arXiv subjects

Aleksander Filip Żarnecki

Publications and source records attributed to Aleksander Filip Żarnecki.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Searching for long-lived particles with the ILD experiment

Future e$^+$e$^-$ colliders provide a unique opportunity for long-lived particle (LLP) searches. We present a full simulation study of LLP searches using the International Large Detector (ILD), where a gaseous time projection chamber as the main tracking device provides excellent prospects for LLP searches. Signatures of displaced vertices and kinked tracks are explored. We study challenging final states involving both very soft displaced tracks and boosted, nearly collinear tracks. Backgrounds from beam-induced interactions and other Standard Model processes are considered. We present expected exclusion limits for a model-independent analyses, as well as for Higgs boson decays to LLPs, for a range of LLP lifetimes.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2026

Searches for light exotic scalar decays at the e$^+$e$^-$ Higgs factory

The physics program of the Higgs factory will focus on measurements of the 125 GeV Higgs boson, with the Higgs-strahlung process being the dominant production channel at 250 GeV. However, similar production of exotic light scalars, in a scalar-strahlug process, is still not excluded by the existing experimental data, provided their coupling to the SM gauge bosons is sufficiently suppressed. This was selected as one of the focus topics of the ECFA Higgs/Top/EW factory study. Presented are the expected cross section limits from the search in the $b\,\bar{b}$ decay channel, based on a full simulation of the International Large Detector (ILD), as well as the expected sensitivity in $τ^+τ^-$ and invisible decay channels, based on the fast simulation in the Delphes framework, assuming 250 GeV ILC running scenario.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2026

Searches for the leptophilic Z' boson at the International Linear Collider and Linear Collider Facility

Production of the leptophilic Z' boson at future colliders was proposed as one of the benchmark Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) scenarios for the Physics Briefing Book prepared for the 2026 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. Presented in this contributions are results on the sensitivity of the experiments at the International Linear Collider (ILC) and at the Linear Collider Facility (LCF) at CERN to the considered scenario. Studied as a function of the Z' boson mass is the expected signal in the di-muon decay channel, which is expected to have the highest sensitivity. Signal and background simulation in WHIZARD includes effects of multi-photon emission and initial state radiation (ISR), with proper matching between ISR and matrix element domains. Expected limits on the Z' couplings to SM leptons are presented for ILC and LCF running at 250 GeV and LCF running at 550 GeV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2025

To build or not to build: FCC

This is my individual contribution to the discussions ongoing on the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. After participating in many discussions and contributing to a number of documents being prepared for the ESPP submission, I came to the conclusion that these ``official'' documents do not give the whole picture. I wanted to express my concerns about the strategy update process and the possible choice of FCC as the next flagship project at CERN. I do hope my short contribution is found relevant by those interested in the strategy update process.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Determination of the first-generation quark couplings at the Z-pole

Electroweak Precision Measurements are stringent tests of the Standard Model and sensitive probes to New Physics. Accurate studies of the $Z$-boson couplings to the first-generation quarks, which are currently constrained from LEP data to a few percent, could reveal potential discrepancies from the theory predictions. Future $e^+e^-$ colliders running at the $Z$-pole would be an excellent tool for an analysis based on a comparison of radiative and non-radiative $Z$ boson decays. In this paper, we present a method to extract the values of the $Z$ couplings to light quarks and discuss the uncertainty of the measurement, including contributions from various systematic effects. We show that systematic uncertainty in the heavy-flavour tagging performance is the key factor in the analysis and reducing it to a sub-permille level might be crucial to fully profit from the high luminosity of future $e^+e^-$ machines. The measurement could improve the LEP results by at least an order of magnitude.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

New developments in the Whizard event generator

We give a status report on new developments within the Whizard event generator. Important new features comprise NLO electroweak automation (incl. extension to BSM processes like SMEFT), loop-induced processes and new developments in the UFO interface. We highlight work in progress and further plans, such as the implementation of electroweak PDFs, photon radiation, the exclusive top threshold and features for exotic new physics searches.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Longitudinal structure optimization for the high density electromagnetic calorimeter

