H I-morphology connection learned by the CNN appears to be constant in low- to intermediate-density galaxy environments, but it breaks down in the highest-density environments. We also use a visualization algorithm, Gradient-weighted Class Activation Maps, to determine which morphological features are associated with low or high gas content. These results demonstrate that CNNs are powerful tools for understanding the connections between optical morphology and other properties, as well as for probing other variables, in a quantitative and interpretable manner.

This work investigates a simple, representative extension of the Standard Model with a real scalar singlet and spontaneous Z₂ breaking, which allows for a strongly first-order phase transition, as required by electroweak baryogenesis. We perform analytical and numerical calculations that systematically include one-loop thermal effects, Coleman-Weinberg corrections, and daisy resummation, as well as evaluation of bubble nucleation. We study the rich thermal history and identify the conditions for a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition with nearly degenerate extrema at zero temperature. This requires a light scalar with mass below 50 GeV. Exotic Higgs decays, as well as Higgs coupling precision measurements at the LHC and future collider facilities, will test this model. Additional information may be obtained from future collider constraints on the Higgs self-coupling. Gravitational-wave signals are typically too low to be probed by future gravitational wave experiments.

We present the generalization of recently introduced observables for the studies of correlated fluctuations of different anisotropic flow amplitudes, dubbed symmetric cumulants. We introduce a new set of higher order observables and outline a unique way to extract the genuine multiharmonic correlations from multiparticle azimuthal correlators. We argue that correlations among flow amplitudes can be studied reliably with the general mathematical formalism of cumulants only if that formalism is applied directly on the flow amplitudes. We have tested all the desired properties of new observables with the carefully designed toy Monte Carlo studies. By using the realistic iEBE-VISHNU model, we have demonstrated that their measurements are feasible and we have provided the predictions for the centrality dependence in Pb-Pb collisions at Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies. A separate study was performed for their values in the coordinate space. The new observables contain information which is inaccessible to individual flow amplitudes and correlated fluctuations of only two flow amplitudes, and therefore they provide further and independent constraints for the initial conditions and the properties of quark-gluon plasma in high-energy nuclear collisions.

Context. When we wish to understand planetesimal formation, the only data set we have is our own Solar System. The Solar System is particularly interesting because so far, it is the only planetary system we know of that developed life. Understanding the conditions under which the solar nebula evolved is crucial in order to understand the different processes in the disk and the subsequent dynamical interaction between (proto-)planets after the gas disk has dissolved.
Aims: Protoplanetary disks provide a plethora of different parameters to explore. The question is whether this parameter space can be constrained, allowing simulations to reproduce the Solar System.
Methods: Models and observations of planet formation provide constraints on the initial planetesimal mass in certain regions of the solar nebula. By making use of pebble flux-regulated planetesimal formation, we performed a parameter study with nine different disk parameters such as the initial disk mass, the initial disk size, the initial dust-to-gas ratio, the turbulence level, and others.
Results: We find that the distribution of mass in planetesimals in the disk depends on the timescales of planetesimal formation and pebble drift. Multiple disk parameters can affect the pebble properties and thus planetesimal formation. However, it is still possible to draw some conclusions on potential parameter ranges.
Conclusions: Pebble flux-regulated planetesimal formation appears to be very robust, allowing simulations with a wide range of parameters to meet the initial planetesimal constraints for the solar nebula. This means that it does not require much fine-tuning.

Scalar hair of black holes in theories with a shift symmetry are constrained by the no-hair theorem of Hui and Nicolis, assuming spherical symmetry, time-independence of the scalar field and asymptotic flatness. The most studied counterexample is a linear coupling of the scalar with the Gauss-Bonnet invariant. However, in this case the norm of the shift-symmetry current J² diverges at the horizon casting doubts on whether the solution is physically sound. We show that this is not an issue since J² is not a scalar quantity, since J^μ is not a diffinvariant current in the presence of Gauss-Bonnet. The same theory can be written in Horndeski form with a non-analytic function G₅∼ log X . In this case the shift-symmetry current is diff-invariant, but contains powers of X in the denominator, so that its divergence at the horizon is again immaterial. We confirm that other hairy solutions in the presence of non-analytic Horndeski functions are pathological, featuring divergences of physical quantities as soon as one departs from time-independence and spherical symmetry. We generalise the no-hair theorem to Beyond Horndeski and DHOST theories, showing that the coupling with Gauss-Bonnet is necessary to have hair.

Organocatalysis is a powerful approach to extend and (enantio-) selectively modify molecular structures. Adapting this concept to the Early Earth scenario offers a promising solution to explain their evolution into a complex homochiral world. Herein, we present a class of imidazolidine-4-thione organocatalysts, easily accessible from simple molecules available on an Early Earth under highly plausible prebiotic reaction conditions. These imidazolidine-4-thiones are readily formed from mixtures of aldehydes or ketones in presence of ammonia, cyanides and hydrogen sulfide in high selectivity and distinct preference for individual compounds of the resulting catalyst library. These organocatalysts enable the enantioselective α-alkylation of aldehydes under prebiotic conditions and show activities that correlate with the selectivity of their formation. Furthermore, the crystallization of single catalysts as conglomerates opens the pathway for symmetry breaking.

Periodically variable quasars have been suggested as close binary supermassive black holes. We present a systematic search for periodic light curves in 625 spectroscopically confirmed quasars with a median redshift of 1.8 in a 4.6 deg^2 overlapping region of the Dark Energy Survey Supernova (DES-SN) fields and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82 (SDSS-S82). Our sample has a unique 20-yr long multicolour (griz) light curve enabled by combining DES-SN Y6 observations with archival SDSS-S82 data. The deep imaging allows us to search for periodic light curves in less luminous quasars (down to r ∼23.5 mag) powered by less massive black holes (with masses ≳ 10^8.5M_⊙) at high redshift for the first time. We find five candidates with significant (at >99.74 per cent single-frequency significance in at least two bands with a global p-value of ∼7 × 10^−4–3 × 10^−3 accounting for the look-elsewhere effect) periodicity with observed periods of ∼3–5 yr (i.e. 1–2 yr in rest frame) having ∼4–6 cycles spanned by the observations. If all five candidates are periodically variable quasars, this translates into a detection rate of |${\sim }0.8^{+0.5}_{-0.3}$| per cent or |${\sim }1.1^{+0.7}_{-0.5}$| quasar per deg^2. Our detection rate is 4–80 times larger than those found by previous searches using shallower surveys over larger areas. This discrepancy is likely caused by differences in the quasar populations probed and the survey data qualities. We discuss implications on the future direct detection of low-frequency gravitational waves. Continued photometric monitoring will further assess the robustness and characteristics of these candidate periodic quasars to determine their physical origins.

We report observations with the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) of six submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) within 3 arcmin of the Distant Red Core (DRC) at z = 4.0, a site of intense cluster-scale star formation, first reported by Oteo et al. We find new members of DRC in three SMG fields; in two fields, the SMGs are shown to lie along the line of sight towards DRC; one SMG is spurious. Although at first sight this rate of association is consistent with earlier predictions, associations with the bright SMGs are rarer than expected, which suggests caution when interpreting continuum overdensities. We consider the implications of all 14 confirmed DRC components passing simultaneously through an active phase of star formation. In the simplest explanation, we see only the tip of the iceberg in terms of star formation and gas available for future star formation, consistent with our remarkable finding that the majority of newly confirmed DRC galaxies are not the brightest continuum emitters in their immediate vicinity. Thus, while ALMA continuum follow-up of SMGs identifies the brightest continuum emitters in each field, it does not necessarily reveal all the gas-rich galaxies. To hunt effectively for protocluster members requires wide and deep spectral-line imaging to uncover any relatively continuum-faint galaxies that are rich in atomic or molecular gas. Searching with short-baseline arrays or single-dish facilities, the true scale of the underlying gas reservoirs may be revealed.

We discuss the prospects of high precision pointing of our transmitter to habitable planets around Galactic main sequence stars. For an efficient signal delivery, the future sky positions of the host stars should be appropriately extrapolated with accuracy better than the beam opening angle $\Theta$ of the transmitter. Using the latest data release (DR2) of Gaia, we estimate the accuracy of the extrapolations individually for $4.7\times 10^7$ FGK stars, and find that the total number of targets could be $\sim 10^7$ for the accuracy goal better than 1". Considering the pairwise nature of communication, our study would be instructive also for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), not only for sending signals outward.

The Born cross section and dressed cross section of $ e^+e^-\to b\bar{b} $?--> and the total hadronic cross section in $ e^+e^- $?--> annihilation in the bottomonium energy region are calculated based on the $ R_b $?--> values measured by the BaBar and Belle experiments. The data are used to calculate the vacuum polarization factors in the bottomonium energy region, and to determine the resonant parameters of the vector bottomonium(-like) states $ Y(10750) $?--> , $ \Upsilon(5S) $?--> , and $ \Upsilon(6S) $?--> . * Supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (11521505, 11475187, 11375206); Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS, (QYZDJ-SSW-SLH011); the CAS Center for Excellence in Particle Physics (CCEPP); and the Munich Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics (MIAPP) which is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy-EXC-2094-390783311

We present 3D full-sphere supernova simulations of non-rotating low-mass (∼9 M_⊙) progenitors, covering the entire evolution from core collapse through bounce and shock revival, through shock breakout from the stellar surface, until fallback is completed several days later. We obtain low-energy explosions (∼0.5-1.0 × 10⁵⁰ erg) of iron-core progenitors at the low-mass end of the core-collapse supernova (LMCCSN) domain and compare to a super-AGB (sAGB) progenitor with an oxygen-neon-magnesium core that collapses and explodes as electron-capture supernova (ECSN). The onset of the explosion in the LMCCSN models is modelled self-consistently using the VERTEX-PROMETHEUS code, whereas the ECSN explosion is modelled using parametric neutrino transport in the PROMETHEUS-HOTB code, choosing different explosion energies in the range of previous self-consistent models. The sAGB and LMCCSN progenitors that share structural similarities have almost spherical explosions with little metal mixing into the hydrogen envelope. A LMCCSN with less second dredge-up results in a highly asymmetric explosion. It shows efficient mixing and dramatic shock deceleration in the extended hydrogen envelope. Both properties allow fast nickel plumes to catch up with the shock, leading to extreme shock deformation and aspherical shock breakout. Fallback masses of $\mathord {\lesssim }\, 5\, \mathord {\times }\, 10^{-3}$ M_⊙ have no significant effects on the neutron star (NS) masses and kicks. The anisotropic fallback carries considerable angular momentum, however, and determines the spin of the newly born NS. The LMCCSN model with less second dredge-up results in a hydrodynamic and neutrino-induced NS kick of >40 km s^-1 and a NS spin period of ∼30 ms, both not largely different from those of the Crab pulsar at birth.

Gravitational-wave observations of coalescing binary systems allow for novel tests of the strong-field regime of gravity. Using data from the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center (GWOSC) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors, we place the first constraints on an effective-field-theory based extension of general relativity, in which only higher-order curvature terms are added to the Einstein-Hilbert action. We construct gravitational-wave templates describing the quasicircular, adiabatic inspiral phase of binary black holes in this extended theory of gravity. Then, after explaining how to properly take into account the region of validity of the effective field theory when performing tests of general relativity, we perform Bayesian model selection using the two lowest-mass binary-black-hole events reported to date by LIGO and Virgo—GW151226 and GW170608—and constrain this theory with respect to general relativity. We find that these data disfavor the appearance of new physics on distance scales around ∼150 km . Finally, we describe a general strategy for improving constraints as more observations will become available with future detectors on the ground and in space.

