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Cheng-Wei Chiang

Publications and source records attributed to Cheng-Wei Chiang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Improved analyses of the electroweak phase transition and its phenomenology in the Georgi-Machacek model

The Georgi-Machacek model is a promising new physics scenario with isospin-triplet scalar fields, whose effects can qualitatively change the nature of the electroweak phase transition compared with the Standard Model. We examine the electroweak phase transition in this model by using the thermally resummed one-loop effective potential. We also incorporate effects of custodial symmetry breaking due to radiative corrections by evolving the couplings and classical fields according to the renormalization group equations. We identify viable parameter regions by Bayesian analysis using theoretical requirements and the latest experimental bounds. We then investigate the electroweak phase transition in the resulting parameter regions and discuss its phenomenological implications, such as Higgs boson decays into neutral gauge bosons, di-Higgs production at high-energy colliders, and stochastic gravitational waves associated with a first-order electroweak phase transition. We find that parameter points for the strong first-order electroweak phase transition can be verified by these observables at next-generation experiments.

hep-ph

A window for the mixed same-sign signature in the type-II seesaw models

The mass splitting between the doubly and singly charged members of the Higgs triplet of the type-II seesaw model is usually treated as a free parameter in the collider literature. Electroweak loops fix it to $767$ to $841$~MeV over the mass range considered here once the quartic coupling $λ_4$ is set to zero at the renormalization scale $\overlineμ= M_{H^{\pm\pm}}$. Moving that scale by a factor of two in either direction moves the loop value by $208$~MeV at $200$~GeV, falling to $42$~MeV at $1$~TeV. At the reference splitting of $852$~MeV, the transition $H^{\pm\pm} \to H^\pm W^{\pm(*)}$ takes $40\%$ ($7\%$) of the total width at the crossover triplet vacuum expectation value for a doubly charged Higgs mass of $200$~GeV ($500$~GeV). That splitting is also where the partonic counting of that rate fails. Evaluated from hadronic data, the counting overestimates the rate by a factor $1.46 \pm 0.05$ at a splitting of $852$~MeV and underestimates it by a factor $4.87 \pm 0.09$ at $200$~MeV. Whether the mixed same-sign topology survives is then a condition on $λ_4$. The same channel moves the two published exclusion boundaries in opposite directions, by $-1.4\%$ and $+24.5\%$, at the level of branching ratios and at fixed experimental acceptance.

hep-ph

Updated analysis of minimal supersymmetric SO(10) with a universal soft spectrum

We update the analysis of minimal supersymmetric SO(10) grand unification with a universal, constrained-MSSM-like soft-breaking spectrum. A pair of Yukawa matrices in the ${\bf 10} \oplus \overline{\bf 126}$ Higgs sector fixes the charged fermion masses and quark mixing, the baryon number-violating dimension-five operators that mediate proton decay, and the right-handed neutrino Majorana masses of the type-I seesaw. The simultaneously imposed constraints include: (i) gauge coupling unification and vacuum stability; (ii) dimension-five proton decay (the dimension-six gauge mode also computed and negligible), the 125-GeV Higgs mass, and the LEP chargino limit; and (iii) $μ\to eγ$, the muon $g-2$, and electric dipole moments. We perform a global scan over the soft-breaking parameters, complemented by a constrained-$μ$ cross-check that fixes the electroweakino sector from the GUT-scale boundary conditions through radiative electroweak symmetry breaking. Subject to a single effective colored-Higgs scale $M_{H_C}$ for the proton decay normalization and to a constrained-$μ$ treatment, what survives is a narrow mini-split region: heavy, multi-tens-of-TeV scalars with $m_0 \gtrsim 7.7$~TeV and $\tanβ\lesssim 9$. We also examine the fate of the lightest supersymmetric particle as a dark matter candidate, in both the universal model and its free-$μ$ non-universal-Higgs-mass extension. The surviving region is sharply bounded and testable in the coming decade, most directly by Hyper-Kamiokande proton decay and electroweakino searches, with dark matter direct detection and electric dipole moment experiments.

hep-ph

TeV-scale unification of light dark matter and neutrino mass

We demonstrate that TeV-scale heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) responsible for inverse-seesaw neutrino mass generation can simultaneously fix the cosmological abundance and decay properties of dark matter (DM). The spontaneous breaking of lepton number gives rise to a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson that serves as a light DM candidate, whose mass originates from a small explicit symmetry-breaking term. The same HNLs that generate neutrino masses produce the DM via freeze-in and mediate its decay into neutrinos, leading to a tight correlation among neutrino masses, DM relic abundance, and DM lifetime. For collider-accessible TeV-scale HNLs, the observed relic density and lifetime constraints point to sub-GeV DM, yielding observable neutrino signals at JUNO and next-generation detectors such as Hyper-Kamiokande and DUNE. This framework establishes a predictive and experimentally testable link between neutrino mass generation and DM.

