arXiv subjects

Marco Costa

Publications and source records attributed to Marco Costa.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Design and performance of the Fast Beam Condition Monitor for luminosity and background measurement at the CMS Experiment in LHC Run 3

The Fast Beam Condition Monitor (BCM1F) has been used at the CMS Experiment since the first LHC circulating beams in 2008. Originally meant as a beam-induced background monitor for fast beam losses detection, it showed a potential also for luminosity measurements in 2012 running, and has been used for luminosity measurements since the beginning of Run 2 data taking in 2015 as a part of the Beam Radiation, Instrumentation and Luminosity (BRIL) system. Over the years, the system has undergone various upgrades to the sensors, the front-end and back-end electronics, providing improvements in the precision of the measurements, that remain valid in the higher pileup conditions of LHC Run 3 (2022-2026). Based on the experience of all BCM1F Run 2 upgrades, the detector was completely rebuilt prior to LHC Run 3 using AC-coupled silicon-pad diodes and active cooling. This latest detector version exhibits excellent linearity with instantaneous luminosity and achieves nanosecond-level timing precision, enabling improved systematic corrections for luminosity and background measurements. This paper presents a detailed overview of the detector system for LHC Run 3, including the selection and qualification of sensors as well as a summary of the readout system. It also outlines the processing and calibration strategy for luminosity data, discussing operational hurdles and comparing BCM1F measurements to other CMS luminosity measurements to assess the system's performance as a luminometer. Lastly, the implications for the design of a future luminosity detector to be used in the envisioned HL-LHC upgrade are discussed.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2026

Probing Neutrino Compositeness with Invisible and Displaced Signals

We explore the possibility that neutrinos couple to an interacting sterile sector, providing a novel portal that generalizes the heavy neutral lepton portal to a composite setting. For a low confinement scale, high-energy neutrino beams can disintegrate into collimated sprays of hidden states, referred to as dark jets. This dynamics gives rise to two characteristic signatures in high energy neutrino beams. First, long-lived dark resonances can enhance the neutral-current to charged-current ratio. Second, shorter-lived dark states produced in neutrino neutral currents can produce single or multiple displaced vertices and even emerging jets, depending on the kinematics. These signals probe regions of parameter space beyond existing constraints from meson, electroweak, and Higgs decays, as well as from searches for displaced decays at beam dump experiments. We study these phenomena within broad classes of ultraviolet completions and identify scenarios in which high-energy neutrino beams provide leading sensitivity to neutrino compositeness. Such scenarios generically induce higher-dimensional contact interactions, which we classify and study alongside their complementary experimental signatures. Finally, we outline an experimental program spanning both the intensity and energy frontiers. Near-term neutrino facilities (DUNE, FPF) and running flavor experiments (LHCb, Belle II) can probe neutrino compositeness through neutrino disintegration into dark jets and displaced B-meson decays. Future colliders, particularly the Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee), will ultimately provide the strongest sensitivity to the compositeness scale via displaced Z decays.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Dark forces suppress structure growth

No experimental test precludes the possibility that the dark matter experiences forces beyond general relativity---in fact, a variety of cosmic microwave background observations suggest greater late-time structure than predicted in the standard $\Lambda$ cold dark matter model. We show that minimal models of scalar-mediated forces between dark matter particles do not enhance the growth of unbiased tracers of structure: weak lensing observables depend on the total density perturbation, for which the enhanced growth of the density contrast in the matter era is cancelled by the more rapid dilution of the background dark matter density. Moreover, the same background-level effects imply that scenarios compatible with CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies in fact suppress structure growth, as fixing the distance to last scattering requires a substantially increased density of dark energy. Though massive mediators undo these effects upon oscillating, they suppress structure even further because their gravitational impact as nonclustering subcomponents of matter outweighs the enhanced clustering strength of dark matter. We support these findings with analytic insight that clarifies the physical impact of dark forces and explains how primary CMB measurements calibrate the model's predictions for low-redshift observables. We discuss implications for neutrino mass limits and other cosmological anomalies, and we also consider how nonminimal extensions of the model might be engineered to enhance structure.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Stopping Dark Mesons in Their Tracks with Long-Lived Particle and Resonant Signatures

Dark sectors with confining gauge interactions can provide both simple dark matter candidates and striking signals at colliders. We recast Large Hadron Collider searches for two different signatures of dark mesons that arise from a strongly-coupled theory with vector-like dark quarks that are in some non-trivial representation of Standard Model SU(2)$_L$. For any such electroweak representation, there is a 3-plet of dark mesons whose charged components are long-lived, and we reinterpret searches for disappearing tracks to place a lower bound on their mass of $\sim 1.2$ TeV. When the dark quarks are in SU(2)$_L$ representations larger than the fundamental, there is also a 5-plet of dark mesons that interacts with the electroweak gauge bosons via a chiral anomaly. We show that the 5-plet is the unique non-trivial meson multiplet with this anomaly and recast searches for the resulting diboson resonances to place bounds on model parameters. With additional measurements, the anomaly also enables one to reconstruct some ultraviolet parameters (the numbers of dark flavors and colors) while only measuring states in the infrared. Each of these signals represents an exciting opportunity for future searches using higher luminosity.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Invisible jets from composite neutrinos