We reanalyse the ratio ɛ^'/ɛ in the Standard Model (SM) using most recent hadronic matrix elements from the RBC-UKQCD collaboration in combination with most important NNLO QCD corrections to electroweak penguin contributions and the isospin-breaking corrections. We illustrate the importance of the latter by using their latest estimate from chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) based on the octet approximation for lowest-lying mesons and a very recent estimate in the nonet scheme that takes into account the contribution of η₀. We find (ɛ_'/ɛ^{)SM(8 )=(17.4 ±6.1 ) ×10-4 and (ɛ_'/ɛ)SM(9 )=(13.9 ±5.2 ) ×10 -4 , respectively. Despite a very good agreement with the measured value (ɛ'/ɛ_{) exp}=(16.6 ±2.3 ) ×10-4 , the large error in (ɛ'/ɛ_{) SM} still leaves room for significant new physics (BSM) contributions to this ratio. We update the 2018 master formula for (ɛ'/ɛ_{) BSM} valid in any extension beyond the SM without additional light degrees of freedom. We provide new values of the penguin parameters B₆(1 /2 )(μ ) and B₈(3 /2 )(μ ) at the μ -scales used by the RBC-UKQCD collaboration and at lower scales O (1 GeV) used by ChPT and Dual QCD (DQCD). We present semi-analytic formulae for (ɛ'/ɛ_{) SM} in terms of these parameters and Ω_^eff that summarizes isospin-breaking corrections to this ratio. We stress the importance of lattice calculations of the O (α_em) contributions to the hadronic matrix elements necessary for the removal of renormalization scheme dependence at O (α_em) in the present analyses of ɛ'/ɛ.}

For direct CP-violation in K →π π decays, the usual isospin-breaking effects at the percent level are amplified by the dynamics behind the Δ I =1 /2 rule and conventionally encoded in Ω_IB parameters. The updated prediction Ω_IB^{(8 )}=(15.9 ±8.2 ) ×10^-2 of the Chiral Perturbation Theory for the strong isospin-breaking due to π₃-η₈ mixing confirms such a tendency but is quite sensitive to the theoretical input value of the low-energy constant corresponding to the flavour-singlet η₀ exchange contribution in this truncated octet scheme. We rather exploit the phenomenological η₈-η₀ mixing as a probe for the non-negligible flavour-singlet component of the physical η pole to find Ω_IB^{(9 )}=(35 ±7 ) ×10^-2 in a complete nonet scheme. A large central value in the nonet scheme is thus substituted for a large uncertainty in the octet one. Including the experimental π⁺-π⁰ mass difference as the dominant electromagnetic isospin-breaking, we obtain for the effective parameter entering the ratio ɛ^'/ɛ an improved result Ω_^eff^{(9 )}=(29 ±7 ) ×10^-2 to be compared with Ω_^eff^{(8 )}=(17 ±9 ) ×10^-2 used in recent analyses of ɛ^'/ɛ . Accordingly, we get a reduction from (ɛ_'/ɛ)^{SM(8 )}=(17.4 ±6.1 ) ×10^-4 to (ɛ_'/ɛ)^{SM(9 )}=(13.9 ±5.2 ) ×^{10 -4} and thereby an effective suppression of (ɛ^'/ɛ_{) SM} by isospin-breaking corrections as large as 40 % relative to the recent RBC-UKQCD value.

We present a factorization theorem valid near the kinematic threshold z =Q²/s ̂→1 of the partonic Drell-Yan process q q ¯→γ^∗+X for general subleading powers in the (1 - z) expansion. We then consider the specific case of next-to-leading power. We discuss the emergence of collinear functions, which are a key ingredient to factorization starting at next-to-leading power. We calculate the relevant collinear functions at O (α_s) by employing an operator matching equation and we compare our results to the expansion-by- regions computation up to the next-to-next-to-leading order, finding agreement. Factorization holds only before the dimensional regulator is removed, due to a divergent convolution when the collinear and soft functions are first expanded around d = 4 before the convolution is performed. This demonstrates an issue for threshold resummation beyond the leading-logarithmic accuracy at next-to-leading power.

Massive dwarf galaxies that merge with the Milky Way on prograde orbits can be dragged into the disk plane before being completely disrupted. Such mergers can contribute to an accreted stellar disk and a dark matter disk. Here we present Nyx, a vast stellar stream in the vicinity of the Sun, which provides the first indication that such an event occurred in the Milky Way. We identify about 90 stars that have coherent radial and prograde motion in this stream using a catalogue of accreted stars built by applying deep learning methods to the Gaia data. Taken together with chemical abundance and orbital information, these results strongly favour the interpretation that Nyx is the remnant of a disrupted dwarf galaxy. Further justified by FIRE hydrodynamic simulations, we demonstrate that prograde streams like Nyx can be found in the disk plane of galaxies and identified using our methods.

We show how the properties of the QCD axion change in systems at finite baryonic density, such as neutron stars. At nuclear saturation densities, where corrections can be reliably computed, we find a mild reduction of the axion mass and up to an order of magnitude enhancement in the model-independent axion coupling to neutrons. At moderately higher densities, if realized, meson (kaon) condensation can trigger axion condensation. We also study the axion potential at asymptotically large densities, where the color-superconducting phase of QCD potentially leads to axion condensation, and the mass of the axion is generically several orders of magnitude smaller than in vacuum due to the suppressed instantons. Several phenomenological consequences of the axion being sourced by neutron stars are discussed, such as its contribution to their total mass, the presence of an axionic brane, or axion-photon conversion in the magnetosphere.

In this paper we present the complete one-loop matching conditions, up to dimension-six operators of the Standard Model effective field theory, resulting by integrating out the two scalar leptoquarks S₁∼("_{separators=",3 1 )1/3} and S₃∼("_{separators=",3 3 )1/3}. This allows a phenomenological study of low-energy constraints on this model at one-loop accuracy, which will be the focus of a subsequent work. Furthermore, it provides a rich comparison for functional and computational methods for one-loop matching, that are being developed. As a corollary result, we derive a complete set of dimension-six operators independent under integration by parts, but not under equations of motions, called Green's basis, as well as the complete reduction formulae from this set to the Warsaw basis.

We compute S-wave quarkonium wavefunctions at the origin in the $ \overline{\mathrm{MS}} $ scheme based on nonrelativistic effective field theories. We include the effects of nonperturbative long-distance behaviors of the potentials, while we determine the short-distance behaviors of the potentials in perturbative QCD. We obtain $ \overline{\mathrm{MS}} $-renormalized quarkonium wavefunctions at the origin that have the correct scale dependences that are expected from perturbative QCD, so that the scale dependences cancel in physical quantities. Based on the calculation of the wavefunctions at the origin, we make model-independent predictions of decay constants and electromagnetic decay rates of S-wave charmonia and bottomonia, and compare them with measurements. We find that the poor convergence of perturbative QCD corrections are substantially improved when we include corrections to the wavefunctions at the origin in the calculation of decay constants and decay rates.

The RNA world scenario posits replication by RNA polymerases. On early Earth, a geophysical setting is required to separate hybridized strands after their replication and to localize them against diffusion. We present a pointed heat source that drives exponential, RNA-catalyzed amplification of short RNA with high efficiency in a confined chamber. While shorter strands were periodically melted by laminar convection, the temperature gradient caused aggregated polymerase molecules to accumulate, protecting them from degradation in hot regions of the chamber. These findings demonstrate a size-selective pathway for autonomous RNA-based replication in natural nonequilibrium conditions.

We present an effective field theory for doubly heavy baryons that goes beyond the compact heavy diquark approximation. The heavy quark distance r is only restricted to m_Q≫1 /r ≫E_bin , where m_Q is the mass of the heavy quark and E_bin the typical binding energy. This means that the size of the heavy diquark can be as large as the typical size of a light hadron. We start from nonrelativistic QCD, and build the effective field theory at next-to-leading order in the 1 /m_Q expansion. At leading order the effective field theory reduces to the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. The Born-Oppenheimer potentials are obtained from available lattice QCD data. The spectrum for double charm baryons below threshold is compatible with most of the lattice QCD results. We present for the first time the full spin averaged double bottom baryon spectrum below threshold based on QCD. We also present model-independent formulas for the spin splittings.

Differential cross sections have been extracted from exclusive and kinematically complete high-statistics measurements of quasifree polarized n ⃗p scattering performed in the energy region of the d^*(2380 ) dibaryon resonance covering the range of beam energies T_n=0.98 -1.29 GeV (√{s }=2.32 -2.44 GeV). The experiment was carried out with the WASA-at-COSY setup having a polarized deuteron beam impinged on the hydrogen pellet target and utilizing the quasifree process d p →n p +p_spectator . In this way the n p differential cross section σ (Θ ) was measured over a large angular range. The obtained angular distributions complement the corresponding analyzing power A_y(Θ ) measurements published previously. A SAID partial-wave analysis incorporating the new data strengthens the finding of a resonance pole in the coupled ^D3₃-^G3₃ waves.

We study the Voronoi volume function (VVF) - the distribution of cell volumes (or inverse local number density) in the Voronoi tessellation of any set of cosmological tracers (galaxies/haloes). We show that the shape of the VVF of biased tracers responds sensitively to physical properties such as halo mass, large-scale environment, substructure, and redshift-space effects, making this a hitherto unexplored probe of both primordial cosmology and galaxy evolution. Using convenient summary statistics - the width, median, and a low percentile of the VVF as functions of average tracer number density - we explore these effects for tracer populations in a suite of N-body simulations of a range of dark matter models. Our summary statistics sensitively probe primordial features such as small-scale oscillations in the initial matter power spectrum (as arise in models involving collisional effects in the dark sector), while being largely insensitive to a truncation of initial power (as in warm dark matter models). For vanilla cold dark matter (CDM) cosmologies, the summary statistics display strong evolution and redshift-space effects, and are also sensitive to cosmological parameter values for realistic tracer samples. Comparing the VVF of galaxies in the Galaxies & Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey with that of abundance-matched CDM (sub)haloes tentatively reveals environmental effects in GAMA beyond halo mass (modulo unmodelled satellite properties). Our exploratory analysis thus paves the way for using the VVF as a new probe of galaxy evolution physics as well as the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

Decoherence describes the tendency of quantum sub-systems to dynamically lose their quantum character. This happens when the quantum sub-system of interest interacts and becomes entangled with an environment that is traced out. For ordinary macroscopic systems, electromagnetic and other interactions cause rapid decoherence. However, dark matter (DM) may have the unique possibility of exhibiting naturally prolonged macroscopic quantum properties due to its weak coupling to its environment, particularly if it only interacts gravitationally. In this work, we compute the rate of decoherence for light DM in the galaxy, where a local density has its mass, size, and location in a quantum superposition. The decoherence is via the gravitational interaction of the DM overdensity with its environment, provided by ordinary matter. We focus on relatively robust configurations: DM perturbations that involve an overdensity followed by an underdensity, with no monopole, such that it is only observable at relatively close distances. We use non-relativistic scattering theory with a Newtonian potential generated by the overdensity to determine how a probe particle scatters off of it and thereby becomes entangled. As an application, we consider light scalar DM, including axions. In the galactic halo, we use diffuse hydrogen as the environment, while near the earth, we use air as the environment. For an overdensity whose size is the typical DM de Broglie wavelength, we find that the decoherence rate in the halo is higher than the present Hubble rate for DM masses m_a lesssim 5 × 10^-7 eV and in earth based experiments it is higher than the classical field coherence rate for m_a lesssim 10^-6 eV . When spreading of the states occurs, the rates can become much faster, as we quantify. Also, we establish that DM BECs decohere very rapidly and so are very well described by classical field theory.

