We present an all-loop dispersion integral, well-defined to arbitrary logarithmic accuracy, describing the multi-Regge limit of the 2 → 5 amplitude in planar N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. It follows from factorization, dual conformal symmetry and consistency with soft limits, and specifically holds in the region where the energies of all produced particles have been analytically continued. After promoting the known symbol of the 2-loop N -particle MHV amplitude in this region to a function, we specialize to N = 7, and extract from it the next-to-leading order (NLO) correction to the BFKL central emission vertex, namely the building block of the dispersion integral that had not yet appeared in the well-studied six-gluon case. As an application of our results, we explicitly compute the seven-gluon amplitude at next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy through 5 loops for the MHV case, and through 3 and 4 loops for the two independent NMHV helicity configurations, respectively.

Using data from the GALAH pilot survey, we determine properties of the Galactic thin and thick discs near the solar neighbourhood. The data cover a small range of Galactocentric radius (7.9 ≲ R_GC ≲ 9.5 kpc), but extend up to 4 kpc in height from the Galactic plane, and several kpc in the direction of Galactic anti-rotation (at longitude 260° ≤ ℓ ≤ 280°). This allows us to reliably measure the vertical density and abundance profiles of the chemically and kinematically defined `thick' and `thin' discs of the Galaxy. The thin disc (low-α population) exhibits a steep negative vertical metallicity gradient, at d[M/H]/dz = -0.18 ± 0.01 dex kpc^-1, which is broadly consistent with previous studies. In contrast, its vertical α-abundance profile is almost flat, with a gradient of d[α/M]/dz = 0.008 ± 0.002 dex kpc^-1. The steep vertical metallicity gradient of the low-α population is in agreement with models where radial migration has a major role in the evolution of the thin disc. The thick disc (high-α population) has a weaker vertical metallicity gradient d[M/H]/dz = -0.058 ± 0.003 dex kpc^-1. The α-abundance of the thick disc is nearly constant with height, d[α/M]/dz = 0.007 ± 0.002 dex kpc^-1. The negative gradient in metallicity and the small gradient in [α/M] indicate that the high-α population experienced a settling phase, but also formed prior to the onset of major Type Ia supernova enrichment. We explore the implications of the distinct α-enrichments and narrow [α/M] range of the sub-populations in the context of thick disc formation.

The discovery of dark matter (DM) at XENONnT or LZ would place constraints on DM particle mass and coupling constants. It is interesting to ask when these constraints can be compatible with the DM thermal production mechanism. We address this question within the most general set of renormalizable models that preserve Lorentz and gauge symmetry, and that extend the standard model by one DM candidate of mass m_DM and one particle of mass M_med mediating DM-quark interactions. Our analysis divides into two parts. First, we postulate that XENONnT/LZ has detected μ_S∼O (100 ) signal events, and use this input to calculate the DM relic density, Ω_DMh². Then, we identify the regions in the M_med-Ω_DMh² plane which are compatible with the observed signal and with current CMB data. We find that for most of the models considered here, O (100 ) signal events at XENONnT/LZ and the DM thermal production are only compatible for resonant DM annihilations, i.e. for M_med≃2 m_DM. In this case, XENONnT/LZ would be able to simultaneously measure m_DM and M_med. We also discuss the dependence of our results on m_DM, μ_S and the DM spin, and provide analytic expressions for annihilation cross sections and mediator decay widths for all models considered in this study.

We present a measurement of the volumetric rate of “calcium-rich” optical transients in the local universe, using a sample of three events from the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). This measurement builds on a detailed study of the PTF transient detection efficiencies and uses a Monte Carlo simulation of the PTF survey. We measure the volumetric rate of calcium-rich transients to be higher than previous estimates: {1.21}_-0.39^+1.13 × {10}^-5 events yr^-1 Mpc^-3. This is equivalent to 33%-94% of the local volumetric Type Ia supernova rate. This calcium-rich transient rate is sufficient to reproduce the observed calcium abundances in galaxy clusters, assuming an asymptotic calcium yield per calcium-rich event of ∼0.05 {M}_⊙ . We also study the PTF detection efficiency of these transients as a function of position within their candidate host galaxies. We confirm as a real physical effect previous results that suggest that calcium-rich transients prefer large physical offsets from their host galaxies.

Magnetar power is believed to be at the origin of numerous super-luminous supernovae (SNe) of Type Ic, arising from compact, hydrogen-deficient, Wolf-Rayet type stars. Here, we investigate the properties that magnetar power would have on standard-energy SNe associated with 15-20 M_⊙ supergiant stars, either red (RSG; extended) or blue (BSG; more compact). We have used a combination of Eulerian gray radiation-hydrodynamics and non-LTE steady-state radiative transfer to study their dynamical, photometric, and spectroscopic properties. Adopting magnetar fields of 1, 3.5, 7 × 10¹⁴ G and rotational energies of 0.4, 1, and 3 × 10⁵¹ erg, we produce bolometric light curves with a broad maximum covering 50-150 d and a magnitude of 10⁴³-10⁴⁴ erg s^-1. The spectra at maximum light are analogous to those of standard SNe II-P but bluer. Although the magnetar energy is channelled in equal proportion between SN kinetic energy and SN luminosity, the latter may be boosted by a factor of 10-100 compared to a standard SN II. This influence breaks the observed relation between brightness and ejecta expansion rate of standard Type II SNe. Magnetar energy injection also delays recombination and may even cause re-ionization, with a reversal in photospheric temperature and velocity. Depositing the magnetar energy in a narrow mass shell at the ejecta base leads to the formation of a dense shell at a few 1000 km s^-1, which causes a light-curve bump at the end of the photospheric phase. Depositing this energy over a broad range of mass in the inner ejecta, to mimic the effect of multi-dimensional fluid instabilities, prevents the formation of a dense shell and produces an earlier-rising and smoother light curve. The magnetar influence on the SN radiation is generally not visible prior to 20-30 d, during which one may discern a BSG from a RSG progenitor. We propose a magnetar model for the super-luminous Type II SN OGLE-SN14-073.

Transverse and longitudinal electroweak gauge boson parton distribution functions (PDFs) are computed in terms of deep-inelastic scattering structure functions, following the recently developed method to determine the photon PDF. The calculation provides initial conditions at the electroweak scale for PDF evolution to higher energies. Numerical results for the W ^± and Z transverse, longitudinal and polarized PDFs, as well as the γ Z transverse and polarized PDFs are presented.

The epoch of reionization (EoR) 21-cm signal is expected to be highly non-Gaussian in nature and this non-Gaussianity is also expected to evolve with the progressing state of reionization. Therefore the signal will be correlated between different Fourier modes (k). The power spectrum will not be able capture this correlation in the signal. We use a higher order estimator - the bispectrum - to quantify this evolving non-Gaussianity. We study the bispectrum using an ensemble of simulated 21-cm signal and with a large variety of k triangles. We observe two competing sources driving the non-Gaussianity in the signal: fluctuations in the neutral fraction (x_{H I}) field and fluctuations in the matter density field. We find that the non-Gaussian contribution from these two sources varies, depending on the stage of reionization and on which k modes are being studied. We show that the sign of the bispectrum works as a unique marker to identify which among these two components is driving the non-Gaussianity. We propose that the sign change in the bispectrum, when plotted as a function of triangle configuration cos θ and at a certain stage of the EoR can be used as a confirmative test for the detection of the 21-cm signal. We also propose a new consolidated way to visualize the signal evolution (with evolving \bar{x}_{H I} or redshift), through the trajectories of the signal in a power spectrum and equilateral bispectrum i.e. P(k) - B(k, k, k) space.

Recently we conjectured the four-point amplitude of graviton multiplets in AdS₅ × S⁵ at one loop by exploiting the operator product expansion of N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory. Here we give the first extension of those results to include Kaluza-Klein modes, obtaining the amplitude for two graviton multiplets and two states of the first KK mode. Our method again relies on resolving the large N degeneracy among a family of long double-trace operators, for which we obtain explicit formulas for the leading anomalous dimensions. Having constructed the one-loop amplitude we are able to obtain a formula for the one-loop corrections to the anomalous dimensions of all twist five double-trace operators.

In Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 (2016) 062001, the space of planar pentagon functions that describes all two-loop on-shell five-particle scattering amplitudes was introduced. In the present paper we present a natural extension of this space to non-planar pentagon functions. This provides the basis for our pentagon bootstrap program. We classify the relevant functions up to weight four, which is relevant for two-loop scattering amplitudes. We constrain the first entry of the symbol of the functions using information on branch cuts. Drawing on an analogy from the planar case, we introduce a conjectural second-entry condition on the symbol. We then show that the information on the function space, when complemented with some additional insights, can be used to efficiently bootstrap individual Feynman integrals. The extra information is read off of Mellin-Barnes representations of the integrals, either by evaluating simple asymptotic limits, or by taking discontinuities in the kinematic variables. We use this method to evaluate the symbols of two non-trivial non-planar five-particle integrals, up to and including the finite part.

We introduce a class of iterated integrals, defined through a set of linearly independent integration kernels on elliptic curves. As a direct generalisation of multiple polylogarithms, we construct our set of integration kernels ensuring that they have at most simple poles, implying that the iterated integrals have at most logarithmic singularities. We study the properties of our iterated integrals and their relationship to the multiple elliptic polylogarithms from the mathematics literature. On the one hand, we find that our iterated integrals span essentially the same space of functions as the multiple elliptic polylogarithms. On the other, our formulation allows for a more direct use to solve a large variety of problems in high-energy physics. We demonstrate the use of our functions in the evaluation of the Laurent expansion of some hypergeometric functions for values of the indices close to half integers.

A number of recent applications of jet substructure, in particular searches for light new particles, require substructure observables that are decorrelated with the jet mass. In this paper we introduce the Convolved SubStructure (CSS) approach, which uses a theoretical understanding of the observable to decorrelate the complete shape of its distribution. This decorrelation is performed by convolution with a shape function whose parameters and mass dependence are derived analytically. We consider in detail the case of the D ₂ observable and perform an illustrative case study using a search for a light hadronically decaying Z'. We find that the CSS approach completely decorrelates the D ₂ observable over a wide range of masses. Our approach highlights the importance of improving the theoretical understanding of jet substructure observables to exploit increasingly subtle features for performance.

We review an algorithm for determining the branch points of general amplitudes in planar N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory from amplituhedra. We demonstrate how to use the recent reformulation of amplituhedra in terms of `sign flips' in order to streamline the application of this algorithm to amplitudes of any helicity. In this way we recover the known branch points of all one-loop amplitudes, and we find an `emergent positivity' on boundaries of amplituhedra.

We consider Majorana dark matter annihilation to fermion-anti-fermion pair and a photon in the effective field theory paradigm, by introducing dimension 6 and dimension 8 operators in the Lagrangian. For a given value of the cut-off scale, the latter dominates the annihilation process for heavier dark matter masses. We find a cancellation in the dark matter annihilation to a fermion-anti-fermion pair when considering the interference of the dimension 6 and the dimension 8 operators. Constraints on the effective scale cut-off is derived while considering indirect detection experiments and the relic density requirements and they are compared to the bound coming from collider experiments.

We develop a method to forecast the outcome of the LHC Run 3 based on the hypothetical detection of O (100 ) signal events at XENONnT. Our method relies on a systematic classification of renormalizable single-mediator models for dark matter-quark interactions and is valid for dark matter candidates of spin less than or equal to one. Applying our method to simulated data, we find that at the end of the LHC Run 3 only two mutually exclusive scenarios would be compatible with the detection of O (100 ) signal events at XENONnT. In the first scenario, the energy distribution of the signal events is featureless, as for canonical spin-independent interactions. In this case, if a monojet signal is detected at the LHC, dark matter must have spin 1 /2 and interact with nucleons through a unique velocity-dependent operator. If a monojet signal is not detected, dark matter interacts with nucleons through canonical spin-independent interactions. In a second scenario, the spectral distribution of the signal events exhibits a bump at nonzero recoil energies. In this second case, a monojet signal can be detected at the LHC Run 3; dark matter must have spin 1 /2 and interact with nucleons through a unique momentum-dependent operator. We therefore conclude that the observation of O (100 ) signal events at XENONnT combined with the detection, or the lack of detection, of a monojet signal at the LHC Run 3 would significantly narrow the range of possible dark matter-nucleon interactions. As we argued above, it can also provide key information on the dark matter particle spin.

