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Dean J. Robinson

Publications and source records attributed to Dean J. Robinson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

An introduction to Hammer v2: Helicity Amplitude Module for Matrix Element Reweighting

The Hammer software library provides fast and efficient reweighting of large simulated datasets containing semileptonic $b$-hadron decays to any beyond Standard Model (BSM) theory, or to any form-factor description of the hadronic matrix elements. By enabling reweighting to a different underlying theoretical model after the computationally-expensive detector simulation step has already been completed, Hammer permits experimental analyses to employ forward-folding fitting strategies to recover underlying physical parameters without biases, or to properly characterize theory systematic uncertainties. This publication details upgrades to Hammer functionalities and its application programming interface (API) for version 2.x, and also provides associated documentation of the library's structure, syntactical conventions, and code flow. Substantial optimization of Hammer's internal tensor library now enables computational complexity to generically scale almost linearly with amplitude tensor rank times size rather than as a quartic, enabling reweighting into very high dimension spaces, such as the product of BSM Wilson coefficient and form factor parameter linear spaces, while also retaining Monte Carlo uncertainties. Updated Python bindings are implemented with bijective correspondence to the C++ interface, allowing full access to library functionalities.

hep-ph

Precise $K^*(892) \to Kπ$ branching fractions

Although discovered more than sixty years ago, direct measurement of the $K^*(892) \to Kπ$ branching fractions is a formidable challenge that has not been attempted. Typically they are assumed to obey the isospin limit in hundreds of particle data measurements. We show that an abundance of recent amplitude analyses and other data, however, enables recovery of the ratios $\mathcal{B}(K^{*+} \to K^+ π^0)/\mathcal{B}(K^{*+} \to K_S^0 π^+)$ and $4\mathcal{B}(K^{*0} \to K_S^0 π^0)/\mathcal{B}(K^{*0} \to K^+ π^-)$ at $\sim5\%$ precision.

hep-ph

Sweeping the pion chimney for axion-like particles with KOTO

We demonstrate that novel limits on prompt axion-like particles (ALPs) in the hard-to-probe mass range near the neutral pion - the so-called pion chimney - may be obtained from recasting $K_L \to 3π^0 \to 6γ$ data taken by the J-PARC KOTO experiment, to search for $K_L \to 2π^0a \to 6γ$. We also explore the power of KOTO $6γ$ data to probe $K_L \to 2π^0a$ for a broader range of ALP masses, incorporating displaced decays.

hep-ph

Technical design report for the CODEX-$β$ demonstrator

The CODEX-$β$ apparatus is a demonstrator for the proposed future CODEX-b experiment, a long-lived-particle detector foreseen for operation at IP8 during HL-LHC data-taking. The demonstrator project, intended to collect data in 2025, is described, with a particular focus on the design, construction, and installation of the new apparatus.

physics.ins-det

CODEX-b: Opening New Windows to the Long-Lived Particle Frontier at the LHC

This document is written as a contribution to the European Strategy of Particle Physics (ESPP) update. We offer a detailed overview of current developments and future directions for the CODEX-b detector, which aims to detect long-lived particles beyond the Standard Model. We summarize the scientific motivation for this detector, advances in our suite of simulation and detector optimization frameworks, and examine expected challenges, costs, and timelines in realizing the full detector. Additionally, we describe the technical specifications for the smaller-scale demonstrator detector (CODEX-$β$) we have installed in the LHCb experimental cavern.