For low-mass (frequency ≪GHz ) axions, dark matter detection experiments searching for an axion-photon-photon coupling generally have suppressed sensitivity, if they use a static background magnetic field. This geometric suppression can be alleviated by using a high-frequency oscillating background field. Here, we present a high-level sketch of such an experiment, using superconducting cavities at ∼GHz frequencies. We discuss the physical limits on signal power arising from cavity properties, and point out cavity geometries that could circumvent some of these limitations. We also consider how backgrounds, including vibrational noise and drive signal leakage, might impact sensitivity. While practical microwave field strengths are significantly below attainable static magnetic fields, the lack of geometric suppression, and higher quality factors, may allow superconducting cavity experiments to be competitive in some regimes.

We propose an approach to search for axion dark matter with a specially designed superconducting radio frequency cavity, targeting axions with masses m_a ≲ 10^-6 eV. Our approach exploits axion-induced transitions between nearly degenerate resonant modes of frequency ∼ GHz. A scan over axion mass is achieved by varying the frequency splitting between the two modes. Compared to traditional approaches, this allows for parametrically enhanced signal power for axions lighter than a GHz. The projected sensitivity covers unexplored parameter space for QCD axion dark matter for 10^-8 eV ≲ m_a ≲ 10^-6 eV and axion-like particle dark matter as light as m_a∼ 10^-14 eV.

Despite recent developments, there are a number of conceptual issues on the hadronic light-by-light (HLbL) contribution to the muon (g -2 ) which remain unresolved. One of the most controversial ones is the precise way in which short-distance constraints get saturated by resonance exchange, particularly in the so-called Melnikov-Vainshtein limit. In this paper we address this and related issues from a novel perspective, employing a warped five-dimensional model as a tool to generate a consistent realization of QCD in the large-N_c limit. This approach differs from previous ones in that we can work at the level of an effective action, which guarantees that unitarity is preserved and the chiral anomaly is consistently implemented at the hadronic level. We use the model to evaluate the inclusive contribution of Goldstone modes and axial-vector mesons to the HLbL. We find that both anomaly matching and the Melnikov-Vainshtein constraint cannot be fulfilled with a finite number of resonances (including the pion) and instead require an infinite number of axial-vector states. Our numbers for the HLbL point at a non-negligible role of axial-vector mesons, which is closely linked to a correct implementation of QCD short-distance constraints.

We propose an effective field theory to describe hadrons with two heavy quarks without any assumption on the typical distance between the heavy quarks with respect to the typical hadronic scale. The construction is based on nonrelativistic QCD and inspired in the strong coupling regime of potential nonrelativistic QCD. We construct the effective theory at leading and next-to-leading order in the inverse heavy quark mass expansion for arbitrary quantum numbers of the light degrees of freedom. Hence our results hold for hybrids, tetraquarks, double heavy baryons and pentaquarks, for which we also present the corresponding operators at a nonrelativistic level. At leading order, the effective theory enjoys heavy quark spin symmetry and corresponds to the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. At next-to-leading order, spin and velocity-dependent terms arise, which produce splittings in the heavy quark spin symmetry multiplets. A concrete application to double heavy baryons is presented in an accompanying paper.

The possible detection of a compact object in the remnant of SN 1987A presents an unprecedented opportunity to follow its early evolution. The suspected detection stems from an excess of infrared emission from a dust blob near the compact object's predicted position. The infrared excess could be due to the decay of isotopes like ⁴⁴Ti, accretion luminosity from a neutron star or black hole, magnetospheric emission or a wind originating from the spin down of a pulsar, or to thermal emission from an embedded, cooling neutron star (NS 1987A). It is shown that the last possibility is the most plausible as the other explanations are disfavored by other observations and/or require fine-tuning of parameters. Not only are there indications that the dust blob overlaps the predicted location of a kicked compact remnant, but its excess luminosity also matches the expected thermal power of a 30 yr old neutron star. Furthermore, models of cooling neutron stars within the minimal cooling paradigm readily fit both NS 1987A and Cas A, the next-youngest known neutron star. If correct, a long heat transport timescale in the crust and a large effective stellar temperature are favored, implying relatively limited crustal n-¹S₀ superfluidity and an envelope with a thick layer of light elements, respectively. If the locations do not overlap, then pulsar spin down or accretion might be more likely, but the pulsar's period and magnetic field or the accretion rate must be rather finely tuned. In this case, NS 1987A may have enhanced cooling and/or a heavy-element envelope.

Primordial black holes formed through the collapse of cosmological density fluctuations have been hypothesized as contributors to the dark matter content of the Universe. At the same time, their mergers could contribute to the recently observed population of gravitational-wave sources. We investigate the scenario in which primordial black holes form binaries at late times in the Universe. Specifically, we re-examine the mergers of primordial black holes in small clusters of ∼30 objects in the absence of initial binaries. Binaries form dynamically through Newtonian gravitational interactions. These binaries act as heat sources for the cluster, increasing the cluster's velocity dispersion, which inhibits direct mergers through gravitational-wave two-body captures. Meanwhile, three-body encounters of tight binaries are too rare to tighten binaries sufficiently to allow them to merge through gravitational-wave emission. We conclude that in the absence of initial binaries, merger rates of primordial black holes in the considered scenario are at least an order of magnitude lower than previously suggested, which makes gravitational-wave detections of such sources improbable.

We present an analysis of the origin and properties of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) in a suite of 11 cosmological zoom simulations resembling present-day spiral galaxies. On average the galaxies retain about 50 per cent of the cosmic fraction in baryons, almost equally divided into disc (interstellar medium) gas, cool CGM gas and warm-hot CGM gas. At radii smaller than 50 kpc the CGM is dominated by recycled warm-hot gas injected from the central galaxy, while at larger radii it is dominated by cool gas accreted on to the halo. The recycled gas typically accounts for one-third of the CGM mass. We introduce the novel publicly available analysis tool pygad to compute ion abundances and mock absorption spectra. For Lyman α absorption, we find good agreement of the simulated equivalent width (EW) distribution and observations out to large radii. Disc galaxies with quiescent assembly histories show significantly more absorption along the disc major axis. By comparing the EW and H I column densities, we find that CGM Lyman α absorbers are best represented by an effective line width b ≍ 50-70 km s^-1 that increases mildly with halo mass, larger than typically assumed.

We perform a comprehensive study of collider aspects of a Higgs portal scenario that is protected by an unbroken Z₂ symmetry. If the mass of the Higgs portal scalar is larger than half the Higgs mass, this scenario becomes very difficult to detect. We provide a detailed investigation of the model's parameter space based on analyses of the direct collider sensitivity at the LHC as well as at future lepton and hadron collider concepts and analyse the importance of these searches for this scenario in the context of expected precision Higgs and electroweak measurements. In particular we also consider the associated electroweak oblique corrections that we obtain in a first dedicated two-loop calculation for comparisons with the potential of, e.g., GigaZ. The currently available collider projections corroborate an FCC-hh 100 TeV as a very sensitive tool to search for such a weakly-coupled Higgs sector extension, driven by small statistical uncertainties over a large range of energy coverage. Crucially, however, this requires good theoretical control. Alternatively, Higgs signal-strength measurements at an optimal FCC-ee sensitivity level could yield comparable constraints.

The high temperature and electron degeneracy attained during a supernova allow for the formation of a large muon abundance within the core of the resulting protoneutron star. If new pseudoscalar degrees of freedom have large couplings to the muon, they can be produced by this muon abundance and contribute to the cooling of the star. By generating the largest collection of supernova simulations with muons to date, we show that observations of the cooling rate of SN 1987A place strong constraints on the coupling of axionlike particles to muons, limiting the coupling to g_{a μ}<10^-8.1 GeV^-1.

We study parametric instability of compact axion dark matter structures decaying to radiophotons. Corresponding objects—Bose (axion) stars, their clusters, and clouds of diffuse axions—form abundantly in the postinflationary Peccei-Quinn scenario. We develop general description of parametric resonance incorporating finite-volume effects, backreaction, axion velocities, and their (in)coherence. With additional coarse graining, our formalism reproduces kinetic equation for virialized axions interacting with photons. We derive conditions for the parametric instability in each of the above objects, as well as in collapsing axion stars, evaluate photon resonance modes and their growth exponents. As a by-product, we calculate stimulated emission of Bose stars and diffuse axions, arguing that the former can give larger contribution into the radio background. In the case of QCD axions, the Bose stars glow and collapsing stars radioburst if the axion-photon coupling exceeds the original Kim-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov value by 2 orders of magnitude. The latter constraint is alleviated for several nearby axion stars in resonance and absent for axionlike particles. Our results show that the parametric effect may reveal itself in observations, from fast radio bursts to excess radio background.

We study the gravitational collapse of axion dark matter fluctuations in the postinflationary scenario, so-called axion miniclusters, with N -body simulations. Largely confirming theoretical expectations, overdensities begin to collapse in the radiation-dominated epoch and form an early distribution of miniclusters with masses up to 10^-12 M_⊙ . After matter-radiation equality, ongoing mergers give rise to a steep power-law distribution of minicluster halo masses. The density profiles of well-resolved halos are Navarro-Frenk-White-like to good approximation. The fraction of axion dark matter in these bound structures is ∼0.75 at redshift z =100 .

We analyze the recent hints of lepton flavor universality violation in both charged-current and neutral-current rare decays of B mesons in an R -parity-violating supersymmetric scenario. Motivated by simplicity and minimality, we had earlier postulated the third-generation superpartners to be the lightest (calling the scenario "RPV3") and explicitly showed that it preserves gauge coupling unification and of course has the usual attribute of naturally addressing the Higgs radiative stability. Here we show that both R_D^(*) and R_K^(*) flavor anomalies can be addressed in this RPV3 framework. Interestingly, this scenario may also be able to accommodate two other seemingly disparate anomalies, namely, the longstanding discrepancy in the muon (g -2 ), as well as the recent anomalous upgoing ultrahigh-energy Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna events. Based on symmetry arguments, we consider three different benchmark points for the relevant RPV3 couplings and carve out the regions of parameter space where all (or some) of these anomalies can be simultaneously explained. We find it remarkable that such overlap regions exist, given the plethora of precision low-energy and high-energy experimental constraints on the minimal model parameter space. The third-generation superpartners needed in this theoretical construction are all in the 1-10 TeV range, accessible at the LHC and/or next-generation hadron colliders. We also discuss some testable predictions for the lepton-flavor-violating decays of the tau lepton and B mesons for the current and future B -physics experiments, such as LHCb and Belle II. Complementary tests of the flavor anomalies in the high-p_T regime in collider experiments such as the LHC are also discussed.

We review the landscape of QCD axion models. Theoretical constructions that extend the window for the axion mass and couplings beyond conventional regions are highlighted and classified. Bounds from cosmology, astrophysics and experimental searches are reexamined and updated.

We carry out ‘full-physics’ hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation in the normal-branch Dvali–Gabadadze–Porrati (nDGP) braneworld model using a new modified version of the arepo code and the IllustrisTNG galaxy formation model. We simulate two nDGP models (N5 and N1) that represent, respectively, weak and moderate departures from general relativity (GR), in boxes of sizes |$62$| and |$25\, h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$| using 2 × 512^3 dark matter particles and initial gas cells. This allows us to explore, for the first time, the impact of baryonic physics on galactic scales in braneworld models of modified gravity and to make predictions on the stellar content of dark matter haloes and galaxy evolution through cosmic time in these models. We find significant differences between the GR and nDGP models in the power spectra and correlation functions of gas, stars and dark matter of up to ∼25 per cent on large scales. Similar to their impact in the standard cosmological model (Λ cold dark matter), baryonic effects can have a significant influence over the clustering of the overall matter distribution, with a sign that depends on scale. Studying the degeneracy between modified gravity and galactic feedback in these models, we find that these two physical effects on matter clustering can be cleanly disentangled, allowing for a method to accurately predict the matter power spectrum with baryonic effects included, without having to run hydrodynamical simulations. Depending on the braneworld model, we find differences compared with GR of up to ∼15 per cent in galaxy properties such as the stellar-to-halo-mass ratio, galaxy stellar mass function, gas fraction, and star formation rate density. The amplitude of the fifth force is reduced by the presence of baryons in the very inner part of haloes, but this reduction quickly becomes negligible above ∼0.1 times the halo radius.

