arXiv subjects

Kimiko Yamashita

Publications and source records attributed to Kimiko Yamashita.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Higgs-Portal Spin-1 Dark Matter with Parity-Violating Interaction for a Galactic Halo Gamma Ray Excess

We study a dark photon dark matter scenario associated with a gauged $U(1)_X$ symmetry, stabilized by a dark parity that forbids kinetic mixing with the Standard Model. The leading interactions between the dark photon dark matter and the Standard Model arise from dimension-six Higgs-portal operators. In previous work, we found that for the parity-violating operator, the dark matter annihilation process is $p$-wave suppressed, naturally evading stringent direct-detection constraints while reproducing the observed relic abundance through thermal freeze-out. For a cutoff scale of 1 TeV, a dark matter mass of around 400 GeV is favored to realize the observed relic abundance. This scenario predicts cosmic-ray signals, in particular in the $W^{+}W^{-}$ channel, which can be targeted by indirect-detection experiments. Recently, a halo-like gamma-ray excess has been reported by Totani. Assuming a Navarro-Frenk-White-$ρ^2$ morphology for the dark matter distribution,a dark matter mass of 420 GeV is favored for the $W^{+}W^{-}$ final state. Motivated by this excess, we consider the present dark photon dark matter framework augmented by a CP-even sub-GeV scalar mediator, which couples to the dark photon mass operator in order to enhance the present-day annihilation rate in the Galactic halo while inducing only an O(1) correction at freeze-out. The exchange of this scalar induces a long-range attractive force, leading to Sommerfeld enhancement of the annihilation rate. The enhancement is saturating in dwarf spheroidal galaxies and the annihilation rate is dropping as $p$-wave remaining consistent with constraints from dwarf galaxies and cosmology.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Inelastic Dark Photon Dark Matter for the LUX-ZEPLIN High-Recoil Event and the Galactic Halo Gamma-Ray Excess

We show that a dark-photon dark matter framework can simultaneously account for two recently reported anomalies: the halo-like Galactic gamma-ray excess identified by Totani in 15 years of Fermi-LAT data, and the $E_{\rm nr}=248\pm23\,({\rm stat})\pm23\,({\rm sys})$ keV nuclear-recoil event of interest reported by the LUX-ZEPLIN Collaboration. The dark matter is a $U(1)_X$ dark photon $X$ with mass $m_X=420$ GeV, stabilized by a dark parity that forbids kinetic mixing with the Standard Model photon. A light scalar mediator $ϕ$, required to explain the Totani excess via Sommerfeld enhancement, is joined by a second light scalar $ϕ'$ that couples a nearly degenerate heavier vector partner $V$ to $X$. The resulting inelastic transition $X+N\to V+N$, with mass splitting $δ\simeq316$ keV close to the kinematic endpoint for $m_X=420$ GeV, naturally reproduces the localized LZ event once the detector energy resolution is included, while leaving the relic abundance and the halo phenomenology of the original Totani-motivated benchmark essentially unchanged.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Gravitational Positivity Bounds on Higgs-Portal Dark Matter

Gravitational positivity bounds are constraints on a renormalizable theory in the presence of a massless graviton, under the assumption that the gravitational theory is ultraviolet-completed by a perturbative string theory. We derive these bounds for the Higgs-portal scalar dark matter model using the forward scattering process $ϕϕ\to ϕϕ$. We find that, in the absence of a dark matter self-coupling, new physics beyond the Higgs-portal dark matter interaction must appear below an energy scale of $10^{10}$ GeV if the dark matter mass is smaller than the Higgs boson mass. We further find that, in the presence of both interactions, achieving a cutoff scale at the grand unified theory scale generally requires a dark matter mass of order $10^{10}$-$10^{11}$ GeV (or above), with larger values favored when the four-point self-coupling plays a significant role. For such heavy Higgs-portal dark matter, the observed relic abundance of dark matter in the Universe can be successfully reproduced via the freeze-in mechanism with a tiny Higgs-portal coupling, $λ_{hϕ} \lesssim 3.5 \times 10^{-11}$. The reheating temperature is then constrained to be $T_{\mathrm{reh}} \lesssim 10^{14}$ GeV by the positivity bounds on the dark matter mass.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Higgs-Portal Stueckelberg Dark Matter

