arXiv subjects

Lukas Allwicher

Publications and source records attributed to Lukas Allwicher.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Implications of $K\toπν\barν$ for new physics in $B$ decays

The new measurement of the $K^+\toπ^+ν\barν$ branching ratio by the NA62 collaboration represents an important milestone in precision flavour physics. Under different flavour assumptions on beyond the standard model physics, this decay mode can be related to many other observables with underlying flavour-changing currents, such as $B\to Kν\barν$ or $B_s\toμμ$, effectively providing an additional handle in our exploration of flavour-violating new physics effects. We study the impact of this new result, under the hypotheses that deviations from the standard model arise from modified $Z$ couplings, or from effects in semileptonic interactions. Finally, we review the implications of our scenarios for the yet to be measured partner mode $K_L\toπ^0ν\barν$.

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arXiv2026

New measurements in leptonic kaon and pion decays: experimental and theoretical perspectives

We study the future prospects for precision measurements of purely leptonic charged-current kaon and pion decays. In particular, we consider the single ratios $R_{Kπ}^{\ell=μ,e} = Γ(K \to \ellν) / Γ(π\to \ellν)$, for which many experimental uncertainties cancel, as well as the double ratio $R_{Kπ}^e / R_{Kπ}^μ$, which provides a particularly sensitive probe of new physics. This study is timely in light of two converging developments. On the experimental side, a new conceptual design for a dedicated setup based on a slow-extracted proton beam and a multi-year data-taking program, is expected to achieve a precision at the $10^{-4}$ level. On the theory side, recent lattice-QCD calculations have reached a comparable level of accuracy. Finally, we assess the impact of these next-generation measurements on searches for physics beyond the Standard Model and show that they can provide constraints that are either competitive with or complementary to existing bounds.

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arXiv2026

Could electron-top interactions spoil the measurement of the Higgs trilinear? -A quantitative estimate at future lepton colliders-

The measurement of the Higgs self-coupling is considered the next milestone in the study of the Higgs boson properties. At future $e^+e^-$ facilities below the double Higgs production threshold, this is extracted from the $Zh$ production cross-section, which is sensitive to the trilinear coupling at the one-loop level. At the same perturbative order, potential effects beyond the Standard Model (SM) may affect the Higgstrahlung rate and distort the self-coupling determination. We study the question focusing especially on contact interactions containing two electron and two top-quark fields. We conclude that, in the context of FCC-ee and its planned runs at different energies, $eett$ interactions change the Higgs self-coupling sensitivity below the percent level. Even in the most pessimistic scenarios, we confirm a robust sensitivity of the order of 17% at the 1$σ$ confidence level under the assumption of otherwise SM-like Higgs couplings. A crucial role in these results is played by the measurement of fermion pair production above the $Z$ resonance.

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arXiv2025

The Price of a Large Electron Yukawa Modification

The theoretical implications of an electron Yukawa modification are considered in the context of a possible Higgs pole run at FCC-ee, aimed at bounding this coupling. We start from an effective field theory viewpoint, considering the impact of renormalisation group effects on related observables and also examining assumptions on the broader UV flavour structure. We then give an overview of the landscape of simplified models, investigating phenomenological constraints arising at higher orders. A short discussion of fine-tuning is also included.

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arXiv2025

Third-Family Quark-Lepton Unification and Electroweak Precision Tests

We analyze the compatibility of the hypothesis of third-family quark-lepton unification at the TeV scale with electroweak precision data, lepton flavor universality tests, and high-$p_T$ constraints. We work within the framework of the UV complete flavor non-universal 4321 gauge model, which is matched at one loop to the Standard Model Effective Field Theory. For consistency, all electroweak precision observables are also computed at one loop within the effective field theory. At tree level, the most sizeable corrections are to $W\rightarrow τν_τ$ and $Z \to ν_τν_τ$ due to integrating out a pseudo-Dirac singlet fermion required by the model for neutrino mass generation. At loop level, the new colored states of the model generate large flavor-universal contributions to the electroweak precision observables via leading- and next-to-leading log running effects, yielding a significant improvement in the electroweak fit (including an increase in the $W$-boson mass). These effects cannot be decoupled if the model addresses the charged-current $B$-meson anomalies. Overall, we find good compatibility between the data sets, while simultaneously satisfying all low- and high-energy constraints.

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arXiv2025

On the EFT validity for Drell-Yan tails at the LHC

In this article, we examine the validity range of the Effective Field Theory (EFT) description of high-energy Drell-Yan processes at the LHC. To this purpose, we consider explicit mediators that contribute to these processes in the $s$- and $t$-channels, comparing their effects in Drell-Yan distributions with the ones obtained by matching onto the corresponding EFT. We determine the conditions for the EFT results to accurately describe these scenarios. In particular, we explore the impact of including dimension-eight $(d=8)$ operators in the faster convergence of the EFT series, at the analytical and numerical level, considering contributions to the cross section up to the square of $d=8$ EFT operator insertions. Moreover, we discuss the possible implications of clipping LHC data and illustrate results for a specific New-Physics scenario motivated by low-energy flavor data.

