arXiv subjects

Joe Davighi

Publications and source records attributed to Joe Davighi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Opening the Topological Portal to Dark Sectors with Colliders

We study the phenomenology of the topological portal between QCD and pseudo-Nambu--Goldstone dark matter proposed in~\cite{Davighi:2024zip}. We construct a weakly coupled ultraviolet completion in which a vector mediator gauges a baryonic current of QCD for the light quark flavours, linking it to dark pions parametrizing the coset $SU(2)_D/U(1)_D$. As a concrete anomaly-free realisation, we gauge the leptophobic combination $B_1+B_2-2B_3$. This completion allows us to calculate thermal coannihilation beyond the regime of validity of the pion effective theory, including resonant mediator effects, and to test the resulting thermal target with boosted-dijet and monojet searches at the LHC, with LEP and bottomonium data, and with flavour observables. These collider signatures follow directly from the symmetry structure required by matching onto the topological portal. At low momentum transfer, the topological operator instead controls the decay of the heavier dark pion, which is long-lived. A future high-statistics $Z$ factory, such as FCC-ee, can probe the low-mass region where hadron-collider sensitivity deteriorates, providing complementary tests of the topological portal.

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arXiv2026

Axion Quality from Exact Proton Stability

A discrete, anomaly-free $\mathbb Z_9$ gauge symmetry may persist to the deep infrared, exactly forbidding proton decay. This $\mathbb Z_9$ can emerge from Higgsing a lepton-flavour non-universal $U(1)_X$ that generates realistic neutrino masses and mixings through a high-scale seesaw and predicts an additional light Goldstone. Adding an anomaly-free chiral heavy-quark sector turns this mode into the QCD axion. The same selection rules that ban proton decay also forbid PQ-violating operators below a suitably high dimension, $d_{\rm PQ}\gtrsim10$, including operators involving the heavy quarks that radiatively match onto the scalar potential. We construct explicit models viable when PQ breaking occurs before or after inflation; in the latter case, avoiding stable heavy relics and eliminating the string-wall network tightly constrain the heavy-quark spectrum. We identify restricted regions of parameter space where thermal leptogenesis remains viable and, for $d_{\rm PQ}\geq13$, can coexist with a high-quality axion constituting all of the dark matter.

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arXiv2025

A Composite Theory of Higgs and Flavour

We introduce a composite Higgs model in which a flavour deconstructed gauge group is embedded in the strong sector. The pattern of global symmetry breaking yields, as pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone (pNGB) bosons, both a Standard Model (SM)-like Higgs and the link field whose vacuum expectation value breaks the flavour non-universal gauge group down to the SM. Inevitably, a third pNGB appears, transforming as a second Higgs doublet coupled only to the light generations. This heavy Higgs naturally mediates suppressed light Yukawa couplings, providing a solution to the flavour puzzle. At the same time, new physics contributions to flavour violating observables are CKM- and chirally suppressed, while electric dipole moment bounds are evaded through an automatic mass alignment in the light fermion sector. The result is a natural framework for addressing the origin of both Higgs and flavour hierarchies, with reduced Higgs mass tuning and minimised impact in flavour observables, that is best tested by high-$p_T$ and precision electroweak measurements.

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arXiv2025

Bosonisation Cohomology: Spin Structure Summation in Every Dimension

Gauging fermion parity and summing over spin structures are subtly distinct operations. We introduce 'bosonisation cohomology' groups $H_B^{d+2}(X)$ to capture this difference, for theories in spacetime dimension $d$ equipped with maps to some $X$. Non-trivial classes in $H_B^{d+2}(X)$ contain theories for which $(-1)^F$ is anomaly-free, but spin structure summation is anomalous. We formulate a sequence of cobordism groups whose failure to be exact is measured by $H_B^{d+2}(X)$, and from here we compute it for $X=\text{pt}$. The result is non-trivial only in dimensions $d\in 4\mathbb{Z}+2$, being due to the presence of gravitational anomalies. The first few are $H_B^4=\mathbb{Z}_2$, probed by a theory of 8 Majorana-Weyl fermions in $d=2$, then $H_B^8=\mathbb{Z}_8$, $H_B^{12}=\mathbb{Z}_{16}\times \mathbb{Z}_2$. We rigorously derive a general formula extending this to every spacetime dimension. Along the way, we compile many general facts about (fermionic and bosonic) anomaly polynomials, and about spin and pin$^-$ (co)bordism generators, that we hope might serve as a useful reference for physicists working with these objects. We briefly discuss some physics applications, including how the $H_B^{12}$ class is trivialised in supergravity. Despite the name, and notation, we make no claim that $H_B^\bullet(X)$ actually defines a cohomology theory (in the Eilenberg-Steenrod sense).

