arXiv subjects

Luc Darmé

Publications and source records attributed to Luc Darmé.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Gravitational waves from flavoured SU(2) early-universe phase transitions

Flavourful extensions of the Standard Model aimed at explaining its fermionic mass structure typically rely on symmetries, broken at high-energy scales far beyond the reach of foreseeable direct collider searches. We illustrate, using a $SU(2)$ flavour gauge group, that the breaking of these symmetries up to scales as high as $10^7$ GeV could generate a gravitational-wave signal potentially observable by future observatories. We use dimensional reduction techniques to obtain the finite-temperature effective potential and study the possible first-order phase transitions. We match these transitions to steady-state hydrodynamical solutions in order to determine the corresponding gravitational-wave spectra. We observe that order-one gauge couplings are always required for a first-order phase transition to occur. On the other hand, adding leptoquarks (as an example of particles that are typically present in a complete flavour theory) significantly extends the testable parameter space. We find excellent prospects at the Einstein Telescope for future gravitational-wave detection of flavoured $SU(2)$ early-universe phase transitions.

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arXiv2025

Searching for top-philic heavy resonances in boosted four-top final states

New heavy resonances with sizeable couplings to top quarks can be probed through searches for beyond-the-Standard-Model effects in four-top production at the LHC. In this work, we present the first next-to-leading-order QCD predictions for the full on-shell and off-shell production of four-top events via new electroweak singlet states, along with dedicated analysis strategies based on the reconstruction and tagging of all final-state top quarks. We develop a detector-level simulation incorporating recent advances in top-tagging and boosted object reconstruction. Moreover, we demonstrate that searches at LHC Run 3 and high-luminosity phase in the zero-lepton, one-lepton and same-sign di-lepton channels can improve the sensitivity to the new physics cross sections by up to two orders of magnitude. In particular, colour-octet resonances with masses up to 2-2.5 TeV and colour-singlet states with masses up to 1-1.5 TeV are within reach for coupling values in the 0.1-1 range.

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arXiv2025

Blind unblinding procedure for the PADME X17 data sample

The PADME experiment at the Frascati DA$Φ$NE LINAC has performed a search for the hypothetical X17 particle, with a mass of around 17 MeV, by scanning the energy of a positron beam striking a fixed target. The X17 should be produced from the resulting $e^+e^-$ annihilation. Since the expected mass of this particle is only roughly known, data sidebands cannot be clearly defined. Furthermore, the need to keep the analysis blind to potentially sizable signal contributions prevents a clear assessment even of the quality of the data sample in this search. In light of these challenges, this paper presents an innovative strategy adopted by the PADME Collaboration to perform data quality checks without disclosing the X17 sample. Moreover, the procedure designed to eventually unblind the data is described, together with the statistical approach adopted to extract the limits on the coupling between the X17 and the Standard Model.

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arXiv2025

Boosting Beyond: A Novel Approach to Probing Top-Philic Resonances at the LHC

We introduce a novel search strategy for heavy top-philic resonances that induce new contributions to four-top production at the LHC. We capitalize on recent advances in top-tagging performance to demonstrate that the final state, that is expected to be boosted based on current limits, can be fully reconstructed and exploited. Notably, our approach promises bounds on new physics cross-sections that are a few to 60 times stronger than those obtained with existing searches, showcasing its unprecedented effectiveness in probing top-philic new physics.

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arXiv2024

Atoms as electron accelerators for measuring the $e^+e^- \to\,$hadrons cross section

The hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to $(g-2)_μ$ can be determined via dispersive methods from $e^+e^-\to\;$hadrons data. We propose a novel approach to measure the hadronic cross section $σ_{\mathrm{had}}$ as an alternative to the initial-state radiation and energy scan techniques, which relies on positron annihilation off atomic electrons of a high $Z$ target ($^{238}$U, $Z=92$). We show that by leveraging the relativistic electron velocities of the inner atomic shells, a high-intensity $12\,$GeV positron beam, such as the one foreseen at JLab, can allow to measure $σ_{\mathrm{had}}$ with high statistical accuracy from the two-pion threshold up to above $\sqrt{s} \sim 1\,$GeV.

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arXiv2024

Production of dark sector particles via resonant positron annihilation on atomic electrons

Resonant positron annihilation on atomic electrons provides a powerful method to search for light new particles coupled to $e^+e^-$. Reliable estimates of production rates require a detailed characterization of electron momentum distributions. We describe a general method that harnesses the target material Compton profile to properly include electron velocity effects in resonant annihilation cross-sections. We additionally find that high $Z$ atoms can efficiently act as particle physics accelerators, providing a density of relativistic electrons that allows to extend by several times the experimental mass reach.