We present a computation of the next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the production of a Higgs boson in association with a W boson at the LHC and the subsequent decay of the Higgs boson into a b b ¯ pair, treating the b quarks as massless. We consider various kinematic distributions and find significant corrections to observables that resolve the Higgs decay products. We also find that a cut on the transverse momentum of the W boson, important for experimental analyses, may have a significant impact on kinematic distributions and radiative corrections. We show that some of these effects can be adequately described by simulating QCD radiation in Higgs boson decays to b quarks using parton showers. We also describe contributions to Higgs decay to a b b ¯ pair that first appear at NNLO and that were not considered in previous fully differential computations. The calculation of NNLO QCD corrections to production and decay sub-processes is carried out within the nested soft-collinear subtraction scheme presented by some of us earlier this year. We demonstrate that this subtraction scheme performs very well, allowing a computation of the coefficient of the second-order QCD corrections at the level of a few per mill.

Loopedia is a new database at loopedia.org for information on Feynman integrals, intended to provide both bibliographic information as well as results made available by the community. Its bibliometry is complementary to that of INSPIRE or arXiv in the sense that it admits searching for integrals by graph-theoretical objects, e.g. its topology.

In this sequel to [3] we classify the boundaries of amplituhedra relevant for determining the branch points of general two-loop amplitudes in planar N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory. We explain the connection to on-shell diagrams, which serves as a useful cross-check. We determine the branch points of all two-loop NMHV amplitudes by solving the Landau equations for the relevant configurations and are led thereby to a conjecture for the symbol alphabets of all such amplitudes.

We imaged, with ALMA and ARGOS/LUCI, the molecular gas and dust and stellar continuum in XID2028, which is an obscured quasi-stellar object (QSO) at z = 1.593, where the presence of a massive outflow in the ionised gas component traced by the [OIII]5007 emission has been resolved up to 10 kpc. This target represents a unique test case to study QSO feedback in action at the peak epoch of AGN-galaxy co-evolution. The QSO was detected in the CO(5 - 4) transition and in the 1.3 mm continuum at 30 and 20σ significance, respectively; both emissions are confined in the central (<2 kpc) radius area. Our analysis suggests the presence of a fast rotating molecular disc (v 400 km s^-1) on very compact scales well inside the galaxy extent seen in the rest-frame optical light ( 10 kpc, as inferred from the LUCI data). Adding available measurements in additional two CO transitions, CO(2 - 1) and CO(3 - 2), we could derive a total gas mass of 10¹⁰ M_⊙, thanks to a critical assessment of CO excitation and the comparison with the Rayleigh-Jeans continuum estimate. This translates into a very low gas fraction (<5%) and depletion timescales of 40-75 Myr, reinforcing the result of atypical gas consumption conditions in XID2028, possibly because of feedback effects on the host galaxy. Finally, we also detect the presence of high velocity CO gas at 5σ, which we interpret as a signature of galaxy-scale molecular outflow that is spatially coincident with the ionised gas outflow. XID2028 therefore represents a unique case in which the measurement of total outflowing mass, of 500-800 M_⊙ yr^-1 including the molecular and atomic components in both the ionised and neutral phases, was attempted for a high-z QSO.

We present the next-to-leading-order QCD corrections to the production of a Higgs boson in association with one jet at the LHC including the full top-quark mass dependence. The mass of the bottom quark is neglected. The two-loop integrals appearing in the virtual contribution are calculated numerically using the method of sector decomposition. We study the Higgs boson transverse momentum distribution, focusing on the high p_{t ,H} region, where the top-quark loop is resolved. We find that the next-to-leading-order QCD corrections are large but that the ratio of the next-to-leading-order to leading-order result is similar to that obtained by computing in the limit of large top-quark mass.

We study the evolution of protoplanetary discs that would have been precursors of a Trappist-1-like system under the action of accretion and external photoevaporation in different radiation environments. Dust grains swiftly grow above the critical size below which they are entrained in the photoevaporative wind, so although gas is continually depleted, dust is resilient to photoevaporation after only a short time. This means that the ratio of the mass in solids (dust plus planetary) to the mass in gas rises steadily over time. Dust is still stripped early on, and the initial disc mass required to produce the observed 4 M_⊕ of Trappist-1 planets is high. For example, assuming a Fatuzzo & Adams distribution of UV fields, typical initial disc masses have to be >30 per cent the stellar (which are still Toomre Q stable) for the majority of similar mass M dwarfs to be viable hosts of the Trappist-1 planets. Even in the case of the lowest UV environments observed, there is a strong loss of dust due to photoevaporation at early times from the weakly bound outer regions of the disc. This minimum level of dust loss is a factor of 2 higher than that which would be lost by accretion on to the star during 10 Myr of evolution. Consequently, even in these least irradiated environments, discs that are viable Trappist-1 precursors need to be initially massive (>10 per cent of the stellar mass).

We present new measurements of the parallax of seven long-period (≥10 days) Milky Way (MW) Cepheid variables (SS CMa, XY Car, VY Car, VX Per, WZ Sgr, X Pup, and S Vul) using one-dimensional astrometric measurements from spatial scanning of Wide-Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The observations were obtained at ∼6 month intervals over 4 years. The distances are 1.7-3.6 kpc, with a mean precision of 45 μas (signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) ≈ 10) and a best precision of 29 μas (S/N = 14). The accuracy of the parallaxes is demonstrated through independent analyses of >100 reference stars. This raises to 10 the number of long-period Cepheids with significant parallax measurements, 8 obtained from this program. We also present high-precision mean F555W, F814W, and F160W magnitudes of these Cepheids, allowing a direct, zeropoint-independent comparison to >1800 extragalactic Cepheids in the hosts of 19 SNe Ia. This sample addresses two outstanding systematic uncertainties affecting prior comparisons of MW and extragalactic Cepheids used to calibrate the Hubble constant (H ₀): their dissimilarity of periods and photometric systems. Comparing the new parallaxes to their predicted values derived from reversing the distance ladder gives a ratio (or independent scale for H ₀) of 1.037 ± 0.036, consistent with no change and inconsistent at the 3.5σ level with a ratio of 0.91 needed to match the value predicted by Planck cosmic microwave background data in concert with ΛCDM. Using these data instead to augment the Riess et al. measurement of H ₀ improves the precision to 2.3%, yielding 73.48 ± 1.66 km s^-1 Mpc^-1, and the tension with Planck + ΛCDM increases to 3.7σ. The future combination of Gaia parallaxes and HST spatial scanning photometry of 50 MW Cepheids can support a <1% calibration of H ₀.

We present the Fortran95 program RECOLA2 for the perturbative computation of next-to-leading-order transition amplitudes in the Standard Model of particle physics and extended Higgs sectors. New theories are implemented via model files in the 't Hooft-Feynman gauge in the conventional formulation of quantum field theory and in the Background-Field method. The present version includes model files for Two-Higgs-Doublet Model and the Higgs-Singlet Extension of the Standard Model. We support standard renormalization schemes for the Standard Model as well as many commonly used renormalization schemes in extended Higgs sectors. Within these models the computation of next-to-leading-order polarized amplitudes and squared amplitudes, optionally summed over spin and colour, is fully automated for any process. RECOLA2 allows the computation of colour- and spin-correlated leading-order squared amplitudes that are needed in the dipole subtraction formalism. RECOLA2 is publicly available for download at recola.hepforge.org.

We construct a resummation at partial next-to-next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy for hadronic top-quark pair production near partonic threshold, including simultaneously soft-gluon and Coulomb corrections, and use this result to obtain approximate next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order predictions for the total top-quark pair-production cross section at the LHC. We generalize a required one-loop potential in non-relativistic QCD to the colour-octet case and estimate the remaining unknown twoloop potentials and three-loop anomalous dimensions. We obtain a moderate correction of 1.5% relative to the next-to-next-to-leading order prediction and observe a reduction of the perturbative uncertainty below ±5%.

We present new and explicit formulae for the one-loop integrands of scattering amplitudes in non-supersymmetric gauge theory and gravity, valid for any number of particles. The results exhibit the colour-kinematics duality in gauge theory and the double-copy relation to gravity, in a form that was recently observed in supersymmetric theories. The new formulae are expressed in a particular representation of the loop integrand, with only one quadratic propagator, which arises naturally from the framework of the loop-level scattering equations. The starting point in our work are the expressions based on the scattering equations that were recently derived from ambitwistor string theory. We turn these expressions into explicit formulae depending only on the loop momentum, the external momenta and the external polarisations. These formulae are valid in any number of spacetime dimensions for pure Yang-Mills theory (gluon) and its natural double copy, NS-NS gravity (graviton, dilaton, B-field), and we also present formulae in four spacetime dimensions for pure gravity (graviton). We perform several tests of our results, such as checking gauge invariance and directly matching our four-particle formulae to previously known expressions. While these tests would be elaborate in a Feynman-type representation of the loop integrand, they become straightforward in the representation we use.

Scattering amplitudes of partons in QCD contain infrared divergences which can be resummed to all orders in terms of an anomalous dimension. Independently, in the limit of high-energy forward scattering, large logarithms of the energy can be resummed using Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov theory. We use the latter to analyse the infraredsingular part of amplitudes to all orders in perturbation theory and to next-to-leading-logarithm accuracy in the high-energy limit, resumming the two-Reggeon contribution. Remarkably, we find a closed form for the infrared-singular part, predicting the Regge limit of the soft anomalous dimension to any loop order.

We have calculated the next-to-leading-order electroweak and QCD corrections to the decay processes h → WW/ZZ → 4 fermions of the light CP-even Higgs boson h of various types of Two-Higgs-Doublet Models (Types I and II, "lepton-specific" and "flipped" models). The input parameters are defined in four different renormalization schemes, where parameters that are not directly accessible by experiments are defined in the \overline{MS} scheme. Numerical results are presented for the corrections to partial decay widths for various benchmark scenarios previously motivated in the literature, where we investigate the dependence on the \overline{MS} renormalization scale and on the choice of the renormalization scheme in detail. We find that it is crucial to be precise with these issues in parameter analyses, since parameter conversions between different schemes can involve sizeable or large corrections, especially in scenarios that are close to experimental exclusion limits or theoretical bounds. It even turns out that some renormalization schemes are not applicable in specific regions of parameter space. Our investigation of differential distributions shows that corrections beyond the Standard Model are mostly constant offsets induced by the mixing between the light and heavy CP-even Higgs bosons, so that differential analyses of h→4 f decay observables do not help to identify Two-Higgs-Doublet Models. Moreover, the decay widths do not significantly depend on the specific type of those models. The calculations are implemented in the public Monte Carlo generator Prophecy4f and ready for application.

During the process of planet formation, the planet-disc interactions might excite (or damp) the orbital eccentricity of the planet. In this paper, we present two long (t ∼ 3 × 10⁵ orbits) numerical simulations: (a) one (with a relatively light disc, M_d/M_p = 0.2), where the eccentricity initially stalls before growing at later times and (b) one (with a more massive disc, M_d/M_p = 0.65) with fast growth and a late decrease of the eccentricity. We recover the well-known result that a more massive disc promotes a faster initial growth of the planet eccentricity. However, at late times the planet eccentricity decreases in the massive disc case, but increases in the light disc case. Both simulations show periodic eccentricity oscillations superimposed on a growing/decreasing trend and a rapid transition between fast and slow pericentre precession. The peculiar and contrasting evolution of the eccentricity of both planet and disc in the two simulations can be understood by invoking a simple toy model where the disc is treated as a second point-like gravitating body, subject to secular planet-planet interaction and eccentricity pumping/damping provided by the disc. We show how the counterintuitive result that the more massive simulation produces a lower planet eccentricity at late times can be understood in terms of the different ratios of the disc-to-planet angular momentum in the two simulations. In our interpretation, at late times the planet eccentricity can increase more in low-mass discs rather than in high-mass discs, contrary to previous claims in the literature.