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arXiv2025

Scalar Amplitudes from Fibre Bundle Geometry

We compute tree-level $n$-point scattering amplitudes in scalar field theories in terms of geometric invariants on a fibre bundle. All 0- and 2-derivative interactions are incorporated into a metric on this bundle. The on-shell amplitudes can be efficiently pieced together from covariant Feynman rules, and we present a general closed formula for obtaining the $n$-point amplitude in this way. The covariant Feynman rules themselves can be derived using a generalization of the normal coordinate expansion of the fibre bundle metric. We demonstrate the efficiency of this approach by computing the covariant Feynman rules up to $n=10$ points, from which one can obtain the full amplitudes using our general formula. The formalism offers a prototype for obtaining geometric amplitudes in theories with higher-derivative interactions, by passing from the fibre bundle to its jet bundles.

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arXiv2025

Topological Freeze-out by Semi-Annihilation

We point out that a QCD-like dark sector can be coupled to the Standard Model by gauging the topological Skyrme current, which measures the dark baryon number in the infrared, to give a technically natural model for dark matter. This coupling allows for a semi-annihilation process $χχ\rightarrow χX_μ$, where $X_μ$ is the gauge boson mediator and $χ$ a dark pion field, which plays the dominant role in setting the dark matter relic abundance. The topological interaction is purely $p$-wave and so free from indirect detection constraints. We show that the dark matter pion mass needs to be in the range $10$ MeV $\lesssim m_χ\lesssim$ $1$ TeV; towards the lighter end of this range, there can moreover be significant self-interactions. We discuss prospects for probing this scenario at collider experiments, ranging from the LHC to low-energy $e^+ e^-$ colliders, future Higgs factories, and beam-dump experiments.

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arXiv2025

Generalised Symmetries in Particle Physics

In this talk I review various notions of generalised global symmetry: higher-form, higher-group, and non-invertible symmetry. All these notions have had profound impact on quantum field theory research in the last decade. I highlight various applications of these new symmetries in particle physics, focussing on theories beyond the Standard Model. Areas touched upon include axions, gauge unification, dark matter, neutrino masses, and flavour hierarchies.

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arXiv2025

Precision Tests in $b\to s\ell^+\ell^-$ ($\ell=e,\mu$) at FCC-ee

The rare semi-leptonic decays $B\to K^\ast \ell^+\ell^-$, with $\ell=e, \mu$, are highly sensitive to new physics (NP) due to their suppression in the Standard Model (SM). Current LHCb measurements in the muon channel exhibit a significant tension with state-of-the-art SM theory predictions. The proposed tera-$Z$ run at FCC-ee provides a unique opportunity to untangle the origin of this tension by producing a very large sample of $B$-mesons in a clean $e^+e^-$ environment. We explore the expected precision of $B\to K^\ast \ell^+\ell^-$ ($\ell=e, \mu$) measurements at FCC-ee, complementing existing studies with $\tau^+\tau^-$ in the final state, and compare with HL-LHC projections. For the case of muons in the final state, we show that HL-LHC and FCC-ee are expected to deliver a similar number of events, while the latter performs much better in the case of final state electrons. Regardless of the lepton flavour, we expect the FCC-ee environment to be much cleaner than at HL-LHC, with subleading systematics. We also find that a significant reduction in theory uncertainties on the SM predictions is required to capitalize on the advantage going from HL-LHC to FCC-ee. We demonstrate the power of such measurements at FCC-ee to extract information on the long-distance contribution to these decays, and to reveal evidence for new physics even if no deviations are seen in electroweak precision tests.

