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Gian F. Giudice

Publications and source records attributed to Gian F. Giudice.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The Super-Composite Higgs

We construct the Super-Composite Higgs, a scenario designed to stabilize the Higgs mass and generate the flavor structure within a single dynamical framework. The basic idea is to combine supersymmetry and compositeness, where the Higgs mass is protected by supersymmetry and Yukawa couplings are generated through partial compositeness. This combination offers mutual advantages and ameliorates several drawbacks of each individual theory. The Super-Composite Higgs makes experimentally testable predictions across three different areas of fundamental physics. At the precision frontier, the electron EDM is predicted to be within reach of future experiments. At the observational cosmology frontier, measurable effects in CMB and large-scale structures are expected from an ultra-light gravitino. At the high-energy frontier, an upper bound on supersymmetric particle masses, derived from cosmological considerations, indicates that squarks should be lighter than about 10 TeV, which is within reach of the FCC-hh.

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Nonthermal Heavy Dark Matter from a First-Order Phase Transition

We study nonthermal production of heavy dark matter from the dynamics of the background scalar field during a first-order phase transition, predominantly from bubble collisions. In scenarios where bubble walls achieve runaway behavior and get boosted to very high energies, we find that it is possible to produce dark matter with mass several orders of magnitude above the symmetry breaking scale or the highest temperature ever reached by the thermal plasma. We also demonstrate that the existing formalism for calculating particle production from bubble dynamics in a first-order phase transition is not gauge invariant, and can lead to spurious results. While a rigorous and complete resolution of this problem is still lacking, we provide a practical prescription for the computation that avoids unphysical contributions and should provide reliable order-of-magnitude estimates of this effect. Furthermore, we point out the importance of three-body decays of the background field excitations into scalars and gauge bosons, which provide the dominant contributions at energy scales above the scale of symmetry breaking. Using our improved results, we find that scalar, fermion, and vector dark matter are all viable across a large range of mass scales, from O(10) TeV to a few orders of magnitude below the Planck scale, and the corresponding phase transitions can be probed with current and future gravitational wave experiments.

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dE/dx from boosted long-lived particles

At colliders massive long-lived charged particles could be revealed through their anomalously large ionisation energy loss $dE/dx$. In this paper we explore a class of scenarios in which the LLPs are particularly boosted, owing to production from the decay of a heavy parent resonance. Such scenarios give rise to unique signatures as compared to traditionally considered $dE/dx$ new-physics benchmarks. We demonstrate that this class of models, unlike traditional new-physics theories, can explain the recently reported excess of events in the $dE/dx$ search by the ATLAS collaboration without conflicting with the determination of $β$ from ionisation and time-of-flight measurements.

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Cold Atoms in Space: Community Workshop Summary and Proposed Road-Map

We summarize the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with ESA and national space and research funding agencies.

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Theory Closing Talk

In this talk I make some remarks about the search for the origin of the electroweak scale.

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Self-Organised Localisation

We describe a new phenomenon in quantum cosmology: self-organised localisation. When the fundamental parameters of a theory are functions of a scalar field subject to large fluctuations during inflation, quantum phase transitions can act as dynamical attractors. As a result, the theory parameters are probabilistically localised around the critical value and the Universe finds itself at the edge of a phase transition. We illustrate how self-organised localisation could account for the observed near-criticality of the Higgs self-coupling, the naturalness of the Higgs mass, or the smallness of the cosmological constant.

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The Hyperbolic Higgs

We introduce the Hyperbolic Higgs, a novel solution to the little hierarchy problem that features Standard Model neutral scalar top partners. At one-loop order, the protection from ultraviolet sensitivity is due to an accidental non-compact symmetry of the Higgs potential that emerges in the infrared. Once the general features of the effective description are detailed, a completion that relies on a five dimensional supersymmetric framework is provided. Novel phenomenology is compared and contrasted with the Twin Higgs scenario.

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The $\hat{H}$-Parameter: An Oblique Higgs View

We study, from theoretical and phenomenological angles, the Higgs boson oblique parameter $\hat{H}$, as the hallmark of off-shell Higgs physics. $\hat{H}$ is defined as the Wilson coefficient of the sole dimension-6 operator that modifies the Higgs boson propagator, within a Universal EFT. Theoretically, we describe self-consistency conditions on Wilson coefficients, derived from the Källén-Lehmann representation. Phenomenologically, we demonstrate that the process $gg\to h^\ast \to VV$ is insensitive to propagator corrections from $\hat{H}$, and instead advertise four-top production as an effective high-energy probe of off-shell Higgs behaviour, crucial to break flat directions in the EFT.

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Long-Lived Particles at the Energy Frontier: The MATHUSLA Physics Case

We examine the theoretical motivations for long-lived particle (LLP) signals at the LHC in a comprehensive survey of Standard Model (SM) extensions. LLPs are a common prediction of a wide range of theories that address unsolved fundamental mysteries such as naturalness, dark matter, baryogenesis and neutrino masses, and represent a natural and generic possibility for physics beyond the SM (BSM). In most cases the LLP lifetime can be treated as a free parameter from the $μ$m scale up to the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis limit of $\sim 10^7$m. Neutral LLPs with lifetimes above $\sim$ 100m are particularly difficult to probe, as the sensitivity of the LHC main detectors is limited by challenging backgrounds, triggers, and small acceptances. MATHUSLA is a proposal for a minimally instrumented, large-volume surface detector near ATLAS or CMS. It would search for neutral LLPs produced in HL-LHC collisions by reconstructing displaced vertices (DVs) in a low-background environment, extending the sensitivity of the main detectors by orders of magnitude in the long-lifetime regime. In this white paper we study the LLP physics opportunities afforded by a MATHUSLA-like detector at the HL-LHC. We develop a model-independent approach to describe the sensitivity of MATHUSLA to BSM LLP signals, and compare it to DV and missing energy searches at ATLAS or CMS. We then explore the BSM motivations for LLPs in considerable detail, presenting a large number of new sensitivity studies. While our discussion is especially oriented towards the long-lifetime regime at MATHUSLA, this survey underlines the importance of a varied LLP search program at the LHC in general. By synthesizing these results into a general discussion of the top-down and bottom-up motivations for LLP searches, it is our aim to demonstrate the exceptional strength and breadth of the physics case for the construction of the MATHUSLA detector.

