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Oliver Witzel

Publications and source records attributed to Oliver Witzel.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
arXiv2016

Strongly interacting dynamics and the search for new physics at the LHC

We present results for the spectrum of a strongly interacting SU(3) gauge theory with $N_f = 8$ light fermions in the fundamental representation. Carrying out non-perturbative lattice calculations at the lightest masses and largest volumes considered to date, we confirm the existence of a remarkably light singlet scalar particle. We explore the rich resonance spectrum of the 8-flavor theory in the context of the search for new physics beyond the standard model at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Connecting our results to models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking, we estimate the vector resonance mass to be about 2 TeV with a width of roughly 450 GeV, and predict additional resonances with masses below ~3 TeV.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2015

Hadronic form factors for rare semileptonic $B$ decays

We discuss first results for the computation of short distance contributions to semileptonic form factors for the rare $B$ decays $B \to K^{*} \ell^+\ell^-$ and $B_s \to ϕ\ell^+ \ell^-$. Our simulations are based on RBC/UKQCD's $N_f=2+1$ ensembles with domain wall light quarks and the Iwasaki gauge action. For the valence $b$-quark we chose the relativistic heavy quark action.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2015

Stealth Dark Matter: Dark scalar baryons through the Higgs portal

We present a new model of "Stealth Dark Matter": a composite baryonic scalar of an $SU(N_D)$ strongly-coupled theory with even $N_D \geq 4$. All mass scales are technically natural, and dark matter stability is automatic without imposing an additional discrete or global symmetry. Constituent fermions transform in vector-like representations of the electroweak group that permit both electroweak-breaking and electroweak-preserving mass terms. This gives a tunable coupling of stealth dark matter to the Higgs boson independent of the dark matter mass itself. We specialize to $SU(4)$, and investigate the constraints on the model from dark meson decay, electroweak precision measurements, basic collider limits, and spin-independent direct detection scattering through Higgs exchange. We exploit our earlier lattice simulations that determined the composite spectrum as well as the effective Higgs coupling of stealth dark matter in order to place bounds from direct detection, excluding constituent fermions with dominantly electroweak-breaking masses. A lower bound on the dark baryon mass $m_B \gtrsim 300$ GeV is obtained from the indirect requirement that the lightest dark meson not be observable at LEP II. We briefly survey some intriguing properties of stealth dark matter that are worthy of future study, including: collider studies of dark meson production and decay; indirect detection signals from annihilation; relic abundance estimates for both symmetric and asymmetric mechanisms; and direct detection through electromagnetic polarizability, a detailed study of which will appear in a companion paper.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2015

Direct Detection of Stealth Dark Matter through Electromagnetic Polarizability

We calculate the spin-independent scattering cross section for direct detection that results from the electromagnetic polarizability of a composite scalar baryon dark matter candidate -- "Stealth Dark Matter", that is based on a dark SU(4) confining gauge theory. In the nonrelativistic limit, electromagnetic polarizability proceeds through a dimension-7 interaction leading to a very small scattering cross section for dark matter with weak scale masses. This represents a lower bound on the scattering cross section for composite dark matter theories with electromagnetically charged constituents. We carry out lattice calculations of the polarizability for the lightest baryons in SU(3) and SU(4) gauge theories using the background field method on quenched configurations. We find the polarizabilities of SU(3) and SU(4) to be comparable (within about 50%) normalized to the baryon mass, which is suggestive for extensions to larger SU(N) groups. The resulting scattering cross sections with a xenon target are shown to be potentially detectable in the dark matter mass range of about 200-700 GeV, where the lower bound is from the existing LUX constraint while the upper bound is the coherent neutrino background. Significant uncertainties in the cross section remain due to the more complicated interaction of the polarizablity operator with nuclear structure, however the steep dependence on the dark matter mass, $1/m_B^6$, suggests the observable dark matter mass range is not appreciably modified. We briefly highlight collider searches for the mesons in the theory as well as the indirect astrophysical effects that may also provide excellent probes of stealth dark matter.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2015

B-meson decay constants from 2+1-flavor lattice QCD with domain-wall light quarks and relativistic heavy quarks

