arXiv subjects

Michael Klasen

Publications and source records attributed to Michael Klasen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Modern Determination of Pion and Kaon Fragmentation Functions from SIA and High-Precision COMPASS SIDIS Multiplicities

We present a combined determination of charged-pion and charged-kaon fragmentation functions (FFs), denoted HAPS-PiFF1.0 and HAPS-KaFF1.0, at next-to-leading order (NLO) and within a next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) perturbative QCD setup. The analysis combines single-inclusive electron-positron annihilation (SIA) data with charge-separated semi-inclusive deep-inelastic-scattering (SIDIS) multiplicities from HERMES and COMPASS. A central goal of this work is to incorporate the modern COMPASS SIDIS input, namely the COMPASS 2025 proton-target multiplicities and the COMPASS 2026 revised isoscalar-target multiplicities, into a common charged-pion and charged-kaon FF analysis and to assess their role in the resulting flavor separation. The revised isoscalar data supersede the earlier COMPASS measurements used in previous global fits. The charge-separated pion multiplicities provide important constraints on favored and unfavored light-quark fragmentation, while the kaon measurements enhance the sensitivity to light-quark, unfavored, and strange-to-kaon fragmentation channels. In both analyses, the gluon FF remains indirectly constrained in the present SIA+SIDIS framework and should be interpreted with appropriate caution. The extractions are carried out using the publicly available MontBlanc framework, and the resulting HAPS-PiFF1.0 and HAPS-KaFF1.0 replica sets are provided in the standard LHAPDF format.

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arXiv2026

Revisiting Unidentified Charged-Hadron Fragmentation Functions with Modern COMPASS SIDIS Multiplicities

We present \texttt{HAPS-hFF1.0}, a new global QCD analysis of unidentified charged-hadron fragmentation functions (FFs) using single-inclusive electron-positron annihilation (SIA) data together with the modern COMPASS semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (SIDIS) multiplicities. The COMPASS input consists of the 2025 proton-target measurement and the revised isoscalar-target multiplicities provided in the COMPASS addendum 2026. The extraction is performed at both next-to-leading order (NLO) and next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO), allowing us to study the perturbative stability of the QCD fit and the impact of the updated SIDIS information on the flavor structure of the FFs. We find that the modern COMPASS multiplicities can be consistently described together with the SIA data and provide important charge-separated constraints on the light-quark and antiquark FFs. The comparison between the NLO and NNLO extractions indicates a stable quark-sector determination, while the gluon FF remains less directly constrained in the present SIA+SIDIS analysis. Our results highlight the importance of the modern COMPASS SIDIS multiplicities for precision studies of unidentified charged-hadron fragmentation and for future global FF determinations. The resulting \texttt{HAPS-hFF1.0} replicas are publicly available in standard LHAPDF format.

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arXiv2026

Heavy-quark contributions to the polarized DIS structure functions at NLO in the ACOT scheme

This study explores the heavy-quark contributions to polarized structure functions in deep-inelastic scattering at next-to-leading order. The structure functions $g_1$, $g_4$, $g_5$, $g_6$, and $g_7$ are computed, while $g_2$ and $g_3$ are excluded due to the higher-twist suppression. The calculations are performed within the ACOT renormalization scheme, which ensures theoretical consistency across kinematic regions where heavy quarks transition from being dynamically produced to fully active degrees of freedom. By incorporating heavy-flavor contributions at next-to-leading-order, this work provides deeper insights into their role in polarized structure functions and the spin-dependent dynamics of QCD. Both analytical results and their numerical implementation are presented.

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arXiv2026

Toward Precision Helicity PDFs from Global DIS and SIDIS Fits with Projected EIC Measurements

We present a new global determination of the helicity-dependent parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the proton, based on inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) and semi-inclusive DIS (SIDIS) data within a consistent next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD framework. In addition to existing measurements, we incorporate simulated pseudodata for the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), considering two beam-energy configurations, $E_e \times E_p = 5 \times 41~\mathrm{GeV^2}$ and $18 \times 275~\mathrm{GeV^2}$, corresponding to an extended kinematic reach down to $x \sim 10^{-5}$. We focus on longitudinal double-spin asymmetries $A_1^h$ for charge-separated pion and kaon production in SIDIS off a longitudinally polarized proton target. These projected measurements significantly improve the flavor separation of sea-quark polarized PDFs ($\Delta \bar{u}$, $\Delta \bar{d}$, $\Delta s$) and reduce the uncertainties on both quark and gluon helicity distributions, with the largest impact at small $x$. Polarized PDFs are extracted using a neural-network parametrization and a Monte Carlo replica methodology to propagate experimental uncertainties, while theoretical constraints such as positivity are imposed during the fit. We demonstrate that the inclusion of EIC pseudodata leads to a substantially more precise determination of polarized PDFs, with the largest impact in the small-$x$ region. The resulting polarized PDF sets are provided in the LHAPDF format.

