arXiv subjects

Giacomo Polesello

Publications and source records attributed to Giacomo Polesello.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Sensitivity of the FCC-ee to axion-like particles at different center-of-mass energies

The sensitivity of the proposed FCC-ee collider to axion-like particles (ALPs) is investigated at all planned center-of-mass energies, focusing on the case where the ALP couples primarily to electroweak gauge bosons at leading order. We study the associated production of an ALP with a photon, with the ALP decaying in turn to two photons, yielding a three-photon final state. Expected 95% confidence level sensitivities to the ALP-photon coupling are computed for ALP masses between 5 and 320 GeV. In the benchmark model considered, the FCC-ee can probe the ALP-photon coupling down to a few $10^{-6}$ GeV$^{-1}$ at the Z pole and about $10^{-5}$ GeV$^{-1}$ at the WW, ZH, and $t\bar{t}$ running stages. The higher-energy running stages extend the mass reach beyond the Z-pole kinematic range, while the Z-pole run provides the best sensitivity at low masses. We also study how the sensitivity changes when the relative coupling strengths to the electroweak gauge fields are varied, showing that the three-photon channel can provide information complementary to photon-fusion probes of ALPs.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Sensitivity of the FCC-ee to the decay of a dark photon into a $μ^+μ^-$ pair

The production of a dark photon $A^{\prime}$ at the proposed CERN FCC-ee collider is investigated. The study addresses the associated production $e^+e^-\rightarrowγA^{\prime}$ followed by the decay $A^{\prime}\rightarrowμ^+μ^-$. The 95% CL sensitivity on the mixing between the photon and the dark photon is evaluated in the $m_{A^{\prime}}$ mass range 0.4-360 GeV, based on a parametrised simulation of the IDEA detector. The study is performed both for prompt and long-lived decays of the $A^{\prime}$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Energy Response and Resolution to Positrons in a Capillary-Tube Dual-Readout Calorimeter

We present the results of a test beam campaign on a capillary-tube fibre-based dual-readout calorimeter, designed for precise hadronic and electromagnetic energy measurements in future collider experiments. The calorimeter prototype consists of nine modules, each composed of brass capillary tubes housing scintillating and Cherenkov optical fibres, read out using silicon photomultipliers for the central module and photomultiplier tubes for the outer modules. The performance of the detector was assessed using a positron beam with energies ranging from 10 to 120 GeV at the CERN SPS H8 beamline. The prototype is characterised in terms of the linearity and resolution of its energy response to positrons. The results confirm the feasibility of the capillary-tube mechanical design for large-scale dual-readout calorimetry and provide a benchmark for future detector development within the HiDRa project.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

Sensitivity of the FCC-ee to decay of an axion-like particle into two photons

The decay of the $Z$ boson into axion-like particles (ALP) at the $Z$-pole run of the proposed CERN FCC-ee collider is investigated. We perform a detailed study of final states with three photons or with a single photon and missing energy, yielding an evaluation of the accessible values of the ALP coupling to the photon for ALP masses between 0.1 and 85 GeV. Special attention is paid to the experimental implications of detecting the three-photon signature for the ALP mass region below 10~GeV. The FCC-ee run will be able to detect the ALP for couplings down to a few $10^{-3}~\mathrm{TeV}^{-1}$ over the considered mass range in an effective model where the ALP only couples to the U(1) boson of the Standard Model.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Timing-based mass measurement of exotic long-lived particles at the FCC-ee

The very high luminosity run foreseen at the $Z$-pole for the FCC-ee will allow the detection in $Z$ decays of new particles with very low couplings to the Standard Model. These particles can have measurable flight paths before they decay. If the timing and the position of the decay vertex can be measured with high precision, the mass of such particles can be measured by exploiting the constrained kinematics of an $e^+e^-$ collider. The mass resolution achievable with this technique is studied through a detailed analysis in the framework of a parametrised simulation of the performance of the IDEA detector. The adopted benchmark model is the production of Heavy Neutral Leptons, which is one of the key channels for new physics discovery at the FCC-ee.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Particle Flow with a Hybrid Segmented Crystal and Fiber Dual-Readout Calorimeter

