arXiv subjects

João P. Silva

Publications and source records attributed to João P. Silva.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Interplay between Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and Higgs Portal Dark Matter

Models of Dark Matter must contend with the fact that the presence of electroweak symmetry breaking along the thermal evolution of the Universe modifies the masses, interactions and, thus, the thermally averaged cross sections. We study in detail the impact of taking (not taking) the presence of the electroweak symmetry breaking into account in the calculations of the Dark Matter relic density in Higgs portal models, providing a model-independent measure of such differences. By focusing on a particular model, we show that ignoring this effect can lead to the inclusion (exclusion) of wrong (viable) regions of parameter space.

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arXiv2026

Flavour Invariants of the N Higgs Doublet Model

In this work, a systematic way of analyzing the N Higgs Doublet Models flavor sector will be developed. We introduce a complete set of mixing matrices describing the rotation between certain suitably defined bases, akin to the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix, which describes the relation between the up-quark and down-quark mass bases. We point out the crucial importance played by the charged Higgs basis. It is also introduced for the first time a complete set of weak basis transformation invariant traces of flavor matrices for the general N doublets case. This will be important for studies of the renormalization group evolution in terms of relevant physical parameters.

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arXiv2026

Machine Learning in the 2HDM2S model for Dark Matter

We introduce a two real scalar singlet extension of the two Higgs doublet model. We study the vacuum structure, the bounded from below conditions, the restrictions from the oblique parameters S,T and U, as well as the unitarity constraints. We submit the model to collider and Dark Matter experimental constraints and explore its allowed parameter space. We compare randomly populated simulations, simulations starting near the alignment limit, and a Machine Learning based exploration. Using Evolutionary Strategies, we efficiently search for regions with a viable Dark Matter candidate.

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arXiv2026

Perturbative unitarity for models with singlet and doublet scalars

We provide a complete description of perturbative unitarity bounds on the gauge-scalar sectors of models with extra $SU(2)$ doublet, neutral singlet, and charged singlet scalars. Such additions are very frequent in models beyond the Standard Model, and, in particular, they are almost universal in models explaining the dark matter problem. We propose a specific classification and minimal set of scattering matrices containing all the relevant information. We also developed a Mathematica implementation of our results, BounDS, and we use it to fully study a number of simple cases, comparing with the literature, when available. The Mathematica notebook BounDS is provided via a public GitHub repository.

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arXiv2026

Surveying the complex three Higgs doublet model with Machine Learning

The couplings of the 125 GeV Higgs are being measured with higher precision as the Run 3 stage of LHC continues. Models with multiple Higgs doublets allow potential deviations from the SM predictions. For more than two doublets, there are five possible types of models that avoid flavor changing neutral couplings at tree level by the addition of a symmetry. We consider a softly broken Z2xZ2 three-Higgs doublet model with explicit CP violation in the scalar sector, exploring all five possible types of coupling choices and all five mass orderings of the neutral scalar bosons. The phenomenological study is performed using a Machine Learning black box optimization algorithm that efficiently searches for the possibility of large pseudoscalar Yukawa couplings. We identify the model choices that allow a purely pseudoscalar coupling in light of all recent experimental limits, including direct searches for CP-violation, thus motivating increased effort into improving the experimental precision.

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arXiv2026

Reassessing CP Violation in the C2HDM with Machine Learning

We provide a study of the parameter space of the complex 2-Higgs Doublet Model (C2HDM), focusing on signs of large CP-violating couplings of the 125 GeV Higgs boson with the fermions. The study is performed utilizing Machine Learning (ML) techniques developed recently for parameter space exploration, including an Evolutionary Strategy Algorithm and Novelty Reward. We give particular attention to the electron electric dipole moment (eEDM). We confirm that the recently found kite diagrams are crucial for the outcome of the analysis. Moreover, their use also mitigates the dependence of the results on the scale and scheme choice of the masses in the loop diagrams. We furthermore point out that, already at the current level of experimental precision, the Barr-Zee diagrams with charm quark loops must be taken into account. The combined use of kite diagrams and ML techniques allows for the resurrection of large fermion CP-odd couplings for Type-II and Flipped C2HDM when the 125 GeV Higgs coincides with the second lightest neutral scalar. This arises due to cancellations, typically of the per-mil order, which, moreover, will still be possible for a foreseeable eEDM precision down to $10^{-33}$ e.cm. For these cases, the constraints on the CP-odd couplings arises from the precision LHC measurements.

