A search for the dimuon decay of the Higgs boson is presented based on <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>p</mi><mi>p</mi></math> collision data recorded by ATLAS during Run 3 of the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mn>165</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><msup><mrow><mi>fb</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math> at <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msqrt><mrow><mi>s</mi></mrow></msqrt><mo>=</mo><mn>13.6</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>TeV</mi></mrow></math>. To enhance the sensitivity, the results are combined with those from Run 2. An excess of events over the background is observed with a significance of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>3.4</mn><mi>σ</mi></math> (<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>2.5</mn><mi>σ</mi></math> expected). The best-fit signal strength is <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>μ</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>1.4</mn><mo>±</mo><mn>0.4</mn></mrow></math>. This result provides evidence for the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>H</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mi>μ</mi><mi>μ</mi></mrow></math> decay with ATLAS data and offers a direct probe of the Higgs-boson Yukawa coupling to second-generation fermions.

France

G. Aad

Norway

E. Aakvaag

United States

B. Abbott

United Arab Emirates

S. Abdelhameed

Germany

K. Abeling

N.J. Abicht

S.H. Abidi

M. Aboelela

Morocco

A. Aboulhorma

Israel

H. Abramowicz

Y. Abulaiti

Italy

B.S. Acharya

A. Ackermann

C. Adam Bourdarios

Poland

L. Adamczyk

S.V. Addepalli

United Kingdom

M.J. Addison

J. Adelman

Türkiye

A. Adiguzel

T. Adye

A.A. Affolder

Y. Afik

Spain

M.N. Agaras

A. Aggarwal

Romania

C. Agheorghiesei

F. Ahmadov

S. Ahuja

China

X. Ai

G. Aielli

A. Aikot

M. Ait Tamlihat

B. Aitbenchikh

M. Akbiyik

Sweden

T.P.A. Åkesson

A.V. Akimov

Japan

D. Akiyama

N.N. Akolkar

S. Aktas

G.L. Alberghi

Canada

J. Albert

Switzerland

U. Alberti

P. Albicocco

G.L. Albouy

S. Alderweireldt

Z.L. Alegria

CERN

M. Aleksa

I.N. Aleksandrov

C. Alexa

Greece

T. Alexopoulos

F. Alfonsi

M. Algren

M. Alhroob

Czechia

B. Ali

H.M.J. Ali

S. Ali

S.W. Alibocus

South Africa

M. Aliev

G. Alimonti

W. Alkakhi

C. Allaire

B.M.M. Allbrooke

J.S. Allen

J.F. Allen

P.P. Allport

A. Aloisio

Argentina

F. Alonso

C. Alpigiani

Z.M.K. Alsolami

A. Alvarez Fernandez

M. Alves Cardoso

M.G. Alviggi

M. Aly

Brazil

Y. Amaral Coutinho

A. Ambler

C. Amelung

M. Amerl

C.G. Ames

T. Amezza

D. Amidei

B. Amini

K. Amirie

A. Amirkhanov

Portugal

S.P. Amor Dos Santos

K.R. Amos

D. Amperiadou

S. An

C. Anastopoulos

T. Andeen

J.K. Anders

A.C. Anderson

A. Andreazza

S. Angelidakis

A. Angerami

A.V. Anisenkov

A. Annovi

C. Antel

E. Antipov

M. Antonelli

F. Anulli

M. Aoki

Evidence for the Dimuon Decay of the Higgs Boson in <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>p</mi><mi>p</mi></math> Collisions with the ATLAS Detector

The analysis of the latest most accurate experimental data on neutron decay for the possibility of the existence of the right vector boson <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msub><mi>W</mi><mi>R</mi></msub></mrow></math> is carried out. As a result of the analysis within the framework of the left-right symmetric model, it was found that there is an indication of the existence of the right vector boson <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msub><mi>W</mi><mi>R</mi></msub></mrow></math> with a mass of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msub><mi>M</mi><mrow><msub><mi>W</mi><mi>R</mi></msub></mrow></msub><mo>=</mo><msubsup><mn>304</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>20</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo><mn>24</mn></mrow></msubsup><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>GeV</mi></mrow></math>, and a mixing angle with <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msub><mi>W</mi><mi>L</mi></msub></mrow></math>: <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>ζ</mi><mo>=</mo><mo>−</mo><mn>0.039</mn><mo>±</mo><mn>0.0</mn><mn>1</mn><mn>4</mn></mrow></math>. It is shown that this result does not contradict the experiments at colliders to search for a hypothetical vector boson. In addition, it is shown that it is possible to describe the effects of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>C</mi><mi>P</mi></mrow></math> violation in decays of neutral <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>K</mi></math>-mesons and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>D</mi></math>-mesons using the parameters of the extended left-right symmetric model obtained from neutron decay, i.e., squared masses of the left and right bosons ratio and the mixing angle. The formation of baryon-lepton asymmetry of the Universe is considered within the framework of the left-right model of weak interaction with <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>C</mi><mi>P</mi></mrow></math> violation.