In the reconstruction of physics events at future e$^+$e$^-$ colliders the calorimeter design has a crucial role in the overall detector performance. The reconstruction of events with many jets in their final state sets stringent requirements on the jet energy and angular resolutions. The energy resolution for jets with energy of about 45 GeV is required to be at the 4-5\% level to enable an efficient separation of the W and Z boson invariant masses. We demonstrate in this paper how such a performance can be achieved by exploiting a particle flow algorithm tailored for a hybrid dual-readout calorimeter made of segmented crystals and fibers. The excellent energy resolution and linearity of such calorimeter for both photons and neutral hadrons ($3\%/\sqrt{E}$ and $26\%/\sqrt{E}$, respectively), inherent to the homogeneous crystals and dual-readout technological choices, provides a powerful handle for the development of a new approach for particle identification and jet reconstruction. While the dual-readout particle flow algorithm (DR-PFA) presented in this paper is at its early stage of development, it already demonstrates the potential of a hybrid dual-readout calorimeter for jet reconstruction by improving the jet energy resolution with respect to a calorimeter-only reconstruction from 6.0\% to about 4.5\% for 45 GeV jets.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

Leptoquark manoeuvres in the dark: a simultaneous solution of the dark matter problem and the $R_{D^{(*)}}$ anomalies

The measured branching fractions of $B$-mesons into leptonic final states derived by the LHCb collaboration hint towards the breakdown of lepton flavour universality. In this work we take at face value the so-called $R_{D^{(*)}}$ observables that are defined as the ratios of neutral $B$-meson charged-current decays into a charged $D$-meson, a charged lepton and a neutrino final state in the tau and muon channels. A well-studied and simple solution to this charged current anomaly is to introduce a scalar leptoquark $S_1$ that couples to the second and third generation of fermions. We investigate how $S_1$ can also serve as a mediator between the Standard Model and a dark sector. We study this scenario in detail and estimate the constraints arising from collider searches for leptoquarks, collider searches for missing energy signals, direct detection experiments and the dark matter relic abundance. We stress that the production of a pair of leptoquarks that decays into different final states (i.e. the commonly called "mixed" channels) provides critical information for identifying the underlying dynamics, and we exemplify this by studying the $t τb ν$ and the resonant $S_1$ plus missing energy channels. We find that direct detection data provides non-negligible constraints on the leptoquark coupling to the dark sector, which in turn affects the relic abundance. We also show that the correct relic abundance can not only arise via standard freeze-out, but also through conversion-driven freeze-out. We illustrate the rich phenomenology of the model with a few selected benchmark points, providing a broad stroke of the interesting connection between lepton flavour violation and dark matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Searching for pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson dark matter production in association with top quarks

Pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons (pNGBs) are attractive dark matter (DM) candidates, since they couple to the Standard Model (SM) predominantly through derivative interactions. Thereby they naturally evade the strong existing limits inferred from DM direct detection experiments. Working in an effective field theory that includes both derivative and non-derivative DM-SM operators, we perform a detailed phenomenological study of the Large Hadron Collider reach for pNGB DM production in association with top quarks. Drawing on motivated benchmark scenarios as examples, we compare our results to other collider limits as well as the constraints imposed by DM (in)direct detection experiments and the relic abundance. We furthermore explore implications on the viable parameter space of pNGB DM. In particular, we demonstrate that DM direct detection experiments become sensitive to many pNGB DM realisations once loop-induced interactions are taken into account. The search strategies and pNGB DM benchmark models that we discuss can serve as a starting point for dedicated experimental analyses by the ATLAS and the CMS collaborations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Resonant third-generation leptoquark signatures at the Large Hadron Collider

Given the hints of lepton-flavour non-universality in $B$-meson decays, leptoquarks (LQs) are enjoying a renaissance. We propose novel Large Hadron Collider (LHC) searches for such hypothetical states that do not rely on strong production only, but can also receive important contributions from quark-lepton annihilation. For the cases of a resonant signal involving a bottom quark and a tau lepton ($b + τ$), a top quark and missing transverse energy ($E_{T}^{\rm miss}$) and light-flavour jets plus $E_{T}^{\rm miss}$, we develop realistic analysis strategies and provide detailed evaluations of the achievable sensitivities for the corresponding LQ signatures at future LHC runs. Our analyses allow us to derive a series of stringent constraints on the masses and couplings of third-generation singlet vector LQs, showing that at LHC Run III and the high-luminosity LHC the proposed search channels can probe interesting parts of the LQ parameter space addressing the $B$-physics anomalies. In view of the reach of the proposed $b + τ$ signature, we recommend that dedicated resonance searches for this final state should be added to the exotics search canon of both ATLAS and CMS.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Single-top final states as a probe of top-flavoured dark matter models at the LHC