Twistor string models have been known for more than a decade now but have come back under the spotlight recently with the advent of the scattering equation formalism which has greatly generalized the scope of these models. A striking ubiquitous feature of these models has always been that, contrary to usual string theory, they do not admit vibrational modes and thus describe only conventional field theory. In this paper we report on the surprising discovery of a whole new sector of one of these theories which we call "twisted strings," when spacetime has compact directions. We find that the spectrum is enhanced from a finite number of states to an infinite number of interacting higher spin massive states. We describe both bosonic and world sheet supersymmetric models, their spectra and scattering amplitudes. These models have distinctive features of both string and field theory, for example they are invariant under stringy T-duality but have the high energy behavior typical of field theory. Therefore they describe a new kind of field theories in target space, sitting on their own halfway between string and field theory.

The formation of satellite systems in circum-planetary discs is considered to be similar to the formation of rocky planets in a proto-planetary disc, especially super-Earths. Thus, it is possible to use systems with large satellites to test formation theories that are also applicable to extrasolar planets. Furthermore, a better understanding of the origin of satellites might yield important information about the environment near the growing planet during the last stages of planet formation. In this work, we investigate the formation and migration of the Jovian satellites through N-body simulations. We simulated a massive, static, low-viscosity, circum-planetary disc in agreement with the minimum mass sub-nebula model prescriptions for its total mass. In hydrodynamic simulations, we found no signs of gaps, therefore type II migration is not expected. Hence, we used analytic prescriptions for type I migration, eccentricity and inclination damping, and performed N-body simulations with damping forces added. Detailed parameter studies showed that the number of final satellites is strong influenced by the initial distribution of embryos, the disc temperature, and the initial gas density profile. For steeper initial density profiles, it is possible to form systems with multiple satellites in resonance while a flatter profile favours the formation of satellites close to the region of the Galilean satellites. We show that the formation of massive satellites such as Ganymede and Callisto can be achieved for hotter discs with an aspect ratio of H/r ∼ 0.15 for which the ice line was located around 30R_J.

We present a calculation of the NNLO QCD corrections to Z-boson pair production at hadron colliders, based on the N-jettiness method for the real radiation parts. We discuss the size and shape of the perturbative corrections along with their associated scale uncertainties and compare our results to recent LHC data at √{s}=13 TeV.

We compute the leading-color contributions to five-gluon scattering at two loops in massless QCD. The integrands of all independent helicity amplitudes are evaluated using d -dimensional generalized unitarity cuts and finite field reconstruction techniques. Numerical evaluation of the integral basis is performed with sector decomposition methods to obtain the first benchmark results for all helicity configurations of a 2 →3 scattering process in QCD.

If dark matter is composed of weakly interacting particles, Earth's orbital motion may induce a small annual variation in the rate at which these particles interact in a terrestrial detector. The DAMA collaboration has identified at a <inline-formula id="IEq1"><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:mn>9.3</mml:mn><mml:mi>σ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math></inline-formula> confidence level such an annual modulation in their event rate over two detector iterations, DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA, each with <inline-formula id="IEq2"><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:mo>∼</mml:mo><mml:mn>7</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math></inline-formula> years of observations. This data is well fit by a constant modulation amplitude for the two iterations of the experiment. We statistically examine the time dependence of the modulation amplitudes, which "by eye" appear to be decreasing with time in certain energy ranges. We perform a chi-squared goodness of fit test of the average modulation amplitudes measured by the two detector iterations which rejects the hypothesis of a consistent modulation amplitude at greater than 80, 96, and 99.6% for the 2–4, 2–5 and 2–6 keVee energy ranges, respectively. We also find that among the 14 annual cycles there are three <inline-formula id="IEq3"><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:mo>≳</mml:mo><mml:mn>3</mml:mn><mml:mi>σ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math></inline-formula> departures from the average in our estimated data in the 5–6 keVee energy range. In addition, we examined several phenomenological models for the time dependence of the modulation amplitude. Using a maximum likelihood test, we find that descriptions of the modulation amplitude as decreasing with time are preferred over a constant modulation amplitude at anywhere between <inline-formula id="IEq4"><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:mn>1</mml:mn><mml:mi>σ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula id="IEq5"><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:mn>3</mml:mn><mml:mi>σ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math></inline-formula>, depending on the phenomenological model for the time dependence and the signal energy range considered. A time dependent modulation amplitude is not expected for a dark matter signal, at least for dark matter halo morphologies consistent with the DAMA signal. New data from DAMA/LIBRA–phase2 will certainly aid in determining whether any apparent time dependence is a real effect or a statistical fluctuation.

Superluminous supernovae are a new class of supernovae that were recognized about a decade ago. Both observational and theoretical progress has been significant in the last decade. In this review, we first briefly summarize the observational properties of superluminous supernovae. We then introduce the three major suggested luminosity sources to explain the huge luminosities of superluminous supernovae, i.e., the nuclear decay of ⁵⁶Ni, the interaction between supernova ejecta and dense circumstellar media, and the spin down of magnetars. We compare these models and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.

We consider the interactions in a mesonic system, referred here to as 'tetron', consisting of two heavy quarks and two lighter antiquarks (which may still be heavy in the scale of QCD), i.e. generally Q_aQ_bq_barcq_bard, and study the existence of bound states below the threshold for decay into heavy meson pairs. At a small ratio of the lighter to heavier quark masses an expansion parameter arises for treatment of the binding in such systems. We find that in the limit where all the quarks and antiquarks are so heavy that a Coulomb-like approximation can be applied to the gluon exchange between all of them, such bound states arise when this parameter is below a certain critical value. We find the parametric dependence of the critical mass ratio on the number of colors N_c, and confirm this dependence by numerical calculations. In particular there are no stable tetrons when all constituents have the same mass. We discuss an application of a similar expansion in the large N_c limit to realistic systems where the antiquarks are light and their interactions are nonperturbative. In this case our findings are in agreement with the recent claims from a phenomenological analysis that a stable bb u bar d bar tetron is likely to exist, unlike those where one or both bottom quarks are replaced by the charmed quark.

Spatially resolved observations of protoplanetary discs are revealing that their inner regions can be warped or broken from the outer disc. A few mechanisms are known to lead to such 3D structures; among them, the interaction with a stellar companion. We perform a 3D SPH simulation of a circumbinary disc misaligned by 60° with respect to the binary orbital plane. The inner disc breaks from the outer regions, precessing as a rigid body and leading to a complex evolution. As the inner disc precesses, the misalignment angle between the inner and outer discs varies by more than 100°. Different snapshots of the evolution are post-processed with a radiative transfer code, in order to produce observational diagnostics of the process. Even though the simulation was produced for the specific case of a circumbinary disc, most of the observational predictions hold for any disc hosting a precessing inner rim. Synthetic scattered light observations show strong azimuthal asymmetries, where the pattern depends strongly on the misalignment angle between the inner and outer discs. The asymmetric illumination of the outer disc leads to azimuthal variations of the temperature structure, in particular in the upper layers, where the cooling time is short. These variations are reflected in asymmetric surface brightness maps of optically thick lines, as CO J = 3-2. The kinematical information obtained from the gas lines is unique in determining the disc structure. The combination of scattered light images and (sub-)mm lines can distinguish between radial inflow and misaligned inner disc scenarios.

Aerodynamic theory predicts that dust grains in protoplanetary disks will drift radially inward on comparatively short timescales. In this context, it has long been known that the presence of a gap opened by a planet can significantly alter the dust dynamics. In this paper, we carry out a systematic study employing long-term numerical simulations aimed at characterizing the critical particle size for retention outside a gap as a function of particle size, as well as various key parameters defining the protoplanetary disk model. To this end, we perform multifluid hydrodynamical simulations in two dimensions, including different dust species, which we treat as pressureless fluids. We initialize the dust outside of the planet’s orbit and study under which conditions dust grains are able to cross the gap carved by the planet. In agreement with previous work, we find that the permeability of the gap depends both on dust dynamical properties and the gas disk structure: while small dust follows the viscously accreting gas through the gap, dust grains approaching a critical size are progressively filtered out. Moreover, we introduce and compute a depletion factor that enables us to quantify the way in which higher viscosity, smaller planet mass, or a more massive disk can shift this critical size to larger values. Our results indicate that gap-opening planets may act to deplete the inner reaches of protoplanetary disks of large dust grains—potentially limiting the accretion of solids onto forming terrestrial planets.

We investigate the identification of hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe I) using a photometric analysis, without including an arbitrary magnitude threshold. We assemble a homogeneous sample of previously classified SLSNe I from the literature, and fit their light curves using Gaussian processes. From the fits, we identify four photometric parameters that have a high statistical significance when correlated, and combine them in a parameter space that conveys information on their luminosity and color evolution. This parameter space presents a new definition for SLSNe I, which can be used to analyze existing and future transient data sets. We find that 90% of previously classified SLSNe I meet our new definition. We also examine the evidence for two subclasses of SLSNe I, combining their photometric evolution with spectroscopic information, namely the photospheric velocity and its gradient. A cluster analysis reveals the presence of two distinct groups. “Fast” SLSNe show fast light curves and color evolution, large velocities, and a large velocity gradient. “Slow” SLSNe show slow light curve and color evolution, small expansion velocities, and an almost non-existent velocity gradient. Finally, we discuss the impact of our analyses in the understanding of the powering engine of SLSNe, and their implementation as cosmological probes in current and future surveys.

We review the current status of the data on neutrino masses and lepton mixing and the prospects for measuring the CP-violating phases in the lepton sector. The possible connection between low energy CP violation encoded in the Dirac and Majorana phases of the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata mixing matrix and successful leptogenesis is emphasized in the context of seesaw extensions of the Standard Model with a flavor symmetry Gf (and CP symmetry).

We present UV luminosity functions of dropout galaxies at z∼ 6{--}10 with the complete Hubble Frontier Fields data. We obtain a catalog of ∼450 dropout-galaxy candidates (350, 66, and 40 at z∼ 6{--}7, 8, and 9, respectively), with UV absolute magnitudes that reach ∼ -14 mag, ∼2 mag deeper than the Hubble Ultra Deep Field detection limits. We carefully evaluate number densities of the dropout galaxies by Monte Carlo simulations, including all lensing effects such as magnification, distortion, and multiplication of images as well as detection completeness and contamination effects in a self-consistent manner. We find that UV luminosity functions at z∼ 6{--}8 have steep faint-end slopes, α ∼ -2, and likely steeper slopes, α ≲ -2 at z∼ 9{--}10. We also find that the evolution of UV luminosity densities shows a non-accelerated decline beyond z∼ 8 in the case of {M}_trunc}=-15, but an accelerated one in the case of {M}_trunc}=-17. We examine whether our results are consistent with the Thomson scattering optical depth from the Planck satellite and the ionized hydrogen fraction Q _{H II} at z≲ 7 based on the standard analytic reionization model. We find that reionization scenarios exist that consistently explain all of the observational measurements with the allowed parameters of {f}_esc}={0.17}_-0.03^+0.07 and {M}_trunc}> -14.0 for {log}{ξ }_ion}/[{erg}}^-1 {Hz}]=25.34, where {f}_esc} is the escape fraction, M _trunc is the faint limit of the UV luminosity function, and {ξ }_ion} is the conversion factor of the UV luminosity to the ionizing photon emission rate. The length of the reionization period is estimated to be {{Δ }}z={3.9}_-1.6^+2.0 (for 0.1< {Q}_{{H}{{II}}}< 0.99), consistent with the recent estimate from Planck.