With the spatial resolution of the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA), dusty galaxies in the distant Universe typically appear as single, compact blobs of dust emission, with a median half-light radius, ≍1 kpc. Occasionally, strong gravitational lensing by foreground galaxies or galaxy clusters has probed spatial scales 1-2 orders of magnitude smaller, often revealing late-stage mergers, sometimes with tantalizing hints of sub-structure. One lensed galaxy in particular, the Cosmic Eyelash at z = 2.3, has been cited extensively as an example of where the interstellar medium exhibits obvious, pronounced clumps, on a spatial scale of ≍100 pc. Seven orders of magnitude more luminous than giant molecular clouds in the local Universe, these features are presented as circumstantial evidence that the blue clumps observed in many z ∼ 2-3 galaxies are important sites of ongoing star formation, with significant masses of gas and stars. Here, we present data from ALMA which reveal that the dust continuum of the Cosmic Eyelash is in fact smooth and can be reproduced using two Sérsic profiles with effective radii, 1.2 and 4.4 kpc, with no evidence of significant star-forming clumps down to a spatial scale of ≍80 pc and a star formation rate of <3 M_⊙ yr^-1.

The mass function for black holes and neutron stars at birth is explored for mass-losing helium stars. These should resemble, more closely than similar studies of single hydrogen-rich stars, the results of evolution in close binary systems. The effects of varying the mass-loss rate and metallicity are calculated using a simple semi-analytic approach to stellar evolution that is tuned to reproduce detailed numerical calculations. Though the total fraction of black holes made in stellar collapse events varies considerably with metallicity, mass-loss rate, and mass cutoff, from 5% to 30%, the shapes of their birth functions are very similar for all reasonable variations in these quantities. Median neutron star masses are in the range 1.32-1.37 ${M}_{\odot }$ regardless of metallicity. The median black hole mass for solar metallicity is typically 8-9 ${M}_{\odot }$ if only initial helium cores below 40 ${M}_{\odot }$ (ZAMS mass less than 80 ${M}_{\odot }$ ) are counted, and 9-13 ${M}_{\odot }$, in most cases, if helium cores with initial masses up to 150 ${M}_{\odot }$ (ZAMS mass less than 300 ${M}_{\odot }$ ) contribute. As long as the mass-loss rate as a function of mass exhibits no strong nonlinearities, the black hole birth function from 15 to 35 ${M}_{\odot }$ has a slope that depends mostly on the initial mass function for main-sequence stars. These findings imply the possibility of constraining the initial mass function and the properties of mass loss in close binaries using ongoing measurements of gravitational-wave radiation. The expected rotation rates of the black holes are briefly discussed.

Early-type galaxies - slow and fast rotating ellipticals (E-SRs and E-FRs) and S0s/lenticulars - define a Fundamental Plane (FP) in the space of half-light radius R_e, enclosed surface brightness I_e, and velocity dispersion σ_e. Since I_e and σ_e are distance-independent measurements, the thickness of the FP is often expressed in terms of the accuracy with which I_e and σ_e can be used to estimate sizes R_e. We show that: (1) The thickness of the FP depends strongly on morphology. If the sample only includes E-SRs, then the observed scatter in R_e is ∼ 16 per cent, of which only ∼ 9 per cent is intrinsic. Removing galaxies with M_* < 10¹¹ M_⊙ further reduces the observed scatter to ∼ 13 per cent (∼ 4 per cent intrinsic). The observed scatter increases to ∼ 25 per cent usually quoted in the literature if E-FRs and S0s are added. If the FP is defined using the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix of the observables, then the E-SRs again define an exceptionally thin FP, with intrinsic scatter of only 5 per cent orthogonal to the plane. (2) The structure within the FP is most easily understood as arising from the fact that I_e and σ_e are nearly independent, whereas the R_e-I_e and R_e-σ_e correlations are nearly equal and opposite. (3) If the coefficients of the FP differ from those associated with the virial theorem the plane is said to be 'tilted'. If we multiply I_e by the global stellar mass-to-light ratio M_*/L and we account for non-homology across the population by using Sérsic photometry, then the resulting stellar mass FP is less tilted. Accounting self-consistently for M_*/L gradients will change the tilt. The tilt we currently see suggests that the efficiency of turning baryons into stars increases and/or the dark matter fraction decreases as stellar surface brightness increases.

Supernovae (SNe) generate hot gas in the interstellar medium (ISM), help setting the ISM structure, and support the driving of outflows. It is important to resolve the hot gas generation for galaxy formation simulations at solar mass and sub-parsec resolution that realize individual SN explosions with ambient densities varying by several orders of magnitude in a realistic multiphase ISM. We test resolution requirements by simulating SN blast waves at three metallicities (Z = 0.01, 0.1, and 1 Z_⊙), six densities and their respective equilibrium chemical compositions (n = 0.001-100 cm^-3), and four mass resolutions (0.1-100 M_⊙), in three dimensions. We include non-equilibrium cooling and chemistry, a homogeneous interstellar radiation field, and shielding with a modern pressure-energy smoothed particle hydrodynamics method including isotropic thermal conduction and a meshless-finite-mass solver. We find stronger resolution requirements for chemistry and hot phase generation than for momentum generation. While at 10 M_⊙ the radial momenta at the end of the Sedov phase start converging, the hot phase generation and chemistry require higher resolutions to represent the neutral-to-ionized hydrogen fraction at the end of the Sedov phase correctly. Thermal conduction typically reduces the hot phase by 0.2 dex and has little impact on the chemical composition. In general, our 1 and 0.1 M_⊙ results agree well with previous numerical and analytic estimates. We conclude that for the thermal energy injection SN model presented here resolutions higher than 10 M_⊙ are required to model the chemistry, momentum, and hot phase generation in the multiphase ISM.

In order to detect high frequency gravitational waves, we need a new detection method. In this paper, we develop a formalism for a gravitational wave detector using magnons in a cavity. Using Fermi normal coordinates and taking the non-relativistic limit, we obtain a Hamiltonian for magnons in gravitational wave backgrounds. Given the Hamiltonian, we show how to use the magnons for detecting high frequency gravitational waves. Furthermore, as a demonstration of the magnon gravitational wave detector, we give upper limits on GHz gravitational waves by utilizing known results of magnon experiments for an axion dark matter search.

Outflows driven by large-scale magnetic fields likely play an important role in the evolution and dispersal of protoplanetary disks and in setting the conditions for planet formation. We extend our 2D-axisymmetric nonideal MHD model of these outflows by incorporating radiative transfer and simplified thermochemistry, with the dual aims of exploring how heating influences wind launching and illustrating how such models can be tested through observations of diagnostic spectral lines. Our model disks launch magnetocentrifugal outflows primarily through magnetic tension forces, so the mass-loss rate increases only moderately when thermochemical effects are switched on. For typical field strengths, thermochemical and irradiation heating are more important than magnetic dissipation. We furthermore find that the entrained vertical magnetic flux diffuses out of the disk on secular timescales as a result of nonideal MHD. Through postprocessing line radiative transfer, we demonstrate that spectral line intensities and moment-1 maps of atomic oxygen, the HCN molecule, and other species show potentially observable differences between a model with a magnetically driven outflow and one with a weaker, photoevaporative outflow. In particular, the line shapes and velocity asymmetries in the moment-1 maps could enable the identification of outflows emanating from the disk surface.

We present a blind time-delay cosmographic analysis for the lens system DES J0408-5354. This system is extraordinary for the presence of two sets of multiple images at different redshifts, which provide the opportunity to obtain more information at the cost of increased modelling complexity with respect to previously analysed systems. We perform detailed modelling of the mass distribution for this lens system using three band Hubble Space Telescope imaging. We combine the measured time delays, line-of-sight central velocity dispersion of the deflector, and statistically constrained external convergence with our lens models to estimate two cosmological distances. We measure the 'effective' time-delay distance corresponding to the redshifts of the deflector and the lensed quasar $D_{\Delta t}^{\rm eff}=$ $3382_{-115}^{+146}$ Mpc and the angular diameter distance to the deflector D_d = $1711_{-280}^{+376}$ Mpc, with covariance between the two distances. From these constraints on the cosmological distances, we infer the Hubble constant H₀= $74.2_{-3.0}^{+2.7}$ km s^-1 Mpc^-1 assuming a flat ΛCDM cosmology and a uniform prior for Ω_m as $\Omega _{\rm m} \sim \mathcal {U}(0.05, 0.5)$ . This measurement gives the most precise constraint on H₀ to date from a single lens. Our measurement is consistent with that obtained from the previous sample of six lenses analysed by the H₀ Lenses in COSMOGRAIL's Wellspring (H0LiCOW) collaboration. It is also consistent with measurements of H₀ based on the local distance ladder, reinforcing the tension with the inference from early Universe probes, for example, with 2.2σ discrepancy from the cosmic microwave background measurement.

Recent stacked ALMA observations have revealed that normal, star-forming galaxies at z ≈ 6 are surrounded by extended (≈10 kpc) [C II]-emitting haloes, which are not predicted by the most advanced, zoom-in simulations. We present a model in which these haloes are the result of supernova-driven cooling outflows. Our model contains two free parameters, the outflow mass loading factor, η, and the parent galaxy dark matter halo circular velocity, V_c. The outflow model successfully matches the observed [C II] surface brightness profile if η = 3.20 ± 0.10 and $v_{\rm c} = 170 \pm 10 \, \rm km\, s^{-1}$ , corresponding to a dynamical mass of ${\approx }10^{11}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$ . The predicted outflow rate and velocity range are $128 \pm 5\, {\rm M}_{\odot }\, {\rm yr}^{-1}$ and 300-500 $\, \rm km\, s^{-1}$ , respectively. We conclude that (a) extended haloes can be produced by cooling outflows; (b) the large η value is marginally consistent with starburst-driven outflows, but it might indicate additional energy input from active galactic nuclei; and (c) the presence of [C II] haloes requires an ionizing photon escape fraction from galaxies f_esc ≪ 1. The model can be readily applied also to individual high-z galaxies, as those observed, e.g. by the ALMA ALPINE survey now becoming available.

We study perturbation theory for large-scale structure in the most general scalar-tensor theories propagating a single scalar degree of freedom, which include Horndeski theories and beyond. We model the parameter space using the effective field theory of dark energy. For Horndeski theories, the gravitational field and fluid equations are invariant under a combination of time-dependent transformations of the coordinates and fields. This symmetry allows one to construct a physical adiabatic mode which fixes the perturbation-theory kernels in the squeezed limit and ensures that the well-known consistency relations for large-scale structure, originally derived in general relativity, hold in modified gravity as well. For theories beyond Horndeski, instead, one generally cannot construct such an adiabatic mode. Because of this, the perturbation-theory kernels are modified in the squeezed limit and the consistency relations for large-scale structure do not hold. We show, however, that the modification of the squeezed limit depends only on the linear theory. We investigate the observational consequences of this violation by computing the matter bispectrum. In the squeezed limit, the largest effect is expected when considering the cross-correlation between different tracers. Moreover, the individual contributions to the 1-loop matter power spectrum do not cancel in the infrared limit of the momentum integral, modifying the power spectrum on nonlinear scales.