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arXiv2025

In Search of an Invisible $Z^\prime$

We consider extending the Standard Model by an anomaly-free and possibly flavour non-universal $U(1)_X$ gauge symmetry, whose breaking gives a $Z^\prime$ boson that does not affect electroweak precision observables at tree-level or via 1-loop renormalisation group (RG) running. Provided it does not also couple to electrons, such a $Z^\prime$ boson would be largely invisible to an electroweak precision machine like FCC-ee or CEPC (up to small finite 1-loop matching contributions that we quantify). We show that, while this class of $Z^\prime$ models can also evade tests of quark flavour violation, the constraint of anomaly-cancellation implies that valence quarks, muons, and taus are all charged under $U(1)_X$, with the up quark charge being necessarily large. The conclusion holds even if one augments the SM by three right-handed neutrinos to try and absorb anomalies. This means such $Z^\prime$ bosons cannot simultaneously hide below the TeV scale from $pp \to \ell\ell$ Drell--Yan measurements at the LHC and, even if we entertain esoteric models in which the lepton charges are numerically very small, we cannot escape dijet searches at the LHC. For equitable quark and lepton charges, $pp\to\ell\ell$ already excludes such a $Z^\prime$ up to $M/g \gtrsim$ 10 TeV, with a reach of 20 TeV expected by the end of the High-Luminosity LHC. The dijet bounds currently sit around 5 TeV, while sensitivity up to 10 TeV could be achieved at HL-LHC. We thus find an excellent complementarity between FCC-ee and HL-LHC in covering all anomaly-free $Z^\prime$ bosons up to several TeV.

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arXiv2025

Topological Portal to the Dark Sector

We propose a unique topological portal between quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and a dark sector characterized by a global symmetry breaking, which connects three QCD to two dark pions. When gauged, it serves as the leading portal between the two sectors, providing an elegant, self-consistent scenario of light thermal inelastic dark matter. The inherent antisymmetrization leads to diminished annihilations at later times and suppressed direct detection. However, novel collider signatures offer tremendous prospects for discovery at Belle II.

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arXiv2025

Higgs and Flavour: BSM Overview

We discuss scenarios for BSM physics near the TeV, motivated by the hierarchy problem and the flavour puzzle, and review their experimental tests at present and future colliders. Strong LHC constraints on couplings to light quarks motivate $U(2)$-like flavour symmetries as a means of lowering the new physics scale: this is demonstrated by general SMEFT analyses, and is also seen in composite Higgs solutions to the hierarchy problem. We discuss flavour non-universal gauge interactions as a possible origin for $U(2)$-like flavour symmetries which, in addition to allowing new physics to be lighter, opens up a simultaneous low-scale solution to the flavour puzzle. We focus on `flavour deconstructed' gauge interactions close to the TeV, and show how this non-universal gauge structure can be combined with Higgs compositeness in a way that better accommodates the requisite tuning in the Higgs mass.

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arXiv2025

Flavour Deconstructing the Composite Higgs

We present a flavour non-universal extension of the Standard Model combined with the idea of Higgs compositeness. At the TeV scale, the gauge groups $SU(2)_R$ and $U(1)_{B-L}$ are assumed to act in a non-universal manner on light- and third-generation fermions, while the Higgs emerges as a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson of the spontaneous global symmetry breaking $Sp(4)\to SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R^{[3]}$, attributed to new strong dynamics. The flavour deconstruction means the couplings of the light families to the composite sector (and therefore the pNGB Higgs) are suppressed by powers of a heavy mass scale (from which the Higgs is nevertheless shielded by compositeness), explaining the flavour puzzle. We present a detailed analysis of the radiatively generated Higgs potential, showing how this intrinsically-flavoured framework has the ingredients to justify the unavoidable tuning in the Higgs potential necessary to separate electroweak and composite scales. This happens for large enough values of the $SU(2)_R^{[3]}$ gauge coupling and light enough flavoured gauge bosons resulting from the deconstruction, whose phenomenology is also investigated. The model is compatible with current experimental bounds and predicts new states at the TeV scale, which are within the reach of near future experimental searches.

