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Bartosz Fornal

Publications and source records attributed to Bartosz Fornal.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2020

Dark Matter Capture by Atomic Nuclei

We propose a new strategy to search for a particular type of dark matter via nuclear capture. If the dark matter particle carries baryon number, as motivated by a class of theoretical explanations of the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe, it can mix with the neutron and be captured by an atomic nucleus. The resulting state de-excites by emitting a single photon or a cascade of photons with a total energy of up to several MeV. The exact value of this energy depends on the dark matter mass. We investigate the prospects for detecting dark matter capture signals in current and future neutrino and dark matter direct detection experiments.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2019

Left-Right SU(4) Vector Leptoquark Model for Flavor Anomalies

Building on our recent proposal to explain the experimental hints of new physics in $B$ meson decays within the framework of Pati-Salam quark-lepton unification, through the interactions of the $(3,1)_{2/3}$ vector leptoquark, we construct a realistic model of this type based on the gauge group ${\rm SU}(4)_L \times {\rm SU}(4)_R \times {\rm SU}(2)_L \times {\rm U}(1)'$ and consistent with all experimental constraints. The key feature of the model is that ${\rm SU}(4)_R$ is broken at a high scale, which suppresses right-handed lepton flavor changing currents at the low scale and evades the stringent bounds from searches for lepton flavor violation. The mass of the leptoquark can be as low as $10 \ {\rm TeV}$ without the need to introduce mixing of quarks or leptons with new vector-like fermions. We provide a comprehensive list of model-independent bounds from low energy processes on the couplings in the effective Hamiltonian that arises from generic leptoquark interactions, and then apply these to the model presented here. We discuss various meson decay channels that can be used to probe the model and we investigate the prospects for discovering the new gauge boson at future colliders.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2019

Comment on "Neutron lifetime and dark decay of the neutron and hydrogen''

The manuscript by Berezhiani (arXiv:1812.11089) proposes a model that has the neutron decaying into a mirror neutron with a branching fraction of 1%, alleviating the tension between neutron lifetime measurements in beam vs bottle experiments. We show that the model as proposed is inconsistent with experiment. Variations of the model may work at the expense of extreme breaking of the $Z_2$ symmetry between the Standard Model and its mirror copy.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2018

Dark Side of the Neutron?

We discuss our recently proposed interpretation of the discrepancy between the bottle and beam neutron lifetime experiments as a sign of a dark sector. The difference between the outcomes of the two types of measurements is explained by the existence of a neutron dark decay channel with a branching fraction 1%. Phenomenologically consistent particle physics models for the neutron dark decay can be constructed and they involve a strongly self-interacting dark sector. We elaborate on the theoretical developments around this idea and describe the efforts undertaken to verify it experimentally.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2018

Neutron Lifetime Discrepancy as a Sign of a Dark Sector?

We summarize our recent proposal of explaining the discrepancy between the bottle and beam measurements of the neutron lifetime through the existence of a dark sector, which the neutron can decay to with a branching fraction 1%. We show that viable particle physics models for such neutron dark decays can be constructed and we briefly comment on recent developments in this area.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2018

Grand Unified Theory with a Stable Proton

We demonstrate that a phenomenologically viable four-dimensional grand unified theory with no proton decay can be constructed. This is done in the framework of the minimal non-supersymmetric SU(5) GUT by introducing new representations and separating the physical quark and lepton fields into different multiplets. In such a theory all beyond Standard Model particles are naturally heavy, but one can tune the parameters of the model such that gauge coupling unification is achieved and some of the new particles are at the TeV scale and accessible at the LHC.

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arXiv2018

Electroweak Gauge Boson Parton Distribution Functions

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 $W^\pm$ and $Z$ transverse, longitudinal and polarized PDFs, as well as the $γZ$ transverse and polarized PDFs are presented.

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arXiv2018

Dark Matter Interpretation of the Neutron Decay Anomaly

There is a long-standing discrepancy between the neutron lifetime measured in beam and bottle experiments. We propose to explain this anomaly by a dark decay channel for the neutron, involving one or more dark sector particles in the final state. If any of these particles are stable, they can be the dark matter. We construct representative particle physics models consistent with all experimental constraints.

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arXiv2017

Baryon Number and Lepton Universality Violation in Leptoquark and Diquark Models

We perform a systematic study of models involving leptoquarks and diquarks with masses well below the grand unification scale and demonstrate that a large class of them is excluded due to rapid proton decay. After singling out the few phenomenologically viable color triplet and sextet scenarios, we show that there exist only two leptoquark models which do not suffer from tree-level proton decay and which have the potential for explaining the recently discovered anomalies in B meson decays. Both of those models, however, contain dimension five operators contributing to proton decay and require a new symmetry forbidding them to emerge at a higher scale. This has a particularly nice realization for the model with the vector leptoquark $(3,1)_{2/3}$, which points to a specific extension of the Standard Model, namely the Pati-Salam unification model, where this leptoquark naturally arises as the new gauge boson. We explore this possibility in light of recent B physics measurements. Finally, we analyze also a vector diquark model, discussing its LHC phenomenology and showing that it has nontrivial predictions for neutron-antineutron oscillation experiments.

