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Qianshu Lu

Publications and source records attributed to Qianshu Lu.

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On the Numerical Integration of One-Loop Cosmological Collider Signals

In a broad class of inflationary models, the leading non-Gaussian bispectrum arises from one-loop rather than tree-level processes. However, realistic one-loop contributions remain largely unexplored for phenomenologically relevant masses beyond the simplest bubble diagrams. This is insufficient for observational purposes because, for generic masses and couplings, triangle contributions need not be suppressed relative to their bubble counterparts. We present a numerical method for evaluating scalar one-loop in-in diagrams contributing to the inflationary bispectrum at fully general external momenta and masses. First, the Witten-Feynman parameterization reduces de Sitter loop integrals to generalized Euler-Mellin integrals governed by Symanzik graph polynomials. Unfortunately, the exponents of the polynomials in the integrand become complex for sufficiently heavy masses, leading to sign problems when evaluating the integral using standard numerical techniques. To remedy this problem, we introduce the reduced Schwinger method, which evaluates a highly oscillatory subintegral analytically to obtain a Gauss hypergeometric kernel, leaving the remaining integrals to standard numerical quadrature. We validate the algorithm by reproducing known analytic results for the tree-level bispectrum in terms of ${}_3F_2$ functions, and then apply it to the one-loop bubble and triangle contributions at general kinematics. This yields the first direct numerical evaluation of the complete one-loop bispectrum, valid across the full kinematic range. Using these numerical results, we construct bispectrum templates and compare them with CMB data.

hep-ph

Scalars at the Cosmological Collider: Full Shapes of Tree Diagrams and Bispectrum Searches using Planck Data

The Cosmological Collider (CC) provides a unique opportunity to probe the particle spectrum and fundamental interactions at extremely high energies. Massive particles, via their decay into inflaton quanta, can induce a non-analytic, oscillatory, primordial non-Gaussianity (NG), including the bispectrum. At tree level, three classes of such processes contribute to the bispectrum: 'single exchange', 'double exchange', and 'triple exchange', depending on the number of massive particle propagators. We provide a unified evaluation of all three diagrams and derive the explicit shape functions for the bispectrum, valid across the entire kinematic space. We perform a search for these three processes with the Planck data, finding no evidence for NG. We also consider simple extensions of the minimal scenario that can counter the exponential suppression of the non-analytic signature, and produce on-shell particles with masses $M\gg H$, the Hubble scale during inflation. In particular, we focus on the 'scalar chemical potential' mechanism and extend our previous search to a wider range of chemical potential ($ω$) and $M$, finding global 1.5$σ$ evidence for non-zero NG for the parameter space $ω- M \simeq 3H$.

hep-ph

Cosmological Collider Searches beyond the Hubble Scale with Planck Data

Searches for primordial non-Gaussianity (NG) has the potential to not only reveal the physics of cosmic inflation, but also the structure of fundamental interactions at the highest energies. The cosmological collider (CC) physics program exemplifies this possibility and demonstrates how searches for oscillatory NG can lead to mass-spin spectroscopy of extremely heavy states. Adopting an effective field theory approach, we find the class of Feynman diagrams that can give the largest NG mediated by a heavy scalar particle with mass $M\sim H$, the inflationary Hubble scale. We compute the full shape of the NG and perform the first search for this shape using Planck data, finding no evidence for NG. This search loses its sensitivity as $M\gg H$ since quantum vacuum fluctuations cannot efficiently produce such heavier particles. We then focus on a mechanism where a chemical potential excites on-shell scalar particles with mass $M\gg H$. Computing the full shapes, we perform the first CC search for particles parametrically heavier than $H$ using Planck data. For a range of chemical potential $ω$ and $M$ satisfying $ω-M \simeq 3H$, we find a global $1.7σ$ evidence for non-zero NG, after taking into account the look-elsewhere effect.

