arXiv subjects

Hooman Davoudiasl

Publications and source records attributed to Hooman Davoudiasl.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

Constraining Unparticle Physics with Cosmology and Astrophysics

It has recently been suggested that a scale invariant "unparticle" sector with a non-trivial infrared fixed point may couple to the Standard Model (SM) via higher dimensional operators. The weakness of such interactions hides the the unparticle phenomena at low energies. We demonstrate how cosmology and astrophysics can place significant bounds on the strength of unparticle-SM interactions. We also discuss the possibility of a having a non-negligible unparticle relic density today.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

LHC Signals for Warped Electroweak Neutral Gauge Bosons

We study signals at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for Kaluza-Klein (KK) excitations of the electroweak gauge bosons in the framework with the Standard Model (SM) gauge and fermion fields propagating in a warped extra dimension. Such a framework addresses both the Planck-weak and flavor hierarchy problems of the SM. Unlike the often studied Z' cases, in this framework, there are three neutral gauge bosons due to the underlying SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R x U(1)_X gauge group in the bulk. Furthermore, couplings of these KK states to light quarks and leptons are suppressed, whereas those to top and bottom quarks are enhanced compared to the SM gauge couplings. Therefore, the production of light quark and lepton states is suppressed relative to other beyond the SM constructions, and the fermionic decays of these states are dominated by the top and bottom quarks, which are, though, overwhelmed by KK gluons dominantly decaying into them. However, as we emphasize in this paper, decays of these states to longitudinal W, Z and Higgs are also enhanced similarly to the case of top and bottom quarks. We show that the W, Z and Higgs final states can give significant sensitivity at the LHC to 2 (3) TeV KK scale with an integrated luminosity of 100 invfb (1 invab). Since current theoretical framework(s) favor KK masses greater than about 3 TeV, luminosity upgrade of LHC is likely to be crucial in observing these states.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Strong CP, Up-Quark Mass, and the Randall-Sundrum Microscope

In the Randall-Sundrum model, setting the ratio of up and down quark masses $m_u/m_d << 1$, relevant to the strong CP problem, does not require chiral symmetry or fine-tuning, due to exponential bulk fermion profiles. We point out that such geometric suppression of the mass of a fermion magnifies the masses of its corresponding Kaluza-Klein (KK) states. In this sense, these KK states act as "microscopes" for probing light quark and lepton masses. In simple realizations, this hypothesis can be testable at future colliders, like the LHC, by measuring the spectrum of level-1 KK fermions. The microscope can then provide an experimental test for the vanishing of $m_u$ in the ultraviolet, independently of non-perturbative determinations, by lattice simulations or other means, at hadronic scales. We also briefly comment on application of our microscope idea to other fermions, such as the electron and neutrinos.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Warped Gravitons at the LHC and Beyond

We study the production and decay of Kaluza-Klein (KK) gravitons at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), in the framework of a warped extra dimension in which the Standard Model (SM) fields propagate. Such a scenario can provide solutions to both the Planck-weak hierarchy problem and the flavor puzzle of the SM. In this scenario, the production via $q \bar{q}$ annihilation and decays to the conventional photon and lepton channels are highly suppressed. However, we show that graviton production via gluon fusion followed by decay to longitudinal $Z/W$ can be significant; vector boson fusion is found to be a sub-dominant production mode. In particular, the ``golden'' $ZZ$ decay mode offers a distinctive 4-lepton signal that could lead to the observation at the LHC with 300 fb$^{-1}$ (SLHC with 3 ab$^{-1}$) of a KK graviton with a mass up to $\sim 2$ ($\sim 3$) TeV for the ratio of the AdS$_5$ curvature to the Planck scale modestly above unity. We argue that (contrary to the lore) such a size of the curvature scale can still be within the regime of validity of the framework. Upgrades beyond the SLHC luminosity are required to discover gravitons heavier than $\sim 4$ TeV, as favored by the electroweak and flavor precision tests in the simplest such models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Vacuum Sampling in the Landscape during Inflation

We consider the phenomenological consequences of sampling multiple vacua during inflation motivated by an enormous landscape. A generic consequence of this sampling is the formation of domain walls, characterized by the scale $μ$ of the barriers that partition the accessed vacua. We find that the success of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) implies $μ\gsim 10$ TeV, as long as the sampled vacua have a non-degeneracy larger than $\cal{O}({\rm MeV}^{\rm 4})$. Otherwise, the walls will dominate and eventually form black holes that must reheat the universe sufficiently for BBN to take place; in this case, we obtain $μ\gsim 10^{-5}M_P$. These black holes are not allowed to survive and contribute to cosmic dark matter density.