We propose a novel experimental probe of neutrino couplings to a composite sterile sector, leveraging the unique signature of neutrino disintegration into "invisible jets" in high-energy neutrino scattering. Focusing on scenarios where the invisible jet invariant mass significantly exceeds the confinement scale, we compute production rates within the conformal window. In this regime, invisible jet production leads to an energy-dependent enhancement of the neutral-to-charged current ratio in neutrino-nucleus scattering. Using NuTeV measurements, we derive new bounds and assess the sensitivity of upcoming experiments such as SHiP and the Forward Physics Facility at CERN. We sketch models where these probes surpass constraints from electroweak gauge boson and Higgs invisible branching ratios. In contrast, neutrino-electron scattering modifications are suppressed by the lower center-of-mass energy and are unlikely to be observable at DUNE.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

The Muon Collider

Muons offer a unique opportunity to build a compact high-energy electroweak collider at the 10 TeV scale. A Muon Collider enables direct access to the underlying simplicity of the Standard Model and unparalleled reach beyond it. It will be a paradigm-shifting tool for particle physics representing the first collider to combine the high-energy reach of a proton collider and the high precision of an electron-positron collider, yielding a physics potential significantly greater than the sum of its individual parts. A high-energy muon collider is the natural next step in the exploration of fundamental physics after the HL-LHC and a natural complement to a future low-energy Higgs factory. Such a facility would significantly broaden the scope of particle colliders, engaging the many frontiers of the high energy community. The last European Strategy for Particle Physics Update and later the Particle Physics Project Prioritisation Panel in the US requested a study of the muon collider, which is being carried on by the International Muon Collider Collaboration. In this comprehensive document we present the physics case, the state of the work on accelerator design and technology, and propose an R\&D project that can make the muon collider a reality.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2024

MuCol Milestone Report No. 5: Preliminary Parameters

This document is comprised of a collection of updated preliminary parameters for the key parts of the muon collider. The updated preliminary parameters follow on from the October 2023 Tentative Parameters Report. Particular attention has been given to regions of the facility that are believed to hold greater technical uncertainty in their design and that have a strong impact on the cost and power consumption of the facility. The data is collected from a collaborative spreadsheet and transferred to overleaf.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2024

From 100 kpc to 10 Gpc: Dark Matter self-interactions before and after DESI

We consider Dark Matter self-interactions mediated by ultralight scalars. We show that effectively massless mediators lead to an enhancement of the matter power spectrum, while heavier mediators lead to a suppression, together with a feature around their Jeans scale. We derive the strongest present constraints by combining Planck and BOSS data. The recent DESI measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations exhibit a mild $2\sigma$ preference for long-range self-interactions, as strong as $4$ per mille of the gravitational coupling. Full-shape analyses of forthcoming DESI and Euclid data will confirm or disprove such a hint.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Grafite: Taming Adversarial Queries with Optimal Range Filters

Range filters allow checking whether a query range intersects a given set of keys with a chance of returning a false positive answer, thus generalising the functionality of Bloom filters from point to range queries. Existing practical range filters have addressed this problem heuristically, resulting in high false positive rates and query times when dealing with adversarial inputs, such as in the common scenario where queries are correlated with the keys. We introduce Grafite, a novel range filter that solves these issues with a simple design and clear theoretical guarantees that hold regardless of the input data and query distribution: given a fixed space budget of $B$ bits per key, the query time is $O(1)$, and the false positive probability is upper bounded by $\ell/2^{B-2}$, where $\ell$ is the query range size. Our experimental evaluation shows that Grafite is the only range filter to date to achieve robust and predictable false positive rates across all combinations of datasets, query workloads, and range sizes, while providing faster queries and construction times, and dominating all competitors in the case of correlated queries. As a further contribution, we introduce a very simple heuristic range filter whose performance on uncorrelated queries is very close to or better than the one achieved by the best heuristic range filters proposed in the literature so far.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2023

Unveiling dark forces with measurements of the Large Scale Structure of the Universe

Cosmology offers opportunities to test Dark Matter independently of its interactions with the Standard Model. We study the imprints of long-range forces acting solely in the dark sector on the distribution of galaxies, the so-called Large Scale Structure (LSS). We derive the strongest constraint on such forces from a combination of Planck and BOSS data. Along the way we consistently develop, for the first time, the Effective Field Theory of LSS in the presence of new dynamics in the dark sector. We forecast that future surveys will improve the current bound by an order of magnitude.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Towards a Muon Collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2023

Study and perspective on neutron beam divergence improvement achievable by the combination of two or more neutron collimating systems