hep-ph

Interpretation of LHC excesses at 95 GeV and 152 GeV in an extended Georgi-Machacek model

We analyze the excesses at 95 GeV in the light Higgs-boson searches in the di-photon decay channel reported by CMS and ATLAS, which combined are at the level of three standard deviations and are compatible with the excess in the $b\bar{b}$ final state observed at LEP, together with an excess in the di-photon channel at around 152 GeV reported based on a sideband analysis. We demonstrate that these excesses can be well described in a minimally extended Georgi-Machacek (meGM) model. This is enabled by four key features of the meGM model: (1) a natural prediction for scalar boson masses of $\lesssim$200 GeV arising from the condition to describe both the Higgs boson signal at 125 GeV and the excesses at 95 GeV, (2) the prediction for a doubly charged Higgs boson that can potentially enhance the di-photon decay rates, (3) asymmetric $WW$ and $ZZ$ couplings to neutral scalar bosons that are induced by mild custodial symmetry breaking, and (4) the approximate preservation of the electroweak $ρ$ parameter to be 1 at tree level. We show in our numerical analysis that the meGM model naturally improves the fit to the LHC data around 152 GeV when describing the excesses at 95 GeV. At the same time, the model also predicts additional light CP-odd and charged scalar bosons that can be potentially probed in future experiments, which motivates dedicated searches in the upcoming LHC runs. We also present the results of sensitivity studies for the 95 and 125 GeV Higgs-boson couplings at the HL-LHC and future $e^+e^-$ colliders, which demonstrate very interesting prospects for probing the meGM model at future colliders.

hep-ph

Dark photon dark matter constraints at the Taiwan axion search experiment with haloscope

The dark photon is a well motivated candidate for the dark matter which comprises most of the mass of our visible Universe, leading to worldwide experimental and observational efforts towards its discovery. A primary tool in this search is the cavity haloscope, which facilitates resonantly enhanced conversion to photons from both dark photons and axions. In this context, limits from axion search experiments are often directly converted into dark photon constraints, without re-analyzing the original data. However, this rescaling may not fully capture all of the relevant physics due to various reasons. By re-examining data taken by the Taiwan Axion Search Experiment with Haloscope (TASEH) experiment, we derive a world-leading constraint on the dark photon parameter space, excluding $|ε|\gtrsim2\times10^{-14}$ in the $19.46 - 19.84\,μ$eV mass range, which exceeds the na{ï}ve `rescaling limit' by roughly a factor of two. We emphasize that accounting for the scanning timing information is crucial for deriving limits for the polarized dark photon case. In the data, we also analyze a tentative signal excess with a local significance of 4.7$σ$ ($m_X \simeq 19.5\,μ$eV) that persists in the absence of a magnetic field. While this excess mimics the behavior of a dark photon signal, it has been excluded by recent results from the HAYSTAC and ORGAN-Q experiments. This case study, nevertheless, highlights the risk of discarding valid dark photon signals when relying on axion-specific magnetic field vetoes.

hep-ex

The nano-hertz and milli-hertz stochastic gravitational waves in the minimal clockwork axion model

The clockwork framework can realize TeV-scale $U(1)_{PQ}$ symmetry breaking while generating a large axion decay constant \(f_a\). We propose a minimal clockwork axion model with three scalar fields, in which two domain walls (DWs) have non-zero tension. The DW associated with one of the fields is formed following the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry breaking and subsequently collapses due to the potential bias induced by the QCD instanton. The nano-hertz stochastic gravitational waves (GWs) generated from this DW annihilation can be probed by Pulsar Timing Arrays experiments. In addition, the DW related to the other field is annihilated by a bias potential originating from higher-dimensional operators, producing a significant GW signal with a peak frequency around \(9.41\times10^{-5}\) Hz, which can be detected by the LISA, Taiji, and TianQin experiments. Constraints on the model from SN1987, dark matter overproduction, Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave background, and primordial black holes have been considered. The relic density of QCD axion dark matter can be explained through the misalignment mechanism.

hep-ph

Oblique corrections in general dark $U(1)$ models

We investigate the impact of dark Abelian gauge bosons on the electroweak precision measurements at the one-loop level. The dark gauge boson couples to the standard model fermions generally via two kinds of mixing with the electroweak gauge bosons: the kinetic mixing and the mass mixing. We solve the Schwinger-Dyson equation for the gauge boson propagators and derive a renormalization scheme-independent representation of the scattering amplitudes for four-fermion processes, including the full oblique corrections. We define the running parameters at the one-loop level and show that the leading new physics effects, including the mixing, in the electroweak precision observables can be described by the oblique parameters $S$, $T$, and $U$ as in the standard electroweak gauge theory when the new physics scale is sufficiently high and the dark gauge boson mass lies away from the $Z$ pole. We consider the dark doublet scalar boson as an example and numerically show that a novel one-loop effect can drastically change the parameter region allowed by the electroweak precision tests.

