arXiv subjects

Devin G. E. Walker

Publications and source records attributed to Devin G. E. Walker.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Sensitivity of Higgs Factories to Composite Higgs Models via Precision Measurements

We investigate the potential of precision Higgs factory measurements to discover signatures of a representative model of electroweak symmetry breaking in which the Higgs boson arises as a composite Nambu-Goldstone boson. In this model, as in other models of the ``Little Higgs" or Natural Composite Higgs type, the primary perturbations of the Standard Model come from effects of vectorlike top quark partners. We carry out an explicit calculation of the Higgs potential in this model. Applying phenomenological constraints, we are left with a 3-dimensional parameter space. We then present results from a complete scan of this parameter space. The region in which significant departures from the Standard Model predictions extends to models in which the lightest top quark partner has a mass above 3~TeV. Little Higgs models with such heavy top partners also predict significant deviations from the Standard Model in the top quark electroweak couplings, in particular, in the model studied here, in the $t_L$ coupling to the $Z$ boson.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Sensitivity of Heavy Higgs Boson to the Precision Yukawa Coupling Measurements at Higgs Factories

We investigate the potential of precision Higgs boson coupling measurements to discover heavy Higgs bosons by performing scans of the parameter space in Two-Higgs-Doublet Models (2HDM). Our study encompasses conventional Type I and Type II models, as well as models in which Higgs couplings differ between the third generation and lighter fermion generations. The scans reveal that precision measurements at the sensitivity levels projected for Higgs factories, such as Linear Collider Facility (LCF) and the FCC-ee at CERN and the CEPC in China, are capable of probing heavy Higgs boson masses in the multi-TeV range, with sensitivity extending beyond 5 TeV in certain scenarios. In particular, the precise determination of the charm quark Yukawa coupling at Higgs factories provides a powerful test of the hypothesis that the fermion mass hierarchy arises from an extended Higgs sector with different Higgs fields coupling to the different generations of fermions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Using a Primordial Gravitational Wave Background to Illuminate New Physics

A primordial spectrum of gravitational waves serves as a backlight to the relativistic degrees of freedom of the cosmological fluid. Any change in the particle physics content, due to a change of phase or freeze-out of a species, will leave a characteristic imprint on an otherwise featureless primordial spectrum of gravitational waves and indicate its early-Universe provenance. We show that a gravitational wave detector such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna would be sensitive to physics near 100 TeV in the presence of a sufficiently strong primordial spectrum. Such a detection could complement searches at newly proposed 100 km circumference accelerators such as the Future Circular Collider at CERN and the Super Proton-Proton Collider in China, thereby providing insight into a host of beyond Standard Model issues, including the hierarchy problem, dark matter, and baryogenesis.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Lattice-Friendly Gauge Completion of a Composite Higgs with Top Partners

We give an explicit example of a composite Higgs model with a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone Higgs in which the top Yukawa coupling is generated via the partial compositeness mechanism. This mechanism requires composite top partners which are relatively light compared to the typical mass scale of the strongly coupled theory. While most studies of the phenomenology of such models have focused on a bottom-up approach with a minimal effective theory, a top-down approach suggests that that the theory should contain a limit in which an unbroken global chiral symmetry protects the mass of the top partners, and the spectrum of the partners satisfies `t Hooft matching conditions. We therefore consider a model for the UV gauge group which could provide a solution to the matching conditions, and note that the relatively light fermions and pseudo-Goldstone bosons fall into complete multiplets of a large approximate global symmetry. This implies that the spectrum of particles lighter than a few TeV is non-minimal. Our example illustrates likely features of a composite Higgs theory, and also serves as an example of a non-chiral theory with no sign problem and a possible solution to `t Hooft matching conditions. It would therefore be very interesting for a lattice exploration. We find in this example that for some low-energy parameters in the effective theory the top partners can decay into high multiplicity final states, which could be difficult for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to constrain. This may potentially allow for the top partners to be lighter than those in more minimal models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Dark matter amnesia in out-of-equilibrium scenarios

Models in which the dark matter is produced at extremely low rates from the annihilation of Standard Model particles in the early Universe allow us to explain the current dark matter relic density while easily evading the traditional experimental constraints. In scenarios where the dark matter interacts with the Standard Model via a new physics mediator, the early Universe dynamics of the dark sector can be particularly complex, as the dark matter and the mediator could be in thermal and chemical equilibrium with each other. This equilibration takes place via number-changing processes such as double Compton scattering and bremsstrahlung, whose amplitudes are cumbersome to calculate. In this paper, we show that in large regions of the parameter space, these equilibration mechanisms do not significantly affect the final dark matter relic density. In particular, for a model with a light dark photon mediator, the relic density can be reasonably estimated by considering that the dark matter is solely produced through the annihilation of Standard Model particles. This result considerably simplifies the treatment of a large class of dark matter theories, facilitating in particular the superimposition of the relic density constraints on the current and future experimental bounds.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Reducing the Quadratic Divergence in the Higgs Mass Squared Without Top Partners

