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Miguel C. N. Fiolhais

Publications and source records attributed to Miguel C. N. Fiolhais.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Extracting a Toponium Signal at the LHC with Spin and Quantum Information Tools

We investigate near-threshold top-antitop production at the LHC, focusing on the impact of toponium formation on spin correlations and quantum information properties of the final state. Considering the top-antitop system as a mixed two-qubit state, we reconstruct spin density matrices via quantum tomography and evaluate several observables including some inspired by quantum information. We then compare their sensitivity in discriminating toponium effects from top-antitop production without these effects. Our results demonstrate that combining these variables is expected to significantly enhance sensitivity to toponium effects, bringing new ways to explore these subtle features.

hep-ph↗

Asymmetries in invisible Dark Matter mediator production associated with $t \bar{t}$ final states

In this paper, we propose two sets of different CP-sensitive observables inspired by the Higgs production in association with the top quark. We employ a Dark Matter simplified model that couples a scalar mediator with top quarks. The reconstruction of the kinematic variables is presented at NLO accuracy for events associated with this massive scalar particle, which is assumed to be vanishing to invisible decays in a detector such as ATLAS. We build these observables by taking advantage of the similarity between the scalar coupling with the top quark and the factorization theorem in the total scattering amplitude, in order to represent the basis in which the phase space is parameterized. A twofold approach employs the direct implementation of the four-momentum phase space measure in building CP sensitive observables such as $b_{2}$ for the Higgs, and the spin polarization of the top-quark decays in the narrow width approximation for the employed model. We studied the asymmetries of these distributions to test for any improvement in increasing the exclusion region for the $g_{u_{33}}^S-g_{u_{33}}^P$ parameters associated with this vanishing scalar particle. We have found no significant effect in the exclusion limits by using the forward-backward asymmetry distributions and the full-shaped ones. Considering the case of an invisible mediator with mass of 10$^{-2}$ GeV for a luminosity of 300 fb$^{-1}$ expected at the end of Run 3, the best limits for $g_{u_{33}}^S$ and $g_{u_{33}}^P$ at NLO accuracy were obtained using the variables ${\tilde{b}}_{2}^{\widehat{y}}$ and $b_{2}$ respectively, with corresponding limits set to $[-0.0425, 0.0425] $ and $[-0.83, 0.83]$ at $68\%$ CL.

hep-ph↗

The Dirac-Delta Rogue Wave

This paper presents a double spatio-temporal localized Dirac-delta solution for the linear wave equation. The solution arises from the interference of sinusoidal waves with frequencies that vary as a function of the time of emission. It is shown that the time-dependent frequency function required to produce a localized Dirac-delta wave is exclusively determined by the dispersion relation of the medium in which the wave is traveling. Both numerical and exact analytical solutions for a typical physical scenario are obtained and displayed. The application of this result to possible practical uses is discussed.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Orbital decay in the classroom

The objective of this paper is to provide a pedagogical framework for the phenomenon of orbital decay of satellites in low Earth orbit. The dynamics of orbital decay are derived considering atmospheric drag as the only dissipative mechanism and using an educational approach suitable for undergraduate calculus-based physics and engineering courses. The resulting non-linear first order differential equation for the altitude as a function of time is solved numerically for the isothermal-barotropic atmospheric model with a {fixed} scale height. The model is validated using the uncontrolled reentry data of the Chinese space station Tiangong-1.

physics.ed-ph↗

Spin-orbit gravitational locking -- an effective potential approach

The objective of this paper is to study the tidally locked 3:2 spin-orbit resonance of Mercury around the Sun. In order to achieve this goal, the effective potential energy that determines the spinning motion of an ellipsoidal planet around its axis is considered. By studying the rotational potential energy of an ellipsoidal planet orbiting a spherical star on an elliptic orbit with fixed eccentricity and semi-major axis, it is shown that the system presents an infinite number of metastable equilibrium configurations. These states correspond to local minima of the rotational potential energy averaged over an orbit, where the ratio between the rotational period of the planet around its axis and the revolution period around the star is fixed. The configurations in which this ratio is an integer or an half integer are of particular interest. Among these configurations, the deepest minimum in the average potential energy corresponds to a situation where the rotational and orbital motion of the planet are synchronous, and the system is tidally locked. The next-to-the deepest minimum corresponds to the case in which the planet rotates three times around its axis in the time that it needs to complete two orbits around the Sun. The latter is indeed the case that describes Mercury's motion. The method discussed in this work allows one to identify the integer and half-integer ratios that correspond to spin-orbit resonances and to describe the motion of the planet in the resonant orbit.