hep-ph

Doubly charged Higgs boson at same-sign lepton colliders

We investigate the search for doubly charged Higgs bosons in the Georgi-Machacek (GM) model at same-sign lepton colliders. The dominant production mode is vector boson fusion, through which the particle is singly produced and decays into a pair of same-sign $W$ bosons if the triplet vacuum expectation value is sufficiently large, as allowed in the GM model. Considering the leptonic decays of the $W$ bosons, we discuss the discovery reach of the signal and a method to extract the mass of the doubly charged Higgs boson. It is impossible to construct the transverse mass of the decay product to obtain the mass because of the neutrinos radiated from the initial-state leptons. Alternatively, we propose to make use of the invariant mass of the same-sign leptons. We perform $χ^2$ fitting using the analytical formula for the invariant mass distribution and demonstrate that this approach is effective in extracting the information on the mass. We also compare the process with pair production processes at the opposite-sign lepton colliders.

hep-ph

Dark Z-mediated dark matter with verifiable exotic scalars

In this work, we study a dark matter scenario where a dark Z boson possessing mass mixing with the SM Z boson couples to the DM candidate and serves as the portal to the SM. The UV origin of the mass mixing in the form of an extra dark Higgs doublet and a scalar dark singlet provides new exotic scalars which can constitute the final state of DM annihilation during freeze-out. We find that existing constraints on the observed Higgs coupling strength, exotic Higgs searches and dark matter observables complement each other, while future searches for exotic Higgs decays and resonant heavy scalars at HL-LHC will be sensitive to part of the allowed parameter space.

hep-ph

Probing Primordial Black Hole Formation from Domain Wall Isocurvature Perturbations: Constraints and Implications

Domain walls are topological defects produced by the spontaneous symmetry-breaking of discrete symmetry during cosmological phase transitions. Domain walls can significantly contribute to the energy density in the late-evolution stage. We propose that the density perturbations from the fluctuations in the number density of the domain walls could collapse to form primordial black holes. This mechanism becomes effective when the domain wall energy density ratio to that of the radiation reaches about 0.1 in the radiation-dominated Universe. We find that models with $Z_2$ symmetry are excluded for interpreting pulsar timing array observations on the nano-Hz gravitational wave background since this model's domain wall number density fluctuations could lead to an overabundance of the primordial black holes. Moreover, the models, which generate approximately $N\sim 10$ domain walls from the spontaneous breaking of a discrete $Z_N$ symmetry, are also subject to stringent constraints due to the overproduction of primordial black holes.

astro-ph.CO

Higgs Production Classifier using Weak Supervision

A reliable determination of the Higgs production mechanism in hadron collider experiments is essential in the program of the measurements of the Higgs couplings. We employ weak supervision, CWoLa in particular, to train deep neural networks using real data of the diphoton events, in the hope of reducing biases resulting from Monte Carlo simulations. Models based on the convolutional neural network and the transformer are tested and compared. In particular, the classification performance gets slightly better when the photon information is removed from training on the low-luminosity region of $H \to γγ$. We explicitly show that the performance can be improved when the training dataset is enlarged by data augmentation using physics-motivated methods. We further demonstrate that the trained model can be successfully applied to the $H \to ZZ$ and $H \to Zγ$ events, showing that such classifiers are agnostic to Higgs decay modes provided they do not involve strong QCD corrections.

hep-ph

Enhancing the Sensitivity for Triple Higgs Boson Searches with Deep Learning Techniques

Using two benchmark models containing extended scalar sectors beyond the Standard Model, we study deep learning techniques to enhance the sensitivity of resonant triple Higgs boson searches in the fully hadronic $6b$ channel, which suffers from the combinatorial challenge of reconstructing the Higgs bosons correctly from the multiple $b$-jets. More specifically, we employ the framework of Symmetry Preserving Attention Network (\textsc{Spa-Net}), which takes into account the permutational symmetry when a correct pairing of $b$-jets is achieved, to tackle both jet pairing and event classification. Significantly improved efficiency is achieved in signal and background discrimination. When comparing with the conventional Dense Neural Networks, \textsc{Spa-Net} results in up to 40\% more stringent limits on resonant production cross-sections. These results highlight the potential of using advanced machine learning techniques to significantly improve the sensitivity of triple Higgs boson searches in the fully hadronic channel.

hep-ph

Primordial Black Holes from Domain Wall Density Fluctuations: Bridging Gravitational Wave Observations Across Two Frequency Bands