We examine a model with multiple scalar fields to see whether it is possible to reduce the fine- tuning of the SM Higgs mass without introducing low scale top partners. Our approach may be regarded as a generalization of the condition proposed by Veltman, who attempted to predict the Higgs mass using the criterion that the various low energy contributions to the quadratic divergence of the Higgs mass cancel. Although the Veltman condition predicts the wrong Higgs mass in the Standard Model, it can still be adapted to extended Higgs sectors. Furthermore, theories with additional Higgs bosons can lead to suppressed Yukawa couplings of the top quark to the 125 GeV Higgs, making the associated one-loop divergence smaller. Here, we review possible extensions of the Standard Model where the Veltman condition could be realized, and study in detail one minimal model with two extra scalar fields. For this model and for a cutoff of 5 TeV, we show that the overall fine-tuning can be considerably lowered without introducing low-scale Landau poles, albeit the Higgs sector will be strongly coupled at the cutoff. Models where the top Yukawa coupling is reduced, in particular, will be within the reach of the upcoming LHC searches.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Hidden-Sector Spectroscopy with Gravitational Waves from Binary Neutron Stars

We show that neutron star binaries can be ideal laboratories to probe hidden sectors with a long range force. In particular, it is possible for gravitational wave detectors such as LIGO and Virgo to resolve the correction of waveforms from ultralight dark gauge bosons coupled to neutron stars. We observe that the interaction of the hidden sector affects both the gravitational wave frequency and amplitude in a way that cannot be fitted by pure gravity.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Boundary Kinematic Space

We extend kinematic space to a simple scenario where the state is not fixed by conformal invariance: the vacuum of a conformal field theory with a boundary (bCFT). We identify the kinematic space associated with the boundary operator product expansion (bOPE) as a subspace of the full kinematic space. In addition, we establish representations of the corresponding bOPE blocks in a dual gravitational description. We show how the new kinematic dictionary and the dynamical data in bOPE allows one to reconstruct the bulk geometry. This is evidence that kinematic space may be a useful construction for understanding bulk physics beyond just kinematics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Cosmological Constraints on Decoupled Dark Photons and Dark Higgs

Any neutral boson such as a dark photon or dark Higgs that is part of a non-standard sector of particles can mix with its standard model counterpart. When very weakly mixed with the Standard Model, these particles are produced in the early Universe via the freeze-in mechanism and subsequently decay back to standard model particles. In this work, we place constraints on such mediator decays by considering bounds from Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background radiation. We find both nucleosynthesis and CMB can constrain dark photons with a kinetic mixing parameter between log ε ~ -10 to -17 for masses between 1 MeV and 100 GeV. Similarly, the dark Higgs mixing angle ε with the Standard Model Higgs is constrained between log ε ~ -6 to -15. Dramatic improvement on the bounds from CMB spectral distortions can be achieved with proposed experiments such as PIXIE.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

The Higgs Portal and Cosmology

Higgs portal interactions provide a simple mechanism for addressing two open problems in cosmology: dark matter and the baryon asymmetry. In the latter instance, Higgs portal interactions may contain the ingredients for a strong first order electroweak phase transition as well as new CP-violating interactions as needed for electroweak baryogenesis. These interactions may also allow for a viable dark matter candidate. We survey the opportunities for probing the Higgs portal as it relates to these questions in cosmology at the LHC and possible future colliders.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Single Top Production as a Probe of Heavy Resonances

The single top quark final state provides sensitivity to new heavy resonances produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. Particularly, the single top plus quark final state appears in models with heavy charged bosons or scalars, or in models with flavor-changing neutral currents involving the top quark. The cross sections and final state kinematics distinguish such models from each other and from standard model backgrounds. Several models of resonances decaying to a single top quark final state are presented and their phenomenology is discussed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Perturbative Unitarity Constraints on Charged/Colored Portals

Dark matter that was once in thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model is generally prohibited from obtaining all of its mass from the electroweak or QCD phase transitions. This implies a new scale of physics and mediator particles needed to facilitate dark matter annihilations. In this work, we consider scenarios where thermal dark matter annihilates via scalar mediators that are colored and/or electrically charged. We show how partial wave unitarity places upper bounds on the masses and couplings on both the dark matter and mediators. To do this, we employ effective field theories with dark matter as well as three flavors of sleptons or squarks with minimum flavor violation. For Dirac (Majorana) dark matter that annihilates via mediators charged as left-handed sleptons, we find an upper bound around 45 TeV (7 TeV) for both the mediator and dark matter masses, respectively. These bounds vary as the square root of the number of colors times the number of flavors involved. Therefore the bounds diminish by root two for right handed selectrons. The bounds increase by root three and root six for right and left handed squarks, respectively. Finally, because of the interest in natural models, we also focus on an effective field theory with only stops. We find an upper bound around 32 TeV (5 TeV) for both the Dirac (Majorana) dark matter and stop masses. In comparison to traditional naturalness arguments, the stop bound gives a firmer, alternative expectation on when new physics will appear. Similar to naturalness, all of the bounds quoted above are valid outside of a defined fine-tuned regions where the dark matter can co-annihilate. The bounds in this region of parameter space can exceed the well-known bounds from Griest and Kamionkowski. We briefly describe the impact on planned and existing direct detection experiments and colliders.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Perturbative Unitarity Constraints on Gauge Portals