hep-ex

On-shell recursion and holomorphic HQET for heavy quark hadronic resonances

We develop a new theoretical framework for the treatment of heavy quark (HQ) resonances within heavy quark effective theory (HQET). This framework uses on-shell recursion techniques to express the resonant amplitude as a product of on-shell subamplitudes, which allows one to employ a form-factor representation of the hadronic matrix elements and to obtain an HQ expansion, but at the price of introducing complex momenta. We construct a generalized ``holomorphic HQET'' onto which such complex-momentum matrix elements can be matched, and we show that $PT$ symmetry ensures the Isgur-Wise functions (and the perturbative corrections) become holomorphic functions of the complex recoil parameter with real coefficients. They are thus an analytic continuation of the standard HQET description. This framework admits a HQ hadron (strong decay) width expansion. At second order, we show it is compatible with data for the $B_{1(2)}^{(*)}$ and $D_{1(2)}^{(*)}$ HQ doublets. Taking the $\bar{B} \to (D_1^*(1^-) \to Dπ)lν$ system as an example, we compute the holomorphic HQET expansion to first order, as well as the complex-momentum on-shell subamplitudes. A toy numerical study of the resulting differential rates demonstrates that this framework generates HQ resonance lineshapes with large tails, resembling those seen in data.

hep-ph

Appraising constrained second-order power corrections in HQET with $Λ_b \to Λ_c l ν$

We derive the $Λ_b \to Λ_c$ form factors for the Standard Model and beyond at second order in Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET), applying the recently-proposed Residual Chiral Expansion (RCE) to reduce the set of unknown subsubleading hadronic functions to a single, highly-constrained function, that is fully determined by hadron mass parameters at zero recoil. We fit a form factor parametrization based on these results to all available Lattice QCD (LQCD) predictions and experimental data. We find that the constrained and predictive structure of the form factors under the RCE is in excellent agreement with LQCD predictions and experimental data, as well as prior HQET-based fits.

hep-ph

Exploring the $τ$ polarization in $B\to Xτ\barν$ along different axes

The $τ$ polarization in semileptonic $B$ decays provides probes of new physics complementary to decay rate distributions of the three-body final state. Prior calculations for inclusive decays used a definition for the polarization axis that is different from the choice used in calculations (and the only measurement) for exclusive channels. To compare inclusive and exclusive predictions, we calculate the $τ$ polarization in inclusive $B\to Xτ\barν$ using the same choice as in the exclusive decays, and construct a sum rule relating the inclusive $τ$ polarization to a weighted sum of exclusive decay polarizations. We use this relation, experimental data, and theoretical predictions for the decays to the lightest charm or up-type hadrons to make predictions for excited channels.

hep-ph

$B \to ρl \bar ν$ and $ωl \bar ν$ in and beyond the Standard Model: Improved predictions and $|V_{ub}|$

We revisit the experimental and theoretical status of $B \to ρl \barν$ and $B \to ωl \barν$ decays. We perform a combined fit of averaged spectra from Belle and Babar measurements with prior light cone sum rule calculations, in order to obtain more precise predictions over the full $q^2$ range. The extracted values of $|V_{ub}|$ from these combined fits exhibit smaller uncertainty compared to previous extractions from $B \to ρl \barν$ and $B \to ωl \barν$ decays and the central values are found to be smaller than values extracted from $B \to πl ν$ or inclusive measurements. We use our fit results to obtain more precise predictions in and beyond the Standard Model for the lepton universality ratios $R(ρ)$ and $R(ω)$, as well as several angular observables that are sensitive to the full $q^2$ distribution, such as the longitudinal polarization of the vector meson, the $τ$ polarization, and its forward-backward asymmetry.

hep-ph

Constrained second-order power corrections in HQET: $R(D^{(*)})$, $|V_{cb}|$, and new physics

We postulate a supplemental power counting within the heavy quark effective theory, that results in a small, highly-constrained set of second-order power corrections, compared to the standard approach. We determine all $\bar{B} \to D^{(*)}$ form factors, both within and beyond the standard model to $\mathcal{O}(α_s/m_{c,b}, 1/m_{c,b}^2)$, under truncation by this power counting. We show that the second-order power corrections to the zero-recoil normalization of the $\bar{B} \to D^{(*)} l ν$ matrix elements ($l = e$, $μ$, $τ$) are fully determined by hadron mass parameters, and are in good agreement with lattice QCD (LQCD) predictions. We develop a parametrization of these form factors under the postulated truncation, that achieves excellent fits to the available LQCD predictions and experimental data, and we provide precise updated predictions for the $\bar{B} \to D^{(*)} τ\barν$ decay rates, lepton flavor universality violation ratios $R(D^{(*)})$, and the CKM matrix element $|V_{cb}|$. We point out some apparent errors in prior literature concerning the $\mathcal{O}(1/m_cm_b)$ corrections, and note a tension between commonly-used simplified dispersive bounds and current data.

