arXiv subjects

Shao-Feng Ge

Publications and source records attributed to Shao-Feng Ge.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Atmospheric Trident Production for Probing New Physics

We propose to use atmospheric neutrinos as a powerful probe of new physics beyond the Standard Model via neutrino trident production. The final state with double muon tracks simultaneously produced from the same vertex is a distinctive signal at large Cherenkov detectors. We calculate the expected event numbers of trident production in the Standard Model. To illustrate the potential of this process to probe new physics we obtain the sensitivity on new vector/scalar bosons with coupling to muon and tau neutrinos.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Constraining Gluonic Quartic Gauge Coupling Operators with $gg \to γγ$

Gluon-gluon to photon-photon scattering $gg \to γγ$ offers to the LHC experiments a uniquely powerful probe of dimension-8 operators in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) that are quadratic in both the electromagnetic and gluonic field-strength tensors, such as would appear in the Born-Infeld extension of the Standard Model (SM). We use 13-TeV ATLAS data on the production of isolated photon pairs to set lower limits on the scales of dimension-8 operators $M \gtrsim 1$~TeV, and discuss the prospective sensitivities of possible future hadron colliders.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Non-standard interactions and the CP phase measurements in neutrino oscillations at low energies

We study the effects of non-standard interactions (NSI) and the genuine CP phase $δ_D$ in neutrino oscillations at low, $E_ν\lesssim 1\,\mbox{GeV}$, and very low, $E_ν\lesssim 0.1\,\mbox{GeV}$, energies. For experimental setup with baseline and neutrino energy tuned to the first 1-3 oscillation maximum, we develop a simple analytic formalism to show the effects of NSI. The vacuum mimicking and its violation as well as the use of the separation basis play a central role in our formalism. The NSI corrections that affect the CP phase measurement mainly come from the violation of vacuum mimicking as well as from the corrections to the 1-3 mixing angle and mass-squared difference. We find that the total NSI correction to the $ν_μ- ν_e$ probability $P_{μe}$ can reach $20\% - 30\%$ ($1 σ$) at T2(H)K. Correspondingly, the correction to the CP phase can be as large as $50^\circ$ and hence significantly deteriorates the CP sensitivity at T2(H)K. The proposed TNT2K experiment, a combination of T2(H)K and the short baseline experiment $μ$Kam that uses the Super-K/Hyper-K detector at Kamioka to measure the oscillation of the antineutrinos from muon decay at rest ($μ$DAR), can substantially reduce the degeneracy between NSI and the genuine CP phase $δ_D$ to provide high CP sensitivity. The NSI correction to $P_{μe}$ is only $2\%$ ($1 σ$) for $μ$DAR neutrinos.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Large Leptonic Dirac CP Phase from Broken Democracy with Random Perturbations

A large value of the leptonic Dirac CP phase can arise from broken democracy, where the mass matrices are democratic up to small random perturbations. Such perturbations are a natural consequence of broken residual $\mathbb S_3$ symmetries that dictate the democratic mass matrices at leading order. With random perturbations, the leptonic Dirac CP phase has a higher probability to attain a value around $\pm π/2$. Comparing with the anarchy model, broken democracy can benefit from residual $\mathbb S_3$ symmetries, and it can produce much better, realistic predictions for the mass hierarchy, mixing angles, and Dirac CP phase in both quark and lepton sectors. Our approach provides a general framework for a class of models in which a residual symmetry determines the general features at leading order, and where, in the absence of other fundamental principles, the symmetry breaking appears in the form of random perturbations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Flavor Structure of the Cosmic-Ray Electron/Positron Excesses at DAMPE

