We report on a search for sub-GeV dark matter (DM) particles interacting with electrons using the DAMIC-M prototype detector at the Modane Underground Laboratory. The data feature a significantly lower detector single <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>e</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo></mrow></msup></mrow></math> rate (factor 50) compared to our previous search, while also accumulating a 10 times larger exposure of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mo>∼</mo><mn>1.3</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>kg</mi><mtext>−</mtext><mi>day</mi></mrow></math>. DM interactions in the skipper charge-coupled devices (CCDs) are searched for as groups of two or three adjacent pixels with a total charge between 2 and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>4</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>−</mo></msup></math>. We find 144 candidates of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mn>2</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><msup><mrow><mi>e</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo></mrow></msup></mrow></math> and 1 candidate of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mn>4</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><msup><mrow><mi>e</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo></mrow></msup></mrow></math>, where 141.5 and 0.071, respectively, are expected from background. With no evidence of a DM signal, we place stringent constraints on DM particles with masses between 1 and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mn>1000</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>MeV</mi><mo>/</mo><msup><mrow><mi>c</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math> interacting with electrons through an ultralight or heavy mediator. For large ranges of DM masses below <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mn>1</mn><mtext> </mtext><mi>GeV</mi><mo>/</mo><msup><mrow><mi>c</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math>, we exclude theoretically motivated benchmark scenarios where hidden-sector particles are produced as a major component of DM in the Universe through the freeze-in or freeze-out mechanisms.

United States

K. Aggarwal

I. Arnquist

Argentina

N. Avalos

France

X. Bertou

Spain

N. Castelló-Mor

A.E. Chavarria

J. Cuevas-Zepeda

A. Dastgheibi-Fard

C. De Dominicis

O. Deligny

J. Duarte-Campderros

E. Estrada

R. Gaïor

Switzerland

E.L. Gkougkousis

T. Hossbach

L. Iddir

B.J. Kavanagh

B. Kilminster

A. Lantero-Barreda

Canada

I. Lawson

A. Letessier-Selvon

H. Lin

P. Loaiza

A. Lopez-Virto

R. Lou

K.J. McGuire

S. Munagavalasa

J. Noonan

D. Norcini

S. Paul

P. Privitera

P. Robmann

B. Roach

M. Settimo

R. Smida

M. Traina

R. Vilar

R. Yajur

D. Venegas-Vargas

C. Zhu

Y. Zhu

Probing Benchmark Models of Hidden-Sector Dark Matter with DAMIC-M

Non-geometric flux vacua have recently been revisited, leading to the remarkable discovery of isolated 4D $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 supersymmetric Minkowski vacua. These constructions rely on the non-renormalization of the superpotential, which is supported by heuristic arguments. Given the significance of verifying the existence of these isolated M-theory-like vacua, we present alternative symmetry-based arguments that arrive at the same conclusion. Additionally, we leverage these symmetries to argue for the existence of unstable dS solutions as well as supersymmetric AdS solutions.

Shi Chen

Damian Heisteeg

Cumrun Vafa

Symmetries and M-theory-like vacua in four dimensions

We study higher-derivative corrections to the graviton scattering amplitude in M-theory, via the stress tensor correlator of 3d $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 8 U($\textit{N}$) × U($\textit{N}$) ABJM theory (dual to graviton scattering in M-theory on AdS × $\textit{S}$ /$\textit{ℤ}$ ). We use the conformal bootstrap combined with an integral constraint derived from supersymmetric localization in order to constrain semishort OPE coefficients appearing in the stress tensor correlator. We obtain islands that are significantly more precise than those in previous studies that did not use the integral constraint. Using these islands, we can estimate the powers and coefficients in a large central charge expansion. This allows us to accurately read off the N LO contribution, from the protected $\textit{D}$ $\textit{R}$ correction, and also estimate the N LO contribution, from the unprotected $\textit{D}$ $\textit{R}$ correction.