hep-ph

Lepton Flavor Violation: From Muon Decays to Muon Colliders

We investigate the unique potential of a high-energy muon collider to probe lepton-flavor-violating signals arising from physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). Low-energy, precision searches for charged lepton-flavor violation (LFV) are projected to dramatically improve their sensitivity in the coming years, and could provide the first evidence of new physics. We interpret the sensitivity of these searches in terms of a set of LFV operators in the SM Effective Field Theory. The same operators are then probed at the TeV scale by evaluating the projected reach of a muon collider while accounting for SM backgrounds and using a parameterized detector simulation. We find that for most operators, a muon collider could confirm signals if they are seen at future low energy experiments, whereas for certain flavor combinations it extends the reach to scales well beyond those accessible at lower energies. We also project the sensitivity of a muon collider to lepton flavor-violating decays of the SM Higgs boson and demonstrate improved sensitivity to $h \to eτ$ and $h \to μτ$ by an order of magnitude compared to the High-Luminosity LHC. The importance of having multiple, complementary probes is illustrated by considering both various combinations of operators and relative sizes of flavor-violating transitions between generations under various assumptions for the flavor structure of new physics.

hep-ph

The Quality/Cosmology Tension for a Post-Inflation QCD Axion

It is difficult to construct a post-inflation QCD axion model that solves the axion quality problem (and hence the Strong CP problem) without introducing a cosmological disaster. In a post-inflation axion model, the axion field value is randomized during the Peccei-Quinn phase transition, and axion domain walls form at the QCD phase transition. We emphasize that the gauge equivalence of all minima of the axion potential (i.e., domain wall number one) is insufficient to solve the cosmological domain wall problem. The axion string on which a domain wall ends must exist as an individual object (as opposed to a multi-string state), and it must be produced in the early universe. These conditions are often not satisfied in concrete models. Post-inflation axion models also face a potential problem from fractionally charged relics; solving this problem often leads to low-energy Landau poles for Standard Model gauge couplings, reintroducing the quality problem. We study several examples, finding that models that solve the quality problem face cosmological problems, and vice versa. This is not a no-go theorem; nonetheless, we argue that it is much more difficult than generally appreciated to find a viable post-inflation QCD axion model. Successful examples may have a nonstandard cosmological history (e.g., multiple types of cosmic axion strings of different tensions), undermining the widespread expectation that the post-inflation QCD axion scenario predicts a unique mass for axion dark matter.

hep-ph

TCC in the interior of moduli space and its implications for the string landscape and cosmology

We consider the classical Friedmann-Robertson-Walker solutions that describe a universe undergoing a transition from an accelerating expansion phase in the past to an eternal decelerating expansion phase in the future, driven by a scalar field evolving in a potential energy landscape. We show that any solution for which the accelerating phase violates the Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture (TCC), even in the interior of moduli space, never approaches the asymptotic vacuum with zero particles. Based on the assumption that the effective field theory must be valid for the vacuum on the asymptotic boundary, as motivated by holography and string theory, we argue that (multi-field) scalar potentials with such solutions are disallowed, thus strengthening the case for TCC. In particular, the results imply a new set of complex and highly-nonlinear constraints across the entire string landscape which may make realizing inflation impossible.

hep-th

Phenomenology of Spillway Preheating: Equation of State and Gravitational Waves

In the canonical tachyonic resonance preheating scenario, only an order one fraction of energy density in the inflaton is transferred to radiation, due to backreaction effects. One possible way to improve the energy transfer efficiency is to allow for the perturbative decays of the resonantly produced daughter particles, which serve as the "spillway" to drain the direct decay products from inflaton and to reduce the backreaction. In this article, we study two observational consequences of spillway preheating. The first is on the inflationary observables: the scalar spectrum tilt $n_s$ and tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. The spillway scenario modifies the evolution of the equation of state between the end of inflation and the thermal big bang. As a result, it affects the time elapsed from inflation to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), as well as the fits of inflationary models and their corresponding prediction for $n_s$ and $r$. We map out the equation of state by systematically scanning the parameter space of the spillway scenario, and show that the most efficient spillway scenario predicts a bluer spectrum, compared to the tachyonic preheating scenario. Another consequence is the production of high-frequency gravitational waves (GWs). Comparing the simulation results with those of tachyonic preheating, we find that the existence of spillways leads to sharper-peaked GW spectra with a mildly damped amplitude.