The accuracy of the Hubble constant measured with extragalactic Cepheids depends on robust photometry and background estimation in the presence of stellar crowding. The conventional approach accounts for crowding by sampling backgrounds near Cepheids and assuming that they match those at their positions. We show a direct consequence of crowding by unresolved sources at Cepheid sites is a reduction in the fractional amplitudes of their light curves. We use a simple analytical expression to infer crowding directly from the light curve amplitudes of >200 Cepheids in three Type Ia supernovae hosts and NGC 4258 as observed by Hubble Space Telescope—the first near-infrared amplitudes measured beyond the Magellanic Clouds. Where local crowding is minimal, we find near-infrared amplitudes match Milky Way Cepheids at the same periods. At greater stellar densities we find that the empirically measured amplitudes match the values predicted (with no free parameters) from crowding assessed in the conventional way from local regions, confirming their accuracy for estimating the background at the Cepheid locations. Extragalactic Cepheid amplitudes would need to be ∼20% smaller than measured to indicate additional, unrecognized crowding as a primary source of the present discrepancy in H₀. Rather, we find the amplitude data constrains a systematic mis-estimate of Cepheid backgrounds to be 0.029 ± 0.037 mag, more than 5× smaller than the size of the present ∼0.2 mag tension in H₀. We conclude that systematic errors in Cepheid backgrounds do not provide a plausible resolution to the Hubble tension.

The QCD axion provides an elegant solution to the strong C P problem. While the minimal realization is vulnerable to the so-called "axion quality problem," we will consider a more robust realization in the presence of a mirror sector related to the standard model by a (softly broken) Z₂ symmetry. We point out that the resulting "heavy" axion, while satisfying all theoretical and observational constraints, has a large and uncharted parameter space, which allows it to be probed at the LHC as a long-lived particle (LLP). The small defining axionic coupling to gluons results in a challenging hadronic decay signal which we argue can be distinguished against the background in such a long-lived regime, and yet, the same coupling allows for sufficient production at the hadron colliders thanks to the large gluon-parton luminosity. Our study opens up a new window towards accelerator observable axions and, more generally, singly produced LLPs.

The violation of baryon number, , is an essential ingredient for the preferential creation of matter over antimatter needed to account for the observed baryon asymmetry in the Universe. However, such a process has yet to be experimentally observed. The HIBEAM/NNBAR program is a proposed two-stage experiment at the European Spallation Source to search for baryon number violation. The program will include high-sensitivity searches for processes that violate baryon number by one or two units: free neutron–antineutron oscillation () via mixing, neutron–antineutron oscillation via regeneration from a sterile neutron state (), and neutron disappearance (n → n′); the effective process of neutron regeneration () is also possible. The program can be used to discover and characterize mixing in the neutron, antineutron and sterile neutron sectors. The experiment addresses topical open questions such as the origins of baryogenesis and the nature of dark matter, and is sensitive to scales of new physics substantially in excess of those available at colliders. A goal of the program is to open a discovery window to neutron conversion probabilities (sensitivities) by up to three orders of magnitude compared with previous searches. The opportunity to make such a leap in sensitivity tests should not be squandered. The experiment pulls together a diverse international team of physicists from the particle (collider and low energy) and nuclear physics communities, while also including specialists in neutronics and magnetics.

We review the present status of the Standard Model calculation of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. This is performed in a perturbative expansion in the fine-structure constant α and is broken down into pure QED, electroweak, and hadronic contributions. The pure QED contribution is by far the largest and has been evaluated up to and including O(α5) with negligible numerical uncertainty. The electroweak contribution is suppressed by (mμ∕MW)2 and only shows up at the level of the seventh significant digit. It has been evaluated up to two loops and is known to better than one percent. Hadronic contributions are the most difficult to calculate and are responsible for almost all of the theoretical uncertainty. The leading hadronic contribution appears at O(α2) and is due to hadronic vacuum polarization, whereas at O(α3) the hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution appears. Given the low characteristic scale of this observable, these contributions have to be calculated with nonperturbative methods, in particular, dispersion relations and the lattice approach to QCD. The largest part of this review is dedicated to a detailed account of recent efforts to improve the calculation of these two contributions with either a data-driven, dispersive approach, or a first-principle, lattice-QCD approach. The final result reads aμSM=116591810(43)×10−11 and is smaller than the Brookhaven measurement by 3.7 σ . The experimental uncertainty will soon be reduced by up to a factor four by the new experiment currently running at Fermilab, and also by the future J-PARC experiment. This and the prospects to further reduce the theoretical uncertainty in the near future – which are also discussed here – make this quantity one of the most promising places to look for evidence of new physics.

We revisit our previous work [Capozzi et al., Phys. Rev. D 95, 096014 (2017), 10.1103/PhysRevD.95.096014] where neutrino oscillation and nonoscillation data were analyzed in the standard framework with three neutrino families, in order to constrain their absolute masses and to probe their ordering (either normal, NO, or inverted, IO). We include updated oscillation results to discuss best fits and allowed ranges for the two squared mass differences δ m² and Δ m², the three mixing angles θ₁₂, θ₂₃, and θ₁₃, as well as constraints on the C P -violating phase δ , plus significant indications in favor of NO vs IO at the level of Δ χ²=10.0 . We then consider nonoscillation data from beta decay, from neutrinoless double beta decay (if neutrinos are Majorana), and from various cosmological input variants (in the data or the model) leading to results dubbed as default, aggressive, and conservative. In the default option, we obtain from nonoscillation data an extra contribution Δ χ²≃2.2 in favor of NO, and an upper bound on the sum of neutrino masses Σ <0.15 eV at 2 σ ; both results—dominated by cosmology—can be strengthened or weakened by using more aggressive or conservative options, respectively. Taking into account such variations, we find that the combination of all (oscillation and nonoscillation) neutrino data favors NO at the level of 3.2 -3.7 σ , and that Σ is constrained at the 2 σ level within Σ <0.12 - 0.69 eV . The upper edge of this allowed range corresponds to an effective β -decay neutrino mass m_β≃Σ /3 ≃0.23 eV , at the sensitivity frontier of the KATRIN experiment.

Neutrinos are unique probes of core-collapse supernova dynamics, especially in the case of black hole (BH-)forming stellar collapses, where the electromagnetic emission may be faint or absent. By investigating two three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of BH-forming stellar collapses of mass 40 M_⊙ and 75 M_⊙, we identify the physical processes preceding BH formation through neutrinos and forecast the neutrino signal expected in the existing IceCube and Super-Kamiokande detectors, as well as in the future generation DUNE facility. Prior to the abrupt termination of the neutrino signal corresponding to BH formation, both models develop episodes of strong and long-lasting activity by the spiral standing accretion shock instability (SASI). We find that the spiral SASI peak in the Fourier power spectrum of the neutrino event rate will be distinguishable at 3 σ above the detector noise for distances up to ∼O (30 ) kpc in the most optimistic scenario, with IceCube having the highest sensitivity. Interestingly, given the long duration of the spiral SASI episodes, the spectrograms of the expected neutrino event rate carry clear signs of the evolution of the spiral SASI frequency as a function of time, as the shock radius and postshock fluid velocity evolve. Because of the high accretion luminosity and its large-amplitude SASI-induced modulations, any contribution from asymmetric (dipolar or quadrupolar) neutrino emission associated with the lepton emission self-sustained asymmetry is far subdominant in the neutrino signal.

This is the first advanced, systematic and comprehensive look at weak decays in the framework of gauge theories. Included is a large spectrum of topics, both theoretical and experimental. In addition to explicit advanced calculations of Feynman diagrams and the study of renormalization group strong interaction effects in weak decays, the book is devoted to the Standard Model Effective Theory, dominating present phenomenology in this field, and to new physics models with the goal of searching for new particles and interactions through quantum fluctuations. This book will benefit theorists, experimental researchers, and Ph.D. students working on flavour physics and weak decays as well as physicists interested in physics beyond the Standard Model. In its concern for the search for new phenomena at short distance scales through the interplay between theory and experiment, this book constitutes a travel guide to physics far beyond the scales explored by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

We calculate the step-scaling function, the lattice analog of the renormalization group β -function, for an SU(3) gauge theory with ten fundamental flavors. We present a detailed analysis including the study of systematic effects of our extensive data set generated with ten dynamical flavors using the Symanzik gauge action and three times stout smeared Möbius domain wall fermions. Using up to 32⁴ volumes, we calculate renormalized couplings for different gradient flow schemes and determine the step-scaling β function for a scale change s =2 on up to five different lattice volume pairs. In an accompanying paper we discuss that gradient flow can promote lattice dislocations to instantonlike objects, introducing nonperturbative lattice artifacts to the step-scaling function. Motivated by the observation that Wilson flow sufficiently suppresses these artifacts, we choose Wilson flow with the Symanzik operator as our preferred analysis. We study systematic effects by calculating the step-scaling function based on alternative flows (Zeuthen or Symanzik), alternative operators (Wilson plaquette, clover), and also explore the effects of the perturbative tree-level improvement. Further we investigate the effects due to the finite value of L_s.

We study stellar property statistics, including satellite galaxy occupation, of haloes in three cosmological hydrodynamics simulations: BAHAMAS + MACSIS, IllustrisTNG, and Magneticum Pathfinder. Applying localized linear regression, we extract halo mass-conditioned normalizations, slopes, and intrinsic covariance for (i) N_sat, the number of stellar mass-thresholded satellite galaxies within radius R_200c of the halo; (ii) M_⋆,tot, the total stellar mass within that radius, and (iii) M_⋆,BCG, the gravitationally bound stellar mass of the central galaxy within a 100 kpc radius. The parameters show differences across the simulations, in part from numerical resolution, but there is qualitative agreement for the N_sat - M_⋆,BCG correlation. Marginalizing over M_halo, we find the N_sat kernel, p(ln N_sat | M_halo,z) to be consistently skewed left in all three simulations, with skewness parameter γ = -0.91 ± 0.02, while the M_⋆,tot kernel shape is closer to lognormal. The highest resolution simulations find γ ≃ -0.8 for the z = 0 shape of the M_⋆,BCG kernel. We provide a Gaussian mixture fit to the low-redshift N_sat kernel as well as local linear regression parameters tabulated for M_halo > 10^13.5 M⊙ in all simulations.

The Fundamental Plane (FP) of black hole (BH) activity in galactic nuclei relates X-ray and radio luminosities to BH mass and accretion rate. However, there is a large scatter exhibited by the data, which motivated us for a new variable. We add BH spin as a new variable and estimate the spin dependence of the jet power and disc luminosity in terms of radio and X-ray luminosities. We assume the Blandford-Znajek process as the main source of the outflow, and find that the jet power depends on BH spin stronger than quadratically at moderate and large spin values. We perform a statistical analysis for 10 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) which have sub-Eddington accretion rates and whose spin values are measured independently via the reflection or continuum-fitting methods, and find that the spin-dependent relation describes the data significantly better. This analysis, if supported with more data, could imply not only the spin dependence of the FP relation, but also the Blandford-Znajek process in AGN jets.

In the presence of an external magnetic field, the axion and the photon mix. In particular, the dispersion relation of a longitudinal plasmon always crosses the dispersion relation of the axion (for small axion masses), thus leading to a resonant conversion. Using thermal field theory, we concisely derive the axion emission rate, applying it to astrophysical and laboratory scenarios. For the Sun, depending on the magnetic field profile, plasmon-axion conversion can dominate over Primakoff production at low energies (≲200 eV ). This both provides a new axion source for future helioscopes and, in the event of discovery, would probe the magnetic field structure of the Sun. In the case of white dwarfs (WDs), plasmon-axion conversion provides a pure photon coupling probe of the axion, which may contribute significantly for low-mass WDs. Finally, we rederive and confirm the axion absorption rate of the recently proposed plasma haloscopes.