Russia

A.P. Serebrov

O.M. Zherebtsov

A.K. Fomin

R.M. Samoilov

N.S. Budanov

Analysis of experimental data on neutron decay for the possibility of the existence of the right vector boson <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>W</mi><mi>R</mi></msub></math>

Conformal field theory (CFT) can be placed on disparate space-time manifolds to facilitate investigations of their properties. For (<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mn>2</mn><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></math>)-dimensional [<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">D</mi></mrow></math>] theories, one useful choice is the real projective space <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msup><mi mathvariant="double-struck">RP</mi><mn>3</mn></msup></mrow></math> obtained by identifying antipodal points on the boundary sphere of a three-dimensional ball. One-point functions of scalar primary fields on this manifold generally do not vanish and encode the so-called crosscap coefficients. These coefficients also manifest on the sphere as the overlaps between certain crosscap states and CFT primary states. Taking the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">D</mi></mrow></math> Ising CFT as a concrete example, we demonstrate that crosscap coefficients can be extracted from microscopic models. We construct crosscap states in both lattice models defined on polyhedrons and continuum models in Landau levels, where the degrees of freedom at antipodal points are entangled in Bell-type states. By computing their overlaps with the eigenstates of many-body Hamiltonians, we obtain results consistent with those from conformal bootstrap. Importantly, our approach directly reveals the absolute values of crosscap overlaps, whereas bootstrap calculations typically yield only their ratios. Furthermore, we investigate the finite-size scaling of these overlaps and their evolution under perturbations away from criticality.

Jia-Ming Dong

Yueshui Zhang

Kai-Wen Huang

Hong-Hao Tu

Ying-Hai Wu

Numerical extraction of crosscap coefficients in microscopic models for <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">D</mi></mrow></math> conformal field theory

We perform a detailed study of the gravitational tidal Love numbers of extremal zero-temperature Kerr black holes. These coefficients are finite and exhibit the dissipative nature of these maximally spinning black holes. Upon considering the dynamical behavior of the tidal deformations of the extremal Kerr black holes, we provide explicit expressions of the Love numbers at low frequencies. Their calculation is simplified to specific formulas, which are directly derived using the Leaver–Mano-Suzuki-Takasugi method.

Malcolm Perry

Maria J. Rodriguez

Love numbers for extremal Kerr black holes

Long-range attractive interactions between dark matter particles can significantly enhance their annihilation, particularly at low velocities. This “Sommerfeld enhancement” is typically computed by evaluating the deformation of the two-particle wavefunction due to the long-range potential, while ignoring the physics associated with the annihilation, and then scaling the appropriate annihilation matrix elements by factors that depend on the wavefunction in the limit where the particles approach zero relative separation. It has long been recognized that this approach is a valid approximation only in the limit where the annihilation rate is small, and breaks down in the regime where the enhanced annihilation rate approaches the unitarity bound, in which case ignoring the impact of the annihilation physics on the two-particle wavefunction cannot be justified and leads to apparent violations of unitarity. In the case where the physics relevant to annihilation occurs at a parametrically shorter distance scale (higher energy scale) compared with the long-range potential, we provide a simple prescription for correcting the Sommerfeld enhancement for the effects of the short-range physics, valid for all partial waves and for systems where multiple states are coupled by the long-range potential.

Aditya Parikh

Ryosuke Sato

Tracy Slatyer

Regulating Sommerfeld resonances for multi-state systems and higher partial waves

This study investigates the performance of bent silicon crystals intended to channel hadrons in a fixed-target experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The phenomenon of planar channelling in bent crystals enables extremely high effective bending fields for positively charged hadrons within compact volumes. Particles trapped in the potential well of high-purity, ordered atomic lattices follow the mechanical curvature of the crystal, resulting in macroscopic deflections. Although the bend angle remains constant across different momenta (i.e., the phenomenon is non-dispersive), the channelling acceptance and efficiency still depend on the particle momentum. Crystals with lengths in the range of 5 to 10 cm, bent to angles between 5 and 15 mrad, are under consideration for measurements of the electric and magnetic dipole moments of short-lived charmed baryons, such as the $$\varLambda _c^+$$ . Such large deflection angles over short distances cannot be achieved using conventional magnets. The principle of inducing spin precession through bent crystals for magnetic dipole moment measurements was first demonstrated experimentally in the 1990s. Building on this concept, experimental layouts are now being explored for implementation at the LHC. The feasibility of such measurements depends, among other factors, on the availability of crystals that exhibit the required mechanical properties to reach the necessary channelling performance. To address this, a dedicated machine experiment – TWOCRYST – has been installed in the LHC to carry out beam tests in the TeV energy range. The bent crystals for TWOCRYST were fabricated and tested using both X-ray diffraction and high-momentum hadron beams at 180 GeV/c at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) extraction lines. Two crystals based on established technologies were included in this test. In addition, a crystal bent via anodic bonding was tested for the first time with high-energy hadrons to assess its potential for future accelerator applications. This paper presents an analysis of the performance of the three tested crystals and, where possible, outlines key differences in their properties attributed to the respective bending techniques.