United Kingdom

Shai Chester

Ross Dempsey

Silviu Pufu

Higher-derivative corrections in M-theory from precision numerical bootstrap

The chiral worldvolume theory of an M-theory boundary (the so-called M9 brane) is uniquely determined by supersymmetry and anomaly inflow. In this brief note we investigate whether alternative chiral boundary field contents may be allowed by anomaly cancellation once supersymmetry is dropped. Even then, anomaly inflow places stringent constraints on the gauge group $\textit{G}$ and matter content of the boundary worldvolume theory, which we determine explicitly. We find the most general solution to these constraints in the case where all matter fields are of the same chirality, for all simple Lie algebras except $$ {\mathfrak{sp}}_2 $$ , $$ {\mathfrak{su}}_{n\le 5} $$ , and $$ {\mathfrak{so}}_n $$ with 7 ≤ $\textit{n}$ ≤ 12, and find no solutions other than the supersymmetric $\textit{E}$ boundary of Hořava and Witten. However, when we extend our search to allow for any chirality in the matter fields, we find one minimal solution with gauge group $\textit{G}$ , charged matter in the 14, 27 and 77 representations, which satisfies all constraints in a non-trivial way. Therefore, it could in principle describe the low-energy theory of a novel nonsupersymmetric M-theory boundary condition, different from the Hořava-Witten proposal. We briefly discuss some consequences if this was indeed the case, such as the existence of a non-supersymmetric, exotic “$\textit{G}$ -string” CFT in 6d, and a novel, non-perturbative, heterotic-like 10d string with gauge group $\textit{G}$ × $\textit{G}$ .

Miguel Montero

not found

Mexico

Luis Zapata

M-theory boundaries beyond supersymmetry

We explore the impact of loop effects on positivity in effective field theories emerging in the infrared from unitary and causal microscopic dynamics. Focusing on massless particles coupled to gravity, we address the treatment of forward-limit divergences from loop discontinuities and establish necessary conditions for maintaining computational control in perturbation theory. While loop effects remain small, ensuring consistency in our approach leads to a significant impact on bounds, even at tree level.

Carl Beadle

Giulia Isabella

Davide Perrone

Sara Ricossa

Francesco Riva

Italy

Francesco Serra

The EFT bootstrap at finite $\textit{M}$

Germany

G. Buchalla

M. Capozi

A. Celis

G. Heinrich

Australia

L. Scyboz

Erratum: Higgs boson pair production in non-linear Effective Field Theory with full $\textit{m}$

The current projected sensitivity on the electromagnetic coupling <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>α</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>em</mi></mrow></msub><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>m</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>Z</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow></math> represents a bottleneck for the precision electroweak program at FCC-ee. We propose a novel methodology to extract this coupling directly from <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>Z</mi></math>-pole data. By comparing the differential distribution of electrons, muons, and positrons in the forward region, the approach achieves a projected statistical sensitivity below the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msup><mn>10</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>5</mn></mrow></msup></math> level, representing a significant improvement over other methods. We assess the impact of leading parametric uncertainties including that of the top quark mass.

CERN

Marc Riembau

Precise Extraction of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>α</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>em</mi></mrow></msub><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>m</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>Z</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow></math> at the Tera-<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>Z</mi></math> Stage of a Future Circular Collider