hep-th↗

arXiv2007

Signatures of Spherical Compactification at the LHC

TeV-scale extra dimensions may play an important role in electroweak or supersymmetry breaking. We examine the phenomenology of such dimensions, compactified on a sphere $S^n$, $n \geq 2$, and show that they possess distinct features and signatures. For example, unlike flat toroidal manifolds, spheres do not trivially allow fermion massless modes. Acceptable phenomenology then generically leads to "non-universal" extra dimensions with "pole-localized" 4-$d$ fermions; the bosonic fields can be in the bulk. Due to spherical symmetry, some Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes of bulk gauge fields are either stable or extremely long-lived, depending on the graviton KK spectrum. Using precision electroweak data, we constrain the lightest gauge field KK modes to lie above $\simeq 4$ TeV. We show that some of these KK resonances are within the reach of the LHC in several different production channels. The models we study can be uniquely identified by their collider signatures.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Cosmology with Light Axions from Technicolor

We consider cosmological consequences of the spontaneous breaking of a global symmetry that is anomalous under technicolor interactions, leading to the emergence of a light axion-like particle. Avoiding overclosure of the universe by such axions yields the upper bound $f_a \lsim 10^{10}$ GeV on the symmetry breaking scale, corresponding to keV-scale axions. However, diffuse x-ray background data typically require larger values of $f_a$. The overclosure and x-ray bounds can be reconciled if the axion initial amplitude of oscillations $A_i \sim f_a/10$. In this case, a viable axionic dark matter candidate with a mass in the 50-100 eV range emerges. The detection of this type of dark matter may pose a challenge.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Off-the-Wall Higgs in the Universal Randall-Sundrum Model

We outline a consistent Randall-Sundrum (RS) framework in which a fundamental 5-dimensional Higgs doublet induces electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB). In this framework of a warped Universal Extra Dimension, the lightest Kaluza-Klein (KK) mode of the bulk Higgs is tachyonic leading to a vacuum expectation value (vev) at the TeV scale. The consistency of this picture imposes a set of constraints on the parameters in the Higgs sector. A novel feature of our scenario is the emergence of an adjustable bulk profile for the Higgs vev. We also find a tower of non-tachyonic Higgs KK modes at the weak scale. We consider an interesting implementation of this ``Off-the-Wall Higgs'' mechanism where the 5-dimensional curvature-scalar coupling alone generates the tachyonic mode responsible for EWSB. In this case, additional relations among the parameters of the Higgs and gravitational sectors are established. We discuss the experimental signatures of the bulk Higgs in general, and those of the ``Gravity-Induced'' EWSB in particular.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Implications of Neutrino Mass Generation from QCD Confinement

We consider the possibility that the quark condensate formed by QCD confinement generates Majorana neutrino masses m_νvia dimension seven operators. No degrees of freedom beyond the Standard Model are necessary, below the electroweak scale. Obtaining experimentally acceptable neutrino masses requires the new physics scale Λ~ TeV, providing a new motivation for weak-scale discoveries at the LHC. We implement this mechanism using a Z_3 symmetry which leads to a massless up quark above the QCD chiral condensate scale. We use non-helicity-suppressed light meson rare decay data to constrain Λ. Experimental constraints place a mild hierarchy on the flavor structure of dimension seven operators and the resulting neutrino mass matrix.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Detecting solar axions using Earth's magnetic field

We show that solar axion conversion to photons in the Earth's magnetosphere can produce an x-ray flux, with average energy \sim 4 keV, which is measurable on the dark side of the Earth. The smallness of the Earth's magnetic field is compensated by a large magnetized volume. For axion masses < 10^{-4} eV, a low-Earth-orbit x-ray detector with an effective area of 10^4 cm^2, pointed at the solar core, can probe the photon-axion coupling down to 10^{-11} GeV^{-1}, in one year. Thus, the sensitivity of this new approach will be an order of magnitude beyond current laboratory limits.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Discovering an Invisibly Decaying Higgs at Hadron Colliders

A Higgs boson lighter than 2 m_W that decays mostly into invisible channels (e.g., dark matter particles) is theoretically well-motivated. We study the prospects for discovery of such an invisible Higgs, h_inv, at the LHC and the Tevatron in three production modes: (1) in association with a Z, (2) through Weak Boson Fusion (WBF), and (3) accompanied by a jet. In the Z+h_inv channel, we show that the LHC can yield a discovery signal above 5 sigma with 10 fb-1 of integrated luminosity for a Higgs mass of 120 GeV. With 30 fb-1 the discovery reach extends up to a Higgs mass of 160 GeV. We also study the extraction of the h_inv mass from production cross sections at the LHC, and find that combining WBF and Z+h_inv allows a relatively model-independent determination of the h_inv mass with an uncertainty of 35-50 GeV (15-20 GeV) with 10 (100) fb-1. At the Tevatron, a 3 sigma observation of a 120 GeV h_inv in any single channel is not possible with less than 12 fb-1 per detector. However, we show that combining the signal from WBF with the previously-studied Z+h_inv channel allows a 3 sigma observation of h_inv with 7 fb-1 per detector. Because of overwhelming irreducible backgrounds, h_inv+j is not a useful search channel at either the Tevatron or the LHC, despite the larger production rate.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Probing the Origins of Neutrino Mass with Supernova Data

