arXiv subjects

Arun M. Thalapillil

Publications and source records attributed to Arun M. Thalapillil.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Positivity Geometry of Photon--Dark-Photon Effective Field Theories

We derive positivity bounds on the complete dimension-eight effective field theory of photons and a massless dark photon. The mixed gauge sector contains twelve CP-even Wilson coefficients and an enlarged helicity-amplitude structure. Using a modified forward-limit dispersion relation, we analytically obtain non-trivial linear and non-linear elastic positivity constraints that define a spectrahedral geometry. We analyze implications of these bounds on non-forward amplitudes and discuss where kinetic-mixing and dark-axion-portal UV completions populate this geometry.

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arXiv2026

New quantum information perspectives in the axion--photon and neutrino systems

In this work, we broach a quantum information-theoretic treatment of axion--photon mixing. Motivated by an emerging class of quantum-enhanced axion searches, we analyse the two-level single-excitation sector of axion--photon oscillations, demonstrating how the coupled dynamics naturally generate bipartite axion--photon mode entanglement. We study in detail the ensuing aspects of entanglement entropy, concurrence, negativity, quantum mutual information and discord, and capacity of entanglement, and the corresponding neutrino analogues wherever novel and previously unaddressed. In particular, we highlight the characteristic features that connect maximal axion--photon entanglement to resonant or strong-mixing conversion, and the distinct thresholds for the extremal values attained by the quantum information measures. We study aspects of the Mandelstam--Tamm and Margolus--Levitin quantum speed limits for both the axion--photon and neutrino systems. While orthogonalisation occurs only at axion--photon resonance, or at maximal neutrino mixing, where the two bounds coincide, away from these limits, the Margolus--Levitin bound is saturated at maximal conversion, while the Mandelstam--Tamm bound is generally weaker. We also study an entanglement quantum speed limit for axion--photon conversion, that separates into detuning-dominated and magnetic-mixing-dominated regimes, and find that it is saturated for a period and then the bound becomes weak. The results in this work identify the quantum resources and limiting timescales intrinsic to axion--photon conversion, and connect axion phenomenology, neutrino oscillations and quantum information theory.

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arXiv2025

Probing Exotic Astrophysical Dark objects through Astrometric Microlensing from Gaia

We present the first comprehensive study of astrometric microlensing by exotic astrophysical dark objects, focusing on two theoretically motivated models -- Q-ball and boson star. We demonstrate that these extended objects generate distinctive signatures that depart markedly from point-mass lenses like primordial black holes. The smoking-gun signature for these exotic objects is the emergence of caustics, which form when the lens radius is below a critical threshold. Crossing these caustics induces discontinuous jumps in the images-centroid trajectory, a distinctive feature of these extended dark objects. We show these patterns are sensitive to the internal mass profile, with boson stars generating larger, more prominent caustic structures than Q-balls -- enabling the models to be distinguished. Using the Gaia DR3 stellar catalogue, we forecast a high-yield discovery potential, up to $\sim 6000$ detectable astrometric microlensing events for a 10-year mission, peaking for $M \sim 1-10~M_\odot$ and $R \lesssim 10~\text{AU}$. In the absence of anomalous detections, Gaia can set powerful 90% confidence level constraints on the fractional abundance of these exotic objects, reaching $f_{\mathrm{DM}} \le 10^{-3}$ in the peak region which covers masses from $10^{-1}-10^{7}~M_{\odot}$ and radii $R<10^{6}~\text{AU}$. Crucially, these projected astrometric microlensing constraints are significantly stronger than existing photometric microlensing limits in the $1-10~M_\odot$ mass range. This work establishes astrometric microlensing with Gaia as a powerful, complementary, and near-future probe with the potential to discover exotic astrophysical dark objects.