We study dark photon dark matter $X$ associated with a dark $U(1)_X$ gauge symmetry. To evade laboratory and cosmological constraints on kinetic mixing with the Standard Model $U(1)_Y$, we assign a $Z_2$-odd dark parity to $X$ that forbids such mixing. The leading interactions then arise from gauge-invariant dimension-6 Higgs-portal operators, including both parity-even and parity-odd terms. We assume that the dark matter mass is generated via the Stueckelberg mechanism, which also induces a dimension-4 Higgs-portal operator $(H^\dagger H) X_μX^μ$ and additional dimension-6 operators. We investigate freeze-in production of $X$ from Higgs-pair annihilations after reheating, incorporating both gauge-invariant and Stueckelberg-induced operators. First, we consider the case in which the Wilson coefficients of the gauge-invariant dimension-6 operators, $C$ and $\tilde{C}$, are of order unity. We find that, in this case, the Stueckelberg contributions remain subdominant in dark matter production. This result follows from the requirement that the effective scale implied by perturbative unitarity must exceed the cutoff scale of the effective field theory. Next, we explore a more general situation in which $C$ and $\tilde{C}$ are smaller than unity. In this second case, Stueckelberg-induced operators can become comparable and lead to distinctive features in the dark-matter parameter space, including interference effects. For both cases, we show that there exists a wide parameter space consistent with the observed dark matter relic density.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Standard Model anomalies and vacuum stability for lepton portals with extra $U(1)$ symmetry

Recently, the experimental values of the muon $(g-2)_μ$ and of the $W$ boson mass $m_{_W}$ have both indicated significant deviations from the SM predictions, motivating the exploration of extensions with extra particles and symmetries. We revisit a lepton portal model with $U(1)'$ gauge symmetry where an extra Higgs doublet, a scalar singlet and one $SU(2)_L$ singlet vector-like fermion are introduced. In this model, $(g-2)_μ$ can be explained by extra one-loop contributions from the vector-like lepton and the $Z'$ boson, whereas $m_{_W}$ can be increased by a tree-level mixing between the $Z$ and $Z'$. Setting the $Z'$ and lepton couplings at low energies to account for the SM anomalies, we perform a Renormalization Group analysis to investigate on the high-energy behaviour of the model, in particular on the issue of vacuum stability. We find that in the alignment limit for the two Higgs doublets, the Landau pole and the scale where perturbativity is lost are of order $10-100\,{\rm TeV}$, not far from the scales experimentally reached so far, and sensibly lower than the stability scale. We show how the Landau pole can be increased up to $\sim10^9\,{\rm GeV}$ in a misaligned scenario where the experimental anomalies are still accommodated and a positive shift of the Higgs quartic coupling to improve stability can be achieved.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Higgs-Portal Spin-1 Dark Matter with Parity-Violating Interaction

We introduce the spin-1 $U(1)_X$ gauged field $X$ with $Z_2$ odd dark parity to evade the current strong constraints on kinetic mixing. Then, $X$ becomes stable and a candidate for the dark matter. The lowest mass dimension of interaction is six, and the type is the Higgs portal. Two types of dim-6 operators are introduced. We consider the freeze-out dark matter scenario. With the limit of null momentum transfer, a parity odd operator is free from the direct detection constraints. Accordingly, the strong constraints on a parity even operator indicate turning on this parity odd operator to realize the dark matter relic density of the Universe. With the 1 TeV cut-off scale, our dark matter of around 400 GeV mass can explain the dark matter relic density and is allowed from the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment of the direct detection.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Positivity Bounds on Higgs-Portal Freeze-in Dark Matter

We consider the relic density and positivity bounds for freeze-in scalar dark matter with general Higgs-portal interactions up to dimension-8 operators. When dimension-4 and dimension-6 Higgs-portal interactions are proportional to mass squares for Higgs or scalar dark matter in certain microscopic models such as massive graviton, radion or general metric couplings with conformal and disformal modes, we can take the dimension-8 derivative Higgs-portal interactions to be dominant for determining the relic density via the 2-to-2 thermal scattering of the Higgs fields after reheating. We discuss the implications of positivity bounds for microscopic models. First, massive graviton or radion mediates attractive forces between Higgs and scalar dark matter and the resultant dimension-8 operators respect the positivity bounds. Second, the disformal couplings in the general metric allow for the subluminal propagation of graviton but violate the positivity bounds. We show that there is a wide parameter space for explaining the correct relic density from the freeze-in mechanism and the positivity bounds can curb out the dimension-8 derivative Higgs-portal interactions nontrivially in the presence of the similar dimension-8 self-interactions for Higgs and dark matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Positivity Bounds on Higgs-Portal Dark Matter

We consider the positivity bounds for WIMP scalar dark matter with effective Higgs-portal couplings up to dimension-8 operators. Taking the superposed states for Standard Model Higgs and scalar dark matter, we show that the part of the parameter space for the effective couplings, otherwise unconstrained by phenomenological bounds, is ruled out by the positivity bounds on the dimension-8 derivative operators. We find that dark matter relic density, direct and indirect detection and LHC constraints are complementary to the positivity bounds in constraining the effective Higgs-portal couplings. In the effective theory obtained from massive graviton or radion, there appears a correlation between dimension-8 operators and other effective Higgs-portal couplings for which the strong constraint from direct detection can be evaded. Nailing down the parameter space mainly by relic density, direct detection and positivity bounds, we find that there are observable cosmic ray signals coming from the dark matter annihilations into a pair of Higgs bosons, $WW$ or $ZZ$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Moments for positivity: using Drell-Yan data to test positivity bounds and reverse-engineer new physics