Transition disks with large dust cavities around young stars are promising targets for studying planet formation. Previous studies have revealed the presence of gas cavities inside the dust cavities, hinting at recently formed, giant planets. However, many of these studies are biased toward the brightest disks in the nearby star-forming regions, and it is not possible to derive reliable statistics that can be compared with exoplanet populations. We present the analysis of 11 transition disks with large cavities (≥20 au radius) from a complete disk survey of the Lupus star-forming region, using ALMA Band 7 observations at 0.″3 (22-30 au radius) resolution of the 345 GHz continuum, ¹³CO and C¹⁸O 3-2 observations, and the spectral energy distribution of each source. Gas and dust surface density profiles are derived using the physical-chemical modeling code DALI. This is the first study of transition disks of large cavities within a complete disk survey within a star-forming region. The dust cavity sizes range from 20 to 90 au radius, and in three cases, a gas cavity is resolved as well. The deep drops in gas density and large dust cavity sizes are consistent with clearing by giant planets. The fraction of transition disks with large cavities in Lupus is ≳ 11 % , which is inconsistent with exoplanet population studies of giant planets at wide orbits. Furthermore, we present a hypothesis of an evolutionary path for large massive disks evolving into transition disks with large cavities.

We consider soft-gluon evolution at the amplitude level. Our evolution includes Coulomb exchanges and applies to generic hard-scattering processes involving any number of coloured partons. We emphasise the special role played by a Lorentz-invariant evolution variable, which coincides with the transverse momentum of the latest emission in a suitably defined dipole zero-momentum frame. We also relate the evolution algorithm, which was used originally in the derivation of super-leading logarithms, to renormalization group evolution equations that have been encountered recently. Handling large colour matrices presents the most significant challenge to numerical implementations and we present a means to expand systematically about the leading colour approximation.

The focus of this paper lies on the possible experimental tests of leptogenesis scenarios. We consider both leptogenesis generated from oscillations, as well as leptogenesis from out-of-equilibrium decays. As the Akhmedov-Rubakov-Smirnov (ARS) mechanism allows for heavy neutrinos in the GeV range, this opens up a plethora of possible experimental tests, e.g. at neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrinoless double beta decay, and direct searches for neutral heavy leptons at future facilities. In contrast, testing leptogenesis from out-of-equilibrium decays is a quite difficult task. We comment on the necessary conditions for having successful leptogenesis at the TeV-scale. We further discuss possible realizations and their model specific testability in extended seesaw models, models with extended gauge sectors, and supersymmetric leptogenesis. Not being able to test high-scale leptogenesis directly, we present a way to falsify such scenarios by focusing on their washout processes. This is discussed specifically for the left-right symmetric model and the observation of a heavy WR, as well as model independently when measuring ΔL = 2 washout processes at the LHC or neutrinoless double beta decay.

A large fraction of stars are in binary systems, yet the evolution of protoplanetary discs in binaries has been little explored from the theoretical side. In this paper, we investigate the evolution of the discs surrounding the primary and secondary components of binary systems on the assumption that this is driven by photoevaporation induced by X-rays from the respective star. We show how for close enough separations (20-30 au for average X-ray luminosities) the tidal torque of the companion changes the qualitative behaviour of disc dispersal from inside out to outside in. Fewer transition discs created by photoevaporation are thus expected in binaries. We also demonstrate that in close binaries the reduction in viscous time leads to accelerated disc clearing around both components, consistent with unresolved observations. When looking at the differential disc evolution around the two components, in close binaries discs around the secondary clear first due to the shorter viscous time-scale associated with the smaller outer radius. In wide binaries instead the difference in photoevaporation rate makes the secondaries longer lived, though this is somewhat dependent on the assumed scaling of viscosity with stellar mass. We find that our models are broadly compatible with the growing sample of resolved observations of discs in binaries. We also predict that binaries have higher accretion rates than single stars for the same disc mass. Thus, binaries probably contribute to the observed scatter in the relationship between disc mass and accretion rate in young stars.

We review the current status of the leptogenesis scenario originally proposed by Akhmedov, Rubakov and Smirnov (ARS). It takes place in the parametric regime where the right-handed neutrinos are at the electroweak scale or below and the CP-violating effects are induced by the coherent superposition of different right-handed mass eigenstates. Two main theoretical approaches to derive quantum kinetic equations, the Hamiltonian time evolution as well as the Closed-Time-Path technique are presented, and we discuss their relations. For scenarios with two right-handed neutrinos, we chart the viable parameter space. Both, a Bayesian analysis, that determines the most likely configurations for viable leptogenesis given different variants of flat priors, and a determination of the maximally allowed mixing between the light, mostly left-handed, and heavy, mostly right-handed, neutrino states are discussed. Rephasing invariants are shown to be a useful tool to classify and to understand various distinct contributions to ARS leptogenesis that can dominate in different parametric regimes. While these analyses are carried out for the parametric regime where initial asymmetries are generated predominantly from lepton-number conserving, but flavor violating effects, we also review the contributions from lepton-number violating operators and identify the regions of parameter space where these are relevant.

We analyze the four-point function of stress-tensor multiplets for the 6d quantum field theory with OSp(8^∗|4) symmetry which is conjectured to be dual to M-theory on AdS ₇ × S ⁴, and deduce the leading correction to the tree-level supergravity prediction by obtaining a solution of the crossing equations in the large- N limit with the superconformal partial wave expansion truncated to operators with zero spin. This correction corresponds to the M-theoretic analogue of ℛ⁴ corrections in string theory. We also find solutions corresponding to higher-spin truncations, but they are subleading compared to the 1-loop supergravity prediction, which has yet to be calculated.

We apply the analytic conformal bootstrap method to study weakly coupled conformal gauge theories in four dimensions. We employ twist conformal blocks to find the most general form of the one-loop four-point correlation function of identical scalar operators, without any reference to Feynman calculations. The method relies only on symmetries of the model. In particular, it does not require introducing any regularisation and it is free from the redundancies usually associated with the Feynman approach. By supplementing the general solution with known data for a small number of operators, we recover explicit forms of one-loop correlation functions of four Konishi operators as well as of four half-BPS operators {O_{20}}_' } in N = 4 super Yang-Mills.

Observables which distinguish boosted topologies from QCD jets are playing an increasingly important role at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These observables are often used in conjunction with jet grooming algorithms, which reduce contamination from both theoretical and experimental sources. In this paper we derive factorization formulae for groomed multi-prong substructure observables, focusing in particular on the groomed D ₂ observable, which is used to identify boosted hadronic decays of electroweak bosons at the LHC. Our factorization formulae allow systematically improvable calculations of the perturbative D ₂ distribution and the resummation of logarithmically enhanced terms in all regions of phase space using renormalization group evolution. They include a novel factorization for the production of a soft subjet in the presence of a grooming algorithm, in which clustering effects enter directly into the hard matching. We use these factorization formulae to draw robust conclusions of experimental relevance regarding the universality of the D ₂ distribution in both e ⁺ e ^- and pp collisions. In particular, we show that the only process dependence is carried by the relative quark vs. gluon jet fraction in the sample, no non-global logarithms from event-wide correlations are present in the distribution, hadronization corrections are controlled by the perturbative mass of the jet, and all global color correlations are completely removed by grooming, making groomed D ₂ a theoretically clean QCD observable even in the LHC environment. We compute all ingredients to one-loop accuracy, and present numerical results at next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy for e ⁺ e ^- collisions, comparing with parton shower Monte Carlo simulations. Results for pp collisions, as relevant for phenomenology at the LHC, are presented in a companion paper [1].

In many realizations of leptogenesis, heavy right-handed neutrinos play the main role in the generation of an imbalance between matter and antimatter in the early Universe. Hence, it is relevant to address quantitatively their dynamics in a hot and dense environment by taking into account the various thermal aspects of the problem at hand. The strong washout regime offers an interesting framework to carry out calculations systematically and reduce theoretical uncertainties. Indeed, any matter-antimatter asymmetry generated when the temperature of the hot plasma T exceeds the right-handed neutrino mass scale M is efficiently erased, and one can focus on the temperature window T ≪ M. We review recent progress in the thermal field theoretic derivation of the key ingredients for the leptogenesis mechanism: the right-handed neutrino production rate, the CP asymmetry in the heavy-neutrino decays and the washout rates. The derivation of evolution equations for the heavy-neutrino and lepton-asymmetry number densities, their rigorous formulation and applicability are also discussed.

Transient surveys have recently revealed the existence of H-rich super-luminous supernovae (SLSN; e.g., iPTF14hls, OGLE-SN14-073) that are characterized by an exceptionally high time-integrated bolometric luminosity, a sustained blue optical color, and Doppler-broadened H I lines at all times. Here, I investigate the effect that a magnetar (with an initial rotational energy of 4 × 10⁵⁰ erg and field strength of 7 × 10¹³ G) would have on the properties of a typical Type II supernova (SN) ejecta (mass of 13.35 M_⊙, kinetic energy of 1.32 × 10⁵¹ erg, 0.077 M_⊙ of ⁵⁶Ni) produced by the terminal explosion of an H-rich blue supergiant star. I present a non-local thermodynamic equilibrium time-dependent radiative transfer simulation of the resulting photometric and spectroscopic evolution from 1 d until 600 d after explosion. With the magnetar power, the model luminosity and brightness are enhanced, the ejecta is hotter and more ionized everywhere, and the spectrum formation region is much more extended. This magnetar-powered SN ejecta reproduces most of the observed properties of SLSN iPTF14hls, including the sustained brightness of -18 mag in the R band, the blue optical color, and the broad H I lines for 600 d. The non-extreme magnetar properties, combined with the standard Type II SN ejecta properties, offer an interesting alternative to the pair-unstable super-massive star model recently proposed, which involves a highly energetic and super-massive ejecta. Hence, such Type II SLSNe may differ from standard Type II SNe exclusively through the influence of a magnetar.

It is difficult to establish the properties of massive stars that explode as supernovae. The electromagnetic emission during the first minutes to hours after the emergence of the shock from the stellar surface conveys important information about the final evolution and structure of the exploding star. However, the unpredictable nature of supernova events hinders the detection of this brief initial phase. Here we report the serendipitous discovery of a newly born, normal type IIb supernova (SN 2016gkg), which reveals a rapid brightening at optical wavelengths of about 40 magnitudes per day. The very frequent sampling of the observations allowed us to study in detail the outermost structure of the progenitor of the supernova and the physics of the emergence of the shock. We develop hydrodynamical models of the explosion that naturally account for the complete evolution of the supernova over distinct phases regulated by different physical processes. This result suggests that it is appropriate to decouple the treatment of the shock propagation from the unknown mechanism that triggers the explosion.

We present light curves and classification spectra of 17 hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey (PS1 MDS). Our sample contains all objects from the PS1 MDS sample with spectroscopic classification that are similar to either of the prototypes SN 2005ap or SN 2007bi, without an explicit limit on luminosity. With a redshift range 0.3< z< 1.6, PS1 MDS is the first SLSN sample primarily probing the high-redshift population; our multifilter PS1 light curves probe the rest-frame UV emission, and hence the peak of the spectral energy distribution. We measure the temperature evolution and construct bolometric light curves, and find peak luminosities of (0.5{--}5)× {10}⁴⁴ erg s^-1 and lower limits on the total radiated energies of (0.3{--}2)× {10}⁵¹ erg. The light curve shapes are diverse, with both rise and decline times spanning a factor of ∼5 and several examples of double-peaked light curves. When correcting for the flux-limited nature of our survey, we find a median peak luminosity at 4000 Å of {M}₄₀₀₀=-21.1 {mag} and a spread of σ =0.7 {mag}.