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arXiv2024

Gauge $SU(2)_f$ flavour transfers

We introduce the idea of flavour transfer from a non-abelian horizontal $SU(2)_f$ flavour gauge group embedded in the Standard Model flavour structure. The new flavour vector bosons, in the mass range from the tens of GeV to multi-TeV do not induce large flavour-changing currents and meson oscillations, which usually provide the dominant constraints on this type of structure. Instead, the dominant constraints arise from "flavour-transfer" operators that we will study in details. Several explicit models are presented and their prospects are thoroughly explored, including their phenomenology in the lepton and quark sectors at colliders and lower energy experiments. We finally perform a complete numerical fit in one such scenario, showing that LHC-based lepton-flavour violating searches are competitive with intensity frontier observables.

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arXiv2024

Resonant search for the X17 boson at PADME

We discuss the experimental reach of the Frascati PADME experiment in searching for new light bosons via their resonant production in positron annihilation on fixed target atomic electrons. A scan in the mass range around 17 MeV will thoroughly probe the particle physics interpretation of the anomaly observed by the ATOMKI nuclear physics experiment. In particular, for the case of a spin-1 boson, the viable parameter space can be fully covered in a few months of data taking.

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arXiv2024

Indirect new physics effects on $σ_{\rm had}$ confront the $(g-2)_μ$ window discrepancies and the CMD-3 result

Recent lattice determinations of the hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment $a_μ^{\rm HVP}$ have confirmed the discrepancy with the data-driven dispersive method. In the meanwhile the CMD-3 collaboration has reported a result for the $e^+e^-\to π^+π^-$ cross section considerably larger than previous experimental results (and close to the lattice determinations) exacerbating the discordance between different $e^+e^-$ datasets. We explore to what extent these disagreements can be accounted for by some new physics effect altering selectively the individual experimental determinations of $σ(e^+e^- \to\;$hadrons). We find that specific effects of GeV-scale new particles are able to shift upwards the KLOE and BaBar results in the low and intermediate energy windows, while leaving unaffected the CMD-3 energy scan. Although these new physics effects cannot fully explain all the discrepancies among the different $σ(e^+e^- \to\;$hadrons) datasets, they succeed in mitigating the overall tension between data-driven and lattice estimates of $a_μ^{\rm HVP}$. Remarkably, the additional loop corrections involving the new particles concur to solve the residual discrepancy with the experimental value of $(g-2)_μ$.

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arXiv2023

UFO 2.0 -- The Universal Feynman Output format

We present an update of the Universal FeynRules Output model format, commonly known as the UFO format, that is used by several automated matrix-element generators and high-energy physics software. We detail different features that have been proposed as extensions of the initial format during the last ten years, and collect them in the current second version of the model format that we coin the Universal Feynman Output format. Following the initial philosophy of the UFO, they consist of flexible and modular additions to address particle decays, custom propagators, form factors, the renormalisation group running of parameters and masses, and higher-order quantum corrections.

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arXiv2022

The axion flavour connection

A local flavour symmetry acting on the quarks of the Standard Model can automatically give rise to an accidental global $U(1)$ which remains preserved from sources of explicit breaking up to a large operator dimension, while it gets spontaneously broken together with the flavour symmetry. Such non-fundamental symmetries are often endowed with a mixed QCD anomaly, so that the strong CP problem is automatically solved via the axion mechanism. We illustrate the general features required to realise this scenario, and we discuss a simple construction based on the flavour group $SU(3)\times SU(2) \times U(1)_F$ to illustrate how mass hierarchies can arise while ensuring at the same time a high quality Peccei-Quinn symmetry.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Atmospheric resonant production for light dark sectors

Cosmic ray atmospheric showers provide an effective environment for the production of MeV-scale dark sector particles. We show that, when available, the resonant annihilation of positrons from the shower on atmospheric electrons is the dominant production mechanism by more than an order of magnitude. We provide a quantitative example based on dark photon production and update existing constraints on a corresponding light dark matter model from kilotons neutrino experiments and xenon-based direct detection experiments.

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arXiv2022

Flavour anomalies and the muon $g-2$ from feebly interacting particles

We perform a phenomenological analysis of simplified models of light, feebly interacting particles~(FIPs)that can provide a combined explanation of the anomalies in $b\to s l^+ l ^-$ transitions at LHCb and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. Different scenarios are categorised according to the explicit momentum dependence of the FIP coupling to the $b-s$ and $μ-μ$ vector currents and they are subject to several constraints from flavour and precision physics. We show that viable combined solutions to the muon $g-2$ and flavour anomalies exist with the exchange of a vector FIP with mass larger than $4 \,\textrm{GeV}$. Interestingly, the LHC has the potential to probe this region of the parameter space by increasing the precision of the $Z\to 4μ$ cross-section measurement. Conversely, we find that solutions based on the exchange of a lighter vector, in the $m_V < 1\,\textrm{GeV}$ range, are essentially excluded by a combination of $B\to K +\textrm{invisible}$ and $W$-decay precision bounds.