astro-ph.CO

Savior Curvatons and Large non-Gaussianity

Curvatons are light (compared to the Hubble scale during inflation) spectator fields during inflation that potentially contribute to adiabatic curvature perturbations post-inflation. They can alter CMB observables such as the spectral index $n_s$, the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$, and the local non-Gaussianity $\;f_{\rm NL}^{\rm (loc)}$. We systematically explore the observable space of a curvaton with a quadratic potential. We find that when the underlying inflation model does not satisfy the $n_s$ and $r$ observational constraints but can be made viable with a significant contribution from what we call a savior curvaton, a large $\;f_{\rm NL}^{\rm (loc)}$ is inevitable. On the other hand, when the underlying inflation model already satisfies the $n_s$ and $r$ observational constraints, so significant curvaton contribution is forbidden, a large $\;f_{\rm NL}^{\rm (loc)}$ is possible in the exceptional case when the isocurvature fluctuation in the curvaton fluid is much greater than the global curvature fluctuation.

astro-ph.CO

Chiral Nelson--Barr Models: Quality and Cosmology

It was recently shown that domain walls from the spontaneous breaking of CP symmetry are exactly stable, and must be inflated away to recover a viable cosmology. We investigate the phenomenological implications of this result in Nelson--Barr solutions of the strong CP problem. Combined with the upper bound on the scale of spontaneous CP breaking necessary to suppress contributions from dangerous, nonrenormalizable operators to $\barθ$, this puts an upper bound on the scale of inflation and the reheating temperature after inflation. Minimal Nelson--Barr models are therefore in tension with thermal leptogenesis, models of large-field inflation, or potential future observations of signals from topological remnants of an unrelated, subsequent phase transition. We study how extending Nelson--Barr models with a new, continuous chiral gauge symmetry can ameliorate this tension by forbidding the dangerous dimension-five operators. In particular, we show that gauging a linear combination of baryon number and hypercharge allows for an economic, anomaly-free extension of the minimal Nelson--Barr model, and discuss the phenomenological implications.

hep-ph

Complementary Signals of Lepton Flavor Violation at a High-Energy Muon Collider

A muon collider would be a powerful probe of flavor violation in new physics. There is a strong complementary case for collider measurements and precision low-energy probes of lepton flavor violation (as well as CP violation). We illustrate this by studying the collider reach in a supersymmetric scenario with flavor-violating slepton mixing. We find that the collider could discover sleptons and measure the slepton and neutralino masses with high precision, enabling event reconstruction that could cleanly separate flavor-violating new physics signals from Standard Model backgrounds. The discovery reach of a high-energy muon collider would cover a comparably large, and overlapping, range of parameter space to future $μ\to e$ conversion and electron EDM experiments, and unlike precision experiments could immediately shed light on the nature of new physics responsible for flavor violation. This complementarity strengthens the case that a muon collider could be an ideal energy-frontier laboratory in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model.

hep-ph

The physics case of a 3 TeV muon collider stage

In the path towards a muon collider with center of mass energy of 10 TeV or more, a stage at 3 TeV emerges as an appealing option. Reviewing the physics potential of such muon collider is the main purpose of this document. In order to outline the progression of the physics performances across the stages, a few sensitivity projections for higher energy are also presented. There are many opportunities for probing new physics at a 3 TeV muon collider. Some of them are in common with the extensively documented physics case of the CLIC 3 TeV energy stage, and include measuring the Higgs trilinear coupling and testing the possible composite nature of the Higgs boson and of the top quark at the 20 TeV scale. Other opportunities are unique of a 3 TeV muon collider, and stem from the fact that muons are collided rather than electrons. This is exemplified by studying the potential to explore the microscopic origin of the current $g$-2 and $B$-physics anomalies, which are both related with muons.