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arXiv2024

Fractional Hydrodynamic Transport from the Witten Anomaly

We study the physical consequences of 't Hooft anomalies in the high-temperature limit of relativistic quantum field theories with $SU(2)$, or more generally $USp(2N)$, global symmetry. The global anomaly afflicting these symmetry groups results in new transport phenomena akin to the chiral magnetic and chiral vortical effect, predicting conductivities that are fractionally quantised in units of a half, reflecting the 2-torsion in the bordism groups $Ω^\text{Spin}_5(BUSp(2N))\cong \mathbb{Z}_2$.

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arXiv2024

WZW terms without anomalies: generalised symmetries in chiral Lagrangians

We consider a 4d non-linear sigma model on the coset $(\mathrm{SU}(N)_L \times \mathrm{SU}(N)_R \times \mathrm{SU}(2))/(\mathrm{SU}(N)_{L+R}\times \mathrm{U}(1))\cong \mathrm{SU}(N) \times S^2$, that features a topological Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) term whose curvature is $\frac{n}{24π^2}\mathrm{Tr}(g^{-1}dg)^3 \wedge \mathrm{Vol}_{S^2}$ where $g$ is the $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ pion field. This WZW term, unlike its familiar cousin in QCD, does not match any chiral anomaly, so its microscopic origin is not obviously QCD-like. We find that generalised symmetries provide a key to unlocking a UV completion. The $S^2$ winding number bestows the theory with a 1-form symmetry, and the WZW term intertwines this with the $\mathrm{SU}(N)^2$ flavour symmetry into a 2-group global symmetry. Like a 't Hooft anomaly, the 2-group symmetry should match between UV and IR, precluding QCD-like completions that otherwise give the right pion manifold. We instead construct a weakly-coupled UV completion that matches the 2-group symmetry, in which an abelian gauge field connects the QCD baryon number current to the winding number current of a $\mathbb{C}P^1$ model, and explicitly show how the mixed WZW term arises upon flowing to the IR. The coefficient is fixed to be the number of QCD colours and, strikingly, this matching must be 'tree-level exact' to satisfy a quantization condition. We discuss generalisations, and elucidate the more intricate generalised symmetry structure that arises upon gauging an anomaly-free subgroup of $\mathrm{SU}(N)_{L+R}$. This WZW term may even play a phenomenological role as a portal to a dark sector, that determines the relic abundance of dark matter.

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arXiv2024

Phenomenology of a Deconstructed Electroweak Force

We study an effective theory of flavour in which the $SU(2)_L$ interaction is `flavour-deconstructed' near the TeV scale. This arises, for example, in UV models that unify all three generations of left-handed fermions via an $Sp(6)_L$ symmetry. Flavour-universality of the electroweak force emerges accidentally (but naturally) from breaking the $\prod_{i=1}^3 SU(2)_{L,i}$ gauge group to its diagonal subgroup, delivering hierarchical fermion masses and left-handed mixing angles in the process. The heavy gauge bosons transform as two $SU(2)_L$ triplets that mediate new flavour non-universal forces. The lighter of these couples universally to the light generations, allowing consistency with flavour bounds even for a TeV scale mass. Constraints from flavour, high mass LHC searches, and electroweak precision are then highly complementary, excluding masses below 9 TeV. The heavier triplet must instead be hundreds of TeV to be consistent with meson mixing constraints. Because only the lighter triplet couples to the Higgs, we find radiative Higgs mass corrections of a few hundred GeV, meaning this model of flavour is arguably natural. The natural region will, however, be almost completely covered by the planned electroweak programme at FCC-ee. On shorter timescales, significant parameter space will be explored by the High-Luminosity LHC measurements at high-$p_T$, and upcoming lepton flavour violation experiments, principally Mu3e.