Moments of the leptonic angular distribution in the Drell-Yan process have recently been shown to be sensitive probes of a specific class of dimension-8, four-fermion operators in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory, involving a pair of quarks and leptons. The same operators are also subject to positivity bounds, when requiring the associated (unknown) UV completion to obey basic principles of quantum field theory. We perform a phenomenological study to quantify the sensitivity of the high-luminosity LHC to this set of operators and, by extension, the positivity bounds. We further extend the angular basis of moments and consider double differential information to improve the ability to disentangle the different operators, leading to a sensitivity to new physics scales up to 3 TeV. We use this information to explore the violation of positivity at the LHC as a way to test the underlying principles of quantum field theory. Finally, we present a case study which combines our results with information from other (current and prospective) experiments, as well as the positivity cone to infer the properties of possible tree-level UV completions. The data lead to robust, model-independent lower bounds on the $M/\sqrt{g}$ combination of the particle mass and coupling, for states that couple to right-handed leptons and/or up quarks.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

The $SU(2)_D$ lepton portals for muon $g-2$, $W$ boson mass and dark matter

We propose a novel model which extends the Standard Model (SM) by introducing a $SU(2)_D$ gauge symmetry. In this model, a dark $SU(2)_D$ Higgs doublet and a Higgs bi-doublet can contribute to the muon $g-2$ anomaly and the $W$ boson mass, remaining in tune with the recent experimental results. At the same time, the isospin charged gauge boson of $SU(2)_D$ becomes a plausible candidate for Dark Matter(DM). We find that the resulting parameter space can fit the muon $g-2$, the $W$ boson mass and the DM constraints simultaneously.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

A Model of Vector-like Leptons for the Muon $g-2$ and the $W$ Boson Mass

We consider a simple extension of the Standard Model (SM) with a vector-like lepton and a local $U(1)'$ symmetry, motivated by the recent experimental anomalies in the muon $g-2$ and the $W$ boson mass. The $U(1)'$ symmetry is spontaneously broken by the VEVs of the dark Higgs scalar and the second Higgs doublet, giving rise to the mixing between the muon and the vector-like lepton. As a result, we obtain the desirable corrections to the muon $g-2$ and the $W$ boson mass simultaneously, dominantly due to the $Z'$ gauge interactions for the vector-like lepton and the second Higgs doublet, respectively. We also discuss the consistency of the model with the $Z$ boson decay width, the Higgs couplings and the dilepton bounds.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

The $SU(2)_D$ lepton portals for muon $g-2$, $W$ boson mass and dark matter

We propose a novel model for lepton flavor and dark matter based on the $SU(2)_D$ gauge symmetry and vector-like leptons in its fundamental representations. We introduce a dark $SU(2)_D$ Higgs doublet and a Higgs bi-doublet for the mass mixing between the vector-like lepton and the lepton. As a result, the seesaw lepton masses are generated and there are sizable one-loop contributions to the muon $g-2$ via the $SU(2)_D$ gauge bosons and the relatively heavy vector-like lepton, as indicated in Fermilab E989. The tree-level mass mixing between the $Z$ boson and the isospin neutral gauge boson of $SU(2)_D$ in our model accounts for the shift in the $W$ boson mass, being consistent with Tevatron CDFII. Finally, we show that the isospin charged gauge boson of $SU(2)_D$ becomes a plausible candidate for dark matter with a small mass splitting tied up to the modified $W$ boson mass, and there is a viable parameter space where the favored corrections to the muon $g-2$ and the $W$ boson mass and the dark matter constraints are simultaneously fulfilled.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Reheating and Dark Matter Freeze-in in the Higgs-$R^2$ Inflation Model

We study the post-inflationary dynamics for reheating and freeze-in dark matter in the Higgs-$R^2$ inflation model. Taking the perturbative approach for reheating, we determine the evolution of the temperature for radiation bath produced during reheating and determine the maximum and reheating temperatures of the Universe. Adopting a singlet scalar dark matter with a conformal non-minimal coupling and a vanishing Higgs-portal coupling, we discuss the freeze-in production of dark matter both from the non-thermal scattering during reheating and the thermal scattering after reheating. We find that thermal scattering is dominant for dark matter production in our model due to the high reheating temperature. The reheating temperature in our model is determined dominantly by the Higgs condensate to be up to about $10^{14}\,{\rm GeV}$ and dark matter with masses up to about $10^9\,{\rm GeV}$ can be produced with a correct relic density.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Seesaw lepton masses and muon $g-2$ from heavy vector-like leptons