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arXiv2017

SU(5) Unification without Proton Decay

We construct a four-dimensional SU(5) grand unified theory in which the proton is stable. The Standard Model leptons reside in the 5 and 10 irreps of SU(5), whereas the quarks live in the 40 and 50 irreps. The SU(5) gauge symmetry is broken by the vacuum expectation values of the scalar 24 and 75 irreps. All non-Standard Model fields are heavy. Stability of the proton requires three relations between the parameters of the model to hold. However, abandoning the requirement of absolute proton stability, the model fulfills current experimental constraints without fine-tuning.

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arXiv2017

Is There a Sign of New Physics in Beryllium Transitions?

We discuss the current status of the anomaly in beryllium-8 nuclear transitions recently reported in the angular distribution of internal conversion electron-positron pairs. We present a phenomenological analysis of the signal and review the models proposed to explain it, focusing on those involving a new light protophobic vector gauge boson. We also elaborate on the prospects of verifying the anomaly in present and future experiments.

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arXiv2017

Asymmetric Dark Matter and Baryogenesis from $SU(2)_{\ell}$

We propose a theory in which the Standard Model gauge symmetry is extended by a new $SU(2)_\ell$ group acting nontrivially on the lepton sector which is spontaneously broken at the TeV scale. Under this $SU(2)_\ell$ the ordinary leptons form doublets along with new lepton partner fields. This construction naturally contains a dark matter candidate, the partner of the right-handed neutrino, stabilized by a residual global $U(1)_χ$ symmetry. We show that one can explain baryogenesis through an asymmetric dark matter scenario, in which generation of related asymmetries in the dark matter and baryon sectors is driven by the $SU(2)_\ell$ instantons during a first order phase transition in the early universe.

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arXiv2017

Dark Matter and Baryogenesis from Non-Abelian Gauged Lepton Number

A simple model is constructed based on the gauge symmetry $SU(3)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y \times SU(2)_\ell$, with only the leptons transforming nontrivially under $SU(2)_\ell$. The extended symmetry is broken down to the Standard Model gauge group at TeV-scale energies. We show that this model provides a mechanism for baryogenesis via leptogenesis in which the lepton number asymmetry is generated by $SU(2)_\ell$ instantons. The theory also contains a dark matter candidate - the $SU(2)_\ell$ partner of the right-handed neutrino.

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arXiv2017

Particle Physics Models for the 17 MeV Anomaly in Beryllium Nuclear Decays

The 6.8$σ$ anomaly in excited 8Be nuclear decays via internal pair creation is fit well by a new particle interpretation. In a previous analysis, we showed that a 17 MeV protophobic gauge boson provides a particle physics explanation of the anomaly consistent with all existing constraints. Here we begin with a review of the physics of internal pair creation in 8Be decays and the characteristics of the observed anomaly. To develop its particle interpretation, we provide an effective operator analysis for excited 8Be decays to particles with a variety of spins and parities and show that these considerations exclude simple models with scalar particles. We discuss the required couplings for a gauge boson to give the observed signal, highlighting the significant dependence on the precise mass of the boson and isospin mixing and breaking effects. We present anomaly-free extensions of the Standard Model that contain protophobic gauge bosons with the desired couplings to explain the 8Be anomaly. In the first model, the new force carrier is a U(1)B gauge boson that kinetically mixes with the photon; in the second model, it is a U(1)(B-L) gauge boson with a similar kinetic mixing. In both cases, the models predict relatively large charged lepton couplings ~ 0.001 that can resolve the discrepancy in the muon anomalous magnetic moment and are amenable to many experimental probes. The models also contain vectorlike leptons at the weak scale that may be accessible to near future LHC searches.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

Dark Sectors 2016 Workshop: Community Report

This report, based on the Dark Sectors workshop at SLAC in April 2016, summarizes the scientific importance of searches for dark sector dark matter and forces at masses beneath the weak-scale, the status of this broad international field, the important milestones motivating future exploration, and promising experimental opportunities to reach these milestones over the next 5-10 years.

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arXiv2016

Protophobic Fifth Force Interpretation of the Observed Anomaly in $^8$Be Nuclear Transitions

Recently a 6.8$σ$ anomaly has been reported in the opening angle and invariant mass distributions of $e^+ e^-$ pairs produced in $^8\text{Be}$ nuclear transitions. The data are explained by a 17 MeV vector gauge boson $X$ that is produced in the decay of an excited state to the ground state, $^8\text{Be}^* \to {}^8\text{Be} \, X$, and then decays through $X \to e^+ e^-$. The $X$ boson mediates a fifth force with a characteristic range of 12 fm and has milli-charged couplings to up and down quarks and electrons, and a proton coupling that is suppressed relative to neutrons. The protophobic $X$ boson may also alleviate the current 3.6$σ$ discrepancy between the predicted and measured values of the muon's anomalous magnetic moment.

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arXiv2015

Dark Matter from Unification of Color and Baryon Number

We analyze a recently proposed extension of the Standard Model based on the SU(4) x SU(2)_L x U(1)_X gauge group, in which baryon number is interpreted as the fourth color and dark matter emerges as a neutral partner of the ordinary quarks under SU(4). We show that under well-motivated minimal flavor-violating assumptions the particle spectrum contains a heavy dark matter candidate which is dominantly the partner of the right-handed top quark. Assuming a standard cosmology, the correct thermal relic density through freeze-out is obtained for dark matter masses around 2 - 3 TeV. We examine the constraints and future prospects for direct and indirect searches for dark matter. We also briefly discuss the LHC phenomenology, which is rich in top quark signatures, and investigate the prospects for discovery at a 100 TeV hadron collider.

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