The most precise local measurements of H₀ rely on observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) coupled with Cepheid distances to SN Ia host galaxies. Recent results have shown tension comparing H₀ to the value inferred from CMB observations assuming ΛCDM, making it important to check for potential systematic uncertainties in either approach. To date, precise local H₀ measurements have used SN Ia distances based on optical photometry, with corrections for light curve shape and colour. Here, we analyse SNe Ia as standard candles in the near-infrared (NIR), where luminosity variations in the supernovae and extinction by dust are both reduced relative to the optical. From a combined fit to 9 nearby calibrator SNe with host Cepheid distances from Riess et al. (2016) and 27 SNe in the Hubble flow, we estimate the absolute peak J magnitude M_J = -18.524 ± 0.041 mag and H₀ = 72.8 ± 1.6 (statistical) ±2.7 (systematic) km s^-1 Mpc^-1. The 2.2% statistical uncertainty demonstrates that the NIR provides a compelling avenue to measuring SN Ia distances, and for our sample the intrinsic (unmodeled) peak J magnitude scatter is just 0.10 mag, even without light curve shape or colour corrections. Our results do not vary significantly with different sample selection criteria, though photometric calibration in the NIR may be a dominant systematic uncertainty. Our findings suggest that tension in the competing H₀ distance ladders is likely not a result of supernova systematics that could be expected to vary between optical and NIR wavelengths, like dust extinction. We anticipate further improvements in H₀ with a larger calibrator sample of SNe Ia with Cepheid distances, more Hubble flow SNe Ia with NIR light curves, and better use of the full NIR photometric data set beyond simply the peak J-band magnitude.

We compute corrections to the gyromagnetic factor of an electron bound in a hydrogenlike ion at order α²(Z α )⁵ . This result removes a major uncertainty in predictions for silicon and carbon ions, used to determine the atomic mass of the electron.

Context. In the last decade, astronomers have found a new type of supernova called superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) due to their high peak luminosity and long light-curves. These hydrogen-free explosions (SLSNe-I) can be seen to z ~ 4 and therefore, offer the possibility of probing the distant Universe.
Aims: We aim to investigate the possibility of detecting SLSNe-I using ESA's Euclid satellite, scheduled for launch in 2020. In particular, we study the Euclid Deep Survey (EDS) which will provide a unique combination of area, depth and cadence over the mission.
Methods: We estimated the redshift distribution of Euclid SLSNe-I using the latest information on their rates and spectral energy distribution, as well as known Euclid instrument and survey parameters, including the cadence and depth of the EDS. To estimate the uncertainties, we calculated their distribution with two different set-ups, namely optimistic and pessimistic, adopting different star formation densities and rates. We also applied a standardization method to the peak magnitudes to create a simulated Hubble diagram to explore possible cosmological constraints.
Results: We show that Euclid should detect approximately 140 high-quality SLSNe-I to z ~ 3.5 over the first five years of the mission (with an additional 70 if we lower our photometric classification criteria). This sample could revolutionize the study of SLSNe-I at z > 1 and open up their use as probes of star-formation rates, galaxy populations, the interstellar and intergalactic medium. In addition, a sample of such SLSNe-I could improve constraints on a time-dependent dark energy equation-of-state, namely w(a), when combined with local SLSNe-I and the expected SN Ia sample from the Dark Energy Survey.
Conclusions: We show that Euclid will observe hundreds of SLSNe-I for free. These luminous transients will be in the Euclid data-stream and we should prepare now to identify them as they offer a new probe of the high-redshift Universe for both astrophysics and cosmology.

This paper is published on behalf of the Euclid Consortium.

GANDALF is a new hydrodynamics and N-body dynamics code designed for investigating planet formation, star formation and star cluster problems. GANDALF is written in C++, parallelized with both OPENMP and MPI and contains a PYTHON library for analysis and visualization. The code has been written with a fully object-oriented approach to easily allow user-defined implementations of physics modules or other algorithms. The code currently contains implementations of smoothed particle hydrodynamics, meshless finite-volume and collisional N-body schemes, but can easily be adapted to include additional particle schemes. We present in this paper the details of its implementation, results from the test suite, serial and parallel performance results and discuss the planned future development. The code is freely available as an open source project on the code-hosting website github at github.com/gandalfcode/gandalf and is available under the GPLv2 license.

The chemical conditions in the planet-forming regions of protoplanetary discs remain difficult to observe directly. Gas accreting from the disc on to the star provides a way to measure the elemental abundances because even refractory species are in an atomic gaseous form. Here, we compare the abundance ratios derived from ultraviolet lines probing T Tauri accretion streams to simple models of disc evolution. Although the interpretation of line ratios in terms of abundances is highly uncertain, discs with large cavities in mm images tend to have lower Si emission. Since this can naturally be explained by the suppressed accretion of dust, this suggests that abundance variations are at least partially responsible for the variations seen in the line ratios. Our models of disc evolution due to grain growth, radial drift and the flux of volatile species carried as ices on grain surfaces give rise to a partial sorting of the atomic species based on the volatility of their dominant molecular carriers. This arises because volatiles are left behind at their snow lines while the grains continue to drift. We show that this reproduces the main features seen in the accretion line ratio data, such as carbon-to-nitrogen ratios which are a few times solar and the correlation between the Si to volatile ratio with mm flux. We highlight the fact that developing a more robust linkage between line ratios and abundance ratios and acquiring data for larger samples have the potential to cast considerable light on the chemical history of protoplanetary discs.

We consider the holographic duality between type-A higher-spin gravity in AdS₄ and the free U( N) vector model. In the bulk, linearized solutions can be translated into twistor functions via the Penrose transform. We propose a holographic dual to this transform, which translates between twistor functions and CFT sources and operators. We present a twistorial expression for the partition function, which makes global higher-spin symmetry manifest, and appears to automatically include all necessary contact terms. In this picture, twistor space provides a fully nonlocal, gauge-invariant description underlying both bulk and boundary spacetime pictures. While the bulk theory is handled at the linear level, our formula for the partition function includes the effects of bulk interactions. Thus, the CFT is used to solve the bulk, with twistors as a language common to both. A key ingredient in our result is the study of ordinary spacetime symmetries within the fundamental representation of higher-spin algebra. The object that makes these "square root" spacetime symmetries manifest becomes the kernel of our boundary/twistor transform, while the original Penrose transform is identified as a "square root" of CPT.

We study the sub-Keplerian rotation and dust content of the circumstellar material around the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star L₂ Puppis. We find that the thermal pressure gradient alone cannot explain the observed rotation profile. We find that there is a family of possible dust populations for which radiation pressure can drive the observed sub-Keplerian rotation. This set of solutions is further constrained by the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the system, and we find that a dust-to-gas mass ratio of ~10^-3 and a maximum grain size that decreases radially outwards can satisfy both the rotation curve and SED. These dust populations are dynamically tightly coupled to the gas azimuthally. However, grains larger than ~ 0.5 μm are driven outwards radially by radiation pressure at velocities ~5 km s^-1, which implies a dust replenishment rate of ~3 × 10^-9 M_⊙ yr^-1. This replenishment rate is consistent with observational estimates to within uncertainties. Coupling between the radial motion of the dust and gas is weak and hence the gas does not share in this rapid outward motion. Overall, we conclude that radiation pressure is a capable and necessary mechanism to explain the observed rotation profile of L₂ Pup, and offers other additional constraints on the dust properties.

We give a description of double parton scattering with measured transverse momenta in the final state, extending the formalism for factorisation and resummation developed by Collins, Soper and Sterman for the production of colourless particles. After a detailed analysis of their colour structure, we derive and solve evolution equations in rapidity and renormalisation scale for the relevant soft factors and double parton distributions. We show how in the perturbative regime, transverse momentum dependent double parton distributions can be expressed in terms of simpler nonperturbative quantities and compute several of the corresponding perturbative kernels at one-loop accuracy. We then show how the coherent sum of single and double parton scattering can be simplified for perturbatively large transverse momenta, and we discuss to which order resummation can be performed with presently available results. As an auxiliary result, we derive a simple form for the square root factor in the Collins construction of transverse momentum dependent parton distributions.

If dark matter has spin 0, only two WIMP-nucleon interaction operators can arise as leading operators from the nonrelativistic reduction of renormalizable single-mediator models for dark matter-quark interactions. Based on this crucial observation, we show that about 100 signal events at next generation directional detection experiments can be enough to enable a 2 σ rejection of the spin 0 dark matter hypothesis in favor of alternative hypotheses where the dark matter particle has spin 1 /2 or 1. In this context, directional sensitivity is crucial since anisotropy patterns in the sphere of nuclear recoil directions depend on the spin of the dark matter particle. For comparison, about 100 signal events are expected in a CF₄ detector operating at a pressure of 30 torr with an exposure of approximately 26,000 cubic-meter-detector days for WIMPs of 100 GeV mass and a WIMP-fluorine scattering cross section of 0.25 pb. Comparable exposures require an array of cubic meter time projection chamber detectors.

Circumstellar discs with large dust depleted cavities and vigorous accretion on to the central star are often considered signposts for (multiple) giant planet formation. In this Letter, we show that X-ray photoevaporation operating in discs with modest (factors 3-10) gas-phase depletion of carbon and oxygen at large radii ( > 15 au) yields the inner radius and accretion rates for most of the observed discs, without the need to invoke giant planet formation. We present one-dimensional viscous evolution models of discs affected by X-ray photoevaporation assuming moderate gas-phase depletion of carbon and oxygen, well within the range reported by recent observations. Our models use a simplified prescription for scaling the X-ray photoevaporation rates and profiles at different metallicity, and our quantitative result depends on this scaling. While more rigorous hydrodynamical modelling of mass-loss profiles at low metallicities is required to constrain the observational parameter space that can be explained by our models, the general conclusion that metal sequestering at large radii may be responsible for the observed diversity of transition discs is shown to be robust. Gap opening by giant planet formation may still be responsible for a number of observed transition discs with large cavities and very high accretion rate.

We use the principle of maximal transcendentality and the universal nature of subleading infrared poles to extract the analytic value of the four-loop collinear anomalous dimension in planar N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory from recent QCD results, obtaining {\widehatG}_0^{(4)}=-300{ζ}_7-256{ζ}_2{ζ}_5-384{ζ}_3{ζ}_4 . This value agrees with a previous numerical result to within 0.2%. It also provides the Regge trajectory, threshold soft anomalous dimension and rapidity anomalous dimension through four loops.

Protoplanetary disks often appear as multiple concentric rings in dust continuum emission maps and scattered light images. These features are often associated with possible young planets in these disks. Many non-planetary explanations have also been suggested, including snow lines, dead zones and secular gravitational instabilities in the dust. In this paper we suggest another potential origin. The presence of copious amounts of dust tends to strongly reduce the conductivity of the gas, thereby inhibiting the magneto-rotational instability, and thus reducing the turbulence in the disk. From viscous disk theory it is known that a disk tends to increase its surface density in regions where the viscosity (i.e. turbulence) is low. Local maxima in the gas pressure tend to attract dust through radial drift, increasing the dust content even more. We have investigated mathematically if this could potentially lead to a feedback loop in which a perturbation in the dust surface density could perturb the gas surface density, leading to increased dust drift and thus amplification of the dust perturbation and, as a consequence, the gas perturbation. We find that this is indeed possible, even for moderately small dust grain sizes, which drift less efficiently, but which are more likely to affect the gas ionization degree. We speculate that this instability could be triggered by the small dust population initially, and when the local pressure maxima are strong enough, the larger dust grains get trapped and lead to the familiar ring-like shapes. We also discuss the many uncertainties and limitations of this model.