hep-ph

Semitauonic $b$-hadron decays: A lepton flavor universality laboratory

The study of lepton flavor universality violation (LFUV) in semitauonic $b$-hadron decays has become increasingly important in light of longstanding anomalies in their measured branching fractions, and the very large datasets anticipated from the LHC and Belle II. In this review, we undertake a comprehensive survey of the experimental environments and methodologies for semitauonic LFUV measurements at the $B$-factories and LHCb, along with a concise overview of the theoretical foundations and predictions for a wide range of semileptonic decay observables. We proceed to examine the future prospects to control systematic uncertainties down to the percent level, matching the precision of Standard Model (SM) predictions. Furthermore, we discuss new perspectives and caveats on combinations of the LFUV data and revisit the world averages for the ${\cal R}(D^{(*)})$ ratios. Here we demonstrate that different treatments for the correlations of uncertainties from $D^{**}$ excited states can vary the current $3σ$ tension with the SM within a $1σ$ range. Prior experimental overestimates of $D^{**}τν$ contributions may further exacerbate this. The precision of future measurements is also estimated; their power to exploit full differential information, and solutions to the inherent difficulties in self-consistent new physics interpretations of LFUV observables, are briefly explored.

hep-ex

Geometry Optimization for Long-lived Particle Detectors

The proposed designs of many auxiliary long-lived particle (LLP) detectors at the LHC call for the instrumentation of a large surface area inside the detector volume, in order to reliably reconstruct tracks and LLP decay vertices. Taking the CODEX-b detector as an example, we provide a proof-of-concept optimization analysis that demonstrates the required instrumented surface area can be substantially reduced for many LLP models, while only marginally affecting the LLP signal efficiency. This optimization permits a significant reduction in cost and installation time, and may also inform the installation order for modular detector elements. We derive a branch-and-bound based optimization algorithm that permits highly computationally efficient determination of optimal detector configurations, subject to any specified LLP vertex and track reconstruction requirements. We outline the features of a newly-developed generalized simulation framework, for the computation of LLP signal efficiencies across a range of LLP models and detector geometries.

hep-ph

Interpreting LHCb's $Λ_b\to Λ_cτ\barν$ measurement and puzzles in semileptonic $Λ_b$ decays

Normalizing the recent LHCb measurement of $Λ_b \to Λ_c τ\barν$ to the standard model (SM) prediction for the $Λ_b \to Λ_c μ\barν$ rate, instead of a LEP measurement, provides a more consistent comparison with the SM prediction for the lepton flavor universality ratio $R(Λ_c)$. This modestly increases $R(Λ_c)$ compared to the quoted LHCb result, such that it no longer hints at a suppression compared to the SM, which would be hard to accommodate in new physics scenarios that enhance $R(D^{(*)})$. We point out that the fraction of excited states in inclusive semileptonic $Λ_b$ decay may be significantly greater than the corresponding fraction in $B$ decays. Possible implications are speculated upon.

hep-ph

The Road Ahead for CODEX-b

In this Snowmass contribution we present a comprehensive status update on the progress and plans for the proposed CODEX-b detector, intended to search for long-lived particles beyond the Standard Model. We review the physics case for the proposal and present recent progress on optimization strategies for the detector and shielding design, as well as the development of new fast and full simulation frameworks. A summary of the technical design for a smaller demonstrator detector (CODEX-$β$) for the upcoming Run~3 of the LHC is also discussed, alongside the road towards realization of the full experiment at the High-Luminosity LHC.

hep-ex

Lepton universality violation from neutral pion decays in $R_{K^{(*)}}$ measurements