We study the bottomonium spectrum using a relativistic potential model in the momentum space. This model is based on a complete one gluon exchange interaction with a momentum dependent screening factor to account for the effects due to virtual pair creation that appear close to the decay thresholds. The overall model does not make use of nonrelativistic approximations. We fit well established bottomonium states below the open bottom threshold and predict the rest of the spectrum up to ≈11200 MeV and J^PC=3^-- . Uncertainties are treated rigorously and propagated in full to the parameters of the model using a Monte Carlo to identify if which deviations from experimental data can be absorbed into the statistical uncertainties of the models and which can be related to physics beyond the b b ¯ picture, guiding future research. We get a good description of the spectrum, in particular the Belle measurement of the η_b(2 S ) state and the Υ (10860 ) and χ_b(3 P ) resonances.

In this paper we examine the viability of inflation models with a spectator axion field coupled to both gravitational and SU(2) gauge fields via Chern-Simons couplings. Requiring phenomenological success of the axion-SU(2) sector constrains the coupling strength of the gravitational Chern-Simons term. We find that the impact of this term on the production and propagation of gravitational waves can be as large as fifty percent enhancement for the helicity that is not sourced by the gauge field, if the cut-off scale is as low as Λ = 20H. The effect becomes smaller for a larger value of Λ, while the impact on the helicity sourced by the gauge field is negligible regardless of Λ.

We revisit techniques for performing cosmological simulations with both baryons and cold dark matter when each fluid has different initial conditions, as is the case at the end of the radiation era. Most simulations do not reproduce the linear prediction for the difference between the cold dark matter and baryon perturbations. We show that this is due to the common use of offset regular grids when setting up the particle initial conditions. The desired linear evolution can be obtained without any loss of simulation resolution by using a Lagrangian glass for the baryon particles. We further show that the difference between cold dark matter and baryons may affect predictions for the Lyman-α forest flux power spectrum at the 5% level, potentially impacting current cosmological constraints.

We use functional methods to compute one-loop effects in Heavy Quark Effective Theory. The covariant derivative expansion technique facilitates the efficient extraction of matching coefficients and renormalization group evolution equations. This paper pro- vides the first demonstration that such calculations can be performed through the algebraic evaluation of the path integral for the class of effective field theories that are (i) constructed using a non-trivial one-to-many mode decomposition of the UV theory, and (ii) valid for non-relativistic kinematics. We discuss the interplay between operators that appear at intermediate steps and the constraints imposed by the residual Lorentz symmetry that is encoded as reparameterization invariance within the effective description. The tools presented here provide a systematic approach for computing corrections to higher order in the heavy mass expansion; precision applications include predictions for experimental data and connections to theoretical tests via lattice QCD. A set of pedagogical appendices comprehensively reviews modern approaches to performing functional calculations algebraically, and derives contributions from a term with open covariant derivatives for the first time.

Upcoming surveys will use a variety of galaxy selections to map the large-scale structure of the Universe. It is important to make accurate predictions for the properties and clustering of such galaxies, including the errors on these statistics. Here, we describe a novel technique which uses the semi-analytical model of galaxy formation galform, embedded in the high-resolution N-body Planck-Millennium simulation, to populate a thousand halo catalogues generated using the Parallel-PM N-body glam code. Our hybrid scheme allows us to make clustering predictions on scales that cannot be modelled in the original N-body simulation. We focus on luminous red galaxies (LRGs) selected in the redshift range z = 0.6 − 1 from the galform output using similar colour-magnitude cuts in the r, z, and W1 bands to those that will be applied in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey, and call this illustrative sample ‘DESI-like’ LRGs. We find that the LRG-halo connection is non-trivial, leading to the prediction of a non-standard halo occupation distribution; in particular, the occupation of central galaxies does not reach unity for the most massive haloes, and drops with increasing mass. The glam catalogues reproduce the abundance and clustering of the LRGs predicted by galform. We use the glam mocks to compute the covariance matrices for the two-point correlation function and power spectrum of the LRGs and their background dark matter density field, revealing important differences. We also make predictions for the linear-growth rate and the baryon acoustic oscillations distances at z = 0.6, 0.74, and 0.93. All ‘DESI-like’ LRG catalogues are made publicly available.

It has been argued that the symmetries of gravity at null infinity should include a Diff (S²) factor associated with diffeomorphisms on the celestial sphere. However, the standard phase space of gravity does not support the action of such transformations. Building on earlier work by Laddha and one of the authors, we present an extension of the phase space of gravity at null infinity on which Diff (S²) acts canonically. The Poisson brackets of supertranslation and Diff (S²) charges reproduce the generalized BMS algebra introduced in [Campiglia and Laddha Phys. Rev. D 90, 124028 (2014), 10.1103/PhysRevD.90.124028].

The relation between early type galaxy size, surface brightness and velocity dispersion, ``the fundamental plane", has long been understood as resulting from equilibrium in their largely pressure supported stellar dynamics. The dissipation and feedback involved in reaching such an equilibrium through merger formation of these galaxies over cosmic time can be responsible for the orientation of the plane. We see a correlation between surface brightness enhancement and youth in the 6dF Galaxy Survey. Correlations of this `tilt' with stellar mass, age, concentration, shape and metallicity now point the direction for further work on the resolved kinematics and structure of these nearby galaxies and on their initial mass function and dark matter component. On the face of it, the Tully Fisher relation is a simpler one dimensional scaling relation. However, as late type galaxies have bulges as well as disks, and, as the surface density of disks is only standard for the more massive galaxies, additional parameters are involved.

We study the K ¯ p →Y K K ¯ π reactions with K ¯ =K^{¯ 0},K^- and Y =Σ⁰,Σ⁺,Λ , in the region of K K ¯ π invariant masses of 1200 -1550 MeV. The strong coupling of the f₁(1285 ) resonance to K^∗K ¯ makes the mechanism based on K^∗ exchange very efficient to produce this resonance observed in the K K ¯ π invariant mass distribution. In addition, in all these reactions one observes an associated peak at 1420 MeV which comes from the K^∗K ¯ decay mode of the f₁(1285 ) when the K^∗ is placed on shell at higher invariant masses. We call the attention to the possibility that the peaks observed in other reactions where the "f₁(1420 ) " is observed have a similar origin.

The abundance of galaxy clusters as a function of mass and redshift is a well known powerful cosmological probe, which relies on underlying modelling assumptions on the mass-observable relations (MOR). Some of the MOR parameters can be constrained directly from multi-wavelength observations, as the normalization at some reference cosmology, the mass-slope, the redshift evolution, and the intrinsic scatter. However, the cosmology dependence of MORs cannot be tested with multi-wavelength observations alone. We use magneticum simulations to explore the cosmology dependence of galaxy cluster scaling relations. We run fifteen hydrodynamical cosmological simulations varying Ω_m, Ω_b, h₀, and σ₈ (around a reference cosmological model). The MORs considered are gas mass, baryonic mass, gas temperature, Y and velocity dispersion as a function of virial mass. We verify that the mass and redshift slopes and the intrinsic scatter of the MORs are nearly independent of cosmology with variations significantly smaller than current observational uncertainties. We show that the gas mass and baryonic mass sensitively depends only on the baryon fraction, velocity dispersion, and gas temperature on h₀, and Y on both baryon fraction and h₀. We investigate the cosmological implications of our MOR parametrization on a mock catalogue created for an idealized eROSITA-like experiment. We show that our parametrization introduces a strong degeneracy between the cosmological parameters and the normalization of the MOR. Finally, the parameter constraints derived at different overdensity (Δ_500c), for X-ray bolometric gas luminosity, and for different subgrid physics prescriptions are shown in the appendix.

Several types/classes of shocks naturally arise during formation and evolution of galaxy clusters. One such class is represented by accretion shocks, associated with deceleration of infalling baryons. Such shocks, characterized by a very high Mach number, are present even in 1D models of cluster evolution. Another class is composed of 'runaway merger shocks', which appear when a merger shock, driven by a sufficiently massive infalling subcluster, propagates away from the main-cluster centre. We argue that, when the merger shock overtakes the accretion shock, a new long-living shock is formed that propagates to large distances from the main cluster (well beyond its virial radius), affecting the cold gas around the cluster. We refer to these structures as Merger-accelerated Accretion shocks (MA-shocks) in this paper. We show examples of such MA-shocks in one-dimensioanal (1D) and three-dimensional (3D) simulations and discuss their characteristic properties. In particular, (1) MA-shocks shape the boundary separating the hot intracluster medium (ICM) from the unshocked gas, giving this boundary a 'flower-like' morphology. In 3D, MA-shocks occupy space between the dense accreting filaments. (2) Evolution of MA-shocks highly depends on the Mach number of the runaway merger shock and the mass accretion rate parameter of the cluster. (3) MA-shocks may lead to the misalignment of the ICM boundary and the splashback radius.

We calculate the masses of χ_c(3 P ) states with threshold corrections in a coupled-channel model. The model was recently applied to the description of the properties of χ_c(2 P ) and χ_b(3 P ) multiplets (Ferretti and Santopinto in Phys Lett B 789:550, 2019]. We also compute the open-charm strong decay widths of the χ_c(3 P ) states and their radiative transitions. According to our predictions, the χ_c(3 P ) states should be dominated by the charmonium core, but they may also show small meson-meson components. The X(4274) is interpreted as a c c ¯ χ_{c 1}(3 P ) state. More information on the other members of the χ_c(3 P ) multiplet, as well as a more rigorous analysis of the X(4274)'s decay modes, are needed to provide further indications on the quark structure of the previous resonance.

Vector leptoquarks can address the lepton flavor universality anomalies in decays associated with the b → cℓν and b → sℓℓ transitions, as observed in recent years. While not required to explain the anomalies, these leptoquarks generically yield new sources of CP violation. In this paper, we explore constraints and discovery potential for electric dipole moments (EDMs) in leptonic and hadronic systems. We provide the most generic expressions for dipole moments induced by vector leptoquarks at one loop. We find that O(1) CP-violating phases in tau and muon couplings can lead to corresponding EDMs within reach of next-generation EDM experiments, and that existing bounds on the electron EDM already put stringent constraints on CP-violating electron couplings.

We investigate the build-up of the galactic dynamo and subsequently the origin of a magnetic driven outflow. We use a set-up of an isolated disc galaxy with a realistic circum-galactic medium (CGM). We find good agreement of the galactic dynamo with theoretical and observational predictions from the radial and toroidal components of the magnetic field as function of radius and disc scale height. We find several field reversals indicating dipole structure at early times and quadrupole structure at late times. Together with the magnetic pitch angle and the dynamo control parameters R_α, R_ω, and D, we present strong evidence for an α²-Ω dynamo. The formation of a bar in the centre leads to further amplification of the magnetic field via adiabatic compression which subsequently drives an outflow. Due to the Parker instability the magnetic field lines rise to the edge of the disc, break out, and expand freely in the CGM driven by the magnetic pressure. Finally, we investigate the correlation between magnetic field and star formation rate. Globally, we find that the magnetic field is increasing as function of the star formation rate surface density with a slope between 0.3 and 0.45 in good agreement with predictions from theory and observations. Locally, we find that the magnetic field can decrease while star formation increases. We find that this effect is correlated with the diffusion of magnetic field from the spiral arms to the interarm regions which we explicitly include by solving the induction equation and accounting for non-linear terms.