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arXiv2025

Scrutinizing the KNT model with vacuum stability conditions

The Krauss-Nasri-Trodden (KNT) model provides a unified framework for addressing the smallness of neutrino masses (by a three-loop radiative mechanism) and the dark matter abundance (via thermal freeze-out) simultaneously. In this work, we investigate the implications of renormalization group effects on the model's parameter space. To this end, we perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis to identify the viable regions of parameter space that is consistent with all the relevant experimental and theoretical constraints at low energies. We show that a significant portion of the low-energy viable region is incompatible with the vacuum stability conditions once the renormalization group effects are taken into account. Most of the remaining parameter space of the model can be probed in future charged lepton flavor violating experiments.

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arXiv2025

Heavy-quark contributions to the DIS structure functions $F_4$ and $F_5$ at NLO in the ACOT scheme

We compute the contributions of heavy quarks to the deep-inelastic scattering structure functions $F_4$ and $F_5$ at next-to-leading order of perturbative QCD in the ACOT scheme. Both analytic results including the details of the calculation as well as numerical results for the neutral and charged current cases are presented. Our study thus lays the groundwork for future measurements of these two structure functions in experiments such as the SHiP experiment.

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arXiv2025

NLO heavy-quark contributions to DIS structure functions in the ACOT scheme

We present next-to-leading-order (NLO) calculations of heavy-quark contributions to deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) structure functions $F_4$ and $F_5$ within the Aivazis--Collins--Olness--Tung (ACOT) scheme, implemented in the open source library \texttt{APFEL++} using \texttt{CT18NLO} parton distribution functions. These structure functions, suppressed by lepton mass effects in light-lepton processes, become significant in muon, tau-lepton and neutrino scattering at facilities such as SHiP, IceCube, and DUNE. Our results reveal NLO corrections up to 10\% relative to leading order, with pronounced heavy-quark effects at low Bjorken-$x$, impacting gluon and strange quark distributions. In the unpolarized case, $F_{4/5}^{\gamma Z}$ and $F_{4/5}^{\gamma}$ do not contribute to the cross section, while the $\gamma Z$ interference becomes accessible with longitudinally polarized lepton beams at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), offering enhanced sensitivity at low $Q^2$ due to reduced $Z$-boson propagator suppression. Analytical NLO expressions have also been derived for the polarized structure functions $g_1$, $g_4$, $g_5$, $g_6$, and $g_7$ in the ACOT framework. These developments enable precise theoretical predictions for upcoming experimental programs and global QCD analyses.

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arXiv2025

Dijet Photoproduction in POWHEG BOX

Photoproduction processes have gained a renewed interest following the approval of the EIC, making their implementation in Monte Carlo event generators highly desirable. We present recent efforts to develop a POWHEG BOX extension simulating dijet production from direct and resolved photons at next-to-leading order in QCD merged to parton showers, employing the Weizs\"acker-Williams Approximation. It will facilitate event generation for collisions involving leptons, protons and heavy ions. Thus, it will be particularly useful for the study of ultra-peripheral collisions at CERN's LHC and for making predictions relevant to BNL's EIC.

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arXiv2025

Conversion of photons to dileptons in the Kroll-Wada and parton shower approaches

The study of dileptons in high-energy heavy-ion collisions provides critical insights into the properties of the quark-gluon plasma and the thermal radiation emitted throughout its evolution. In the low-mass region, dileptons originate from both direct photon conversion and hadronic decays, with the Kroll-Wada equation traditionally used to relate direct real and direct virtual photon production. In this work, we explore the possibility of using parton shower event generators to model this conversion process, leveraging their unitary treatment of internal photon conversions that naturally preserves normalisation, as well as their ability to incorporate higher-order corrections, recoil kinematics, and realistic experimental selection criteria. We compare the Kroll-Wada approach to simulations using the Pythia8 simple shower, the Vincia sector shower, and the POWHEG shower matched NLO event generator. Our results reveal that the parton shower approach offers improved accuracy in describing the dilepton spectrum, particularly towards larger invariant masses where phase-space suppression effects become relevant.