We propose a novel mechanism for the formation of primordial black holes by demonstrating that the delayed production of isocurvature perturbations resulting from Poisson fluctuations within the domain wall network can lead to collapse and the formation of primordial black holes during the horizon crossing of domain walls. Our findings establish a statistical relationship between the number of domains and the power spectrum of the perturbations. This relationship can be employed to constrain the symmetry of the model in light of the potential overabundance of primordial black holes. Furthermore, by incorporating the effects of accretion, we demonstrate that the annihilation of the domain wall network at the QCD scale may provide a plausible common origin for gravitational wave observations across two distinct frequency bands.

astro-ph.CO

Flavor Physics at the CEPC: a General Perspective

We discuss the landscape of flavor physics at the Circular Electron-Positron Collider (CEPC), based on the nominal luminosity outlined in its Technical Design Report. The CEPC is designed to operate in multiple modes to address a variety of tasks. At the $Z$ pole, the expected production of 4 Tera $Z$ bosons will provide unique and highly precise measurements of $Z$ boson couplings, while the substantial number of boosted heavy-flavored quarks and leptons produced in clean $Z$ decays will facilitate investigations into their flavor physics with unprecedented precision. We investigate the prospects of measuring various physics benchmarks and discuss their implications for particle theories and phenomenological models. Our studies indicate that, with its highlighted advantages and anticipated excellent detector performance, the CEPC can explore beauty and $τ$ physics in ways that are superior to or complementary with the Belle II and Large-Hadron-Collider-beauty experiments, potentially enabling the detection of new physics at energy scales of 10 TeV and above. This potential also extends to the observation of yet-to-be-discovered rare and exotic processes, as well as testing fundamental principles such as lepton flavor universality, lepton and baryon number conservation, etc., making the CEPC a vibrant platform for flavor physics research. The $WW$ threshold scan, Higgs-factory operation and top-pair productions of the CEPC further enhance its merits in this regard, especially for measuring the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements, and Flavor-Changing-Neutral-Current physics of Higgs boson and top quarks. We outline the requirements for detector performance and considerations for future development to achieve the anticipated scientific goals.

hep-ex

Family Unification in $SO(16)$ Grand Unification

We propose a unified model for the three Standard Model (SM) gauge symmetries and $SU(3)$ family symmetry based on $SO(16)$ grand unified gauge symmetry on six-dimensional (6D) spacetime. In this model, three chiral generations of quarks and leptons are unified into a 6D Weyl fermion in the spinor representation of $SO(16)$. The 6D $SO(16)$ gauge anomaly is canceled by the vectorlike nature of the model, and the 4D gauge anomalies are canceled by introducing suitable 4D localized fermions at the fixed point. The 4D gauge coupling constant of $SO(16)$ has the property of becoming weaker at high energies.

hep-ph

Leptoquark-mediated Dirac neutrino mass and its impact on $B \to K ν\barν$ and $K \to πν\barν$ decays

Right-handed neutrinos $ν_R$ play a crucial role in flavor-changing neutral-current processes with missing energy, such as $b\to s + \slashed{E} $ and $d\to s + \slashed{E} $, where Belle-II reports unexpectedly large branching fraction in $B\to K ν\barν$ decays. Assuming $ν_R$ is the partner of the active neutrino $ν_L$ in the standard model, a Dirac-type neutrino framework emerges. We investigate a scenario of radiative Dirac neutrino mass generation in a scalar leptoquark (LQ) model with a global $U(1)_X$ symmetry to suppress Majorana mass, tree-level Dirac mass, and diquark couplings. The simplest LQ realization consists of two $S_1 = (3,1,-1/3)$ LQs with distinct $U(1)_X$ charges. A non-Casas-Ibarra parametrization is proposed to match neutrino data with fewer model parameters. Imposing current experimental constraints from meson mixing and lepton flavor-violating processes, we find that right-handed neutrino effects can significantly enhance $B\to K^{(*)} ν\barν$ and $K^+\to π^+ ν\barν$. Additionally, the model predicts excesses in $R_D$ from $B\to Dτ\barν$ that remain within $1σ$ of current experimental data.

hep-ph

Improving the performance of weak supervision searches using data augmentation

Weak supervision combines the advantages of training on real data with the ability to exploit signal properties. However, training a neural network using weak supervision often requires an excessive amount of signal data, which severely limits its practical applicability. In this study, we propose addressing this limitation through data augmentation, increasing the training data's size and diversity. Specifically, we focus on physics-inspired data augmentation methods, such as $p_{\text{T}}$ smearing and jet rotation. Our results demonstrate that data augmentation can significantly enhance the performance of weak supervision, enabling neural networks to learn efficiently from substantially less data.

hep-ph