We study type II supernova signatures of neutrino mass generation via symmetry breaking at a scale in the range from keV to MeV. The scalar responsible for symmetry breaking can be thermalized in the supernova core and restore the symmetry. The neutrinos from scalar decays have about half the average energy of thermal neutrinos and are Bose-Einstein distributed. We find that, even without a detailed knowledge of the supernova parameters, a discovery is well within reach at Super-Kamiokande.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Models of Neutrino Mass with a Low Cutoff Scale

In theories with a low quantum gravity scale, global symmetries are expected to be violated, inducing excessive proton decay or large Majorana neutrino masses. The simplest cure is to impose discrete gauge symmetries, which in turn make neutrinos massless. We construct models that employ these gauge symmetries while naturally generating small neutrino masses. Majorana (Dirac) neutrino masses are generated through the breaking of a discrete (continuous) gauge symmetry at low energies, e.g., 2 keV to 1 GeV. The Majorana case predicts ΔN_ν\simeq 1 at BBN, neutrinoless double beta decay with scalar emission, and modifications to the CMB anisotropies from domain walls in the universe as well as providing a possible Dark Energy candidate. For the Dirac case, despite the presence of a new light gauge boson, all laboratory, astrophysical, and cosmological constraints can be avoided.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

The New Minimal Standard Model

We construct the New Minimal Standard Model that incorporates the new discoveries of physics beyond the Minimal Standard Model (MSM): Dark Energy, non-baryonic Dark Matter, neutrino masses, as well as baryon asymmetry and cosmic inflation, adopting the principle of minimal particle content and the most general renormalizable Lagrangian. We base the model purely on empirical facts rather than aesthetics. We need only six new degrees of freedom beyond the MSM. It is free from excessive flavor-changing effects, CP violation, too-rapid proton decay, problems with electroweak precision data, and unwanted cosmological relics. Any model of physics beyond the MSM should be measured against the phenomenological success of this model.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2004

Gravitational Baryogenesis

We show that a gravitational interaction between the derivative of the Ricci scalar curvature and the baryon-number current dynamically breaks CPT in an expanding universe and, combined with baryon-number-violating interactions, can drive the universe towards an equilibrium baryon asymmetry that is observationally acceptable.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Bulk Physics at a Graviton Factory

A general prediction of the 5-d Randall-Sundrum (RS) hierarchy model is the emergence of spin-2 Kaluza Klein (KK) gravitons with weak scale masses and couplings. The lowest order effective theory of the RS model is given by 5-d Einstein gravity which uniquely fixes the self-interactions of gravitons. We demonstrate that large numbers of light KK resonances could be produced at a future lepton-collider-based ``Graviton Factory''. Measuring the self-interactions of these KK gravitons will probe the accuracy of the 5-d Einstein gravity picture and, in addition, yield indirect information on the as yet untested self-coupling of the 4-d graviton. The self-interactions of the gravitons can be studied by measuring the decays of the heavier states to the lighter ones. Using the AdS/CFT picture, these can be interpretted as the decays of heavier resonances to lighter ones, in a strongly coupled 4-d CFT. We show that these decays have sufficient rates to be studied at future colliders and that they are also, in principle, sensitive to higher derivative operators, such as the Gauss-Bonnet term. In a generalized RS model, with non-universal 5-d fermion masses, FCNC's will be induced. We show that precise measurements of the rare decays of KK graviton/gauge states into flavor non-diagonal final states at a Graviton Factory can be used to map the 5-d fermion mass matrix.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Probing the Geometry of the Universe at the NLC

The hierarchy problem in particle physics has recently been approached from a geometric point of view in different models. These approaches postulate the existence of extra dimensions with various geometric properties, to explain how the hierarchy between the apparent scale of gravity ${\bar M}_P \sim 10^{18}$ GeV and the weak scale $m_W \sim 100$ GeV can be generated. Generally, these models predict that the effects of gravity mediated interactions become strong at the weak scale. This fact makes the NLC a promising tool for testing such extra dimensional models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2000

Experimental Probes of the Randall-Sundrum Infinite Extra Dimension

The phenomenological possibilities of the Randall-Sundrum non-compact extra dimension scenario with the AdS horizon increased to approximately a millimeter length, corresponding to an effective brane tension of TeV^4, are investigated. The corrections to the Newtonian potential are found to be the only observationally accessible probe of this scenario, as previously suggested in the literature. In particular, the presence of the continuum of KK modes does not lead to any observable collider signatures. The extent to which experimental tests of Newtonian gravity can distinguish this scenario from the scenario of Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos, and Dvali with one and two millimeter size extra dimensions is explicitly demonstrated.

hep-ph↗