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arXiv2025

How Charged Can Neutrinos Be?

We investigate how neutrinos may acquire small electric charges within the Standard Model framework while preserving electromagnetic gauge invariance. Instead of gauging the standard hypercharge generator $Y$, a linear combination of $Y$ and a new generator $X$ from a gaugable global $U(1)_X$ symmetry is embedded, under which neutrinos transform non-trivially. We demonstrate that minimal scenarios based on flavor-dependent $U(1)_X$ symmetries, such as $X = L_\alpha - L_\beta$, are incompatible with current neutrino oscillation data. In contrast, we have shown that only flavor-universal $U(1)_X$ symmetries-such as $U(1)_{B-L}$, which shifts both quark and lepton charges, and $U(1)_L$, which modifies only the lepton sector-can generate tiny neutrino charges consistent with observed masses and mixing. We also discuss the necessary connection between such charges and the Dirac nature of neutrinos. By analyzing the phenomenological implications in detail, our findings emphasize that constraints on neutrino charges should be evaluated within the specific framework of the $U(1)_X$ symmetry under consideration, rather than assuming a generic approach, as is often the case.

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arXiv2025

Reinterpretation and preservation of data and analyses in HEP

Data from particle physics experiments are unique and are often the result of a very large investment of resources. Given the potential scientific impact of these data, which goes far beyond the immediate priorities of the experimental collaborations that obtain them, it is imperative that the collaborations and the wider particle physics community publish and preserve sufficient information to ensure that this impact can be realised, now and into the future. The information to be published and preserved includes the algorithms, statistical information, simulations and the recorded data. This publication and preservation requires significant resources, and should be a strategic priority with commensurate planning and resource allocation from the earliest stages of future facilities and experiments.

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arXiv2024

Towards a precision calculation of $N_{\rm eff}$ in the Standard Model IV: Estimating the impact of positronium formation

We present a first assessment of how the previously unexplored effect of positronium formation can impact on the value of the effective number of neutrino species in the Standard Model, $N_{\rm eff}^{\rm SM}$. Adopting a Yukawa form for the electrostatic potential, we discuss two possible scenarios that differ primarily in their assumptions about entropy evolution. The first, out-of-equilibrium scenario assumes that thermal corrections to the potential such as Debye screening prevent positronium from appearing until the temperature drops below a threshold. Once the threshold is reached, entropy generated in the QED sector from the equilibration process, if instantaneous, leads to a variation in $N_{\rm eff}^{\rm SM}$ of at most $|\Delta N_{\rm eff}| \sim 10^{-4}$, comparable to other uncertainties in the current benchmark value for $N_{\rm eff}^{\rm SM}$. A more gradual formation could however yield a larger change. The second, equilibrium scenario assumes the QED sector to stay in equilibrium at all times. In this case, we show that cancellations between the first, $s$-wave bound- and scattering-states contributions ensure that it is possible to evolve the system across the bound-state formation threshold without generating entropy in the QED sector. The corresponding change in $N_{\rm eff}^{\rm SM}$ then closely matches the $\mathcal{O}(e^2)$ perturbative result derived in previous works and the $\mathcal{O}(e^4)$ contribution is capped at $|\Delta N_{\rm eff}| \lesssim 10^{-6}$. We also comment on the impact of deviations from a pure Yukawa potential due to the presence of a thermal width.

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arXiv2024

Prompt photon production with two jets in POWHEG

Prompt photon production is highly sensitive to the distribution of quarks and gluons in free protons and nuclei and an important baseline for phenomenological studies of the properties of the quark-gluon plasma. In this paper, we present a new calculation of the production of prompt photons in association with two jets at next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics matched to parton showers with the POWHEG method. This calculation extends our previous analysis of prompt photon production in association with one jet using \texttt{POWHEG+PYTHIA}. We investigate the role of the parton shower as an alternative description of the parton-to-photon fragmentation process and analyse correlations between the photon and the jets. In addition, we compare \texttt{POWHEG+PYTHIA} with \texttt{POWHEG+HERWIG} predictions, experimental ATLAS data for isolated photons, and a perturbative calculation at next-to-next-to-leading order. Both parton shower models bring the next-to-leading order prediction into good agreement with the experimental data and the next-to-next-to-leading order calculation.