The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) satellite detector announced its first result for measuring the cosmic-ray electron/positron (CRE) energy spectrum up to 4.6TeV, including a tentative peak-like event excess at (1.3-1.5)TeV. In this work, we uncover a significant hidden excess in the DAMPE CRE spectrum over the energy range (0.6-1.1)TeV, which has a non-peak-like structure. We propose a new mechanism to explain this excess by a set of 1.5TeV $μ^\pm$ events with subsequent decays into $e^\pm$ plus neutrinos. For explaining this new excess together with the peak excess around 1.4TeV, we demonstrate that the {\it flavor structure} of the original lepton final-state produced by dark matter (DM) annihilations (or other mechanism) should have a composition ratio $N_e : (N_μ+\frac{1}{6}N_τ) = 1 : y$, with $y \simeq 2.6-10.8$. For lepton portal DM models, this puts important constraint on the lepton-DM-mediator couplings $λ_e : (λ_μ^4 + \frac{1}{6}λ_τ^4)^{\frac{1}{4}} = 1 : y^{\frac{1}{4}}$ with a narrow range $y^{\frac{1}{4}} \simeq 1.3-1.8$.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Half-life Expectations for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay in Standard and Non-Standard Scenarios

We investigate the half-life expectations for neutrinoless double beta decay by applying statistical distributions of neutrino mixing observables, neutrino mass constraints from cosmology and nuclear matrix elements. The analysis is performed in the standard scenario of active Majorana neutrino exchange, when light sterile neutrinos are added, and within TeV-scale left-right symmetric frameworks. The latter two cases correspond to a modified phenomenology of double beta decay for a normal and inverted mass ordering, and thus different discovery potential for future experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Measuring the Leptonic Dirac CP Phase with TNT2K

I describe how the TNT2K (Tokai and Toyama to Kamioka) configuration with a muon decay at rest ($μ$DAR) add-on to T2(H)K can achieve better measurement of the leptonic Dirac CP phase $δ_D$. It has five-fold advantages of high efficiency, smaller CP uncertainty, absence of degeneracy, as well as guaranteeing CP sensitivity against non-unitary mixing (NUM) and non-standard interaction (NSI). In comparison to the flux upgrade with T2K-II, the detector upgrade with T2HK, and the baseline upgrade with T2HKK, TNT2K is a totally different concept with spectrum upgrade to solve the intrinsic problems in current and next generations of CP measurement experiments. With a single $μ$DAR source, TNT2K is much cheaper and technically much easier than the DAE$δ$ALUS proposal. The latter needs three sources that cannot run simultaneously and consequently requires much higher fluxes. The single $μ$DAR source at TNT2K also allows a single near detector ($μ$Near) to fully utilize the neutrino flux for the purpose of constraining NUM, but this is impossible at DAE$δ$ALUS with three spatially separated sources.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Measuring the Leptonic CP Phase in Neutrino Oscillations with Non-Unitary Mixing

Non-unitary neutrino mixing implies an extra CP violating phase that can fake the leptonic Dirac CP phase $δ_{CP}$ of the simplest three-neutrino mixing benchmark scheme. This would hinder the possibility of probing for CP violation in accelerator-type experiments. We take T2K and T2HK as examples to demonstrate the degeneracy between the "standard" (or "unitary") and "non-unitary" CP phases. We find, under the assumption of non-unitary mixing, that their CP sensitivities severely deteriorate. Fortunately, the TNT2K proposal of supplementing T2(H)K with a $μ$DAR source for better measurement of $δ_{CP}$ can partially break the CP degeneracy by probing both $\cos δ_{CP}$ and $\sin δ_{CP}$ dependences in the wide spectrum of the $μ$DAR flux. We also show that the further addition of a near detector to the $μ$DAR setup can eliminate the degeneracy completely.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Testing Higgs Coupling Precision and New Physics Scales at Lepton Colliders

The next-generation lepton colliders, such as CEPC, FCC-ee, and ILC will make precision measurement of the Higgs boson properties. We first extract the Higgs coupling precision from Higgs observables at CEPC to illustrate the potential of future lepton colliders. Depending on the related event rates, the precision can reach percentage level for most couplings. Then, we try to estimate the new physics scales that can be indirectly probed with Higgs and electroweak precision observables. The Higgs observables, together with the existing electroweak precision observables, can probe new physics up to 10TeV (40TeV for the gluon-related operator $\mathcal O_g$) at 95% C.L. Including the $Z/W$ mass measurements and $Z$-pole observables at CEPC further pushes the limit up to 35TeV. Although $Z$-pole running is originally for the purpose of machine calibration, it can be as important as the Higgs observables for probing the new physics scales indirectly. The indirect probe of new physics scales at lepton colliders can mainly cover the energy range to be explored by the following hadron colliders of pp (50-100TeV), such as SPPC and FCC-hh.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Probing New Physics Scales from Higgs and Electroweak Observables at $e^+ e^-$ Higgs Factory