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arXiv2025

Resurgence in the Scalar Quantum Electrodynamics Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian

We explore the ideas of resurgence and Padé-Borel resummation in the Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian of scalar quantum electrodynamics, which has remained largely unexamined in these contexts. We thereby extend the related seminal works in spinor quantum electrodynamics, while contrasting the similarities and differences in the two cases. We investigate in detail the efficacy of resurgent extrapolations starting from just a finite number of terms in the weak-field expansions of the 1-loop and 2-loop scalar quantum electrodynamics Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian. While we re-derive some of the well-known 1-loop and 2-loop contributions in representations suitable for Padé-Borel analyses, other contributions have been derived for the first time. For instance, we find a closed analytic form for the one-particle reducible contribution at 2-loop, which until recently was thought to be zero. It is pointed out that there could be an interesting interplay between the one-particle irreducible and one-particle reducible terms in the strong-field limit. The 1-loop scalar electrodynamics contribution may be effectively mapped into two copies of the spinor quantum electrodynamics, and the particle reducible contribution may be mapped to the 1-loop contribution. It is suggested that these mappings cannot be trivially used to map the corresponding resurgent structures. The singularity structures in the Padé-Borel transforms at 1-loop and 2-loop are examined in some detail. Analytic continuation to the electric field case and the generation of an imaginary part is also studied. We compare the Padé-Borel reconstructions to closed analytic forms or to numerically computed values in the full theory.

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arXiv2025

Exploring Faraday rotation signatures and population bounds for primordial magnetic black holes

Primordial black holes bearing magnetic charges may bypass the constraints imposed by Hawking radiation, thereby enabling reasonable present-day populations, even for masses below $10^{15}\, \mathrm{g} $--a range previously considered improbable. They could, therefore, conceivably contribute to a component of dark matter. We investigate novel Faraday rotation signatures exhibited by primordial magnetic black holes while also establishing new Parker-type bounds on their populations. For the latter, we bound the dark matter fraction from intergalactic magnetic fields in cosmic voids $\left(f_{\text{ DM}} \lesssim 10^{-8}\right)$ and cosmic web filaments $\left(f_{\text{ DM}} \lesssim 10^{-4}\right)$, notably eclipsing previous bounds. Exploring Faraday rotation effects, we discern a pronounced rotation of the polarization angle and the rotation measure values for extremal primordial magnetic black holes with masses $M^{\text{ex.}}_{\text{ BH}} \gtrsim 10^{-6}~ \text{M}_\odot$. This makes them potentially detectable in current observations. A comparative investigation finds that the effects are notably greater than for a neutron star, like a Magnetar, with a similar magnetic field at the surface. Moreover, the polarization angle maps for primordial magnetic black holes exhibit unique features, notably absent in other astrophysical magnetic configurations. In this context, we also introduce a simple integral measure, offering a quantitative measure for their discrimination in many scenarios. These traits potentially suggest a robust avenue for their observational detection and differentiation.

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arXiv2024

Q-balls in the sky

There may exist extended configurations in the dark matter sector that are analogues of structures in the visible sector. In this work, we explore non-topological solitonic configurations, specifically Q-balls, and study when they may form macroscopic astrophysical structures and what their distinct characteristics might be. We study in some detail theoretical bounds on their sizes and constraints on the underlying parameters, based on criteria for an astrophysical Q-ball's existence, gravitational stability and viability of solutions. Following this path, one is able to obtain novel limits on astrophysical Q-ball sizes and their underlying parameters. We also explore the gravitational lensing features of different astrophysical Q-ball profiles, which are more general than the simple thin-wall limit. It is seen that the magnification characteristics may be very distinct, depending on the actual details of the solution, even for astrophysical Q-balls having the same size and mass. Assuming that such astrophysical Q-balls may form a small component of the dark matter in the universe, we place limits on this fraction from the gravitational microlensing surveys EROS-2, OGLE-IV, HSC-Subaru and the proposed future survey WFIRST. Exploring various astrophysical Q-ball profiles and sizes, it is found that while for most intermediate masses that we consider, the dark matter fraction comprising astrophysical Q-balls is at most sub-percent, for other masses it may be significantly higher.