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arXiv2025

Widefield Quantum Sensor for Vector Magnetic Field Imaging of Micromagnetic Structures

Many spintronic, magnetic-memory, and neuromorphic devices rely on spatially varying magnetic fields. Quantitatively imaging these fields with full vector information over extended areas remains a major challenge. Existing probes either offer nanoscale resolution at the cost of slow scanning, or widefield imaging with limited vector sensitivity or material constraints. Quantum sensing with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond promises to bridge this gap, but a practical camera-based vector magnetometry implementation on relevant microstructures has not been demonstrated. Here we adapt a commercial widefield microscope to implement a camera-compatible pulsed optically detected magnetic resonance protocol to reconstruct stray-field vectors from microscale devices. By resolving the Zeeman shifts of the four NV orientations, we reconstruct the stray-field vector generated by microfabricated permalloy structures that host multiple stable remanent states. Our implementation achieves a spatial resolution of $\approx 0.52 ~μ\mathrm{m}$ across an $83~μ\mathrm{m} \times 83~μ\mathrm{m}$ field of view and a peak sensitivity of $ (828 \pm 142)~\mathrm{nT\,Hz^{-1}}$, with acquisition times of only a few minutes. These results establish pulsed widefield NV magnetometry on standard microscopes as a practical and scalable tool for routine vector-resolved imaging of complex magnetic devices.

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arXiv2025

New features in the Z2xZ2 3HDM two component DM model

We investigate the constraints and phenomenology of a three Higgs doublet model (3HDM) with a $\Z2\times\Z2$ symmetry, featuring two inert scalar doublets that give rise to a two-component dark matter (DM) scenario. We analyze the model's vacuum structure, exploring the competition between different symmetry-breaking minima, and subject it to comprehensive theoretical and current experimental constraints. Our analysis reveals previously unexplored regions of parameter space with viable dark matter candidates. Notably, we identify scenarios where both DM particles contribute comparably to the observed relic density, offering distinctive experimental signatures that could guide future searches.

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arXiv2025

Unearthing large pseudoscalar Yukawa couplings with Machine Learning

With the Large Hadron Collider's Run 3 in progress, the 125 GeV Higgs boson couplings are being examined in greater detail, while searching for additional scalars. Multi-Higgs frameworks allow Higgs couplings to significantly deviate from Standard Model values, enabling indirect probes of extra scalars. We consider the possibility of large pseudoscalar Yukawa couplings in the softly-broken Z2xZ2' three-Higgs doublet model with CP violating coefficients. To explore the parameter space of the model, we employ a Machine Learning algorithm that significantly enhances sampling efficiency. Using it, we find new regions of parameter space and observable consequences, not found with previous techniques. This method leverages an Evolutionary Strategy to quickly converge towards valid regions with an additional Novelty Reward mechanism. We use this model as a prototype to illustrate the potential of the new techniques, applicable to any Physics Beyond the Standard Model scenario.

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arXiv2025

Extending the symmetries of the generalized CP-symmetric 2HDM scalar potential to the Yukawa sector

There are only six independent types of symmetry-constrained (renormalizable) scalar potentials in the two Higgs doublet model (2HDM). For example, the scalar sector symmetry known as $Z_2\otimesΠ_2$, generated by the simultaneous application of two independent symmetries acting on the scalar fields, and the generalized CP symmetry known as GCP2 yield equivalent 2HDM scalar potentials. A similar situation arises for the scalar sector symmetries known as U(1)$\otimes Π_2$ and GCP3, respectively. In this paper, we show that this "degeneracy" remains when the definitions of the corresponding symmetries are extended to the Yukawa sector with three quark generations. The proof involves the exploration of all possible extensions of the corresponding symmetries to the Yukawa sector, consistent with the phenomenological constraints of nonzero quark masses and a nontrivial quark mixing matrix. Moreover, we find that this result is a peculiarity of a Yukawa sector with three quark generations. In particular, with two quark generations, we find that models based on the extension of $Z_2\otimesΠ_2$ to the Yukawa sector are inequivalent with those based on GCP2.

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arXiv2025

Dark matter stabilized by a non-abelian group: lessons from the $Σ(36)$ 3HDM

When building dark matter (DM) models, one often imposes conserved discrete symmetries to stabilize DM candidates. The simplest choice is ${\mathbb Z}_2$ but models with larger stabilizing groups have also been explored. Can a conserved non-abelian group lead to a viable DM model? Here, we address this question within the three-Higgs-doublet model based on the group $Σ(36)$, in which DM stabilization by a non-abelian group is not only possible but inevitable. We show that the tight connections between the Higgs, fermion, and DM sectors repeatedly drive the model into conflict with the LHC results and DM observations, with the most recent LZ results playing a decisive role. We believe that the lessons learned from this study help chart the limits of what can be achieved within multi-Higgs-doublet DM models with large symmetry groups.

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arXiv2024

Large pseudoscalar Yukawa couplings in the complex 3HDM

As LHC's Run3 unfolds, we peer deeper into the couplings of the 125GeV Higgs ($h_{125}$) and also test for extra scalars. Even before such extra scalars are found, one can probe them by using the fact that theories with multiple Higgs doublets allow for substantial deviations of the couplings of $h_{125}$ from their SM values. Indeed, the observed couplings already place stringent limits on such theories. We investigate the curious possibility that $h_{125}$ couples to the top quark mostly as a scalar, while it couples to the bottom quark mostly as a pseudoscalar. This possibility was allowed by 2017 data for the so-called C2HDM; a two Higgs doublet model with a single source of explicit CP violation. It was shown recently that this possibility disappears when using the full experimental data of 2024. Here we discuss a three Higgs doublet with explicit CP violation (C3HDM), and show that the curious CP-even/CP-odd $t$/$b$ possibility is partly resuscitated, prompting further experimental exploration of this prospect.