New physics beyond the standard model (SM) can be model-independently formulated via dimension-6 effective operators, whose coefficients (cutoffs) characterize the scales of new physics. We study the probe of new physics scales from the electroweak precision observables (EWPO) and the Higgs observables (HO) at the future $e^+e^-$ Higgs factory (such as CEPC). To optimize constraints of new physics from all available observables, we establish a scheme-independent approach. With this formulation, we treat the SM electroweak parameters and the coefficients of dimension-6 operators on equal footing, which can be fitted simultaneously by the same $χ^2$ function. As deviations from the SM are generally small, we can expand the new physics parameters up to linear order and perform an analytical $χ^2$ fit to derive the potential reach of the new physics scales. We find that the HO from both Higgs produnction and decay rates can probe the new physics scales up to 10TeV (and to 44TeV for the case of gluon-involved operator $\mathcal{O}_g$), and the new physics scales of Yukawa-type operators can be probed by the precision Higgs coupling measurements up to (13-25)TeV. Further including the EWPO can push the limit up to 35TeV. From this prospect, we demonstrate that the EWPO measured in the early phase of a Higgs factory can be as important as the Higgs observables. These indirect probes of new physics scales at the Higgs factory can mainly cover the energy range to be directly explored by the next generation hadron colliders of pp(50-100TeV), such as the SPPC and FCC-hh.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Extracting Majorana Properties in the Throat of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

Assuming that neutrinos are Majorana particles, we explore what information can be inferred from future strong limits (i.e. non-observation) for neutrinoless double beta decay. Specifically we consider the case where the mass hierarchy is normal and the different contributions to the effective mass $\langle m \rangle_{ee}$ partly cancel. We discuss how this fixes the two Majorana CP phases simultaneously from the Majorana Triangle and how it limits the lightest neutrino mass $m_1$ within a narrow window. The two Majorana CP phases are in this case even better determined than in the usual case for larger $\langle m \rangle_{ee}$. We show that the uncertainty in these predictions can be significantly reduced by the complementary measurement of reactor neutrino experiments, especially the medium baseline version JUNO/RENO-50. We also estimate the necessary precision on $\langle m \rangle_{ee}$ to infer non-trivial Majorana CP phases and the upper limit $\langle m \rangle_{ee} \lesssim 1\,\mbox{meV}$ sets a target for the design of future neutrinoless double beta decay experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Letter of Intent: Jinping Neutrino Experiment

Jinping Neutrino Experiment (Jinping) is proposed to significantly improve measurements on solar neutrinos and geoneutrinos in China Jinping Laboratory - a lab with a number of unparalleled features, thickest overburden, lowest reactor neutrino background, etc., which identify it as the world-best low-energy neutrino laboratory. The proposed experiment will have target mass of 4 kilotons of liquid scintillator or water-based liquid scintillator, with a fiducial mass of 2 kilotons for neutrino-electron scattering events and 3 kilotons for inverse-beta interaction events. A number of initial sensitivities studies have been carried out, including on the transition phase for the solar neutrinos oscillation from the vacuum to the matter effect, the discovery of solar neutrinos from the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle, the resolution of the high and low metallicity hypotheses, and the unambiguous separation on U and Th cascade decays from the dominant crustal anti-electron neutrinos in China.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Realizing Dark Matter and Higgs Inflation in Light of LHC Diphoton Excess

LHC Run-2 has provided intriguing di-photon signals of a new resonance around 750GeV, which, if not due to statistical fluctuations, must call for new physics beyond the standard model (SM) at TeV scale. We propose a minimal extension of the SM with a complex singlet scalar $\mathcal{S}$ and a doublet of vector-like quarks. The scalar sector respects CP symmetry, with its CP-odd imaginary component $χ$ providing a natural dark matter (DM) candidate. The real component of $\mathcal{S}$ serves as the new resonance (750GeV) and explains the diphoton excess of the LHC Run-2. The new scalar degrees of freedom of $\mathcal{S}$ help to stabilize the Higgs vacuum, and can realize the Higgs inflation around GUT scale, consistent with the current cosmology observations. We construct two representative samples A and B of our model for demonstration. We study the mono-jet signals of the DM production from invisible decays Re$(\mathcal{S}) \to χχ$ at the LHC Run-2. We further derive the DM relic density bound, and analyze the constraints from direct and indirect DM detections.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