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Future Opportunities in Accelerator-based Neutrino Physics

This document summarizes the conclusions of the Neutrino Town Meeting held at CERN in October 2018 to review the neutrino field at large with the aim of defining a strategy for accelerator-based neutrino physics in Europe. The importance of the field across its many complementary components is stressed. Recommendations are presented regarding the accelerator based neutrino physics, pertinent to the European Strategy for Particle Physics. We address in particular i) the role of CERN and its neutrino platform, ii) the importance of ancillary neutrino cross-section experiments, and iii) the capability of fixed target experiments as well as present and future high energy colliders to search for the possible manifestations of neutrino mass generation mechanisms.

hep-ex↗

Clockwork / Linear Dilaton: Structure and Phenomenology

The linear dilaton geometry in five dimensions, rediscovered recently in the continuum limit of the clockwork model, may offer a solution to the hierarchy problem which is qualitatively different from other extra-dimensional scenarios and leads to distinctive signatures at the LHC. We discuss the structure of the theory, in particular aspects of naturalness and UV completion, and then explore its phenomenology, suggesting novel strategies for experimental searches. In particular, we propose to analyze the diphoton and dilepton invariant mass spectra in Fourier space in order to identify an approximately periodic structure of resonant peaks. Among other signals, we highlight displaced decays from resonantly-produced long-lived states and high-multiplicity final states from cascade decays of excited gravitons.

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Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter at Direct Detection Experiments

We explore a novel class of multi-particle dark sectors, called Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter (iBDM). These models are constructed by combining properties of particles that scatter off matter by making transitions to heavier states (Inelastic Dark Matter) with properties of particles that are produced with a large Lorentz boost in annihilation processes in the galactic halo (Boosted Dark Matter). This combination leads to new signals that can be observed at ordinary direct detection experiments, but require unconventional searches for energetic recoil electrons in coincidence with displaced multi-track events. Related experimental strategies can also be used to probe MeV-range boosted dark matter via their interactions with electrons inside the target material.

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A Clockwork Theory

The clockwork is a mechanism for generating light particles with exponentially suppressed interactions in theories which contain no small parameters at the fundamental level. We develop a general description of the clockwork mechanism valid for scalars, fermions, gauge bosons, and gravitons. This mechanism can be implemented with a discrete set of new fields or, in its continuum version, through an extra spatial dimension. In both cases the clockwork emerges as a useful tool for model-building applications. Notably, the continuum clockwork offers a solution to the Higgs naturalness problem, which turns out to be the same as in linear dilaton duals of Little String Theory. We also elucidate the similarities and differences of the continuum clockwork with large extra dimensions and warped spaces. All clockwork models, in the discrete and continuum, exhibit novel phenomenology with a distinctive spectrum of closely spaced resonances.

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Hunting for Dark Particles with Gravitational Waves

The LIGO observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger has begun a new era in fundamental physics. If new dark sector particles, be they bosons or fermions, can coalesce into exotic compact objects (ECOs) of astronomical size, then the first evidence for such objects, and their underlying microphysical description, may arise in gravitational wave observations. In this work we study how the macroscopic properties of ECOs are related to their microscopic properties, such as dark particle mass and couplings. We then demonstrate the smoking gun exotic signatures that would provide observational evidence for ECOs, and hence new particles, in terrestrial gravitational wave observatories. Finally, we discuss how gravitational waves can test a core concept in general relativity: Hawking's area theorem.

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Digamma, what next?

If the 750 GeV resonance in the diphoton channel is confirmed, what are the measurements necessary to infer the properties of the new particle and understand its nature? We address this question in the framework of a single new scalar particle, called digamma ($\digamma$). We describe it by an effective field theory, which allows us to obtain general and model-independent results, and to identify the most useful observables, whose relevance will remain also in model-by-model analyses. We derive full expressions for the leading-order processes and compute rates for higher-order decays, digamma production in association with jets, gauge or Higgs bosons, and digamma pair production. We illustrate how measurements of these higher-order processes can be used to extract couplings, quantum numbers, and properties of the new particle.

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What is the gamma gamma resonance at 750 GeV?

Run 2 LHC data show hints of a new resonance in the diphoton distribution at an invariant mass of 750 GeV. We analyse the data in terms of a new boson, extracting information on its properties and exploring theoretical interpretations. Scenarios covered include a narrow resonance and, as preliminary indications suggest, a wider resonance. If the width indications persist, the new particle is likely to belong to a strongly-interacting sector. We also show how compatibility between Run 1 and Run 2 data is improved by postulating the existence of an additional heavy particle, whose decays are possibly related to dark matter.

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Natural Heavy Supersymmetry

We study how, as a result of the scanning of supersymmetry breaking during the cosmological evolution, a relaxation mechanism can naturally determine a hierarchy between the weak scale and the masses of supersymmetric particles. Supersymmetry breaking is determined by QCD instanton effects, in an extremely minimal setup in which a single field drives the relaxation and breaks supersymmetry. Since gauginos are lighter than the other supersymmetric particles by a one-loop factor, the theory is a realisation of Split Supersymmetry free from the naturalness problem.

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