We calculate the B-meson decay constants f_B, f_Bs, and their ratio in unquenched lattice QCD using domain-wall light quarks and relativistic b-quarks. We use gauge-field ensembles generated by the RBC and UKQCD collaborations using the domain-wall fermion action and Iwasaki gauge action with three flavors of light dynamical quarks. We analyze data at two lattice spacings of a ~ 0.11, 0.086 fm with unitary pion masses as light as M_pi ~ 290 MeV; this enables us to control the extrapolation to the physical light-quark masses and continuum. For the b-quarks we use the anisotropic clover action with the relativistic heavy-quark interpretation, such that discretization errors from the heavy-quark action are of the same size as from the light-quark sector. We renormalize the lattice heavy-light axial-vector current using a mostly nonperturbative method in which we compute the bulk of the matching factor nonperturbatively, with a small correction, that is close to unity, in lattice perturbation theory. We also improve the lattice heavy-light current through O(alpha_s a). We extrapolate our results to the physical light-quark masses and continuum using SU(2) heavy-meson chiral perturbation theory, and provide a complete systematic error budget. We obtain f_B0 = 199.5(12.6) MeV, f_B+ = 195.6(14.9) MeV, f_Bs = 235.4(12.2) MeV, f_Bs/f_B0 = 1.197(50), and f_Bs/f_B+ = 1.223(71), where the errors are statistical and total systematic added in quadrature. These results are in good agreement with other published results and provide an important independent cross check of other three-flavor determinations of $B$-meson decay constants using staggered light quarks.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2014

Targeting the Conformal Window: Scalars on the Lattice

The light Higgs boson of the Standard Model could arise as the consequence of the weakly broken conformal symmetry in a strongly interacting gauge theory. Here we present a novel idea to study the transition from conformal to confining behavior using an SU(3) gauge theory with four light and eight heavy flavors. This system interpolates between the 12-flavor conformal and the 4 flavor chirally broken theory as the mass of the heavy flavors are varied. We show first results on our determination of the iso-singlet 0++ state.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2014

Targeting the conformal window with 4+8 flavors

We study the transition between spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking and conformal behavior in the SU(3) theory with multiple fermion flavors. Instead of the traditional approach of changing the number of flavors, we keep the number of fermions fixed but lift the mass of a subset, keeping the remaining fermions near to the massless chiral limit. This way we can interpolate continuously between the conformal and chirally broken dynamics. In particular, we consider four light and eight heavy flavors and investigate the running/walking gauge coupling and the low energy meson spectrum, including the 0++ iso-singlet scalar state in this system. Our preliminary data reveal an iso-singlet scalar that is considerably lighter than the pion at large fermion mass but becomes heavier at smaller masses. This behavior is of particular phenomenological interest.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2014

A novel approach to the study of conformality in the SU(3) theory with multiple flavors

We investigate the transition between spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking and conformal behavior in the SU(3) theory with multiple fermion flavors. We propose a new strategy for studying this transition. Instead of changing the number of flavors, we lift the mass of a subset of the fermions, keeping the rest of the fermions near to the massless chiral limit in order to probe the transition. Dedicated to the 60th birthday of Academician Valery Rubakov.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2014

Composite bosonic baryon dark matter on the lattice: SU(4) baryon spectrum and the effective Higgs interaction

We present the spectrum of baryons in a new SU(4) gauge theory with fundamental fermion constituents. The spectrum of these bosonic baryons is of significant interest for composite dark matter theories. Here, we compare the spectrum and properties of SU(3) and SU(4) baryons, and then compute the dark-matter direct detection cross section via Higgs boson exchange for TeV-scale composite dark matter arising from a confining SU(4) gauge sector. Comparison with the latest LUX results leads to tight bounds on the fraction of the constituent-fermion mass that may arise from electroweak symmetry breaking. Lattice calculations of the dark matter mass spectrum and the Higgs-dark matter coupling are performed on quenched $16^{3} \times 32$, $32^{3} \times 64$, $48^{3} \times 96$, and $64^{3} \times128$ lattices with three different lattice spacings, using Wilson fermions with moderate to heavy pseudoscalar meson masses. Our results lay a foundation for future analytic and numerical study of composite baryonic dark matter.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2013

The form factors for B -> pi l nu semileptonic decay from 2+1 flavors of domain-wall fermions

We present a calculation of the B -> pi l nu form factors with domain-wall light quarks and relativistic b-quarks on the lattice. We work with the 2+1 flavor domain-wall fermion and Iwasaki gauge-field ensembles generated by the RBC and UKQCD Collaborations. The chiral-continuum extrapolation is performed using SU(2) hard-pion chiral perturbation theory. To extrapolate the lattice form factors to the full kinematic range, we use the model independent z-parameterization and impose the kinematic constraint f_+(0) = f_0(0) at zero momentum transfer.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2012

Calculating B-meson decay constants using domain-wall light quarks and nonperturbatively tuned relativistic b-quarks

We calculate B-physics quantities using the RBC/UKQCD 2+1 flavor domain-wall plus Iwasaki lattices and the relativistic heavy quark action developed by Christ, Li and Lin. After tuning these parameters nonperturbatively, we present our preliminary results for the calculation of the decay constants f_B and f_{B_s} analyzing data at two lattice spacings of a ~ 0.11 fm and a ~ 0.08 fm.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2012

The B -> pi l nu form factor from unquenched lattice QCD with domain-wall light quarks and relativistic b-quarks