High density electromagnetic sandwich calorimeters with high readout granularity are considered for many future collider and fix-target experiments. Optimization of the calorimeter structure from the point of view of the electromagnetic shower energy, position and direction measurement is one of the key aspects of the design. However, mostly uniform sampling structures were considered so far. We developed a semi-analytical approach to study calorimeter performance based on the detailed Geant 4 simulation, which also allows to compare the expected performance for different non-uniform longitudinal readout structures. For multi-objective optimization, procedure based on the genetic algorithm is complemented with non dominated sorting algorithm. This methodology opens new prospects for calorimeter design optimization directly addressing specific measurement scenarios or optimization goals.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Prospects for light exotic scalar measurements at the e$^+$e$^-$ Higgs factory

The physics program of the Higgs factory will focus on measurements of the 125 GeV Higgs boson, with the Higgs-strahlung process being the dominant production channel at 250 GeV. However, production of extra light scalars is still not excluded by the existing experimental data, provided their coupling to the gauge bosons is sufficiently suppressed. Fermion couplings of such a scalar could also be very different from the SM predictions leading to non-standard decay paterns. Presented in this contribution are results from the ongoing studies on prospects of direct light scalar observation at future Higgs factory experiments in different decay channels.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Precise measurement of light-quark electroweak couplings at future colliders

Electroweak Precision Measurements are stringent tests of the Standard Model and sensitive probes to New Physics. Accurate studies of the Z-boson couplings to the first-generation quarks could reveal potential discrepancies between the fundamental theory and experimental data. Future lepton colliders offering high statistics of Z bosons would be an excellent tool to perform such a measurement based on comparison of radiative and non-radiative hadronic decays of the Z boson. Due to the difference in quark charge, the relative contribution of the events with final-state radiation (FSR) directly reflects the ratio of up- and down-type quark decays. Such an analysis requires a proper distinction between photons coming from different sources, including initial-state radiation (ISR), FSR, parton showers and hadronisation. In our talk, we will show how to extract the values of the Z couplings to quarks and present preliminary results of the analysis for ILC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Discriminating Majorana and Dirac heavy neutrinos at lepton colliders

In this paper we investigate how well the nature of heavy neutral leptons can be determined at a future lepton collider, after its potential discovery. Considered in a simplified model are prompt decays of the neutrino in the mass range from 100 GeV to 10 TeV. We study event selection and application of multivariate analyses to determine whether such a newly discovered particle is of the Dirac or Majorana nature. Combining lepton charge and kinematic event variables, we find that the nature of a heavy neutrino, whether it is a Dirac or a Majorana particle, can be determined at 95% C.L. almost in the whole discovery range. We will briefly speculate about other than the studied channels and the robustness of this statement in more general models of heavy neutral leptons, particularly on the complementarity of high-energy electron-positron vs. muon colliders on resolving the flavor structure of heavy neutrinos.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

New developments on the WHIZARD event generator

We give a status report on new developments in the WHIZARD event generator, including NLO electroweak automation for $e^+e^-$ colliders, loop-induced processes, POWHEG matching, new features in the UFO interface and the current development for matching between exclusive photon radiation and fixed-order LO/NLO electroweak (EW) corrections. We report on several bug fixes relevant for certain aspects of the ILC250 Monte Carlo (MC) mass production, especially on the normalization of matching EPA samples with full-matrix element samples. Finally, we mention some ongoing work on efficiency improvements regarding parallelization of matrix elements and phase space sampling, as well as plans to revive the top threshold simulation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Prospects for light Higgs measurements at the 250 GeV ILC

A light Higgs boson, with mass of the order of 100 GeV, is still not excluded by the existing experimental data, provided its coupling to gauge bosons is strongly suppressed compared to a SM-like Higgs boson at the same mass. Also other couplings of such a scalar could be very different from the SM predictions leading to non-standard decay paterns. Considered in the presented study is the feasibility of direct observation of the 96 GeV Higgs boson of N2HDM model with dominant decays to tau lepton pairs.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Optimal search reach for heavy neutral leptons at a muon collider

Neutrinos are the most elusive particles known. Heavier sterile neutrinos mixing with the standard neutrinos might solve the mystery of the baryon asymmetry of the universe. In this letter, we show that among all future energy frontier accelerators, muon colliders will provide the farthest search reach for such neutrinos for mass ranges above the $Z$ pole into the multi-TeV regime. We compare the performance of muon with electron colliders of the same machine energy and briefly discuss the complementarity in flavor space between the two types of accelerators.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Heavy neutrinos at future linear e$^+$e$^-$ colliders