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arXiv2023

Deep learning techniques for Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes

Very High Energy (VHE) gamma rays and charged cosmic rays (CCRs) provide an observational window into the acceleration mechanisms of extreme astrophysical environments. One of the major challenges at Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) designed to look for VHE gamma rays, is the separation of air showers initiated by CCRs which form a background to gamma ray searches. Two other less well studied problems at IACTs are a) the classification of different primary nuclei among the CCR events and b) identification of anomalous events initiated by Beyond Standard Model particles that could give rise to shower signatures which differ from the standard images of either gamma rays or CCR showers. The problems of categorizing the primary particle that initiates a shower image, or the problem of tagging anomalous shower events in a model independent way, are problems that are well suited to a machine learning (ML) approach. Traditional studies that have explored gamma ray/CCR separation have used a multivariate analysis based on derived shower properties, which contains significantly reduced information about the shower. In our work, we address the problems outlined above by using ML architectures trained on full simulated shower images, as opposed to training on just a few derived shower properties. We illustrate the techniques of binary and multi-category classification using convolutional neural networks, and we also pioneer the use of autoencoders for anomaly detection at VHE gamma ray experiments. As a case study, we apply our techniques to the H.E.S.S. experiment. However, the real strength of the techniques that we broach here in the context of VHE gamma ray observatories, is that these methods can be applied broadly to any other IACT, such as the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), or can even be suitably adapted to CCR experiments.

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arXiv2021

Exploring millicharged dark matter components from the shadows

Dark matter sectors with hidden interactions have been of much interest in recent years. These frameworks include models of millicharged particles as well as dark sector bound states, whose constituents have electromagnetic gauge interactions. These exotic, charged states could constitute a part of the total dark matter density. In this work, we explore in some detail the various effects, on the photon sphere and shadow of spherically symmetric black holes, due to dark matter plasmas furnished by such sectors. Estimating physically viable parameter spaces for the particle physics models and taking semi-realistic astrophysical scenarios that are amenable to theoretical analyses, we point out various modifications and characteristics that may be present. Many of these effects are unique and very distinct from analogous situations with conventional baryonic plasmas, or neutral perfect fluid dark matter surrounding black holes. While in many physically viable regions of the parameter space the effects on the near-horizon regions and black hole shadows are small, in many parts of the low particle mass regions the effects are significant, and potentially measurable by current and future telescopes. Such deviations, for instance, include characteristic changes in the photon sphere and black hole shadow radii, unique thresholds for the dark matter plasma dispersion where the photon sphere or black hole shadow vanishes, and where the dark matter plasma becomes opaque to electromagnetic waves. Alternatively, we point out that a non-observation of such deviations and characteristics, in future, could put constraints on interesting regions of the particle physics parameter space.

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arXiv2021

Towards constraining triple gluon operators through tops

Effective field theory techniques provide us important tools to probe for physics beyond the Standard Model in a relatively model-independent way. In this work, we revisit the CP-even dimension-6 purely gluonic operator to investigate the possible constraints on it by studying its effect on top-pair production at the LHC, in particular the high $p_T$ and $m_{t\bar{t}}$ tails of the distribution. Cut-based analysis reveals that the scale of New Physics when this operator alone contributes to the production process is greater than 3.4 TeV at 95% C.L., which is a much stronger bound compared to the bound of 850 GeV obtained from Run-I data using the same channel. This is reinforced by an analysis using Machine Learning techniques. Our study complements similar studies that have focussed on other collider channels to study this operator.

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arXiv2019

Continuous Gravitational Waves and Magnetic Monopole Signatures from Single Neutron Stars

Future observations of continuous gravitational waves from single neutron stars, apart from their monumental astrophysical significance, could also shed light on fundamental physics and exotic particle states. One such avenue is based on the fact that magnetic fields cause deformations of a neutron star, which results in a magnetic-field-induced quadrupole ellipticity. If the magnetic and rotation axes are different, this quadrupole ellipticity may generate continuous gravitational waves which may last decades, and may be observable in current or future detectors. Light, milli-magnetic monopoles, if they exist, could be pair-produced non-perturbatively in the extreme magnetic fields of neutron stars, such as magnetars. This non-perturbative production furnishes a new, direct dissipative mechanism for the neutron star magnetic fields. Through their consequent effect on the magnetic-field-induced quadrupole ellipticity, they may then potentially leave imprints in the early stage continuous gravitational wave emissions. We speculate on this possibility in the present study, by considering some of the relevant physics and taking a very simplified toy model of a magnetar as the prototypical system. Preliminary indications are that new-born millisecond magnetars could be promising candidates to look for such imprints. Deviations from conventional evolution, and comparatively abrupt features in the early stage gravitational waveforms, distinct from other astrophysical contributions, could be distinguishable signatures for these exotic monopole states.