I show that the neutral pion decay in $B \to K^{(*)} π^0 γ$, with $π^0 \to ee γ$, might generate large sources of lepton flavor universality violation (LFUV) in measurements of the ratios, $R_{K^{(*)}}$: If the photons in the $K^{(*)} e e γγ$ final state are reconstructed as Bremsstrahlung, the recovered electron-positron invariant mass can be pushed into the $1$-$6$ GeV$^{2}$ signal region, artificially enhancing the measured $B \to K^{(*)} e e$ branching ratio compared to $B \to K^{(*)} μμ$. I present a conservative estimate and simulation of the $B \to K π^0 γ$ LFUV background at LHCb, that together suggest this effect could reduce the recovered $R_K$ up to several percent. A reliable assessment of the size of this effect will require dedicated simulations within experimental frameworks themselves.

hep-ph

Form Factor Counting and HQET Matching for New Physics in $Λ_b \to Λ_c^*lν$

We calculate the $Λ_b \to Λ_c^*(2595) l ν$ and $Λ_b \to Λ_c^*(2625) l ν$ form factors and decay rates for all possible $b \to c l \barν$ four-Fermi interactions in and beyond the Standard Model (SM), including nonzero charged lepton masses and terms up to order $\mathcal{O}(α_s, 1/m_{c,b})$ in the heavy quark effective theory (HQET). We point out a subtlety involving the overcompleteness of the representation of the spin-parity $1/2^+ \to 3/2^-$ antisymmetric tensor form factors, relevant also to other higher excited-state transitions, and present a general method for the counting of the physical form factors for any hadronic transition matrix element and their matching onto HQET. We perform a preliminary fit of a simple HQET-based parametrization of the $Λ_b \to Λ_c^*$ form factors at $\mathcal{O}(α_s, 1/m_{c,b})$ to an existing quark model, providing preliminary predictions for the lepton universality ratios $R(Λ_c^*)$ beyond the SM. Finally, we examine the possible incompatibility of recent lattice QCD results with expectations from the heavy-quark expansion and available experimental data.

hep-ph

Expression of Interest for the CODEX-b Detector

This document presents the physics case and ancillary studies for the proposed CODEX-b long-lived particle (LLP) detector, as well as for a smaller proof-of-concept demonstrator detector, CODEX-$β$, to be operated during Run 3 of the LHC. Our development of the CODEX-b physics case synthesizes `top-down' and `bottom-up' theoretical approaches, providing a detailed survey of both minimal and complete models featuring LLPs. Several of these models have not been studied previously, and for some others we amend studies from previous literature: In particular, for gluon and fermion-coupled axion-like particles. We moreover present updated simulations of expected backgrounds in CODEX-b's actively shielded environment, including the effects of shielding propagation uncertainties, high-energy tails and variation in the shielding design. Initial results are also included from a background measurement and calibration campaign. A design overview is presented for the CODEX-$β$ demonstrator detector, which will enable background calibration and detector design studies. Finally, we lay out brief studies of various design drivers of the CODEX-b experiment and potential extensions of the baseline design, including the physics case for a calorimeter element, precision timing, event tagging within LHCb, and precision low-momentum tracking.

hep-ex

Das ist der HAMMER: Consistent new physics interpretations of semileptonic decays

Precise measurements of $b\to cτ\barν$ decays require large resource-intensive Monte Carlo (MC) samples, which incorporate detailed simulations of detector responses and physics backgrounds. Extracted parameters may be highly sensitive to the underlying theoretical models used in the MC generation. Because new physics (NP) can alter decay distributions and acceptances, the standard practice of fitting NP Wilson coefficients to SM-based measurements of the $R(D^{(*)})$ ratios can be biased. The newly developed HAMMER software tool enables efficient reweighting of MC samples to arbitrary NP scenarios or to any hadronic matrix elements. We demonstrate how HAMMER allows avoidance of biases through self-consistent fits directly to the NP Wilson coefficients. We also present example analyses that demonstrate the sizeable biases that can otherwise occur from naive NP interpretations of SM-based measurements. The HAMMER library is presently interfaced with several existing experimental analysis frameworks and we provide an overview of its structure.

hep-ph