Neutrinos are among the most mysterious particles in nature. Their mass hierarchy and oscillations, as well as their antiparticle properties, are being intensively studied in experiments around the world. Moreover, in many models of physics beyond the Standard Model, the baryon asymmetry or the dark matter density in the Universe are explained by introducing new species of neutrinos. Among others, heavy neutrinos of Dirac or Majorana nature were proposed to solve open questions in High Energy Physics. Such neutrinos with masses above the EW scale could be produced at future linear e$^+$e$^-$ colliders, like the Compact LInear Collider (CLIC) or the International Linear Collider (ILC). We studied the possibility of observing decays of heavy Dirac and Majorana neutrinos in the $qq\ell$ final state with ILC running at 500 GeV and 1 TeV, and CLIC at 3 TeV. The analysis is based on the Whizard event generation and fast simulation of detector response with Delphes. Neutrinos with masses from 200 GeV to 3.2 TeV were considered. We estimated the limits on the production cross sections, interpreted them in terms of the neutrino-lepton coupling parameter $V_{\ell N}^{2}$ (effectively the neutrino mixing angle) and compared them with current limits coming from the LHC running at 13 TeV, as well as the expected limits from future hadron colliders. The limits for the future lepton colliders, extending down to the coupling values of $10^{-7} - 10^{-6}$, are stricter than any other limit estimates published so far.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Limits on the flux of nuclearites and other heavy compact objects from the "Pi of the Sky" project

Many theories predict the existence of very heavy compact objects, that in terms of sizes would belong to the realms of nuclear or atomic physics, but in terms of masses could extend to the macroscopic world, reaching kilograms, tonnes or more. If they exist, it is likely that they reach our planet with high speeds and cross the atmosphere. Due to their high mass to size ratio and huge energy, in many cases, they would leave behind a trail in the form of sound and seismic waves, etches, or light in transparent media. Here we show results of a search for such objects in visual photographs of the sky taken by the "Pi of the Sky" experiment, illustrated with the most stringent limits on the isotropic flux of incoming so-called nuclearites, spanning between $5.4\cdot10^{-20}$ and $2.2\cdot10^{-21}\ \mathrm{cm}^{-2} \mathrm{s}^{-1} \mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ for masses between 100 g and 100 kg. In addition we establish a directional flux limit under an assumption of static "sea" of nuclearites in the Galaxy, which spans between $1.5\cdot10^{-18}$ and $2.1\cdot10^{-19}\ \mathrm{cm}^{-2} \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ in the same mass range. The general nature of the limits presented should allow one to constrain many specific models predicting the existence of heavy compact objects and both particle physics and astrophysical processes leading to their creation, and their sources.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Sensitivity of CLIC at 380 GeV to the top FCNC decay $t\rightarrow cH$

In the Standard Model (SM), flavour changing neutral current (FCNC) top decays, possible at loop level only, are very strongly suppressed. Observation of any such decay would be a direct signature of physics beyond the SM. Large enhancements are possible in many "new physics" scenarios and the largest enhancement is in most cases expected for the $t\rightarrow cH$ decay. A full study for CLIC was based on the WHIZARD simulation of FCNC top decays within the 2HDM(III) model. Beam polarization and beam-induced background were taken into account. Top pair production events with the FCNC decay $t\rightarrow cH$ can be identified based on kinematic constrains and flavour tagging information. Due to a large overlap in the kinematic space with standard top pair events, the final signal selection-efficiency is small, at the 10% level. Expected limits on $BR(t\rightarrow cH)\times BR(H\rightarrow b\bar{b})$ are compared with earlier results based on parton level simulation.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2008

Searches for Contact Interactions at HERA

The H1 and ZEUS collaborations at HERA have searched for signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model with high Q^2 neutral current deep inelastic electron-proton and positron-proton scattering events. No significant deviations from Standard Model predictions were observed. Various eeqq contact nteraction models have been considered. Limits on the compositeness scale in general eeqq contact interaction models, mass to the Yukawa coupling ratio for heavy leptoquarks, the effective Planck mass scale in models with large extra dimensions and the effective quark charge radius are presented.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2008

Leptoquarks and Contact Interactions at LeHC

The sensitivity of LeHC to different models of "new physics" has been studied, both for the resonance production and in the contact interaction approximation. Expected limits are compared for different running scenarios. Direct leptoquark production can be studied for masses up to about 2 TeV. For contact interaction models scales up to about 70 TeV can be explored. Significant improvement of existing limits is also expected for models with large extra dimensions. Effective Plank mass scales up to about 5.4 TeV can be probed. LeHC will be sensitive to the quark substructure of the order of 1E-19 m.

hep-ph↗