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Perturbative Unitarity Constraints on the NMSSM Higgs Sector

We place perturbative unitarity constraints on both the dimensionful and dimensionless parameters in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) Higgs Sector. These constraints, plus the requirement that the singlino and/or Higgsino constitutes at least part of the observed dark matter relic abundance, generate upper bounds on the Higgs, neutralino and chargino mass spectrum. Requiring higher order corrections to be no more than 41% of the tree-level value, we obtain an upper bound of 20 TeV for the heavy Higgses and 12 TeV for the charginos and neutralinos outside defined fine-tuned regions. If the corrections are no more than 20% of the tree-level value, the bounds are 7 TeV for the heavy Higgses and 5 TeV for the charginos and neutralinos. In all, by using the NMSSM as a template, we describe a method which replaces naturalness arguments with more rigorous perturbative unitarity arguments to get a better understanding of when new physics will appear.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Dark energy from the string axiverse

String theories suggest the existence of a plethora of axion-like fields with masses spread over a huge number of decades. Here we show that these ideas lend themselves to a model of quintessence with no super-Planckian field excursions and in which all dimensionless numbers are order unity. The scenario addresses the "why now" problem, i.e., why has accelerated expansion begun only recently, by suggesting that the onset of dark-energy domination occurs randomly with a slowly decreasing probability per unit logarithmic interval in cosmic time. The standard axion potential requires us to postulate a rapid decay of most of the axion fields that do no become dark energy. The need for these decays is averted, though, with the introduction of a slightly modified axion potential. In either case, a Universe like ours arises in roughly 1 in 100 universes. The scenario may have a host of observable consequences.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Deconstructed Transverse Mass Variables

Traditional searches for R-parity conserving natural supersymmetry (SUSY) require large transverse mass and missing energy cuts to separate the signal from large backgrounds. SUSY models with compressed spectra inherently produce signal events with small amounts of missing energy that are hard to explore. We use this difficulty to motivate the construction of "deconstructed" transverse mass variables which are designed preserve information on both the norm and direction of the missing momentum. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these variables in searches for the pair production of supersymmetric top-quark partners which subsequently decay into a final state with an isolated lepton, jets and missing energy. We show that the use of deconstructed transverse mass variables extends the accessible compressed spectra parameter space beyond the region probed by traditional methods. The parameter space can further be expanded to neutralino masses that are larger than the difference between the stop and top masses. In addition, we also discuss how these variables allow for novel searches of single stop production, in order to directly probe unconstrained stealth stops in the small stop- and neutralino-mass regime. We also demonstrate the utility of these variables for generic gluino and stop searches in all-hadronic final states. Overall, we demonstrate that deconstructed transverse variables are essential to any search wanting to maximize signal separation from the background when the signal has undetected particles in the final state.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Perturbative Unitarity Constraints on a Supersymmetric Higgs Portal

We place perturbative unitarity constraints on both the dimensionful and dimensionless couplings in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model Higgs Sector. These constraints, plus the requirement that the singlino and/or Higgsino constitutes at least part of the observed dark matter relic abundance, generate upper bounds on the Higgs and neutralino/chargino mass spectrum. We obtain an upper bound of 12 TeV for the charginos and neutralinos and 20 TeV for the heavy Higgses outside defined fine-tuned regions. By using the NMSSM as a template, we describe a method which replaces naturalness arguments with more rigorous perturbative unitarity arguments to get a better understanding of when new physics will appear.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Unitarity Constraints on Higgs Portals

Dark matter that was once in thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model is generally prohibited from obtaining all of its mass from the electroweak phase transition. This implies a new scale of physics and mediator particles to facilitate dark matter annihilation. In this work, we focus on dark matter that annihilates through a generic Higgs portal. We show how partial wave unitarity places an upper bound on the mass of the mediator (or dark) Higgs when its mass is increased to be the largest scale in the effective theory. For models where the dark matter annihilates via fermion exchange, an upper bound is generated when unitarity breaks down around 8.5 TeV. Models where the dark matter annihilates via fermion and higgs boson exchange push the bound to 45.5 TeV. We also show that if dark matter obtains all of its mass from a new symmetry breaking scale that scale is also constrained. We improve these constraints by requiring perturbativity in the Higgs sector up to each unitarity bound. In this limit, the bounds on the dark symmetry breaking vev and the dark Higgs mass are now 2.4 and 3 TeV, respectively, when the dark matter annihilates via fermion exchange. When dark matter annihilates via fermion and higgs boson exchange, the bounds are now 12 and 14.2 TeV, respectively. The available parameter space for Higgs portal dark matter annihilation is outlined. We also show how the bounds are improved if Higgs portal dark matter is only a fraction of the observed relic abundance. Finally, we discuss how to apply these arguments to other dark matter scenarios and discuss prospects for direct detection and future collider searches. If the Higgs portal is responsible for dark matter annihilation, planned direct detection experiments will cover almost all the parameter space. The ILC and/or VLHC, however, is needed to establish the Higgs portal mechanism.

hep-ph↗