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arXiv2023

A Non-Perturbative Mixed Anomaly and Fractional Hydrodynamic Transport

We present a new non-perturbative 't Hooft anomaly afflicting a quantum field theory with symmetry group $G=U(1)\times \mathbb{Z}_2$ in four dimensions. We use the Adams spectral sequence to compute that the bordism group $Ω^\text{Spin}_5(BG)$, which classifies anomalies that remain when perturbative anomalies cancel, is $\mathbb{Z}_4$. By constructing a mapping torus and evaluating the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer $η$-invariant, we show that the mod 4 anomaly is generated by a pair of Weyl fermions that are vector-like under $U(1)$, but with only one component charged under $\mathbb{Z}_2$. We construct a simple microscopic field theory that realises the anomaly, before investigating its impact in the hydrodynamic limit. We find that the anomaly dictates transport phenomena in the $U(1)$ current and energy-momentum tensor akin to the chiral vortical and magnetic effects (even though the perturbative anomalies here vanish), but with the conductivities being fractionally quantised in units of a quarter, reflecting the mod 4 nature of the bordism group.Along the way, we compute the (relevant) bordism groups $Ω^\text{Spin}_d(B\mathbb{Z}_2\times BU(1))$ and $Ω_d^{\text{Pin}^-}(BU(1))$ in all degrees $d=0$ through 5.

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arXiv2023

Deconstructed Hypercharge: A Natural Model of Flavour

The flavour puzzle is one of the greatest mysteries in particle physics. A `flavour deconstruction' of the electroweak gauge symmetry, by promoting at least part of it to the product of a third family factor (under which the Higgs is charged) times a light family factor, allows one to address the flavour puzzle at a low scale due to accidentally realised $U(2)^5$ flavour symmetries. The unavoidable consequence is new heavy gauge bosons with direct couplings to the Higgs, threatening the stability of the electroweak scale. In this work, we propose a UV complete model of flavour based on deconstructing only hypercharge. We find that the model satisfies finite naturalness criteria, benefiting from the smallness of the hypercharge gauge coupling in controlling radiative Higgs mass corrections and passing phenomenological bounds. Our setup allows one to begin explaining flavour at the TeV scale, while dynamics solving the large hierarchy problem can lie at a higher scale up to around 10 TeV - without worsening the unavoidable little hierarchy problem. The low-energy phenomenology of the model is dominated by a single $Z'$ gauge boson with chiral and flavour non-universal couplings, with mass as light as a few TeV thanks to the $U(2)^5$ symmetry. The natural parameter space of the model will be probed by the HL-LHC and unavoidably leads to large positive shifts in the $W$-boson mass, as well as an enhancement in $\text{Br}(B_{s,d} \to μ^+ μ^-)$. Finally, we show that a future electroweak precision machine such as FCC-ee easily has the reach to fully exclude the model.

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arXiv2023

Jet Bundle Geometry of Scalar Field Theories

For scalar field theories, such as those EFTs describing the Higgs, it is well-known that the 2-derivative Lagrangian is captured by geometry. That is, the set of operators with exactly 2 derivatives can be obtained by pulling back a metric from a field space manifold $M$ to spacetime $Σ$. We here generalise this geometric understanding of scalar field theories to higher- (and lower-) derivative Lagrangians. We show how the entire EFT Lagrangian with up to 4-derivatives can be obtained from geometry by pulling back a metric to $Σ$ from the 1-jet bundle that is (roughly) associated with maps from $Σ$ to $M$. More precisely, our starting point is to trade the field space $M$ for a fibre bundle $π:E \to Σ$, with fibre $M$, of which the scalar field $ϕ$ is a local section. We discuss symmetries and field redefinitions in this bundle formalism, before showing how everything can be `prolongated' to the 1-jet bundle $J^1 E$ which, as a manifold, is the space of sections $ϕ$ that agree in their zeroth and first derivatives above each spacetime point. Equipped with a notion of (spacetime and internal) symmetry on $J^1 E$, the idea is that one can write down the most general metric on $J^1 E$ consistent with symmetries, in the spirit of the effective field theorist, and pull it back to spacetime to build an invariant Lagrangian; because $J^1 E$ has `derivative coordinates', one naturally obtains operators with more than 2-derivatives from this geometry. We apply this formalism to various examples, including a single real scalar in 4d and a quartet of real scalars with $O(4)$ symmetry that describes the Higgs EFTs. We show how an entire non-redundant basis of 0-, 2-, and 4-derivative operators is obtained from jet bundle geometry in this way. Finally, we study the connection to amplitudes and the role of geometric invariants.

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