astro-ph.EP↗

Tidal locking and the gravitational fold catastrophe

The purpose of this work is to study the phenomenon of tidal locking in a pedagogical framework by analyzing the effective gravitational potential of a two-body system with two spinning objects. It is shown that the effective potential of such a system is an example of a fold catastrophe. In fact, the existence of a local minimum and saddle point, corresponding to tidally-locked circular orbits, is regulated by a single dimensionless control parameter which depends on the properties of the two bodies and on the total angular momentum of the system. The method described in this work results in compact expressions for the radius of the circular orbit and the tidally-locked spin/orbital frequency. The limiting case in which one of the two orbiting objects is point-like is studied in detail. An analysis of the effective potential, which in this limit depends on only two parameters, allows one to clearly visualize the properties of the system. The notorious case of the Mars' moon Phobos is presented as an example of a satellite that is past the no return point and, therefore, will not reach a stable or unstable tidally-locked orbit.

astro-ph.EP↗

The Role of the $t{\bar t}h$ Rest Frame in Direct Top-Quark Yukawa Coupling Measurements

This paper studies new possibilities to directly measure a hypothetical $CP$-odd (pseudoscalar) component in the top-quark Yukawa coupling. In particular, the role of the $t{\bar t} h$ center-of-mass rest frame in the associated production of a top pair and a $h$ boson at the LHC is explored. The $h$ boson is assumed to have both a $CP$-even (scalar) and a $CP$-odd coupling to the top quark. The relative strength of the scalar and pseudoscalar components is regulated by an angle $α$. Observables sensitive to the nature of the top-quark Yukawa coupling are proposed. These observables are defined in terms of the transverse and longitudinal projections of $t$, $\bar{t}$ and $h$ momenta with respect to the beam axis in the $t{\bar t} h$ rest frame. Distributions differential with respect to those observables are evaluated up to NLO in QCD. These distributions are found to be sensitive to the $CP$ nature of the coupling. Dileptonic final states of the $t{\bar t} h$ system (with $h\rightarrow b\bar b$) are used, after fast DELPHES detector simulation and full event reconstruction through a kinematic fit, as a case study to test the observables' sensitivity to the $CP$ nature of the coupling. Confidence levels are presented as a function of the total integrated LHC luminosity for the case of exclusion of a pure $CP$-odd coupling against the Standard Model $CP$-even hypothesis. By using observables evaluated in the $t{\bar t} h$ system, the luminosity needed to directly probe the $CP$ properties of the top-quark Yukawa coupling at the High-Luminosity run of the LHC can be decreased by a few hundred inverse femtobarns, when compared to analyses that use observables in the laboratory rest frame. In addition, transverse momentum distributions of the $h$ boson and top quarks are found to provide no more discriminant power than a counting experiment.

hep-ph↗

Reconstruction of top quark pair dilepton decays in electron-positron collisions

A new algorithm is presented to perform the full kinematic reconstruction of top quark pair events produced at future electron-positron colliders in the case of dilepton decays of the $W$ bosons to electrons or muons. The momentum components of the undetected neutrino and anti-neutrino in the event are reconstructed by employing several kinematic conditions comprising a non-linear system of six equations. This system is solved numerically using two independent methods and the selection of the best candidate real solution for each event is determined by a likelihood discriminant. Results are presented for several reconstructed kinematic properties of the $W^\pm$ bosons, top (and anti-top) quarks using generator level information produced at leading order.

hep-ex↗

Top Quark Anomalous Couplings at the High-Luminosity Phase of the LHC

The combination of the latest and most precise measurements of several top quark properties is presented in this paper in order to establish allowed regions on anomalous contributions to the Lorentz structure of the $Wtb$ vertex. These measurements include single top production cross sections, $W$ boson helicity fractions and forward-backward asymmetries, both at Tevatron and at the Large Hadron Collider, up to a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The results obtained at 95% Confidence Level for the top quark anomalous couplings are compared with the limits extracted from a combination that includes the expected measurements at the future High-Luminosity run of the Large Hadron Collider.

hep-ph↗

Global Constraints on Top Quark Anomalous Couplings

The latest results on top quark physics, namely single top quark production cross sections, $W$-boson helicity and asymmetry measurements are used to probe the Lorentz structure of the $Wtb$ vertex. The increase of sensitivity to new anomalous physics contributions to the top quark sector of the Standard Model is quantified by combining the relevant results from Tevatron and the Large Hadron Collider. The results show that combining an increasing set of available precision measurements in the search for new physics phenomena beyond the Standard Model leads to significant sensitivity improvements, especially when compared with the current expectation for the High Luminosity run at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

Pseudoscalar couplings in $t \bar{t} H$ production at NLO+NLL accuracy

We study the production of a Higgs boson in association to a top-antitop pair at the Large Hadron Collider. We show how precise predictions for the differential distributions with respect to the transverse momentum of the Higgs boson, to the invariant mass of the top-antitop-Higgs system and to the invariant mass of the top-antitop pair can provide useful information on the possible presence of a pseudoscalar component in the coupling of the top quark with the Higgs boson. We evaluate the production of a top-antitop pair and a Higgs boson to next-to-leading order in fixed order perturbation theory and we carry out the resummation of soft emission corrections to next-to-leading-logarithmic accuracy for the LHC operating at a center of mass energy of $13$ TeV. We discuss how the shape of these distributions can be employed experimentally, making a physics case for the kinematic reconstruction of dilepton channels.