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arXiv2022

The Forward Physics Facility at the High-Luminosity LHC

High energy collisions at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produce a large number of particles along the beam collision axis, outside of the acceptance of existing LHC experiments. The proposed Forward Physics Facility (FPF), to be located several hundred meters from the ATLAS interaction point and shielded by concrete and rock, will host a suite of experiments to probe Standard Model (SM) processes and search for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). In this report, we review the status of the civil engineering plans and the experiments to explore the diverse physics signals that can be uniquely probed in the forward region. FPF experiments will be sensitive to a broad range of BSM physics through searches for new particle scattering or decay signatures and deviations from SM expectations in high statistics analyses with TeV neutrinos in this low-background environment. High statistics neutrino detection will also provide valuable data for fundamental topics in perturbative and non-perturbative QCD and in weak interactions. Experiments at the FPF will enable synergies between forward particle production at the LHC and astroparticle physics to be exploited. We report here on these physics topics, on infrastructure, detector, and simulation studies, and on future directions to realize the FPF's physics potential.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

The muon g-2 anomaly confronts new physics in $e^\pm$ and $μ^\pm$ final states scattering

The 4.2$σ$ discrepancy between the standard model prediction for the muon anomalous magnetic moment $a_μ$ and the experimental result is accompanied by other anomalies. A crucial input for the prediction is the hadronic vacuum polarization $a_μ^{\rm HVP}$ inferred from $σ_{\rm had} =σ(e^+e^- \to\,$hadrons) data. However, the two most accurate determinations of $σ_{\rm had}$ from KLOE and BaBar disagree by almost 3$\,σ$. Additionally, the combined data-driven result disagrees with the most precise lattice determination of $a_μ^{\rm HVP}$ by $2.1\,σ$. We show that all these discrepancies could be accounted for by a new boson produced resonantly around the KLOE centre of mass energy and decaying promptly yielding $e^+e^-$ and $μ^+μ^-$ pairs in the final states. This gives rise to three different effects: (i) the additional $e^+e^-$ events will affect the KLOE luminosity determination based on measurements of the Bhabha cross section, and in turn the inferred value of $σ_{\rm had}$; (ii) the additional $μ^+μ^-$ events will affect the determination of $σ_{\rm had}$ via the (luminosity independent) measurement of the ratio of $π^+π^-γ$ versus $μ^+μ^-γ$ events; (iii) loops involving the new boson would contribute directly to the prediction for $a_μ$. We discuss in detail this possibility, and we present a simple model that can reconcile the KLOE and BaBar results for $σ_{\rm had}$, the data-driven and the lattice determinations of $a_μ^{\rm HVP}$, the predicted and measured values of $a_μ$, while complying with all phenomenological constraints.

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arXiv2021

Top-philic heavy resonances in four-top final states and their EFT interpretation

With an expected rate of about one event per 100,000 top-quark pairs, four top-quark final states very rarely arise at the LHC. Though scarce, they offer a unique window onto top-quark compositeness, self-interactions and more generically, onto any top-philic new physics. By employing simplified models featuring heavy resonances, we study the range of validity of effective theory interpretations of current four top-quark analyses at the LHC and establish their future reach at the HL-LHC. We find that for the class of models under consideration, the effective field theory interpretations are not applicable. We therefore present the most up-to-date limits obtained from public CMS analyses using simplified models. Finally, we put forward a novel recasting strategy for the experimental results based on the production of top quarks with large transverse momentum.

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arXiv2021

Inelastic Dark Matter at the Fermilab Short Baseline Neutrino Program

We study the sensitivity of the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) experiments, MicroBooNE, ICARUS, and SBND, to MeV- to GeV-scale inelastic dark matter interacting through a dark photon mediator. These models provide interesting scenarios of light thermal dark matter, which, while challenging to probe with direct and indirect detection experiments, are amenable to accelerator-based searches. We consider production of the dark sector states with both the Fermilab Booster 8 GeV and NuMI 120 GeV proton beams and study the signatures of scattering and decay of the heavy excited dark state in the SBN detectors. These distinct signatures probe complementary regions of parameter space. All three experiments will be able to cover new ground, with an excellent near-term opportunity to search for cosmologically motivated targets explaining the observed dark matter abundance.

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arXiv2021

Invisible decays of axion-like particles: constraints and prospects

Axion-like particles (ALPs) can provide a portal to new states of a dark sector. We study the phenomenology of this portal when the ALP mainly decays invisibly, while its interaction with the standard model sector proceeds essentially via its coupling to electrons and/or photons. We re-analyse existing limits from various collider and beam dump experiments, including in particular ALP production via electron/positron interactions, in addition to the usual production through ALP-photon coupling. We further discuss the interplay between these limits and the intriguing possibility of explaining simultaneously the muon and electron magnetic moment anomalies. Finally, we illustrate the prospects of ALP searches at the LNF positron fixed-target experiment PADME, and the future reach of an upgraded experimental setup.

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