The photon PDF of the proton is needed for precision comparisons of LHC cross sections with theoretical predictions. In a recent paper, we showed how the photon PDF could be determined in terms of the electromagnetic proton structure functions F ₂ and F _L measured in electron-proton scattering experiments, and gave an explicit formula for the PDF including all terms up to next-to-leading order. In this paper we give details of the derivation. We obtain the photon PDF using the factorisation theorem and applying it to suitable BSM hard scattering processes. We also obtain the same PDF in a process-independent manner using the usual definition of PDFs in terms of light-cone Fourier transforms of products of operators. We show how our method gives an exact representation for the photon PDF in terms of F ₂ and F _L , valid to all orders in QED and QCD, and including all non-perturbative corrections. This representation is then used to give an explicit formula for the photon PDF to one order higher than our previous result. We also generalise our results to obtain formulæ for the polarised photon PDF, as well as the photon TMDPDF. Using our formula, we derive the P _{γ i} subset of DGLAP splitting functions to order αα _s and α ², which agree with known results. We give a detailed explanation of the approach that we follow to determine a photon PDF and its uncertainty within the above framework.

This conference focussed on the "baryon cycle", namely the flow of baryons through galaxies. The following aspects were discussed: a) the gas inflow into systems through streams of pristine gas or as drizzles of recycled material; b) the conversion of this gas into stars; and c) the ejection of gas enriched with heavy elements through powerful outflows. Understanding these different but mutually connected phases is of fundamental importance when studying the details of galaxy formation and evolution through cosmic time. This conference was held following the month-long workshop of the Munich Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics (MIAPP) entitled: "In & out: What rules the galaxy baryon cycle?" It therefore provided an opportunity to share the main outcomes of the MIAPP workshop with a larger audience, including many young outstanding scientists who could not attend the MIAPP workshop.

It has been suggested that a colour-entanglement effect exists in the Drell-Yan cross section for the 'double T-odd' contributions at low transverse momentum $Q_T$, rendering the colour structure different from that predicted by the usual factorisation formula [1]. These T-odd contributions can come from the Boer-Mulders or Sivers transverse momentum dependent distribution functions. The different colour structure should be visible already at the lowest possible order that gives a contribution to the double Boer-Mulders (dBM) or double Sivers (dS) effect, that is at the level of two gluon exchanges. To discriminate between the different predictions, we compute the leading-power contribution to the low-$Q_T$ dBM cross section at the two-gluon exchange order in the context of a spectator model. The computation is performed using a method of regions analysis with Collins subtraction terms implemented. The results conform with the predictions of the factorisation formula. In the cancellation of the colour entanglement, diagrams containing the three-gluon vertex are essential. Furthermore, the Glauber region turns out to play an important role - in fact, it is possible to assign the full contribution to the dBM cross section at the given order to the region in which the two gluons have Glauber scaling. A similar disentanglement of colour is found for the dS effect.

We describe the program pySecDec, which factorises endpoint singularities from multi-dimensional parameter integrals and can serve to calculate integrals occurring in higher order perturbative calculations numerically. We focus on the new features and on frequently asked questions about the usage of the program.

We explore lepton-flavored electroweak baryogenesis, driven by C P -violation in leptonic Yukawa sector, using the τ -μ system in the two Higgs doublet model as an example. This setup generically yields, together with the flavor-changing decay h →τ μ , a tree-level Jarlskog invariant that can drive dynamical generation of baryon asymmetry during a first-order electroweak phase transition and results in C P -violating effects in the decay h →τ τ . We find that the observed baryon asymmetry can be generated in parameter space compatible with current experimental results for the decays h →τ μ , h →τ τ , and τ →μ γ , as well as the present bound on the electric dipole moment of the electron. The baryon asymmetry generated is intrinsically correlated with the C P -violating decay h →τ τ and the flavor-changing decay h →τ μ , which thus may serve as "smoking guns" to test lepton-flavored electroweak baryogenesis.

We propose a simple injective resolution for the Hochschild complex of the Weyl algebra. By making use of this resolution, we derive explicit expressions for nontrivial cocycles of the Weyl algebra with coefficients in twisted bimodules as well as for the smash products of the Weyl algebra and a finite group of linear symplectic transformations. A relationship with the higher-spin field theory is briefly discussed.

Motivated by models suggesting that the inner planet forming regions of protoplanetary discs are predominantly lacking in viscosity-inducing turbulence, and are possibly threaded by Hall-effect generated large-scale horizontal magnetic fields, we examine the dynamics of the corotation region of a low-mass planet in such an environment. The corotation torque in an inviscid, isothermal, dead zone ought to saturate, with the libration region becoming both symmetrical and of a uniform vortensity, leading to fast inward migration driven by the Lindblad torques alone. However, in such a low viscosity situation, the material on librating streamlines essentially preserves its vortensity. If there is relative radial motion between the disc gas and the planet, the librating streamlines will no longer be symmetrical. Hence, if the gas is torqued by a large-scale magnetic field so that it undergoes a net inflow or outflow past the planet, driving evolution of the vortensity and inducing asymmetry of the corotation region, the corotation torque can grow, leading to a positive torque. In this paper, we treat this effect by applying a symmetry argument to the previously studied case of a migrating planet in an inviscid disc. Our results show that the corotation torque due to a laminar Hall-induced magnetic field in a dead zone behaves quite differently from that studied previously for a viscous disc. Furthermore, the magnetic field induced corotation torque and the dynamical corotation torque in a low viscosity disc can be regarded as one unified effect.

The streaming instability is often invoked as solution to the fragmentation and drift barriers in planetesimal formation, catalysing the aggregation of dust on kyr time-scales to grow km-sized cores. However, there remains a lack of consensus on the physical mechanism(s) responsible for initiating it. One potential avenue is disc photoevaporation, wherein the preferential removal of relatively dust-free gas increases the disc metallicity. Late in the disc lifetime, photoevaporation dominates viscous accretion, creating a gradient in the depleted gas surface density near the location of the gap. This induces a local pressure maximum that collects drifting dust particles, which may then become susceptible to the streaming instability. Using a one-dimensional viscous evolution model of a disc subject to internal X-ray photoevaporation, we explore the efficacy of this process to build planetesimals. Over a range of parameters, we find that the amount of dust mass converted into planetesimals is often <1 M_⊕ and at most a few M_⊕ spread across tens of au. We conclude that photoevaporation may at best be relevant for the formation of debris discs, rather than a common mechanism for the formation of planetary cores. Our results are in contrast to a recent, similar investigation that considered an far-ultra-violet (FUV)-driven photoevaporation model and reported the formation of tens of M_⊕ at large (>100 au) disc radii. The discrepancies are primarily a consequence of the different photoevaporation profiles assumed. Until observations more tightly constrain photoevaporation models, the relevance of this process to the formation of planets remains uncertain.

We introduce a class of functions which constitutes an obvious elliptic generalization of multiple polylogarithms. A subset of these functions appears naturally in the ɛ-expansion of the imaginary part of the two-loop massive sunrise graph. Building upon the well known properties of multiple polylogarithms, we associate a concept of weight to these functions and show that this weight can be lowered by the action of a suitable differential operator. We then show how properties and relations among these functions can be studied bottom-up starting from lower weights.

Using the ESO Telescope Bibliography database telbib, we have investigated the percentage of ESO data papers that were submitted to the arXiv/astro-ph e-print server and that are therefore free to read. Our study revealed an availability of up to 96 % of telbib papers on arXiv over the years 2010 to 2017. We also compared the citation counts of arXiv vs. non-arXiv papers and found that on average, papers submitted to arXiv are cited 2.8 times more often than those not on arXiv. While simulations suggest that these findings are statistically significant, we cannot yet draw firm conclusions as to the main cause of these differences.

Recently proposed exceptional field theories (EFTs) making manifest the duality _{E n (n)} symmetry, first observed as nonlinearly realized symmetries of the maximal d = 3 , 4 , . . . , 9 supergravity (n = 11 - d) and containing 11D and type IIB supergravity as sectors, were formulated in enlarged spacetimes. In the case of _{E 7 (7)} EFT such an enlarged spacetime can be identified with the bosonic body of the d = 4 central charge superspace ^{Σ (60 | 32)}, the N = 8 d = 4 superspace completed by 56 additional bosonic coordinates associated to central charges of the maximal d = 4 supersymmetry algebra.

In this paper we show how the hypothesis on the relation of all the known _{E n (n)} EFTs, including n = 8, with supersymmetry leads to the conjecture on existence of 11D exceptional field theory living in 11D tensorial central charge superspace ^{Σ (528 | 32)} and underlying all the _{E n (n)} EFTs with n = 2 , . . . , 8, and probably the double field theory (DFT). We conjecture the possible form of the section conditions of such an 11D EFT and show that quite generic solutions of these can be generated by superparticle models the ground states of which preserve from one half to all but one supersymmetry. The properties of these superparticle models are briefly discussed. We argue that, upon quantization, their quantum states should describe free massless non-conformal higher spin fields in D = 11. We also discuss some relevant representations of the M-theory superalgebra which, in the present context, describes supersymmetry of the 11D EFT.

Wide-field surveys are discovering a growing number of rare transients whose physical origin is not yet well understood. Here we present optical and UV data and analysis of intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) 16asu, a luminous, rapidly evolving, high-velocity, stripped-envelope supernova (SN). With a rest-frame rise time of just four days and a peak absolute magnitude of {M}_{{g}}=-20.4 mag, the light curve of iPTF 16asu is faster and more luminous than that of previous rapid transients. The spectra of iPTF 16asu show a featureless blue continuum near peak that develops into an SN Ic-BL spectrum on the decline. We show that while the late-time light curve could plausibly be powered by ⁵⁶Ni decay, the early emission requires a different energy source. Nondetections in the X-ray and radio strongly constrain the energy coupled to relativistic ejecta to be at most comparable to the class of low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We suggest that the early emission may have been powered by either a rapidly spinning-down magnetar or by shock breakout in an extended envelope of a very energetic explosion. In either scenario a central engine is required, making iPTF 16asu an intriguing transition object between superluminous SNe, SNe Ic-BL, and low-luminosity GRBs.

We study three finite-dimensional quotient vector spaces constructed from the linear span of the set of characteristic functions of permutohedral cones by imposing two kinds of constraints: (1) neglect characteristic functions of higher codimension permutohedral cones, and (2) neglect characteristic functions of non-pointed permutohedral cones. We construct an ordered basis which is canonical, in the sense that it has subsets which map onto ordered bases for the quotients. We present straightening relations to the canonical basis, and using Laplace transforms we obtain functional representations for each quotient space.

We use the new Modular Open Source Fitter for Transients to model 38 hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe). We fit their multicolor light curves with a magnetar spin-down model and present posterior distributions of magnetar and ejecta parameters. The color evolution can be fit with a simple absorbed blackbody. The medians (1σ ranges) for key parameters are spin period 2.4 ms (1.2-4 ms), magnetic field 0.8× {10}¹⁴ G (0.2{--}1.8× {10}¹⁴ G), ejecta mass 4.8 {M}_⊙ (2.2-12.9 {M}_⊙ ), and kinetic energy 3.9× {10}⁵¹ erg (1.9{--}9.8× {10}⁵¹ erg). This significantly narrows the parameter space compared to our uninformed priors, showing that although the magnetar model is flexible, the parameter space relevant to SLSNe is well constrained by existing data. The requirement that the instantaneous engine power is ∼10⁴⁴ erg at the light-curve peak necessitates either large rotational energy (P < 2 ms), or more commonly that the spin-down and diffusion timescales be well matched. We find no evidence for separate populations of fast- and slow-declining SLSNe, which instead form a continuum in light-curve widths and inferred parameters. Variations in the spectra are explained through differences in spin-down power and photospheric radii at maximum light. We find no significant correlations between model parameters and host galaxy properties. Comparing our posteriors to stellar evolution models, we show that SLSNe require rapidly rotating (fastest 10%) massive stars (≳ 20 {M}_⊙ ), which is consistent with their observed rate. High mass, low metallicity, and likely binary interaction all serve to maintain rapid rotation essential for magnetar formation. By reproducing the full set of light curves, our posteriors can inform photometric searches for SLSNe in future surveys.