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arXiv2025

Flavored Circular Collider: cornering New Physics at FCC-ee via flavor-changing processes

We illustrate the potential of a future high-intensity $e^+ e^-$ collider running at the $Z$ pole in probing extensions of the Standard Model via precise measurements of flavor-changing processes. We illustrate this potential both within effective field theories and simplified models inspired by current $B$-physics data, focusing on selected flavor-physics measurement projections at FCC-ee, and by the theoretically well-motivated scenario of TeV-scale new physics predominantly coupled to third-generation fields. In particular, we demonstrate the key role played by the interplay among different flavor-physics measurements, and between flavor and electroweak measurements, in cornering the New Physics parameter space. Updated constraints on new physics, in the limit that no deviations from the Standard Model are observed, are also presented.

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arXiv2025

New Physics at Tera-$Z$: Precision Renormalised

We study the power of a Tera-$Z$ run at FCC-ee for indirectly detecting or constraining heavy new physics. Our main finding is that nearly every new particle which matches at tree level to dimension-six operators of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) affects electroweak precision observables (EWPOs) at either tree level or via one loop renormalisation group (RG) running. This is true almost regardless of the structure of couplings to the Standard Model; just a handful of exceptions are identified which can produce zeroes in the EWPO RG equations. Under simple flavour assumptions, we perform fits of each state to projected FCC-ee $Z$ pole measurements, showing that all scenarios can be tested at the TeV scale or better, with many projected exclusions reaching tens of TeV. Tera-$Z$ is argued to provide an almost inescapable probe of heavy new physics.

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arXiv2025

Probing third-generation New Physics with $K\to πν\barν$ and $B\to K^{(*)} ν\barν$

The recent observation of the $K^+ \to π^+ ν\barν$ decay by NA62 is an important milestone in precision flavor physics. Together with evidence of $B^+ \to K^+ν\barν$ reported by Belle-II, they are the only FCNC decays involving third-family leptons where a precision close to the SM expectation has been reached. We study the implications of these recent results in the context of a new physics scenario aligned to the third generation, with an approximate $U(2)^5$ flavor symmetry acting on the light families. We find that the slight excess observed in both channels supports the hypothesis of non-standard TeV dynamics of this type, as also hinted at by other $B$-meson decays, consistently with bounds from colliders and electroweak observables. We further discuss how future improvements in precision could affect this picture, highlighting the discovery potential in these di-neutrino modes.

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arXiv2024

Computing Tools for Effective Field Theories

In recent years, theoretical and phenomenological studies with effective field theories have become a trending and prolific line of research in the field of high-energy physics. In order to discuss present and future prospects concerning automated tools in this field, the SMEFT-Tools 2022 workshop was held at the University of Zurich from 14th-16th September 2022. The current document collects and summarizes the content of this workshop.

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arXiv2024

Understanding the first measurement of $\mathcal{B}(B\to K ν\barν)$

Recently, Belle II reported on the first measurement of $\mathcal{B}(B^\pm\to K^\pm ν\barν)$ which appears to be almost $3σ$ larger than predicted in the Standard Model. We point out the important correlation with $\mathcal{B}(B\to K^{\ast} ν\barν)$ so that the measurement of that decay mode could help restraining the possible options for building the model of New Physics. We then try to interpret this new experimental result in terms of physics beyond the Standard Model by using SMEFT and find that a scenario with coupling only to $τ$ can accommodate the current experimental constraints but fails in getting a desired $R_{D^{(\ast )}}^\mathrm{exp}/R_{D^{(\ast )}}^\mathrm{SM}$, unless one turns the other SMEFT operators that are not related to $b\to s\ell\ell$ or/and $b\to sνν$.

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arXiv2023

New Physics in the Third Generation: A Comprehensive SMEFT Analysis and Future Prospects

We present a comprehensive analysis of electroweak, flavor, and collider bounds on the complete set of dimension-six SMEFT operators in the $U(2)^5$-symmetric limit. This operator basis provides a consistent framework to describe a wide class of new physics models and, in particular, the motivated class of models where the new degrees of freedom couple mostly to the third generation. By analyzing observables from all three sectors, and consistently including renormalization group evolution, we provide bounds on the effective scale of all 124 $U(2)^5$-invariant operators. The relation between flavor-conserving and flavor-violating observables is analyzed taking into account the leading $U(2)^5$ breaking in the Yukawa sector, which is responsible for heavy-light quark mixing. We show that under simple, motivated, and non-tuned hypotheses for the parametric size of the Wilson coefficients at the high scale, all present bounds are consistent with an effective scale as low as 1.5 TeV. We also show that a future circular $e^+ e^-$ collider program such as FCC-ee would push most of these bounds by an order of magnitude. This would rule out or provide clear evidence for a wide class of compelling new physics models that are fully compatible with present data.