Models incorporating flavoured dark matter provide an elegant solution to the dark matter problem, evading the tight LHC and direct direction constraints on simple WIMP models. In Dark Minimal Flavour Violation, a simple framework of flavoured dark matter with new sources of flavour violation, the constraints from thermal freeze-out, direct detection experiments, and flavour physics create well-defined benchmark scenarios for these models. We study the LHC phenomenology of four such scenarios, focusing on final states where a single top quark is produced accompanied by no jets, one jet from the fragmentation of light quarks or a $b$-tagged jet. For each of these signatures we develop a realistic LHC analysis, and we show that the proposed analyses would increase the parameter space coverage for the four benchmarks, compared to existing flavour-conserving LHC analyses. Finally we show the projected discovery potential of the considered signatures for the full LHC statistics at 14 TeV, and for the High Luminosity LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Searching for dark matter in final states with two jets and missing transverse energy

We reemphasise the usefulness of angular correlations in LHC searches for missing transverse energy ($E_T^{\mathrm{miss}}$) signatures that involve jet $(j)$ pairs with large invariant mass. For the case of mono-jet production via gluon-fusion, we develop a realistic analysis strategy that allows to split the dark matter (DM) signal into distinct one jet-like and two jet-like event samples. By performing state-of-the-art Monte Carlo simulations of both the mono-jet signature and the standard model background, it is shown that the dijet azimuthal angle difference $Δϕ_{j_1 j_2}$ in $2 j +E_T^{\mathrm{miss}}$ production provides a powerful discriminant in realistic searches. Employing a shape fit to $Δϕ_{j_1 j_2}$, we then determine the LHC reach of the mono-jet channel in the context of spin-0 $s$-channel DM simplified models. The constraints obtained by the proposed $Δϕ_{j_1 j_2}$ shape fit turn out to be significantly more stringent than those that derive from standard $E_T^{\mathrm{miss}}$ shape analyses.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Searching for production of dark matter in association with top quarks at the LHC

In the framework of spin-0 $s$-channel dark matter (DM) simplified models, we reassess the sensitivity of future LHC runs to the production of DM in association with top quarks. We consider two different missing transverse energy ($E_T^{\mathrm{miss}}$) signatures, namely production of DM in association with either a $t \bar t$ pair or a top quark and a $W$ boson, where the latter channel has not been the focus of a dedicated analysis prior to this work. Final states with two leptons are studied and a realistic analysis strategy is developed that simultaneously takes into account both channels. Compared to other existing search strategies the proposed combination of $t \bar t + E_T^{\mathrm{miss}}$ and $t W + E_T^{\mathrm{miss}}$ production provides a significantly improved coverage of the parameter space of spin-0 $s$-channel DM simplified models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

LHC Dark Matter Working Group: Next-generation spin-0 dark matter models

Dark matter (DM) simplified models are by now commonly used by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations to interpret searches for missing transverse energy ($E_T^\mathrm{miss}$). The coherent use of these models sharpened the LHC DM search program, especially in the presentation of its results and their comparison to DM direct-detection (DD) and indirect-detection (ID) experiments. However, the community has been aware of the limitations of the DM simplified models, in particular the lack of theoretical consistency of some of them and their restricted phenomenology leading to the relevance of only a small subset of $E_T^\mathrm{miss}$ signatures. This document from the LHC Dark Matter Working Group identifies an example of a next-generation DM model, called $\textrm{2HDM+a}$, that provides the simplest theoretically consistent extension of the DM pseudoscalar simplified model. A comprehensive study of the phenomenology of the $\textrm{2HDM+a}$ model is presented, including a discussion of the rich and intricate pattern of mono-$X$ signatures and the relevance of other DM as well as non-DM experiments. Based on our discussions, a set of recommended scans are proposed to explore the parameter space of the $\textrm{2HDM+a}$ model through LHC searches. The exclusion limits obtained from the proposed scans can be consistently compared to the constraints on the $\textrm{2HDM+a}$ model that derive from DD, ID and the DM relic density.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