We report the first evidence for isospin violation in B →K^*γ and the first measurement of the difference of C P asymmetries between B⁺→K^*+γ and B⁰→K^*0γ . This analysis is based on the data sample containing 772 ×10⁶B B ¯ pairs that was collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB energy-asymmetric e⁺e^- collider. We find evidence for the isospin violation with a significance of 3.1 σ , Δ_{0 +}=[+6.2 ±1.5 (stat )±0.6 (syst )±1.2 (f_+-/f₀₀)]%, where the third uncertainty is due to the uncertainty on the fraction of B⁺B^- to B⁰B^¯0 production in ϒ (4 S ) decays. The measured value is consistent with predictions of the standard model. The result for the difference of C P asymmetries is Δ A_{C P}=[+2.4 ±2.8 (stat )±0.5 (syst )]% , consistent with zero. The measured branching fractions and C P asymmetries for charged and neutral B meson decays are the most precise to date. We also calculate the ratio of branching fractions of B⁰→K^*0γ to B_s⁰→ϕ γ .

We imaged with ALMA and ARGOS/LUCI the molecular gas and the dust and stellar continuum in XID2028, an obscured QSO at z=1.593, where the presence of a massive outflow in the ionized gas component traced by the [O III]5007 emission has been resolved up to 10 kpc. This target does represent a unique test case to study QSO 'feedback in action' at the peak epoch of AGN- galaxy coevolution. The QSO has been detected both in the CO(5-4) transition and in the 1.3mm continuum, with emissions confined in the central ( < 4 kpc) radius area. Our analysis suggests the presence of a fast rotating molecular disc ( ∼ 400 km/s) on very compact scales, and well inside the galaxy extent seen in the rest-frame optical light ( ∼ 10 kpc, as inferred from the LUCI data). Adding available measurements in additional two CO transitions, we could derive a total gas mass of ∼ 10^10 Msun , thanks to a critical assessment of CO excitation and the comparison with Rayleigh-Jeans continuum estimate. This translates into a very low gas fraction ( < 5%) and depletion time scales of 35-80 Myr, reinforcing the result of atypical gas consumption conditions in XID2028, possibly due to feedback effects on the host galaxy. Finally, we observe an asymmetric profile of the CO(5-4) line, which suggests the presence of high velocity gas up to 700 km/s. An image of the blueshfited and redshifted CO wings provides the first detection of a spatially resolved, galaxy-scale molecular outflow at high-z, extended in opposite directions with the approaching component spatially coincident with the ionised gas outflow. The resolved, molecular outflow appear to be cospatial with the component observed int the ionised gas. XID2028 therefore represents the first example of molecular and ionised kpc scales outflows at high-z.

We show that dual conformal symmetry, mainly studied in planar N =4 super-Yang-Mills theory, has interesting consequences for Feynman integrals in nonsupersymmetric theories such as QCD, including the nonplanar sector. A simple observation is that dual conformal transformations preserve unitarity cut conditions for any planar integrals, including those without dual conformal symmetry. Such transformations generate differential equations without raised propagator powers, often with the right-hand side of the system proportional to the dimensional regularization parameter ɛ . A nontrivial subgroup of dual conformal transformations, which leaves all external momenta invariant, generates integration-by-parts relations without raised propagator powers, reproducing, in a simpler form, previous results from computational algebraic geometry for several examples with up to two loops and five legs. By opening up the two-loop three- and four-point nonplanar diagrams into planar ones, we find a nonplanar analog of dual conformal symmetry. As for the planar case, this is used to generate integration-by-parts relations and differential equations. This implies that the symmetry is tied to the analytic properties of the nonplanar sector of the two-loop four-point amplitude of N =4 super-Yang-Mills theory.

Flavor effects can have a significant impact on the final estimate of the lepton (and therefore baryon) asymmetry in scenarios of leptogenesis. It is therefore necessary to account fully for this flavor dynamics in the relevant transport equations that describe the production (and washout) of the asymmetry. Doing so can both open up and restrict viable regions of parameter space relative to the predictions of more approximate calculations. In this review, we identify the regimes in which flavor effects can be relevant and illustrate their impact in a number of phenomenological models. These include type I and type II seesaw embeddings, and low-scale resonant scenarios. In addition, we provide an overview of the semi-classical and field-theoretic methods that have been developed to capture flavor effects in a consistent way.

Vanilla leptogenesis within the type I seesaw framework requires the mass scale of the right-handed neutrinos to be above 10^9 GeV. This lower bound can be avoided if at least two of the sterile states are almost mass degenerate, which leads to an enhancement of the decay asymmetry. Leptogenesis models that can be tested in current and upcoming experiments often rely on this resonant enhancement, and a systematic and consistent description is therefore necessary for phenomenological applications. In this review article, we give an overview of different methods that have been used to study the saturation of the resonant enhancement when the mass difference becomes comparable to the characteristic width of the Majorana neutrinos. In this limit, coherent flavor transitions start to play a decisive role, and off-diagonal correlations in flavor space have to be taken into account. We compare various formalisms that have been used to describe the resonant regime and discuss under which circumstances the resonant enhancement can be captured by simplified expressions for the CP asymmetry. Finally, we briefly review some of the phenomenological aspects of resonant leptogenesis.

We present the first threshold and jet radius jointly resummed cross section for single-inclusive hadronic jet production. We work at next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy and our framework allows for a systematic extension beyond the currently achieved precision. Long-standing numerical issues are overcome by performing the resummation directly in momentum space within soft collinear effective theory. We present the first numerical results for the LHC and observe an improved description of the available data. Our results are of immediate relevance for LHC precision phenomenology including the extraction of parton distribution functions and the QCD strong coupling constant.

We present results from large-scale numerical simulations of a first order thermal phase transition in the early Universe, in order to explore the shape of the acoustic gravitational wave and the velocity power spectra. We compare the results with the predictions of the recently proposed sound shell model. For the gravitational wave power spectrum, we find that the predicted k^-3 behavior, where k is the wave number, emerges clearly for detonations. The power spectra from deflagrations show similar features, but exhibit a steeper high-k decay and an extra feature not accounted for in the model. There are two independent length scales: the mean bubble separation and the thickness of the sound shell around the expanding bubble of the low temperature phase. It is the sound shell thickness which sets the position of the peak of the power spectrum. The low wave number behavior of the velocity power spectrum is consistent with a causal k³, except for the thinnest sound shell, where it is steeper. We present parameters for a simple broken power law fit to the gravitational wave power spectrum for wall speeds well away from the speed of sound where this form can be usefully applied. We examine the prospects for the detection, showing that a LISA-like mission has the sensitivity to detect a gravitational wave signal from sound waves with an RMS fluid velocity of about 0.05 c , produced from bubbles with a mean separation of about 10^-2 of the Hubble radius. The shape of the gravitational wave power spectrum depends on the bubble wall speed, and it may be possible to estimate the wall speed, and constrain other phase transition parameters, with an accurate measurement of a stochastic gravitational wave background.

We identify the correct power counting of all the variables in the low- q 2 window of the inclusive decay B‾→Xs within the effective theory SCET if a hadronic mass cut is imposed. Furthermore we analyse the resolved power corrections at the order 1/ m b in a systematic way. The resolved contributions – as a special feature – stay nonlocal when the hadronic mass cut is released. Thus, they represent an irreducible uncertainty independent of the hadronic mass cut.

We present a flux-limited sample of z ∼ 0.3 Lyα emitters (LAEs) from Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) grism spectroscopic data. The published GALEX z ∼ 0.3 LAE sample is pre-selected from continuum-bright objects and thus is biased against high equivalent width (EW) LAEs. We remove this continuum pre-selection and compute the EW distribution and the luminosity function of the Lyα emission line directly from our sample. We examine the evolution of these quantities from z ∼ 0.3 to 2.2 and find that the EW distribution shows little evidence for evolution over this redshift range. As shown by previous studies, the Lyα luminosity density from star-forming (SF) galaxies declines rapidly with declining redshift. However, we find that the decline in Lyα luminosity density from z = 2.2 to z = 0.3 may simply mirror the decline seen in the Hα luminosity density from z = 2.2 to z = 0.4, implying little change in the volumetric Lyα escape fraction. Finally, we show that the observed Lyα luminosity density from AGNs is comparable to the observed Lyα luminosity density from SF galaxies at z = 0.3. We suggest that this significant contribution from AGNs to the total observed Lyα luminosity density persists out to z ∼ 2.2.

Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation.

We compute the four-loop n _f contribution proportional to the quartic Casimir of the QCD cusp anomalous dimension as an expansion for small cusp angle ϕ. This piece is gauge invariant, violates Casimir scaling, and first appears at four loops. It requires the evaluation of genuine non-planar four-loop Feynman integrals. We present results up to O({φ}^4) . One motivation for our calculation is to probe a recent conjecture on the all-order structure of the cusp anomalous dimension. As a byproduct we obtain the four-loop HQET wave function anomalous dimension for this color structure.

We present an abundance analysis of seven super star clusters in the disk of M83. The near-infrared spectra of these clusters are dominated by red supergiants, and the spectral similarity in the J-band of such stars at uniform metallicity means that the integrated light from the clusters may be analyzed using the same tools as those applied to single stars. Using data from VLT/KMOS, we estimate metallicities for each cluster in the sample. We find that the abundance gradient in the inner regions of M83 is flat, with a central metallicity of [Z]=0.21+/- 0.11 relative to a solar value of Z _⊙ = 0.014, which is in excellent agreement with the results from an analysis of luminous hot stars in the same regions. Compiling this latest study with our other recent work, we construct a mass-metallicity relation for nearby galaxies based entirely on the analysis of RSGs. We find excellent agreement with the other stellar-based technique—that of blue supergiants—as well as with temperature-sensitive (“auroral” or “direct”) H II-region studies. Of all the H II-region strong-line calibrations, those that are empirically calibrated to direct-method studies (N2 and O3N2) provide the most consistent results.

We introduce a novel technique, called 'granulometry', to characterize and recover the mean size and the size distribution of H II regions from 21-cm tomography. The technique is easy to implement, but places the previously not very well-defined concept of morphology on a firm mathematical foundation. The size distribution of the cold spots in 21-cm tomography can be used as a direct tracer of the underlying probability distribution of H II region sizes. We explore the capability of the method using large-scale reionization simulations and mock observational data cubes while considering capabilities of Square Kilometre Array 1 (SKA1) low and a future extension to SKA2. We show that the technique allows the recovery of the H II region size distribution with a moderate signal-to-noise ratio from wide-field imaging (SNR ≲ 3), for which the statistical uncertainty is sample variance dominated. We address the observational requirements on the angular resolution, the field of view, and the thermal noise limit for a successful measurement. To achieve a full scientific return from 21-cm tomography and to exploit a synergy with 21-cm power spectra, we suggest an observing strategy using wide-field imaging (several tens of square degrees) by an interferometric mosaicking/multibeam observation with additional intermediate baselines ( ∼ 2-4 km) in an SKA phase 2.

Different from Milky Way-like galaxies, discs of gas-rich galaxies are clumpy. It is believed that the clumps form because of gravitational instability. However, a necessary condition for gravitational instability to develop is that the disc must dissipate its kinetic energy effectively, this energy dissipation (also called cooling) is not well understood. We propose that collisions (coagulation) between molecular clouds dissipate the kinetic energy of the discs, which leads to a dynamical cooling. The effectiveness of this dynamical cooling is quantified by the dissipation parameter D, which is the ratio between the free-fall time t_ff≈ 1/ √{G ρ _{disc}} and the cooling time determined by the cloud collision process t_cool. This ratio is related to the ratio between the mean surface density of the disc Σ_disc and the mean surface density of molecular clouds in the disc Σ_cloud. When D < 1/3 (which roughly corresponds to Σ _{disc} < 1/3 Σ _cloud), cloud collision cooling is inefficient, and fragmentation is suppressed. When D > 1/3 (which roughly corresponds to Σ_disc > 1/3Σ_cloud), cloud-cloud collisions lead to a rapid cooling through which clumps form. On smaller scales, cloud-cloud collisions can drive molecular cloud turbulence. This dynamical cooling process can be taken into account in numerical simulations as a sub-grid model to simulate the global evolution of disc galaxies.