We propose a model for the vector-like lepton to explain the small muon mass by a seesaw mechanism, based on lepton-specific two Higgs doublet models with a local $U(1)'$ symmetry. There is no bare muon mass for a nonzero $U(1)'$ charge of the leptophilic Higgs doublet, so the physical muon mass is generated due to the mixing between the vector-like lepton and the muon after the leptophilic Higgs doublet and the dark Higgs get VEVs. In this scenario, the non-decoupling effects of the vector-like lepton give rise to leading contributions to the muon $g-2$, thanks to the light $Z'$ and the light dark Higgs boson. We discuss various constraints on the model from lepton flavor violation, electroweak precision and Higgs data, as well as collider searches.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Searching for Monopoles via Monopolium Multiphoton Decays

We explore the phenomenology of a model of monopolium based on an electromagnetic dual formulation of Zwanziger and lattice gauge theory. The monopole is assumed to have a finite-sized inner structure based on a 't Hooft-Polyakov like solution, with the magnetic charge uniformly distributed on the surface of a sphere. The monopole and anti-monopole potential becomes linear plus Coulomb outside the sphere, analogous to the Cornell potential utilised in the study of quarkonium states. Discovery of a resonance feature in the diphoton channel as well as in a higher multiplicity photon channel would be a smoking gun for the existence of monopoles within this monopolium construction, with the mass and bound state properties extractable. Utilising the current LHC results in the diphoton channel, constraints on the monopole mass are determined for a wide range of model parameters. These are compared to the most recent MoEDAL results and found to be significantly more stringent in certain parameter regions, providing strong motivation for exploring higher multiplicity photon final state searches.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Higgs Inflation, Vacuum Stability, and Leptogenesis

We consider the introduction of a complex scalar field carrying a global lepton number charge to the Standard Model and the Higgs inflation framework. The conditions are investigated under which this model can simultaneously ensure Higgs vacuum stability up to the Planck scale, successful inflation, non-thermal Leptogenesis via the pendulum mechanism, and light neutrino masses. These can be simultaneously achieved when the scalar lepton is minimally coupled to gravity, that is, when standard Higgs inflation and reheating proceed without the interference of the additional scalar degrees of freedom. If the scalar lepton also has a non-minimal coupling to gravity, a multi-field inflation scenario is induced, with interesting interplay between the successful inflation constraints and those from vacuum stability and Leptogenesis. The parameter region that can simultaneously achieve the above goals is explored.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Elastic positivity vs extremal positivity bounds in SMEFT: a case study in transversal electroweak gauge-boson scatterings

The positivity bounds, derived from the axiomatic principles of quantum field theory (QFT), constrain the signs of Wilson coefficients and their linear combinations in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). The precise determination of these bounds, however, can become increasingly difficult as more and more SM modes and operators are taken into account. We study two approaches that aim at obtaining the full set of bounds for a given set of SM fields: 1) the traditional elastic positivity approach, which exploits the elastic scattering amplitudes of states with arbitrarily superposed helicities as well as other quantum numbers, and 2) the newly proposed extremal positivity approach, which constructs the allowed coefficient space directly by using the extremal representation of convex cones. Considering the electroweak gauge-bosons as an example, we demonstrate how the best analytical and numerical positivity bounds can be obtained in several ways. We further compare the constraining power and the efficiency of various approaches, as well as their applicability to more complex problems. While the new extremal approach is more constraining by construction, we also find that it is analytically easier to use, numerically much faster than the elastic approach, and much more applicable when more SM particle states and operators are taken into account. As a byproduct, we provide the best positivity bounds on the transversal quartic-gauge-boson couplings, required by the axiomatic principles of QFT, and show that they exclude $\approx 99.3\%$ of the parameter space currently being searched at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

The effects of coating culture dishes with collagen on fibroblast cell shape and swirling pattern formation

Motile human-skin fibroblasts form macroscopic swirling patterns when grown to confluence on a culture dish. In this paper, we investigate the effect of coating the culture-dish surface with collagen on the resulting pattern, using human-skin fibroblast NB1RGB cells as the model system. The presence of the collagen coating is expected to enhance the adherence of the fibroblasts to the dish surface, and thereby also enhance the traction that the fibroblasts have as they move. We find that, contrary to our initial expectation, the coating does not significantly affect the motility of the fibroblasts. Their eventual number density at confluence is also unaffected. However, the coherence length of cell orientation in the swirling pattern is diminished. We also find that the fibroblasts cultured in a collagen-coated dish are rounder in shape and shorter in perimeter, compared to those cultured in an uncoated dish. We hypothesize that the rounder cell-shape which weakens the cell-cell nematic contact interaction is responsible for the change in coherence length. A simple mathematical model of the migrating fibroblasts is constructed, which demonstrates that constant motility with weaker nematic interaction strength does indeed lead to the shortening of the coherence length.

physics.bio-ph↗