The Leptonic CP Phase from T2(H)K and Muon Decay at Rest

Combining neutrino oscillations at T2K or T2HK with antineutrinos oscillations from muon decay at rest (DAR) allows a determination of the leptonic CP-violating phase delta. The degeneracies of this phase with theta13 and theta23 are broken and delta can be reliably distinguished from 180-delta. We present the sensitivity to delta of T2(H)K together with a muon DAR experiment using Super-K as a near detector and Hyper-K at the Tochibora site as a far detector.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

New physics effects on neutrinoless double beta decay from right-handed current

We study the impact of new physics contributions to neutrinoless double beta decay arising from right-handed current in comparison with the standard mechanism. If the light neutrinos obtain their masses from Type-II seesaw within left-right symmetric model, where the Type-I contribution is suppressed to negligible extent, the right-handed PMNS matrix is the same as its left-handed counterpart, making it highly predictable and can be tested at next-generation experiments. It is very attractive, especially with recent cosmological constraint favoring the normal hierarchy under which the neutrinoless double beta decay is too small to be observed unless new physics appears as indicated by the recent diboson excess observed at ATLAS. The relative contributions from left- and right-handed currents can be reconstructed with the ratio between lifetimes of two different isotopes as well as the ratio of nuclear matrix elements. In this way, the theoretical uncertainties in the calculation of nuclear matrix elements can be essentially avoided. We also discuss the interplay of neutrinoless double beta decay measurements with cosmology, beta decay, and neutrino oscillation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

JUNO and Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

We study the impact of the precision determination of oscillation parameters in the JUNO experiment on half-life predictions for neutrinoless double beta decay. We show that the solar neutrino mixing angle can be measured by JUNO with below 1% uncertainty. This implies in particular that the minimal value of the effective mass in the inverted mass ordering will be known essentially without uncertainty. We demonstrate that this reduces the range of half-life predictions in order to test this value by a factor of two. The remaining uncertainty is caused by nuclear matrix elements. This has important consequences for future double beta decay experiments that aim at ruling out the inverted mass ordering or the Majorana nature of neutrinos.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

The Georgi Algorithms of Jet Clustering

We reveal the direct link between the jet clustering algorithms recently proposed by Howard Georgi and parton shower kinematics, providing firm foundation from the theoretical side. The kinematics of this class of elegant algorithms is explored systematically for partons with arbitrary masses and the jet function is generalized to $J^{(n)}_β$ with a jet function index $n$ in order to achieve more degrees of freedom. Based on three basic requirements that, the result of jet clustering is process-independent and hence logically consistent, for softer subjets the inclusion cone is larger to conform with the fact that parton shower tends to emit softer partons at earlier stage with larger opening angle, and that the cone size cannot be too large in order to avoid mixing up neighboring jets, we derive constraints on the jet function parameter $β$ and index $n$ which are closely related to cone size cutoff. Finally, we discuss how jet function values can be made invariant under Lorentz boost.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Physics Reach of Atmospheric Neutrino Measurements at PINGU

The sensitivity of a huge underground water/ice Cherenkov detector, such as PINGU in IceCube, to the neutrino mass hierarchy, the atmospheric mixing angle and its octant, is studied in detail. Based on the event rate decomposition in the propagation basis, we illustrate the smearing effects from the neutrino scattering, the visible energy and zenith angle reconstruction procedures, the energy and angular resolutions, and the muon mis-identification rate, as well as the impacts of systematic errors in the detector resolutions, the muon mis-identification rate, and the overall normalization. The sensitivity, especially the mass hierarchy sensitivity, can be enhanced by splitting the muon-like events into two channels, according to the event inelasticity. We also show that including the cascade events can improve and stabilize the sensitivity of the measurements.

hep-ph↗