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arXiv2019

Novel Astrophysical Probes of Light Millicharged Fermions through Schwinger Pair Production

The extreme properties of neutron stars provide unique opportunities to put constraints on new particles and interactions. In this paper, we point out a few interesting ideas that place constraints on light millicharged fermions, with masses below around an eV, from neutron star astrophysics. The model independent bounds are obtained leveraging the fact that light millicharged fermions may be pair produced copiously via non-perturbative processes in the extreme electromagnetic environments of a neutron star, like a Magnetar. Magnetar energetics, magnetic field evolution and spin-down rates may all be influenced to various degrees by the presence of these millicharged particles.

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arXiv2019

Finite temperature Schwinger pair production in coexistent electric and magnetic fields

We compute Schwinger pair production rates at finite temperature, in the presence of homogeneous, concurrent electric and magnetic fields. Expressions are obtained using the semiclassical worldline instanton formalism, to leading order, for spin-$0$ and spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ particles. The derived results are valid for weak coupling and fields. We thereby extend previous seminal results in the literature, to coexistent electric and magnetic fields, and fermions.

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arXiv2017

Lepton-Jets and Low-Mass Sterile Neutrinos at Hadron Colliders

Sterile neutrinos, if they exist, are potential harbingers for physics beyond the Standard Model. They have the capacity to shed light on our flavor sector, grand unification frameworks, dark matter sector and origins of baryon anti-baryon asymmetry. There have been a few seminal studies that have broached the subject of sterile neutrinos with low, electroweak-scale masses (i.e. $Λ_{\text{\tiny{QCD}}} \ll m_{N_R} \ll m_{W^\pm}$) and investigated their reach at hadron colliders using lepton jets. These preliminary studies nevertheless assume background-free scenarios after certain selection criteria which are overly optimistic and untenable in realistic situations. These lead to incorrect projections. The unique signal topology and challenging hadronic environment also make this mass-scale regime ripe for a careful investigation. With the above motivations, we attempt to perform the first systematic study of low, electroweak-scale, right-handed neutrinos at hadron colliders, in this unique signal topology. There are currently no active searches at hadron colliders for sterile neutrino states in this mass range, and we frame the study in the context of the $13\,\rm{TeV}$ high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider and the proposed FCC-hh/SppC $100\,\rm{TeV}$ $pp$-collider.

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arXiv2016

Augmenting Collider Searches and Enhancing Discovery Potentials through Stochastic Jet Grooming

The jet Trimming procedure has been demonstrated to greatly improve event reconstruction in hadron collisions, by mitigating contamination due initial state radiation, multiple interactions, and event pileup. Meanwhile, Qjets -- a nondeterministic approach to tree-based jet substructure has been shown to be a powerful technique in decreasing random statistical fluctuations, yielding significant effective luminosity improvements. This manifests through an improvement in the significance $S/δB$, relative to conventional methods. Qjets also provide novel observables in many cases, like mass-volatility, that could be used to further discriminate between signal and background events. The statistical robustness and volatility observables, for tagging, are obtained simultaneously. We explore here a combination of the two techniques, and demonstrate that significant enhancements in discovery potentials may be obtained in non-trivial ways. We will illustrate this by considering a diboson resonance analysis as a case study -- enabling us to interpolate between scenarios where the gains are purely due to statistical robustness and scenarios where the gains are also reinforced by volatility variable discriminants. The former, for instance, is applicable to digluon/diquark resonances, while the latter will be of relevance to di-$W^\pm$/di-$Z^0$ resonances, where the boosted vector bosons are decaying hadronically and have an intrinsic mass scale attached to them. We argue that one can enhance signal significance and discovery potentials markedly through stochastic grooming, and help augment studies at the Large Hadron Collider and future hadron colliders.