We estimate the H I mass function (HIMF) of galaxies in groups based on thousands of ALFALFA (Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey) H I detections within the galaxy groups of four widely used SDSS (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) group catalogues. Although differences between the catalogues mean that there is no one definitive group galaxy HIMF, in general we find that the low-mass slope is flat, in agreement with studies based on small samples of individual groups, and that the 'knee' mass is slightly higher than that of the global HIMF of the full ALFALFA sample. We find that the observed fraction of ALFALFA galaxies in groups is approximately 22 per cent. These group galaxies were removed from the full ALFALFA source catalogue to calculate the field HIMF using the remaining galaxies. Comparison between the field and group HIMFs reveals that group galaxies make only a small contribution to the global HIMF as most ALFALFA galaxies are in the field, but beyond the HIMF 'knee' group galaxies dominate. Finally, we attempt to separate the group galaxy HIMF into bins of group halo mass, but find that too few low-mass galaxies are detected in the most massive groups to tightly constrain the slope, owing to the rarity of such groups in the nearby Universe where low-mass galaxies are detectable with existing H I surveys.

We present accurate measurements of the total H I mass in dark matter halos of different masses at z ∼ 0, by stacking the H I spectra of entire groups from the Arecibo Fast Legacy ALFA Survey. The halos are selected from the optical galaxy group catalog constructed from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7 Main Galaxy sample, with reliable measurements of halo mass and halo membership. We find that the H I-halo mass relation is not a simple monotonic function, as assumed in several theoretical models. In addition to the dependence of halo mass, the total H I gas mass shows a strong dependence on the halo richness, with larger H I masses in groups with more members at fixed halo masses. Moreover, halos with at least three member galaxies in the group catalog have a sharp decrease of the H I mass, potentially caused by the virial halo shock-heating and the active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback. The dominant contribution of the H I gas comes from the central galaxies for halos of ${M}_{{\rm{h}}}\lt {10}^{12.5}{h}^{-1}{M}_{\odot }$ , while the satellite galaxies dominate over more massive halos. Our measurements are consistent with a three-phase formation scenario of the H I-rich galaxies. The smooth cold gas accretion is driving the H I mass growth in halos of ${M}_{{\rm{h}}}\lt {10}^{11.8}{h}^{-1}{M}_{\odot }$ , with late-forming halos having more H I accreted. The virial halo shock-heating and AGN feedback will take effect to reduce the H I supply in halos of ${10}^{11.8}{h}^{-1}{M}_{\odot }\lt {M}_{{\rm{h}}}\lt {10}^{13}{h}^{-1}{M}_{\odot }$ . The H I mass in halos more massive than ${10}^{13}{h}^{-1}{M}_{\odot }$ generally grows by mergers, with the dependence on halo richness becoming much weaker.

Star-forming galaxies with strong nebular and collisional emission lines are privileged target galaxies in forthcoming cosmological large galaxy redshift surveys. We use the COSMOS2015 photometric catalogue to model galaxy spectral energy distributions and emission-line fluxes. We adopt an empirical but physically motivated model that uses information from the best-fitting spectral energy distribution of stellar continuum to each galaxy. The emission-line flux model is calibrated and validated against direct flux measurements in subsets of galaxies that have 3D-HST or zCOSMOS-Bright spectra. We take a particular care in modelling dust attenuation such that our model can explain both Hα and [O II] observed fluxes at different redshifts. We find that a simple solution to this is to introduce a redshift evolution in the dust attenuation fraction parameter, f = E_star(B - V)/E_gas(B - V), as f(z) = 0.44 + 0.2z. From this catalogue, we derive the Hα and [O II] luminosity functions up to redshifts of about 2.5 after carefully accounting for emission line flux and redshift errors. This allows us to make predictions for Hα and [O II] galaxy number counts in next-generation cosmological redshift surveys. Our modelled emission lines and spectra in the COSMOS2015 catalogue shall be useful to study the target selection for planned next-generation galaxy redshift surveys and we make them publicly available as 'EL-COSMOS' on the ASPIC data base.

We present the conformal freeze-in (COFI) scenario for dark matter production. At high energies, the dark sector is described by a gauge theory flowing toward a Banks-Zaks fixed point, coupled to the Standard Model via a nonrenormalizable portal interaction. In the early Universe, a nonthermal freeze-in process transfers energy from the standard model plasma to the dark sector. During the freeze-in, the dark sector is described by a strongly coupled conformal field theory. As the Universe cools, cosmological phase transitions in the Standard Model sector, either electroweak or QCD, induce conformal symmetry breaking and confinement in the dark sector. One of the resulting dark bound states is stable on the cosmological time scales and plays the role of dark matter. With the Higgs portal, the COFI scenario provides a viable dark matter candidate with mass in a phenomenologically interesting sub-MeV range. With the quark portal, a dark matter candidate with mass around 1 keV is consistent with observations. Conformal bootstrap may put a nontrivial constraint on model building in this case.

We present the analytic form of the two-loop four-graviton scattering amplitudes in Einstein gravity. To remove ultraviolet divergences we include counterterms quadratic and cubic in the Riemann curvature tensor. The two-loop numerical unitarity approach is used to deal with the challenging momentum dependence of the interactions. We exploit the algebraic properties of the integrand of the amplitude in order to reduce it to a minimal basis of Feynman integrals. Analytic expressions are obtained from numerical evaluations of the amplitude. Finally, we show that four-graviton scattering observables depend on fewer couplings than naïvely expected.

In this Letter, we investigate the effects of single derivative mixing in massive bosonic fields. In the regime of large mixing, we show that this leads to striking changes of the field dynamics, delaying the onset of classical oscillations and decreasing, or even eliminating, the friction due to Hubble expansion. We highlight this phenomenon with a few examples. In the first example, we show how an axionlike particle can have its number abundance parametrically enhanced. In the second example, we demonstrate that the QCD axion can have its number abundance enhanced allowing for misalignment driven axion dark matter all the way down to f_a of order astrophysical bounds. In the third example, we show that the delayed oscillation of the scalar field can also sustain a period of inflation. In the last example, we present a situation where an oscillating scalar field is completely frictionless and does not dilute away in time.

We review the bootstrap method for constructing six- and seven-particle amplitudes in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory, by exploiting their analytic structure. We focus on two recently discovered properties which greatly simplify this construction at symbol and function level, respectively: the extended Steinmann relations, or equivalently cluster adjacency, and the coaction principle. We then demonstrate their power in determining the six-particle amplitude through six and seven loops in the NMHV and MHV sectors respectively, as well as the symbol of the NMHV seven-particle amplitude to four loops.

We present cosmological parameter measurements from the publicly available Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) data on anisotropic galaxy clustering in Fourier space. Compared to previous studies, our analysis has two main novel features. First, we use a complete perturbation theory model that properly takes into account the non-linear effects of dark matter clustering, short-scale physics, galaxy bias, redshift-space distortions, and large-scale bulk flows. Second, we employ a Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo technique and consistently reevaluate the full power spectrum likelihood as we scan over different cosmologies. Our baseline analysis assumes minimal ΛCDM, varies the neutrino masses within a reasonably tight range, fixes the primordial power spectrum tilt, and uses the big bang nucleosynthesis prior on the physical baryon density ω_b. In this setup, we find the following late-Universe parameters: Hubble constant H₀=(67.9± 1.1) km s^-1Mpc^-1, matter density fraction Ω_m=0.295± 0.010, and the mass fluctuation amplitude σ₈=0.721± 0.043. These parameters were measured directly from the BOSS data and independently of the Planck cosmic microwave background observations. Scanning over the power spectrum tilt or relaxing the other priors do not significantly alter our main conclusions. Finally, we discuss the information content of the BOSS power spectrum and show that it is dominated by the location of the baryon acoustic oscillations and the power spectrum shape. We argue that the contribution of the Alcock-Paczynski effect is marginal in ΛCDM, but becomes important for non-minimal cosmological models.

Comparison of theoretical line profiles to observations provides important tests for supernova explosion models. We study the shapes of radioactive decay lines predicted by current 3D core-collapse explosion simulations, and compare these to observations of SN 1987A and Cas A. Both the widths and shifts of decay lines vary by several thousand kilometres per second depending on viewing angle. The line profiles can be complex with multiple peaks. By combining observational constraints from ⁵⁶Co decay lines, ⁴⁴Ti decay lines, and Fe IR lines, we delineate a picture of the morphology of the explosive burning ashes in SN 1987A. For M_ZAMS = 15-20 M_⊙ progenitors exploding with ∼1.5 × 10⁵¹ erg, ejecta structures suitable to reproduce the observations involve a bulk asymmetry of the ⁵⁶Ni of at least ∼400 km s^-1 and a bulk velocity of at least 1500 km s^-1. By adding constraints to reproduce the UVOIR bolometric light curve of SN 1987A up to 600 d, an ejecta mass around 14 M_⊙ is favoured. We also investigate whether observed decay lines can constrain the neutron star (NS) kick velocity. The model grid provides a constraint V_NS > V_redshift, and applying this to SN 1987A gives a NS kick of at least 500 km s^-1. For Cas A, our single model provides a satisfactory fit to the NuSTAR observations and reinforces the result that current neutrino-driven core-collapse SN models achieve enough bulk asymmetry in the explosive burning material. Finally, we investigate the internal gamma-ray field and energy deposition, and compare the 3D models to 1D approximations.

We present stellar metallicity measurements of more than 600 late-type stars in the central 10 pc of the Galactic centre. Together with our previously published KMOS data, this data set allows us to investigate, for the first time, spatial variations of the nuclear star cluster's metallicity distribution. Using the integral-field spectrograph KMOS (VLT) we observed almost half of the area enclosed by the nuclear star cluster's effective radius. We extract spectra at medium spectral resolution, and apply full spectral fitting utilising the PHOENIX library of synthetic stellar spectra. The stellar metallicities range from [M/H]=-1.25 dex to [M/H]> +0.3 dex, with most of the stars having super-solar metallicity. We are able to measure an anisotropy of the stellar metallicity distribution. In the Galactic North, the portion of sub-solar metallicity stars with [M/H]<0.0 dex is more than twice as high as in the Galactic South. One possible explanation for different fractions of sub-solar metallicity stars in different parts of the cluster is a recent merger event. We propose to test this hypothesis with high-resolution spectroscopy, and by combining the metallicity information with kinematic data.

Ultralight bosonic fields are compelling dark-matter candidates and arise in a variety of beyond standard model scenarios. These fields can tap energy and angular momentum from spinning black holes through superradiant instabilities, during which a macroscopic bosonic condensate develops around the black hole. Striking features of this phenomenon include gaps in the spin-mass distribution of astrophysical black holes and a continuous gravitational-wave (GW) signal emitted by the condensate. So far these processes have been studied in great detail for scalar fields and, more recently, for vector fields. Here we take an important step forward in the black hole superradiance program by computing, analytically, the instability timescale, direct GW emission, and stochastic background, in the case of massive tensor (i.e., spin-2) fields. Our analysis is valid for any black hole spin and for small boson masses. The instability of massive spin-2 fields shares some properties with the scalar and vector cases, but its phenomenology is much richer, for example, there exist multiple modes with comparable instability timescales, and the dominant GW signal is hexadecapolar rather than quadrupolar. Electromagnetic and GW observations of spinning black holes in the mass range M ∈(1 ,10¹⁰) M_⊙ can constrain the mass of a putative spin-2 field in the range 10^-22≲m_b c²/eV ≲10^-10 . For 10^-17≲m_b c²/eV ≲10^-15 , the space mission LISA could detect the continuous GW signal for sources at redshift z =20 , or even larger.