We propose a novel method to determine the strong coupling of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and fix its running behavior at all scales by using the Bjorken sum rules (BSR). The BSR defines an effective coupling <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msubsup><mrow><mi>α</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>s</mi></mrow><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>g</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>1</mn></mrow></msub></mrow></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>Q</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow></math> which includes the nonperturbative higher-twist corrections and perturbative QCD (pQCD) corrections to the leading-twist part. For the leading-twist part of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msubsup><mi>α</mi><mi>s</mi><msub><mi>g</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>Q</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></math>, we adopt the infinite-order scale-setting procedure of the principle of maximum conformality (<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>PMC</mi><mi>∞</mi></msub></math>) to deal with its pQCD corrections, which reveals the intrinsic conformality of the series and eliminates conventional renormalization scheme-and-scale ambiguities. Using the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>PMC</mi><mi>∞</mi></msub></math> approach, we not only eliminate the first kind of residual scale dependence due to uncalculated higher-order terms, but also resolve the previous “self-consistency problem.” The light-front holographic QCD model is used for <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msubsup><mi>α</mi><mi>s</mi><msub><mi>g</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>Q</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></math> in the infrared region, which also reveals a conformal behavior at <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>Q</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mn>0</mn></math>. As a combination, we obtain a precise <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msubsup><mi>α</mi><mi>s</mi><msub><mi>g</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>Q</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></math> at all scales, which matches well with the known experimental data with <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>p</mi></math>-value <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mo>∼</mo><mn>98</mn><mo>%</mo></math>, and determines the strong coupling constant at the scale <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>M</mi><mi>Z</mi></msub></math>, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>α</mi><mi>s</mi></msub><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><msub><mi>M</mi><mi>Z</mi></msub><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mo>=</mo><mn>0.122</mn><msubsup><mn>0</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>0.0012</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo><mn>0.0011</mn></mrow></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</mi><mi>κ</mi><msubsup><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mrow><mo>+</mo><mn>0.0007</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>0.0046</mn></mrow></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mrow><mi>the</mi><mo>.</mo></mrow><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></math>, where the first error comes from <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</mi><mi>κ</mi></math> of LFHQCD model and the second error is from the second kind of residual scale dependence.

China

Qing Yu

Xing-Gang Wu

Hua Zhou

Jian-Ming Shen

Determination of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>α</mi><mi>s</mi></msub><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><msub><mi>M</mi><mi>Z</mi></msub><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></math> via a high-precision effective coupling <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msubsup><mi>α</mi><mi>s</mi><msub><mi>g</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></msubsup><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>Q</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></math>

The low-energy, finite-volume spectrum of the two-nucleon system at a quark mass corresponding to a pion mass of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>m</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>π</mi></mrow></msub><mo>≈</mo><mn>806</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>MeV</mi></mrow></math> is studied with lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD) using variational methods. The interpolating-operator sets used in [Variational study of two-nucleon systems with lattice QCD, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.107.094508">Phys. Rev. D 107, 094508 (2023)</a>.] are extended by including a complete basis of local hexaquark operators, as well as plane-wave dibaryon operators built from products of both positive- and negative-parity nucleon operators. Results are presented for the isosinglet and isotriplet two-nucleon channels. In both channels, noticeably weaker variational bounds on the lowest few energy eigenvalues are obtained from operator sets which contain only hexaquark operators or operators constructed from the product of two negative-parity nucleons, while other operator sets produce low-energy variational bounds which are consistent within statistical uncertainties. The consequences of these studies for the LQCD understanding of the two-nucleon spectrum are investigated.

William Detmold

Marc Illa

William I. Jay

Assumpta Parreño

Robert J. Perry

Phiala E. Shanahan

Michael L. Wagman

Constraints on the finite volume two-nucleon spectrum at <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><msub><mi>m</mi><mi>π</mi></msub><mo>≈</mo><mn>806</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>MeV</mi></math>

We compute next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>1</mn><mo>/</mo><msubsup><mi>m</mi><mi>b</mi><mn>2</mn></msubsup></math> terms of the heavy quark expansion, for the contribution to inclusive nonleptonic bottom hadron decays, induced by the charged-current operators mediating the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>b</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mi>c</mi><mover accent="true"><mi>c</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover><mi>s</mi></math> transition. Their contributions to the lifetimes are Cabibbo favored and have large Wilson coefficients, but they have not been computed before, since the presence of two heavy quarks in the final state makes this calculation technically demanding. This work adds the last missing piece of the full NLO terms at <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mn>1</mn><mo>/</mo><msubsup><mi>m</mi><mi>b</mi><mn>2</mn></msubsup></math> in the heavy quark expansion of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>B</mi></math>-hadron lifetimes. We obtain analytical results with full dependence on the final-state charm quark mass.

Thomas Mannel

Daniel Moreno

Alexei A. Pivovarov

QCD corrections for subleading powers in <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mn>1</mn><mo>/</mo><msub><mrow><mi>m</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>b</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math> for the nonleptonic <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>b</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mi>c</mi><mover accent="true"><mi>c</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover><mi>s</mi></math> transition