L. Bandiera

R. Cai

S. Carsi

S. Cesare

K. Dewhurst

M. D’Andrea

D. Salvador

P. Gandini

V. Guidi

P. Hermes

G. Lezzani

L. Malagutti

D. Marangotto

C. Maccani

A. Mazzolari

A. Merli

D. Mirarchi

P. Monti-Guarnieri

C. Montanari

R. Negrello

N. Neri

M. Prest

S. Redaelli

M. Romagnoni

A. Selmi

G. Tonani

E. Vallazza

D. Veres

F. Zangari

M. Zielińska

Performance of short and long bent crystals for the TWOCRYST experiment at the Large Hadron Collider

Astrophysical evidence has hinted at the existence of a nonzero NUT charge, which breaks the $$\mathbb {Z}_2$$ symmetry of spacetime and induces novel features in geodesics. In this work, we investigate the Lense–Thirring precession of the spherical orbits in the Kerr–Taub–NUT spacetime, with particular emphasis on its connection to recent observations of black hole jet precession. We analyze the reflection symmetry breaking in trajectories of the spherical orbits and extract their precession angular velocity. It is worth noting that in the absence of spin, the spherical orbits reduce to tilted circular orbits without precession, whereas for nonzero spin, the precession angular velocity increases with the absolute value of the NUT charge. We then model the motion of particles near the warp radius of a tilted accretion disk using the spherical orbits and constrain the black hole parameter space based on the observed jet precession of M87*. The results indicate that regions with low spin and large NUT charge were excluded, and that the jet precession measurements cannot distinguish the sign of the NUT charge. The excluded region is larger for retrograde accretion disks than for prograde ones. We also find that this observation do not allow a clear distinction between black holes and naked singularities. Moreover, we also explore how black hole parameters influence the structure of accretion disk. These results have important theoretical and astronomical significance for us to deeply understand NUT space-time.

Xiang-Cheng Meng

Shan-Ping Wu

Shao-Wen Wei

Precession of spherical orbits for the spacetime without $$\mathbb {Z}_2$$ symmetry induced by NUT charge

We discuss confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi>SU</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><msub><mrow><mi>N</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>c</mi></mrow></msub><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow></math> gauge theories with fermions in the adjoint representation. There has been considerable work on studying these theories compactified on a small circle (with compactification scale <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>1</mn><mo>/</mo><mi>L</mi></math> large relative to the strong coupling scale of the theory). The weakly coupled IR theory of photons exhibits confinement through a density of magnetically charged instanton configurations. As the compactification scale <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>1</mn><mo>/</mo><mi>L</mi></math> approaches the strong coupling scale, the IR theory becomes strongly coupled. In this regime we propose a holographic description of the IR degrees of freedom. The instanton condensation scale can be associated with a scale at which the Brietenlohner-Freedman (BF) bound is violated in the model and the glueball spectrum is computed. We can also introduce the adjoint fermions which holographically display a BF bound violation associated with their running anomalous dimension. Very naively extending the perturbative results to the nonperturbative regime suggests that chiral symmetry breaking might occur ahead of confinement, but equally they may be joined phenomena. If the two phenomena are separate, then it would be useful to be able to enlarge the gap in scales. We propose adding fermions in the fundamental representation as well, which in a holographic model (that favors this separation) can greatly enlarge the gap to an order of magnitude. These results challenge the lattice community to seek such scale gaps (or their absence) to further understand the confining and chiral symmetry breaking dynamics.

Anja Alfano

Nick Evans

Wanxiang Fan

Holography for QCD with fermionic matter in the adjoint and fundamental representations

Karsten-Wilczek (KW) fermions are a popular variant of minimally doubled fermions. We construct Symanzik effective action for KW fermions, which is known to break the hypercubic symmetry of the lattice action. In this work we make the two fermionic modes, called tastes, explicit using the point-splitting proposal of Creutz and Misumi and write the KW action in terms of the taste fields We identify the symmetries of the point-split action and write down the Symanzik effective action up to dimension-5, including the divergent dimension-3, operators for both free and interacting KW fermions.

India

Kunal Shukre

Subhasish Basak

Symanzik effective action for Karsten-Wilczek minimally doubled fermions

We present a search for solar axions produced through the axion-electron coupling ($\textit{g}$ ) using data from a novel 7-GridPix detector installed at the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST). The detector, featuring ultra-thin silicon nitride windows and multiple veto systems, collected approximately 160 hours of solar tracking data between 2017–2018. Using machine learning techniques and the veto systems, we achieved a background rate of 1.06 × 10 keV cm s at a signal efficiency of about 80% in the 0.2 to 8 keV range. Analysis of the data yielded no significant excess above background, allowing us to set a new upper limit on the product of the axion-electron and axion-photon couplings of $\textit{g}$ · $\textit{g}$ < 7.35 × 10 GeV at 95% confidence level for axion masses below 10 meV. This result improves upon the previous best helioscope limit and demonstrates the potential of GridPix technology for rare event searches. Additionally, we derived a limit on the axion-photon coupling of $\textit{g}$ < 9.0 × 10 GeV at 95% CL, which, while not surpassing CAST’s best limit, provides complementary constraints on axion models.

K. Altenmüller

V. Anastassopoulos

Search for solar axions produced through the axion-electron coupling $\textit{g}$