The chemical composition of planets is determined by the distribution of the various molecular species in the protoplanetary disk at the time of their formation. To date, only a handful of disks have been imaged in multiple spectral lines with high spatial resolution. As part of a small campaign devoted to the chemical characterization of disk-outflow sources in Taurus, we report on new ALMA Band 6 (~1.3 mm) observations with ~0.15'' (20 au) resolution toward the embedded young star DG Tau B. Images of the continuum emission reveals a dust disk with rings and, putatively, a leading spiral arm. The disk, as well as the prominent outflow cavities, are detected in CO, H₂CO, CS, and CN; instead, they remain undetected in SO₂, HDO, and CH₃OH. From the absorption of the back-side outflow, we inferred that the disk emission is optically thick in the inner 50 au. This morphology explains why no line emission is detected from this inner region and poses some limitations toward the calculation of the dust mass and the characterization of the inner gaseous disk. The H₂CO and CS emission from the inner 200 au is mostly from the disk, and their morphology is very similar. The CN emission significantly differs from the other two molecules as it is observed only beyond 150 au. This ring-like morphology is consistent with previous observations and the predictions of thermochemical disk models. Finally, we constrained the disk-integrated column density of all molecules. In particular, we found that the CH₃OH/H₂CO ratio must be smaller than ~2, making the methanol non-detection still consistent with the only such ratio available from the literature (1.27 in TW Hya).

The reduced datacubes are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/636/A65

Following the recent analysis done in collaboration with Jason Aebischer and Christoph Bobeth, I summarize the optimal, in our view, strategy for the present evaluation of the ratio ɛ ^‧/ɛ in the Standard Model. In particular, I emphasize the importance of the correct matching of the long-distance and short-distance contributions to ɛ ^‧/ɛ, which presently is only achieved by RBC-UKQCD lattice QCD collaboration and by the analytical Dual QCD approach. An important role play also the isospin-breaking and QED effects, which presently are best known from chiral perturbation theory, albeit still with a significant error. Finally, it is essential to include NNLO QCD corrections in order to reduce unphysical renormalization scheme and scale dependences present at the NLO level. Here µ _c in m _c (µ _c ) in the case of QCD penguin contributions and µ _t in m _t (µ _t ) in the case of electroweak penguin contributions play the most important roles. Presently the error on ɛ ^‧/ɛ is dominated by the uncertainties in the QCDP parameter B_6^(1/2) and the isospin-breaking parameter \hat Ω _{{eff}}. We present a table illustrating this.

We investigate the stellar kinematics of a sample of galaxies extracted from the hydrodynamic cosmological Magneticum Pathfinder simulations out to five half-mass radii. We construct differential radial stellar spin profiles quantified by the observationally widely used λ and the closely related (V/σ) parameters. We find three characteristic profile shapes: profiles exhibiting a (I) peak within 2.5 half-mass radii and a subsequent decrease; (II) continuous increase that plateaus at larger radii typically with a high amplitude; (III) completely flat behaviour typically with low amplitude, in agreement with observations. This shows that the kinematic state of the stellar component can vary significantly with radius, suggesting a distinct interplay between in-situ star formation and ex-situ accretion of stars. Following the evolution of our sample through time, we provide evidence that the accretion history of galaxies with decreasing profiles is dominated by the anisotropic accretion of low-mass satellites that get disrupted beyond ∼2.0 half-mass radii, building up a stellar halo with non-ordered motion while maintaining the central rotation already present at z = 2. In fact, at z = 2 decreasing profiles are the predominant profile class. Hence, we can predict a distinct formation pathway for galaxies with a decreasing profile and show that the centre resembles an old embedded disc. Furthermore, we show that the radius of the kinematic transition provides a good estimation for the transition radius from in-situ stars in the centre to accreted stars in the halo.

If dark matter was produced in the early Universe by the decoupling of its annihilations into known particles, there is a sharp experimental target for the size of its coupling. We show that if dark matter was produced by inelastic scattering against a lighter particle from the thermal bath, then its coupling can be exponentially smaller than the coupling required for its production from annihilations. As an application, we demonstrate that dark matter produced by inelastic scattering against electrons provides new thermal relic targets for direct detection and fixed target experiments.

The baryon acoustic oscillations feature (BAO) imprinted in the clustering correlation function is known to furnish us cosmic distance determinations that are independent of the cosmological-background model and the primordial perturbation parameters. These measurements can be accomplished rigorously by means of the purely geometric BAO methods. To date two different purely geometric BAO approaches have been proposed. The first exploits the linear-point standard ruler. The second, called correlation-function model-fitting, exploits the sound-horizon standard ruler. A key difference between them is that, when estimated from clustering data, the linear point makes use of a cosmological-model-independent procedure to extract the ratio of the ruler to the cosmic distance, while the correlation-function model-fitting relies on a phenomenological cosmological model for the correlation function. Nevertheless the two rulers need to be precisely defined independently of any specific observable (e.g., the BAO). We define the linear point and sound horizon and we fully characterize and compare the two rulers' cosmological-parameter dependence. We find that they are both geometrical (i.e., independent of the primordial cosmological parameters) within the required accuracy, and that they have the same parameter dependence for a wide range of parameter values. We estimate the rulers' best-fit values and errors, given the cosmological constraints obtained by the Planck Satellite team from their measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization anisotropies. We do this for three different cosmological models encompassed by the purely geometric BAO methods. In each case we find that the relative errors of the two rulers coincide and they are insensitive to the assumed cosmological model. Interestingly both the linear point and the sound horizon shift by 0.5 σ when we do not fix the spatial geometry to be flat in Λ CDM . This points toward a sensitivity of the rulers to different cosmological models when they are estimated from the cosmic microwave background.

The quality of the recent GlueX J /ψ photoproduction data from Hall D at Jefferson Laboratory and the proximity of the data to the energy threshold, gives access to a variety of interesting physics aspects. As an example, an estimation of the J /ψ -nucleon scattering length α_{J /ψ p} is provided within the vector meson dominance model. It results in | α_{J /ψ p}|=(3.08 ±0.55 (stat . ) ±0.42 (syst . ) ) mfm which is much smaller than a typical size of a hadron.

Building on Weinberg's approach to effective field theory for inflation, we construct an effective Lagrangian for a pseudo scalar (axion) inflaton field with shift symmetry. In this Lagrangian we allow the axion field to couple to non-Abelian gauge fields via a Chern-Simons term. We then analyze a class of inflation models driven by kinetic terms. We find that the observational constraints on the amplitudes of curvature perturbations and non-Gaussianity yield a lower bound for the tensor-to-scalar ratio of $r\gtrsim 5\times 10^{-3}$ from the vacuum fluctuation. The sourced gravitational wave from SU(2) gauge fields further increases the tensor-to-scalar ratio and makes the total gravitational wave partially chiral and non-Gaussian, which can be probed by polarization of the cosmic microwave background and direct detection experiments. We discuss constraints on parameter space due to backreaction of spin-2 particles produced by the gauge field.

We have studied the small-scale distribution of atomic hydrogen (H I) using 21 cm absorption spectra against multiple-component background radio continuum sources from the 21-SPONGE survey and the Millennium Arecibo Absorption-Line Survey. We have found >5σ optical depth variations at a level of ∼0.03-0.5 between 13 out of 14 adjacent sightlines separated by a few arcseconds to a few arcminutes, suggesting the presence of neutral structures on spatial scales from a few to thousands of au (which we refer to as tiny-scale atomic structure, TSAS). The optical depth variations are strongest in directions where the H I column density and the fraction of H I in the cold neutral medium (CNM) are highest, which tend to be at low Galactic latitudes. By measuring changes in the properties of Gaussian components fitted to the absorption spectra, we find that changes in both the peak optical depth and the linewidth of TSAS absorption features contribute to the observed optical depth variations, while changes in the central velocity do not appear to strongly impact the observed variations. Both thermal and turbulent motions contribute appreciably to the linewidths, but the turbulence does not appear strong enough to confine overpressured TSAS. In a majority of cases, the TSAS column densities are sufficiently high that these structures can radiatively cool fast enough to maintain thermal equilibrium with their surroundings, even if they are overpressured. We also find that a majority of TSAS is associated with the CNM. For TSAS in the direction of the Taurus molecular cloud and the local Leo cold cloud, we estimate densities over an order of magnitude higher than typical CNM densities.

We examine the contribution of small instantons to the axion mass in various UV completions of QCD. We show that the reason behind the potential dominance of such contributions is the non-trivial embedding of QCD into the UV theory. The effects from instantons in the partially broken gauge group appear as "fractional instanton" corrections in the effective theory. These will exhibit unusual dependences on the various scales in the problem whenever the index of embedding is non-trivial. We present a full one-instanton calculation of the axion mass in the simplest product group models, carefully keeping track of numerical prefactors. Rather than using a 't Hooft operator approximation we directly evaluate the contributions to the vacuum bubble, automatically capturing the effects of closing up external fermion lines with Higgs loops. This approach is manifestly finite and removes the uncertainty associated with introducing a cutoff scale for the Higgs loops. We verify that the small instantons may dominate over the QCD contribution for very high breaking scales and at least three group factors.

Polarizations of primordial gravitational waves can be relevant when considering inflationary universe in modified gravity or when matter fields survive during inflation. Such polarizations have been discussed in the Bunch-Davies vacuum. Instead of taking into account dynamical generation of polarizations of gravitational waves, in this paper, we consider polarized initial states constructed from $SU(2)$ coherent states. We then evaluate the power spectrums of the primordial gravitational waves in the states.

We perform an updated fit to LHC Higgs data and LEP electroweak precision tests in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). We assume a generic structure of the SMEFT operators without imposing any flavour symmetries. The implementation is released as part of the public global SMEFT likelihood. This allows one to fit parameters of a broad class of new physics models to combined Higgs, electroweak, quark flavour, and lepton flavour observables.

In [1], two of the present authors along with P. Raman attempted to extend the Amplituhedron program for scalar field theories [2] to quartic scalar interactions. In this paper we develop various aspects of this proposal. Using recent seminal results in Representation theory [3, 4], we show that projectivity of scattering forms and existence of kinematic space associahedron completely capture planar amplitudes of quartic interaction. We generalise the results of [1] and show that for any n-particle amplitude, the positive geometry associated to the projective scattering form is a convex realisation of Stokes polytope which can be naturally embedded inside one of the ABHY associahedra defined in [2, 5]. For a special class of Stokes polytopes with hyper-cubic topology, we show that they have a canonical convex realisation in kinematic space as boundaries of kinematic space associahedra. We then use these kinematic space geometric constructions to write world-sheet forms for

It is a common belief that the last missing piece of the Standard Model of particles physics was found with the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider. However, there remains a major prediction of quantum tunnelling processes mediated by instanton solutions in the Yang-Mills theory, that is still untested in the Standard Model. The direct experimental observation of instanton-induced processes, which are a consequence of the non-trivial vacuum structure of the Standard Model and of quantum tunnelling in QFT, would be a major breakthrough in modern particle physics. In this paper, we present for the first time a full calculation of QCD instanton-induced processes in proton-proton collisions accounting for quantum corrections due to both initial and final state gluon interactions, a first implementation in an MC event generator as well as a basic strategy how to observe these effects experimentally.

We consider which is the maximum information measurable from the decay distributions of polarised baryon decays via amplitude analysis in the helicity formalism. We focus in particular on the analytical study of the $\Lambda^+_c \to pK^-\pi^+$ decay distributions, demonstrating that the full information on its decay amplitudes can be extracted from its distributions, allowing a simultaneous measurement of both helicity amplitudes and the polarisation vector. This opens the possibility to use the $\Lambda^+_c \to pK^-\pi^+$ decay for applications ranging from New Physics searches to low-energy QCD studies, in particular its use as absolute polarimeter for the $\Lambda^+_c$ baryon. This result is valid as well for baryon decays having the same spin structure and it is cross-checked numerically by means of a toy amplitude fit with Monte Carlo pseudo-data.