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arXiv2013

$SU(2)\otimes SU(2)$ Gauge Extensions of the MSSM Revisited

We study an extension of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with a gauge group $SU(2)_1\otimes SU(2)_2$ breaking to $SU(2)_L$. The extra wino has an enhanced gauge coupling to the SM-like Higgs boson and, if light, has a relevant impact on the weak scale phenomenology. The low energy Higgs quartic coupling is modified both by extra $D$-term corrections and by a modification of its renormalization group evolution from high energies. At low values of $\tanβ$, the latter effect may be dominant. This leads to interesting regions of parameter space in which the model can accommodate a 125 GeV Higgs with relatively light third generation squarks and an increased $h \rightarrow γγ$ decay branching ratio, while still satisfying the constraints from electroweak precision data and Higgs vacuum stability.

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arXiv2012

Implications of sterile neutrinos for medium/long-baseline neutrino experiments and the determination of $θ_{13}$

We revisit some of the recent neutrino observations and anomalies in the context of sterile neutrinos. Based on a general parametrization motivated in the presence of sterile neutrinos, the consistency of the MINOS disappearance data with additional sterile neutrinos is discussed. We also explore the implications of sterile neutrinos for the measurement of $|U_{\mu3}|$ in this case. Regarding the determination of $|U_{e3}|$, we observe that the existence of sterile neutrinos may induce a significant modification of the $θ_{13}$ angle in neutrino appearance experiments like T2K and MINOS, over and above the ambiguities and degeneracies that are already present in 3-neutrino parameter extractions. The modification is less significant in reactor neutrino experiments like Double-CHOOZ, Daya Bay and RENO and therefore the extracted $|U_{e3}|$ value when sterile neutrinos are present is close to the one that would be obtained in the 3-neutrino case. We also conclude that the results from T2K imply a 90% C.L. lower-bound on $|U_{e3}|$, in the "$\,3+2$" neutrino case, which is still within the sensitivity of future reactor neutrino experiments like Daya Bay, and consistent with the one-$σ$ range of $\sin^22θ_{13}$ recently reported by the Double-CHOOZ experiment. Finally, we argue that for the recently determined best-fit parameters, the results in the "$\,3+1$" scenario would be very close to the medium/long baseline results obtained in the "$\,3+2$" case analyzed in this work.

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arXiv2011

Low-energy Observables and General Gauge Mediation in the MSSM and NMSSM

We study constraints on the general gauge mediation (GGM) parameter space arising from low-energy observables in the MSSM and NMSSM. Specifically, we look at the dependence of the spectra and observables on the correlation function ratios in the hidden sector where supersymmetry is presumably broken. Since these ratios are not a priori constrained by theory, current results from the muon anomalous magnetic moment and flavor physics can potentially provide valuable intuition about allowed possibilities. It is found that the muon anomalous magnetic moment and flavor-physics observables place significant constraints on the GGM parameter space with distinct dependences on the hidden sector correlation function ratios. The particle spectra arising in GGM, with the possibility of different correlation function ratios, is contrasted with common intuition from regular gauge mediation (RGM) schemes (where the ratios are always fixed). Comments are made on precision gauge coupling unification, topography of the NLSP space, correlations of the muon anomalous magnetic moment with other observables, and approximate scaling relations in sparticle masses with respect to the high-scale correlation function ratios.

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arXiv2011

Heavy Squarks at the LHC

The LHC, with its seven-fold increase in energy over the Tevatron, is capable of probing regions of SUSY parameter space exhibiting qualitatively new collider phenomenology. Here we investigate one such region in which first generation squarks are very heavy compared to the other superpartners. We find that the production of these squarks, which is dominantly associative, only becomes rate-limited at mSquark > 4(5) TeV for L~10(100) fb-1. However, discovery of this scenario is complicated because heavy squarks decay primarily into a jet and boosted gluino, yielding a dijet-like topology with missing energy (MET) pointing along the direction of the second hardest jet. The result is that many signal events are removed by standard jet/MET anti-alignment cuts designed to guard against jet mismeasurement errors. We suggest replacing these anti-alignment cuts with a measurement of jet substructure that can significantly extend the reach of this channel while still removing much of the background. We study a selection of benchmark points in detail, demonstrating that mSquark= 4(5) TeV first generation squarks can be discovered at the LHC with L~10(100)fb-1.

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