We report on a lattice-QCD calculation of the B to pi l nu form factor with domain-wall light quarks and relativistic b-quarks using the 2 + 1 flavor domain-wall fermion and Iwasaki gauge-field ensembles generated by the RBC and UKQCD Collaborations. We present initial results obtained from the coarser (a ~ 0.11 fm) 24^3 lattices and some of the finer (a ~ 0.086 fm) 32^3 lattices.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2012

Nonperturbative tuning of an improved relativistic heavy-quark action with application to bottom spectroscopy

We calculate the masses of bottom mesons using an improved relativistic action for the b-quarks and the RBC/UKQCD Iwasaki gauge configurations with 2+1 flavors of dynamical domain-wall light quarks. We analyze configurations with two lattice spacings: a^{-1} = 1.729 GeV (a ~ 0.11 fm) and a^{-1} = 2.281 GeV (a ~ 0.086 fm). We use an anisotropic, clover-improved Wilson action for the b-quark, and tune the three parameters of the action nonperturbatively such that they reproduce the experimental values of the B_s and B_s* heavy-light meson states. The masses and mass-splittings of the low-lying bottomonium states (such as the eta_b and Upsilon) can then be computed with no additional inputs, and comparison between these predictions and experiment provides a test of the validity of our method. We obtain bottomonium masses with total uncertainties of ~0.5-0.6% and fine-structure splittings with uncertainties of ~35-45%; for all cases we find good agreement with experiment. The parameters of the relativistic heavy-quark action tuned for b-quarks presented in this work can be used for precise calculations of weak matrix elements such as B-meson decay constants and mixing parameters with lattice discretization errors that are of the same size as in light pseudoscalar meson quantities. This general method can also be used for charmed meson masses and matrix elements if the parameters of the heavy-quark action are appropriately tuned.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2011

B-physics with dynamical domain-wall light quarks and relativistic b-quarks

We report on our progress in calculating the B-meson decay constants and B^0-bar B^0 mixing parameters using domain-wall light quarks and relativistic b-quarks. We present our computational method and show some preliminary results obtained on the coarser (a approx 0.11fm) 24^3 lattices. This work is presented on behalf of the RBC and UKQCD collaborations.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2010

Neutral B-meson mixing from unquenched lattice QCD with domain-wall light quarks and static b-quarks

We demonstrate a method for calculating the neutral B-meson decay constants and mixing matrix elements in unquenched lattice QCD with domain-wall light quarks and static b-quarks. Our computation is performed on the "2+1" flavor gauge configurations generated by the RBC and UKQCD Collaborations with a lattice spacing of a approx 0.11 fm (a^-1 = 1.729 GeV) and a lattice spatial volume of approximately (1.8 fm)^3. We simulate at three different light sea quark masses with pion masses down to approximately 430 MeV, and extrapolate to the physical quark masses using a phenomenologically-motivated fit function based on next-to-leading order heavy-light meson SU(2) chiral perturbation theory. For the b-quarks, we use an improved formulation of the Eichten-Hill action with static link-smearing to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. We also improve the heavy-light axial current used to compute the B-meson decay constant to O(alpha_s p a) using one-loop lattice perturbation theory. We present initial results for the SU(3)-breaking ratios f_{B_s}/f_{B_d} and xi = f_{B_s} sqrt{B_{B_s}}/f_{B_d} sqrt{B_{B_d}}, thereby demonstrating the viability of the method. For the ratio of decay constants, we find f_{B_s}/f_{B_d} = 1.15(12) and for the ratio of mixing matrix elements, we find xi = 1.13(12), where in both cases the errors reflect the combined statistical and systematic uncertainties, including an estimate of the size of neglected O(1/m_b) effects.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2009

Neutral B-meson mixing from dynamical lattice QCD with chiral light quarks and static b-quarks

In the limit of infinitely heavy b-quarks we compute the SU(3)-breaking ratio xi of neutral B-meson mixing matrix elements. We also present results for the ratio of decay constants f_{B_s}/f_{B_d}. Our calculation employs chirality-preserving domain-wall fermions for the light quarks, a static action with link-smearing for the b-quarks, and the Iwasaki gauge action. Here we report on our results from the 16^3 x 32 x 16 ensemble (a^-1 = 1.729(28) GeV) which we use to verify our method. We improve upon our earlier work by including O(alpha_s pa) matching for the computation of the decay constants and extrapolating to the physical point using chiral perturbation theory.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2008

Non-Hermitian Polynomial Hybrid Monte Carlo

We report on a new variant of the hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm employing a polynomial approximation of the inverse of the non-Hermitian Dirac-Wilson operator. Our approximation relies on simple and stable recurrence relations of complex Chebyshev polynomials. First performance figures are presented.

hep-lat↗