This communication presents the results obtained at an experimental campaign at PSI BOA beamline using the combination of the ANET Compact Neutron Collimator (CNC) with the actual BOA pin-hole system. Through extensive resolution campaigns, it has been possible to quantify and understand the effects of improvement on the beam divergence when combining the two collimating systems. A new theoretical approach to this problem is described and discussed. The effect is expected not to be limited to the specific case that has been studied at PSI BOA but to have a more general validity for neutron collimation systems.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2023

Improved methodologies to study the performance of the ANET Compact Neutron Collimator

The ANET project aims at developing 2D compact neutron collimators for neutron imaging applications. The results of the ANET collimator performances, presented in this communication, are based on data collected at the FISH beamline at TU-Delft. Two independent methods to evaluate the neutron radiography resolution are described and discussed, as well as a comparison of the beam divergence with or without the ANET collimator.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

Model Agnostic Probes of Dark Sectors at Neutrino Experiments

Present and upcoming neutrino experiments can have considerable sensitivity to dark sectors that interact feebly with the Standard Model. We consider dark sectors interacting with the SM through irrelevant portals that are motivated on general principles. We derive bounds on such scenarios by considering decays of dark sector excitations inside the neutrino detector, placed downstream from the target. Our approach is model agnostic and applies to a wide range of dark sector models, both strongly and weakly coupled. In this approach, the dark sector is characterized by two scales: $\Lambda_\text{UV}$ (mass of mediators generating the portals) and $\Lambda_\text{IR}$ (mass gap of the dark sector). At intermediate energies, far away from these scales, the theory is approximately scale-invariant. This allows the calculation of production rates independent of the threshold corrections, although some mild model-dependent assumptions are needed. We look at various dark sector production processes relevant at neutrino experiments such as meson decays, direct partonic production, and dark bremsstrahlung. We consider representative experiments from past (CHARM), present (ICARUS, NOvA, MicroBooNE), and upcoming future (DUNE-MPD), and compare their reach to existing bounds from high energy experiments (LHC and LEP) and dedicated future LLP experiments (SHiP). We find that the upcoming DUNE-MPD can probe $\Lambda_\text{UV}$ in the TeV range, and $\Lambda_\text{IR}$ in the 0.1-1 GeV range, covering parts of parameter space currently inaccessible in high energy experiments and fixed-target/beam-dump experiments, and is comparable to future LLP experiments. In general, future neutrino experiments can be an efficient probe of dark sectors, providing complementary as well as new reach in parameter space.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Silicon sensors with resistive read-out: Machine Learning techniques for ultimate spatial resolution

Resistive AC-coupled Silicon Detectors (RSDs) are based on the Low Gain Avalanche Diode (LGAD) technology, characterized by a continuous gain layer, and by the innovative introduction of resistive read-out. Thanks to a novel electrode design aimed at maximizing signal sharing, RSD2, the second RSD production by Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), achieves a position resolution on the whole pixel surface of about 8 $\mu m$ for 200-$\mu m$ pitch. RSD2 arrays have been tested using a Transient Current Technique setup equipped with a 16-channel digitizer, and results on spatial resolution have been obtained with machine learning algorithms.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

Asymmetric Accidental Composite Dark Matter

The goal of this work is to find the simplest UV completions of Accidental Composite Dark Matter models that can dynamically generate an asymmetry for the Dark Matter candidate, the lightest dark baryon, and simultaneously annihilate the symmetric component. In this framework Dark Matter is an accidentally stable bound state of a confining $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ gauge group that can interact weakly with the visible sector. The generation of asymmetry for such candidate happens via the out-of-equilibrium decay of two flavors of a heavy scalar $\phi$, with mass $M_\phi > 10^{10}$ GeV. Below such scale, the models recover accidental stability, or long-livedness, of the Dark Matter candidate. The symmetric component is annihilated by residual confined interactions provided that the mass of the dark baryon is < 75 TeV.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

The last Complex WIMPs standing

We continue the study of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) started in [arXiv:2107.09688], focusing on a single complex electroweak $n$-plet with non-zero hypercharge added to the Standard Model. The minimal splitting between the Dark Matter and its electroweak neutral partner required to circumvent direct detection constraints allows only multiplets with hypercharge smaller or equal to 1. We compute for the first time all the calculable WIMP masses up to the largest multiplet allowed by perturbative unitarity. For the minimal allowed splitting, most of these multiplets can be fully probed at future large-exposure direct detection experiments, with the notable exception of the doublet with hypercharge 1/2. We show how a future muon collider can fully explore the parameter space of the complex doublet combining missing mass, displaced track and long-lived track searches. In the same spirit, we study how a future muon collider can probe the parameter space of complex WIMPs in regions where the direct detection cross section drops below the neutrino floor. Finally, we comment on how precision observables can provide additional constraints on complex WIMPs.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Muon Collider Physics Summary

The perspective of designing muon colliders with high energy and luminosity, which is being investigated by the International Muon Collider Collaboration, has triggered a growing interest in their physics reach. We present a concise summary of the muon colliders potential to explore new physics, leveraging on the unique possibility of combining high available energy with very precise measurements.

hep-ph↗