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arXiv2023

Drell-Yan Tails Beyond the Standard Model

We investigate the high-$p_T$ tails of the $pp\to \ell ν$ and $pp \to \ell \ell$ Drell-Yan processes as probes of New Physics in semileptonic interactions with an arbitrary flavor structure. For this purpose, we provide a general decomposition of the $2\to2$ scattering amplitudes in terms of form-factors that we match to specific scenarios, such as the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), including all relevant operators up to dimension-$8$, as well as ultraviolet scenarios giving rise to tree-level exchange of new bosonic mediators with masses at the TeV scale. By using the latest LHC run-II data in the monolepton ($eν$, $μν$, $τν$) and dilepton ($ee$, $μμ$, $ττ$, $eμ$, $eτ$, $μτ$) production channels, we derive constraints on the SMEFT Wilson coefficients for semileptonic four-fermion and dipole operators with the most general flavor structure, as well as on all possible leptoquark models. For the SMEFT, we discuss the range of validity of the EFT description, the relevance of $\mathcal{O}(1/Λ^2)$ and $\mathcal{O}(1/Λ^4)$ truncations, the impact of $d=8$ operators and the effects of different quark-flavor alignments. Finally, as a highlight, we extract for several New Physics scenarios the combined limits from high-$p_T$ processes, electroweak pole measurements and low-energy flavor data for the $b\to cτν$ transition, showing the complementarity between these different observables. Our results are compiled in {\tt HighPT}, a package in {\tt Mathematica} which provides a simple way for users to extract the Drell-Yan tails likelihoods for semileptonic effective operators and for leptoquark models.

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arXiv2022

Lepton Flavour Universality in $τ$ decays

The evidence for Lepton Flavour Universality (LFU) violation in semileptonic $B$-decays has been rising over the past few years. Relying on generic effective field theory (EFT) results, it has been shown that models addressing the $B$-anomalies necessarily lead, at one-loop, to deviations from LFU in $τ$ decays at the few per-mil level. Once a (renormalizable) UV model is specified, the leading-log EFT result receives finite corrections from the matching at the UV scale. We discuss such corrections in a motivated class of models for the B-anomalies, based on an extended $SU(4) \times SU(3) \times SU(2) \times U(1)$ gauge sector. In this scenario, we obtain precise predictions for the effective $W$-boson and $Z$-boson couplings to leptons in terms of the masses and couplings of the new heavy fields. We confirm a few per-mil deviation from universality, within reach of future high-precision experiments.

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arXiv2022

HighPT: A Tool for high-$p_T$ Drell-Yan Tails Beyond the Standard Model

HighPT is a Mathematica package for the analysis of high-energy data of semileptonic transitions at hadron colliders. It allows to compute high-$p_T$ tail observables for semileptonic processes, i.e. Drell-Yan cross sections, for dilepton and monolepton final states at the LHC. These observables can be calculated at tree level within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory, including the relevant operators up to dimension eight to ensure a consistent description of the cross section including terms of $\mathcal{O}(Λ^{-4})$ in the cutoff scale $Λ$. For New Physics models with new mediators that can be resolved at LHC energies, HighPT can also account for the full propagation effects of these new bosonic states at tree level. Using the available data from the high-$p_T$ tails in the relevant LHC run-II searches by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations, HighPT can also construct the corresponding likelihoods for all possible flavors of the leptonic final states. As an illustration, we derive and compare constraints on Wilson coefficients at different orders in the Effective Field Theory expansion, and we investigate lepton flavor violation for the $S_3$ leptoquark model. The HighPT code is publicly available at https://github.com/HighPT/HighPT.

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arXiv2022

$B$-physics anomalies: EFT analyses and simplified models

We discuss some theoretical aspects related to the $B$-anomalies, both for the neutral current and the charged current anomalies. A possible combined explanation within an EFT framework as well as an explicit simplified model featuring the $U_1$ leptoquark are discussed. The model gives rise to predictions in other sectors that are experimentally accessible within the next few years.

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arXiv2022

LFU violations in leptonic $τ$ decays and B-physics anomalies

We present a complete analysis of Lepton Flavor Universality (LFU) violations in leptonic $τ$ decays in motivated models addressing the $B$-physics anomalies, based on the $SU(4)\times SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)$ gauge group. We show that the inclusion of vector-like fermions, required by $B$-physics data, leads to sizable modifications of the leading-log results derived within an Effective Field Theory approach. In the motivated parameter-space region relevant to the $B$-physics anomalies, the models predict a few per-mil decrease of the effective $W$-boson coupling to $τ$, within the reach of future experiments.

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arXiv2021

Perturbative unitarity constraints on generic Yukawa interactions

We study perturbative unitarity constraints on generic Yukawa interactions where the involved fields have arbitrary quantum numbers under an $\prod_i SU(N_i) \otimes U(1)$ group. We derive compact expressions for the bounds on the Yukawa couplings for the cases where the fields transform under the trivial, fundamental or adjoint representation of the various $SU(N)$ factors. We apply our results to specific models formulated to explain the anomalous measurements of $(g-2)_μ$ and of the charged- and neutral-current decays of the $B$ mesons. We show that, while these models can generally still explain the observed experimental values, the required Yukawa couplings are pushed at the edge of the perturbative regime.

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