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arXiv2024

PineAPPL Grids of Open Heavy-Flavor Production in the GM-VFNS

Many next-to-leading order QCD predictions are available through Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Usually, multiple CPU hours are needed to calculate predictions at a required precision, which is unfeasible for global PDF analyses. This problem is solved by a process known as gridding: The values of the hard-scattering cross-section are calculated only once with the MC program, and then interpolated and stored in look-up tables (grids) of the kinematical variables. To obtain the physical predictions, they are convolved with the PDFs (e.g. during the fitting stage in a PDF global analysis), which takes a tiny fraction of the time needed to calculate the MC results. This is possible with PineAPPL, a library tackling the aforementioned process of grid creation and convolution. In this work, we use PineAPPL to grid the predictions for open heavy-flavor production in the general-mass variable-flavor-number scheme (GM-VFNS). In the GM-VFNS, the differential cross-section interpolates between the fixed-flavor-number scheme (FFNS) and the zero-mass variable-flavor-number scheme (ZM-VFNS). These are each only valid in different kinematical regions, in which the GM-VFNS cross-section reproduces the FFNS and ZM-VFNS as the limiting cases of high energies and small masses, respectively. Better than permille agreement is achieved between the grids and the MC predictions, while at the same time not substantially increasing the time of the MC calculations.

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arXiv2024

Neutrino masses and mixing from milli-charged dark matter

We propose a simple extension to the Standard Model, wherein neutrinos naturally attain small Majorana masses through a one-loop radiative mechanism featuring particles within the loops characterized by milli-charges. Unlike the conventional scotogenic model, our approach avoids imposing a discrete symmetry or expanding the gauge sector. The minuscule electric charges ensure the stability of the lightest particle within the loop as a viable dark matter candidate. Our investigation systematically scrutinizes the far-reaching phenomenological implications arising from these minuscule charges.

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arXiv2024

Combination and Reinterpretation of LHC SUSY Searches

To maximise the information obtained from various independent new physics searches conducted at the LHC, it is imperative to consider the combination of multiple analyses. To showcase the exclusion power gained by combining signal regions from different searches, we consider a simplified scenario inspired by supersymmetry, with all particles but one squark flavour and a bino-like neutralino decoupled. The corresponding signal therefore comprises strong squark pair production, associated squark-neutralino production, as well as weak neutralino pair production. We find that considering the associated and strong production mechanisms together significantly impacts mass limits, while contributions from the weak production are insignificant in the context of current exclusion limits. In addition, we demonstrate that the combination of uncorrelated signal regions as assessed from the recent TACO approach substantially pushes exclusion limits towards higher masses, relative to the bounds derived from the most sensitive individual analyses.

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arXiv2024

Towards a precision calculation of $N_{\rm eff}$ in the Standard Model III: Improved estimate of NLO contributions to the collision integral

We compute the dominant QED correction to the neutrino-electron interaction rate in the vicinity of neutrino decoupling in the early universe, and estimate its impact on the effective number of neutrino species $N_{\rm eff}$ in cosmic microwave background anisotropy observations. We find that the correction to the interaction rate is at the sub-percent level, consistent with a recent estimate by Jackson and Laine. Relative to that work we include the electron mass in our computations, but restrict our analysis to the enhanced $t$-channel contributions. The fractional change in $N_{\rm eff}^{\rm SM}$ due to the rate correction is of order $10^{-5}$ or below, i.e., about a factor of 30 smaller than that recently claimed by Cielo {\it et al.}, and below the nominal computational uncertainties of the current benchmark value of $N_{\rm eff}^{\rm SM} = 3.0440 \pm 0.0002$. We therefore conclude that aforementioned number remains to be the state-of-the-art benchmark for $N_{\rm eff}^{\rm SM}$ in the standard model of particle physics.

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arXiv2024

Di-electron production at the LHC: Unravelling virtual-photon and heavy-flavour contributions

The production of virtual photons is a very sensitive probe of the properties of the quark-gluon plasma. As they are experimentally detected by lepton pairs, they suffer from a large background arising from hadron decays. Light-flavour hadrons dominate at low invariant masses below $m_{ee}\sim0.5$ GeV and heavy flavours above. These contributions must therefore also be taken into account in experimental analyses at the LHC. In this paper, we calculate the direct contribution from virtual photons produced in the Drell-Yan process with an additional jet in POWHEG and find that it is significant at low invariant masses. We also simulate the background contributions from $c\bar c$ and $b \bar b$ production with POWHEG and quantify the theoretical uncertainties due to variations of the perturbative scales and parton distribution functions. We find larger relative and absolute uncertainties for the lighter $c$ quarks than for heavier $b$ quarks.

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