hep-ph

Missing Scalars at the Cosmological Collider

Light scalar fields typically develop spatially varying backgrounds during inflation. Very often they do not directly affect the density perturbations, but interact with other fields that do leave nontrivial signals in primordial perturbations. In this sense they become "missing scalars" at the cosmological collider. We study potentially observable signals of these missing scalars, focusing on a special example where a missing scalar distorts the usual oscillatory features in the squeezed bispectrum. The distortion is also a useful signal distinguishing the de Sitter background induced thermal mass from a constant intrinsic mass.

hep-ph

Spillway Preheating

In traditional models only an order one fraction of energy is transferred from the inflaton to radiation through nonperturbative resonance production in preheating immediately after inflation, due to backreaction effects. We propose a particle production mechanism that could improve the depletion of the inflaton energy density by up to four orders of magnitude. The improvement comes from the fast perturbative decays of resonantly produced daughter particles. They act as a "spillway" to drain these daughter particles, reducing their backreaction on the inflaton and keeping the resonant production effective for a longer period. Thus we dub the scenario "spillway preheating". We also show that the fraction of energy density remaining in the inflaton has a simple inverse power-law scaling in the scenario. In general, spillway preheating is a much more efficient energy dissipation mechanism, which may have other applications in model building for particle physics.

hep-ph

The Muon Smasher's Guide

We lay out a comprehensive physics case for a future high-energy muon collider, exploring a range of collision energies (from 1 to 100 TeV) and luminosities. We highlight the advantages of such a collider over proposed alternatives. We show how one can leverage both the point-like nature of the muons themselves as well as the cloud of electroweak radiation that surrounds the beam to blur the dichotomy between energy and precision in the search for new physics. The physics case is buttressed by a range of studies with applications to electroweak symmetry breaking, dark matter, and the naturalness of the weak scale. Furthermore, we make sharp connections with complementary experiments that are probing new physics effects using electric dipole moments, flavor violation, and gravitational waves. An extensive appendix provides cross section predictions as a function of the center-of-mass energy for many canonical simplified models.

hep-ph

Interpreting the Electron EDM Constraint

The ACME collaboration has recently announced a new constraint on the electron EDM, $|d_e| < 1.1 \times 10^{-29}\, e\, {\rm cm}$, from measurements of the ThO molecule. This is a powerful constraint on CP-violating new physics: even new physics generating the EDM at two loops is constrained at the multi-TeV scale. We interpret the bound in the context of different scenarios for new physics: a general order-of-magnitude analysis for both the electron EDM and the CP-odd electron-nucleon coupling; 1-loop SUSY, probing sleptons above 10 TeV; 2-loop SUSY, probing multi-TeV charginos or stops; and finally, new physics that generates the EDM via the charm quark or top quark Yukawa couplings. In the last scenario, new physics generates a "QULE operator" $(q_f \barσ^{μν}{\bar u}_f) \cdot (\ell {\barσ}_{μν} {\bar e})$, which in turn generates the EDM through RG evolution. If the QULE operator is generated at tree level, this corresponds to a previously studied leptoquark model. For the first time, we also classify scenarios in which the QULE operator is generated at one loop through a box diagram, which include SUSY and leptoquark models. The electron EDM bound is the leading constraint on a wide variety of theories of CP-violating new physics interacting with the Higgs boson or the top quark. We argue that any future nonzero measurement of an electron EDM will provide a strong motivation for constructing new colliders at the highest feasible energies.

hep-ph

Higgs Boson Decays to Dark Photons through the Vectorized Lepton Portal

Vector-like fermions charged under both the Standard Model and a new dark gauge group arise in many theories of new physics. If these fermions include an electroweak doublet and singlet with equal dark charges, they can potentially connect to the Higgs field through a Yukawa coupling in analogy to the standard neutrino portal. With such a coupling, fermion loops generate exotic decays of the Higgs boson to one or more dark vector bosons. In this work we study a minimal realization of this scenario with an Abelian dark group. We investigate the potential new Higgs decays modes, we compute their rates, and we study the prospects for observing them at the Large Hadron Collider and beyond given the other experimental constraints on the theory. We also discuss extensions of the theory to non-Abelian dark groups.

hep-ph