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arXiv2024

Novel two component dark matter features in the $Z_2 \times Z_2$ 3HDM

We discuss the constraints and phenomenology of the $Z_2 \times Z_2$ three Higgs doublet model (3HDM) with two inert scalars, originating two dark matter (DM) particles. We elucidate the competing vacua and we submit the model to all theoretical and current experimental constraints. We find unexplored regions of parameter space and investigate their experimental signatures. In particular, we find regions where the two DM particles contribute equally to the relic DM density.

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arXiv2024

Impact of New Experimental Data on the C2HDM: the Strong Interdependence between LHC Higgs Data and the Electron EDM

The complex two-Higgs doublet model (C2HDM) is one of the simplest extensions of the Standard Model with a source of CP-violation in the scalar sector. It has a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry, softly broken by a complex coefficient. There are four ways to implement this symmetry in the fermion sector, leading to models known as Type-I, Type-II, Lepton-Specific and Flipped. In the latter three models, there is a priori the surprising possibility that the 125 GeV Higgs boson couples mostly as a scalar to top quarks, while it couples mostly as a pseudoscalar to bottom quarks. This ``maximal'' scenario was still possible with the data available in 2017. Since then, there have been more data on the 125 GeV Higgs boson, direct searches for CP-violation in angular correlations of $τ$-leptons produced in Higgs boson decays, new results on the electron electric dipole moment, new constraints from LHC searches for additional Higgs bosons and new results on $b\to s γ$ transitions. Highlighting the crucial importance of the physics results of LHC's Run 2, we combine all these experiments and show that the ``maximal'' scenario is now excluded in all models. Still, one can have a pseudoscalar component in $h τ\barτ$ couplings in the Lepton-Specific case as large as $87\%$ of the scalar component for all mass orderings of the neutral scalar bosons.

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arXiv2024

Classes of complete dark photon models constrained by Z-Physics

Dark Matter models that employ a vector portal to a dark sector are usually treated as an effective theory that incorporates kinetic mixing of the photon with a new U(1) gauge boson, with the $Z$ boson integrated out. However, a more complete theory must employ the full SU(2)$_L\times $U(1)$_Y \times $U(1)$_{Y^\prime}$ gauge group, in which kinetic mixing of the $Z$ boson with the new U(1) gauge boson is taken into account. The importance of the more complete analysis is demonstrated by an example where the parameter space of the effective theory that yields the observed dark matter relic density is in conflict with a suitably defined electroweak $ρ$-parameter that is deduced from a global fit to $Z$ physics data.

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arXiv2023

Tree-level Unitarity in SU(2)$_L\times$U(1)$_Y \times$U(1)$_{Y'}$ Models

In models with a U(1) gauge extension beyond the Standard Model, one can derive sum rules for the couplings of the theory that are a consequence of tree-level unitarity. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive list of coupling sum rules for a general SU(2)$_L\times$U(1)$_Y \times$U(1)$_{Y'}$ gauge theory coupled to an arbitrary set of fermion and scalar multiplets. These results are of particular interest for models of dark matter that employ an extended gauge sector mediated by a new (dark) $Z^\prime$ gauge boson. For the case of a minimal extension of the Standard Model with a U(1)$_{Y'}$ gauge boson, we clarify the definitions of the weak mixing angle and the electroweak $ρ$ parameter. We demonstrate the utility of a generalized $ρ$ parameter (denoted by $ρ^\prime$) whose definition naturally follows from the unitarity sum rules developed in this paper.

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arXiv2023

Precision Muon-Related Observables as a Tool to Constrain New Physics Models

We propose a set of precision muon-related observables that serve as a tool to constrain new physics models. Using LEP's precision measurements on the $Z$-boson pole, we derive bounds on the new physics quantum contributions to the decay $Z \to μ^+ μ^-$. We show that the new precision observables have a real impact on two specific models that solve the $g-2$ anomaly and provide a sound dark matter candidate.

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arXiv2022

BFB conditions on a class of symmetry constrained 3HDM

We study the bounded from below (BFB) conditions on a class of three Higgs doublet models (3HDM) constrained by the symmetry groups U(1)xU(1), U(1)xZ2 and Z2xZ2. These constraints must be implemented on both the neutral (BFB-n) and charged (BFB-c) directions. The exact necessary and sufficient BFB conditions are unknown in the Z2xZ2 case. We develop a general strategy using lower bounds to find sufficient conditions for BFB-n and BFB-c and apply it to these symmetries. In addition, we investigate the concern that the use of safe sufficient conditions can ignore valid points which would yield distinct physical consequences. This is done by performing a full phenomenological simulation of the U(1)xU(1) and U(1)xZ2 models, where exact necessary and sufficient BFB conditions are possible. We look specifically at the points allowed by exact solutions but precluded by safe lower bounds. We found no evidence of remarkable new effects, partly reassuring the use of the lower bounds we propose here, for those potentials where no exact necessary and sufficient BFB conditions are known.

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