We derive an all-order factorization theorem for the narrow jet broadening event shape, a measure of the transverse momentum in jet events. This is a non-global observable which receives logarithmically enhanced contributions associated with the large rapidity difference between soft and collinear radiation and which is also sensitive to soft recoil effects. Our work is the first factorization analysis of an observable of this type and we show that with regard to the non-global nature, the rapidity logarithms do not constitute an essential complication since they can be tied to the jet function, which is the same as for global observables. As a consequence, the leading non-global logarithms in narrow jet broadening are encoded in the same overall factor relevant for the hemisphere soft function and light jet mass.

Context. The brightness of the tip of the red giant branch is a useful reference quantity for several fields of astrophysics. An accurate theoretical prediction is needed for such purposes.
Aims: We provide a solid theoretical prediction for the brightness of the tip of the red giant branch, valid for a reference set of standard physical assumptions, and mostly independent of numerical details.
Methods: We examine the dependence on physical assumptions and numerical details for a wide range of metallicities and masses and based on two different stellar evolution codes. We adjust differences between the codes to treat the physics as identically as possible. After we have succeeded in reproducing the tip brightness between the codes, we present a reference set of models based on the most up to date physical inputs, but neglecting microscopic diffusion, and convert theoretical luminosities to observed infrared colours suitable for observations of resolved populations of stars and include analytic fits to facilitate their use.
Results: We find that consistent use of updated nuclear reactions, including an appropriate treatment of the electron screening effects, and careful time-stepping on the upper red giant branch are the most important aspects to bring initially discrepant theoretical values into agreement. Small but visible differences remain unexplained for very low metallicities and mass values at and above 1.2 M_⊙, corresponding to ages younger than 4 Gyr. The colour transformations introduce larger uncertainties than the differences between the two stellar evolution codes.
Conclusions: We demonstrate that careful stellar modelling allows an accurate prediction for the luminosity of the red giant branch tip. Differences to empirically determined brightnesses may result either from insufficient colour transformations or from deficits in the constitutional physics. We present the best-tested theoretical reference values to date.

Double neutron star (DNS) systems represent extreme physical objects and the endpoint of an exotic journey of stellar evolution and binary interactions. Large numbers of DNS systems and their mergers are anticipated to be discovered using the Square Kilometre Array searching for radio pulsars, and the high-frequency gravitational wave detectors (LIGO/VIRGO), respectively. Here we discuss all key properties of DNS systems, as well as selection effects, and combine the latest observational data with new theoretical progress on various physical processes with the aim of advancing our knowledge on their formation. We examine key interactions of their progenitor systems and evaluate their accretion history during the high-mass X-ray binary stage, the common envelope phase, and the subsequent Case BB mass transfer, and argue that the first-formed NSs have accreted at most ∼ 0.02 {M}_⊙ . We investigate DNS masses, spins, and velocities, and in particular correlations between spin period, orbital period, and eccentricity. Numerous Monte Carlo simulations of the second supernova (SN) events are performed to extrapolate pre-SN stellar properties and probe the explosions. All known close-orbit DNS systems are consistent with ultra-stripped exploding stars. Although their resulting NS kicks are often small, we demonstrate a large spread in kick magnitudes that may, in general, depend on the past interaction history of the exploding star and thus correlate with the NS mass. We analyze and discuss NS kick directions based on our SN simulations. Finally, we discuss the terminal evolution of close-orbit DNS systems until they merge and possibly produce a short γ-ray burst.

We analyze the optical continuum of star-forming galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey by fitting stacked spectra with stellar population synthesis models to investigate the relation between stellar mass, stellar metallicity, dust attenuation, and star formation rate. We fit models calculated with star formation and chemical evolution histories that are derived empirically from multi-epoch observations of the stellar mass-star formation rate and the stellar mass-gas-phase metallicity relations, respectively. We also fit linear combinations of single-burst models with a range of metallicities and ages. Star formation and chemical evolution histories are unconstrained for these models. The stellar mass-stellar metallicity relations obtained from the two methods agree with the relation measured from individual supergiant stars in nearby galaxies. These relations are also consistent with the relation obtained from emission-line analysis of gas-phase metallicity after accounting for systematic offsets in the gas-phase metallicity. We measure dust attenuation of the stellar continuum and show that its dependence on stellar mass and star formation rate is consistent with previously reported results derived from nebular emission lines. However, stellar continuum attenuation is smaller than nebular emission line attenuation. The continuum-to-nebular attenuation ratio depends on stellar mass and is smaller in more massive galaxies. Our consistent analysis of stellar continuum and nebular emission lines paves the way for a comprehensive investigation of stellar metallicities of star-forming and quiescent galaxies.

We study the mean absorption spectrum of the Damped Lyα (DLA) population at z ∼ 2.6 by stacking normalized, rest-frame-shifted spectra of ∼27,000 DLA systems from the DR12 of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS)/SDSS-III. We measure the equivalent widths of 50 individual metal absorption lines in five intervals of DLA hydrogen column density, five intervals of DLA redshift, and overall mean equivalent widths for an additional 13 absorption features from groups of strongly blended lines. The mean equivalent width of low-ionization lines increases with N _{H I} , whereas for high-ionization lines the increase is much weaker. The mean metal line equivalent widths decrease by a factor ∼1.1-1.5 from z ∼ 2.1 to z ∼ 3.5, with small or no differences between low- and high-ionization species. We develop a theoretical model, inspired by the presence of multiple absorption components observed in high-resolution spectra, to infer mean metal column densities from the equivalent widths of partially saturated metal lines. We apply this model to 14 low-ionization species and to Al III, S III, Si III, C IV, Si IV, N v, and O VI. We use an approximate derivation for separating the equivalent width contributions of several lines to blended absorption features, and infer mean equivalent widths and column densities from lines of the additional species N I, Zn II, C II*, Fe III, and S IV. Several of these mean column densities of metal lines in DLAs are obtained for the first time; their values generally agree with measurements of individual DLAs from high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectra when they are available.

The spatial distribution of oxygen in the interstellar medium of galaxies is the key to understanding how efficiently metals that are synthesized in massive stars can be redistributed across a galaxy. We present here a case study in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 1365 using 3D optical data obtained in the TYPHOON Program. We find systematic azimuthal variations of the H II region oxygen abundance imprinted on a negative radial gradient. The 0.2 dex azimuthal variations occur over a wide radial range of 0.3-0.7 R ₂₅ and peak at the two spiral arms in NGC 1365. We show that the azimuthal variations can be explained by two physical processes: gas undergoes localized, sub-kiloparsec-scale self-enrichment when orbiting in the inter-arm region, and experiences efficient, kiloparsec-scale mixing-induced dilution when spiral density waves pass through. We construct a simple chemical evolution model to quantitatively test this picture and find that our toy model can reproduce the observations. This result suggests that the observed abundance variations in NGC 1365 are a snapshot of the dynamical local enrichment of oxygen modulated by spiral-driven, periodic mixing and dilution.

We use state-of-the-art chemical models to track the cosmic evolution of the CNO isotopes in the interstellar medium of galaxies, yielding powerful constraints on their stellar initial mass function (IMF). We re-assess the relative roles of massive stars, asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and novae in the production of rare isotopes such as ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹⁷O and ¹⁸O, along with ¹²C, ¹⁴N and ¹⁶O. The CNO isotope yields of super-AGB stars, novae and fast-rotating massive stars are included. Having reproduced the available isotope enrichment data in the solar neighbourhood, and across the Galaxy, and having assessed the sensitivity of our models to the remaining uncertainties, e.g. nova yields and star formation history, we show that we can meaningfully constrain the stellar IMF in galaxies using C, O and N isotope abundance ratios. In starburst galaxies, where data for multiple isotopologue lines are available, we find compelling new evidence for a top-heavy stellar IMF, with profound implications for their star formation rates and efficiencies, perhaps also their stellar masses. Neither chemical fractionation nor selective photodissociation can significantly perturb globally averaged isotopologue abundance ratios away from the corresponding isotope ones, as both these processes will typically affect only small mass fractions of molecular clouds in galaxies. Thus, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array now stands ready to probe the stellar IMF, and even the ages of specific starburst events in star-forming galaxies across cosmic time unaffected by the dust obscuration effects that plague optical/near-infrared studies.

High-quality spectra of 90 blue supergiant stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud are analyzed with respect to effective temperature, gravity, metallicity, reddening, extinction, and extinction law. An average metallicity, based on Fe and Mg abundances, relative to the Sun of [Z] = -0.35 ± 0.09 dex is obtained. The reddening distribution peaks at E(B-V) = 0.08 mag, but significantly larger values are also encountered. A wide distribution of the ratio of extinction to reddening is found ranging from {R}_{{V}} = 2 to 6. The results are used to investigate the blue supergiant relationship between flux-weighted gravity, g _f ≡ g/{T}_{eff}⁴, and absolute bolometric magnitude M _bol. The existence of a tight relationship, the Flux-weighted Gravity-Luminosity Relationship (FGLR), is confirmed. However, in contrast to previous work, the observations reveal that the FGLR is divided into two parts with a different slope. For flux-weighted gravities larger than 1.30 dex, the slope is similar to that found in previous work, but the relationship becomes significantly steeper for smaller values of the flux-weighted gravity. A new calibration of the FGLR for extragalactic distance determinations is provided.

We analyze the prospects for resonant di-Higgs production searches at the LHC in the b b ¯W⁺W^- (W⁺→ℓ⁺ν_ℓ, W^-→ℓ^-ν_¯ℓ) channel, as a probe of the nature of the electroweak phase transition in Higgs portal extensions of the Standard Model. In order to maximize the sensitivity in this final state, we develop a new algorithm for the reconstruction of the b b ¯W⁺W^- invariant mass in the presence of neutrinos from the W decays, building from a technique developed for the reconstruction of resonances decaying to τ⁺τ^- pairs. We show that resonant di-Higgs production in the b b ¯W⁺W^- channel could be a competitive probe of the electroweak phase transition already with the data sets to be collected by the CMS and ATLAS experiments in run 2 of the LHC. The increase in sensitivity with larger amounts of data accumulated during the high-luminosity LHC phase can be sufficient to enable a potential discovery of the resonant di-Higgs production in this channel.

We perform a comprehensive analysis of scalar contributions in b → cτν transitions including the latest measurements of R (^{D (*)}), the q² differential distributions in B →^{D (*)} τν, the τ polarization asymmetry for B →D^* τν, and the bound derived from the total width of the B_c meson. We find that scalar contributions with the simultaneous presence of both left- and right-handed couplings to quarks can explain the available data, specifically R (^{D (*)}) together with the measured differential distributions. However, the constraints from the total B_c width present a slight tension with the current data on B →D^* τν in this scenario, preferring smaller values for R (D^*). We discuss possibilities to disentangle scalar new physics from other new-physics scenarios like the presence of only a left-handed vector current, via additional observables in B →^{D (*)} τν decays or additional decay modes like the baryonic Λ_b →Λ_c τν and the inclusive B →X_c τν decays. We also analyze scalar contributions in b → uτν transitions, including the latest measurements of B → τν, providing predictions for Λ_b → pτν and B → πτν decays. The potential complementarity between the b → u and b → c sectors is finally investigated once assumptions about the flavour structure of the underlying theory are made.