DM+$b\bar b$ simulations with DMSimp: an update

Searches for dark matter (DM) produced using collider data probe wide regions of the allowed parameter space of many models and have become competitive with more traditional searches. The interpretations of the results can be efficiently performed in simplified models, which feature only a mediator and a DM candidate together with the interactions among them and the standard model particles. The DMSimp model in FeynRules currently features a wide set of $s$-channel simplified models and can be exploited by the MadGraph5_aMC@NLO framework to produce event samples including NLO QCD corrections for realistic simulations. Higher-order corrections typically have a sizeable impact on the total production rate and lead to a reduction of the theoretical uncertainties. In this short note we report on a recent update of the DMSimp model, which makes it possible to simulate dark matter production in association with bottom quarks in a mixed four-flavour scheme, where the $\overline{\rm MS}$ renormalisation for the bottom-quark Yukawa is employed, while the bottom quark mass is on shell. By comparing with five-flavour scheme, we show that the mixed four-flavor scheme provides reliable predictions for DM+$b\bar b$ final states in a wide range of DM masses.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Flavour-violating decays of mixed top-charm squarks at the LHC

We explore signatures related to squark decays in the framework of non-minimally flavour-violating Supersymmetry. We consider a simplified model where the lightest squark consists of an admixture of charm and top flavour. By recasting the existing LHC searches for top and charm squarks, we show that the limits on squark masses from these analyses are significantly weakened when the top-charm mixing is sizeable. We propose a dedicated search for squarks based on the $tc+{E_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{miss}}}$ final state which enhances the experimental sensitivity for the case of high mixing, and we map its expected reach for the forthcoming runs of the LHC. We emphasize the role of analyses requiring a jet tagged as produced by the fragmentation of a charm quark in understanding the squark mixing pattern, thus providing a novel handle on new physics. Our results show that, in order to achieve full coverage of the parameter space of supersymmetric models, it is necessary to extend current experimental search programmes with analyses specifically targeting the cases where the lightest top-partner is a mixed state.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Searching for heavy Higgs bosons in the $t \bar t Z$ and $t b W$ final states

In the context of two-Higgs doublet models, we explore the possibility of searching for heavy Higgs bosons in the $t \bar t Z$ and $t bW$ final states. We develop realistic analyses strategies and in the case of the $t \bar t Z$ channel provide a detailed evaluation of the new-physics reach at the 14 TeV LHC. We find that already with an integrated luminosity of $300 \, {\rm fb}^{-1}$ searches for the $t \bar t Z$ signature can provide statistically significant constraints at low values of $\tan β$ for heavy Higgs masses in the range from around $450 \, {\rm GeV}$ to $1150 \, {\rm GeV}$. Future searches for heavy Higgses in the $tbW$ final state are also expected to be able to probe parts of this parameter space, though the precise constraints turn out to depend sensitively on the assumed systematics on the shape of the $t \bar t$ background.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Dark matter production in association with a single top-quark at the LHC in a two-Higgs-doublet model with a pseudoscalar mediator

The sensitivity of the LHC experiments to the associated production of dark matter with a single top is studied in the framework of an extension of the standard model featuring two Higgs doublets and an additional pseudoscalar mediator. It is found that the experimental sensitivity is dominated by the on-shell production of a charged Higgs boson, when this assumes a mass below 1 TeV. Dedicated selections considering one and two lepton final states are developed to assess the coverage in parameter space for this signature at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV assuming an integrated luminosity of 300 fb$^{-1}$. For a pseudoscalar mediator with mass 150 GeV and maximally mixed with the pseudoscalar of the two Higgs doublets, values of $tanβ$ up to 3 and down to 15 can be excluded at 95% CL, if the $H^{\pm}$ mass is in the range 300 GeV-1 TeV. This novel signature complements the parameter space coverage of the mono-Higgs, mono-Z and $t{\bar t}$+$E_{\mathrm T}^{\mathrm miss}$ signatures considered in previous publications for this model.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Determining the CP nature of spin-0 mediators in associated production of dark matter and $t \bar t$ pairs

In the framework of spin-0 $s$-channel simplified models, we explore the possibility of assessing the structure of dark matter interactions through the associate production of dark matter and $t\bar{t}$ pairs. To this purpose, final states with two leptons are considered and the kinematic properties of the dilepton system is studied. We develop a realistic analysis strategy and provide a detailed evaluation of the achievable sensitivity for the dark matter signal assuming integrated luminosities of $300 \, {\rm fb}^{-1}$ and $3 \, {\rm ab}^{-1}$ at the 14 TeV LHC. Furthermore, upper limits on the mediator masses for which the two different CP hypotheses can be distinguished are derived. The obtained limits on the signal strengths are finally translated into constraints on the parameter space of two spin-0 simplified models including a scenario with an extended Higgs sector.

hep-ph↗