hep-ph↗

Size Effects in the Ginzburg-Landau Theory

The Ginzburg-Landau theory is analyzed in the case of small dimension superconductors, a couple of orders of magnitude above the coherence length, where the theory is still valid but quantum fluctuations become significant. In this regime, the potential around the expectation value is approximated to a quadratic behavior, and the ground-state derived from the Klein-Gordon solutions of the Higgs-like field. The ground-state energy is directly compared to the condensation energy, and used to extract new limits on the size of superconductors at zero Kelvin and near the critical temperature.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Studying the $Wtb$ vertex structure using recent LHC results

The $Wtb$ vertex structure and the search for new anomalous couplings is studied using top quark measurements obtained at the LHC, for a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. By combining the latest and most precise results on the single top quark production cross section and the measurements of the $W$-boson helicity fractions ($F_0$ and $F_L$), it is possible to set new limits, at 95% CL (confidence level), on the real and imaginary components of the new couplings. The combination of the LHC observables clearly improves the limits obtained when using the individual results alone. The updated measurements of the $W$-boson helicity fractions and the $s+t$-channels electroweak single top quark production, at the Tevatron, improve the LHC limits, when a world combination of all observables (LHC+Tevatron) is performed.

hep-ph↗

Gauge Invariance and Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking in Two-Gap Superconductors

The gauge symmetry of the Ginzburg-Landau theory for two-gap superconductors is analyzed in this letter. We argue that the existence of two different phases, associated with the two independent scalar Higgs fields, explicitly breaks the gauge symmetry of the Ginzburg-Landau hamiltonian, unless a new additional vector field is included. Furthermore, the interference term, or Josephson coupling, holding a direct dependence with the phase difference, also explicitly breaks down the gauge symmetry. We show that a solution for the problem is achieved by adding an additional kinetic coupling term between the two vector fields, which generates the desired terms through a spontaneous symmetry breaking mechanism. Finally, the electrodynamics of the system is also presented in terms of the supercurrents inside the superconducting region.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Phenomenological correlations in high-temperature superconductors

An interpretation of the quadratic parameter of the Ginzburg-Landau theory of superconductivity is presented in this paper. The negative term in the potential, which allows the spontaneous symmetry breaking, is interpreted as a direct contribution from the energy gap at the Fermi surface to the effective potential. As a result, in the London approximation of the Ginzburg-Landau theory for type-II superconductors, a strong correlation is predicted and observed between the upper critical field at zero kelvin and the critical temperature in high temperature superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Magnetic Field Expulsion from an Infinite Cylindrical Superconductor

The solutions of the London equations for the magnetic field expulsion from superconductors are presented in this paper for the cylindrical symmetry. The result is analyzed in detail and represented numerically for the case of a uniform external magnetic field in the transverse plane. In particular, several contour plots of the magnetic energy density are depicted for the regions inside and around the superconducting area for a wide range of penetration lengths, showing how the expulsion and penetration of the magnetic field evolve with the ratio between the penetration length and the cylinder radius.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

The Darwin-Breit magnetic interaction and superconductivity

A number of facts indicating the relevance of the Darwin magnetic interaction energy in the superconducting phase are pointed out. The magnetic interaction term derived by Darwin is the same as the, so called, Breit term in relativistic quantum mechanics. While this term always is a small perturbation in few body systems it can be shown to be potentially dominating in systems of large numbers of electrons. It is therefore a natural candidate in the explanation of emergent phenomena---phenomena that only occur in sufficiently large systems. The dimensionless parameter that indicates the importance of the magnetic energy is the number of electrons times the classical electron radius divided by the size of the system. The number of electrons involved are only the electrons at the Fermi surface; electrons with lower energy cannot contribute to current density and thus not to the magnetic field. The conventional understanding of superconductivity has always been problematic and no really reductionistic derivation exists. The idea that the inductive inertia, due to magnetism, is important in the explanation of superconductivity was first advanced by Frenkel and later brought up by Welker before it was prematurely discarded. So were theories involving Wigner crystallization. We speculate that the answer requires the combination of a Wigner lattice and the Darwin interaction. We point out that the Darwin interaction can be shown to have the right order of magnitude to explain the energy scales involved in normal superconductors. The London magnetic moment of rotating superconductors and the Meissner effect and their connection are discussed next. The London moment is shown to indicate that the number of electrons involved in the superconducting condensate is such that the Darwin interaction cannot be neglected.

physics.gen-ph↗

Tricritical Point in Quantum Phase Transitions of the Coleman-Weinberg Model at Higgs Mass

The tricritical point, which separates first and second order phase transitions in three-dimensional superconductors, is studied in the four-dimensional Coleman-Weinberg model, and the similarities as well as the differences with respect to the three-dimensional result are exhibited. The position of the tricritical point in the Coleman-Weinberg model is derived and found to be in agreement with the Thomas-Fermi approximation in the three-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau theory. From this we deduce a special role of the tricritical point for the Standard Model Higgs sector in the scope of the latest experimental results, which suggests the unexpected relevance of tricritical behavior in the electroweak interactions.

hep-ph↗