arXiv subjects

Stefan Pokorski

Publications and source records attributed to Stefan Pokorski.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

CMB observables and reheat temperature as a window to models of inflation and freeze-in dark matter production

A systematic approach is presented for using CMB observables and reheating temperature for discriminating between various models of inflation and certain freeze-in dark matter scenarios. It is applied to several classes of $α$-attractor models as an illustrative example. In the first step, all independent parameters of the inflationary potential are expressed in terms of the CMB observables (the three parameters - by the scalar spectral index $n_s$, scalar amplitude $A_s$ and the tensor-to-scalar amplitude ratio $r$). For a standard reheating mechanism characterized by the inflaton equation of state parameter $w$ and its effective dissipation rate $Γ$ the reheating temperature is uniquely fixed in terms of the CMB observables measured for some pivot scale $k_*$. There are striking consequences of this fact. The model independent bounds on the reheating temperature, the BBN lower bound and the upper bound of the order of the GUT/Planck scale, translate themselves for each class of models into very narrow ranges of the allowed values of the spectral index $n_s(k_*)$, providing their strong tests by the present and future CMB data. The recent tension between Planck and DESI-ACT results has strong impact on our conclusions. Furthermore, given a class of inflaton models satisfying those tests, the reheating temperature is an interesting portal to link the CMB observables to the particle physics scenarios that are sensitive to it. As an example, non-thermal dark matter (DM) production mechanisms are discussed. One obtains then a consistency check between theories of inflation and DM production. If the future precision of the CMB data will constrain the reheating temperature beyond the model independent bounds, further constraints on the DM production will follow.

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arXiv2026

Testing $α$-attractor P-model of inflation by Cosmic Microwave Background radiation

In a recently proposed approach to testing models of inflation by Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation the reheating temperature is directly expressed in terms of the CMB observables. Its model independent bounds translate in a given model into narrow ranges of those observables. In that approach we analyse the polynomial class of the $α$-attractor inflaton potential models (P-models), in a broad range of polynomials and with the inflaton decays and fragmentation in the reheating period taken into account. The predictions for the CMB observables, the scalar spectral index $n_s$ and tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$, are compared with the Planck and Planck combined with ACT data. Both can be accommodated by that class of the $α$ attractor models. The sensitivity of the results of that comparison to the reheating temperature and to the upper bound on the ratio $r$ is clearly demonstrated.

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arXiv2026

Particle Physics and Gravitational Waves as complementary windows on the Universe

Particle physics and gravitational waves provide complementary probes of the deep structure of the Universe. Gravitational waves from the mergers of neutron stars and black holes are sensitive to the structure of dense quark matter and to different dark matter scenarios. Measurements of stochastic gravitational waves backgrounds can teach us about possible first order phase transitions in the early Universe, including providing sensitivity to the TeV scale which is of key interest to future particle collider experiments. Gravitational waves measurements will also give new probes of the evolution and expansion of the Universe, complementary to measurements with electromagnetic radiation. This Perspectives article explores the physics synergies between the science opportunities provided by next generation gravitational waves measurements and particle physics experiments. Gravitational waves can also probe deep into the early Universe reaching physics much above possible collider energies if the signals can be detected.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Quark, lepton and right-handed neutrino production via inflation

Inflationary expansion of space-time provides us with an efficient particle production mechanism in the Early Universe. The fermion production efficiency depends critically on the particle mass, which is generated via the Yukawa coupling and sensitive to the corresponding scalar field value. During inflation, scalar fields experience large quantum fluctuations driving the average field values to the Hubble scale and above. This applies, in particular, to the Higgs field, making the Standard Model fermions very heavy and facilitating their production. Using the Bogolyubov coefficient approach, we compute the corresponding fermion abundance taking into account time dependence of the mass term. We find that the Standard Model fermion and the right-handed neutrino production grows dramatically compared to the naive estimate based on the low energy masses. The inflationary production mechanism can be the leading source of the right handed neutrinos, if they gain a Majorana mass from the Yukawa coupling to a light scalar. We also find a lower bound on the mass of fermionic dark matter, which can be produced by inflation.

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arXiv2024

Dark Branes for Dark Matter

We propose a setup for the origin of dark matter based on spacetime with a warped extra dimension and three branes: the Planck brane, the TeV brane, at a (few) TeV scale $ρ_T$, and a dark brane, at a (sub)-GeV scale $ρ_1\lesssim 100$ GeV $\llρ_T$. The Standard Model is localized in the TeV brane, thus solving the Higgs hierarchy problem, while the dark matter $χ$, a Dirac fermion with mass $m_χ<ρ_1$, is localized in the dark brane. The radion, with mass $m_r<m_χ$, interacts strongly ($\sim m_χ/ρ_1\sim\mathcal O(1)$) with dark matter and very weakly ($\sim m_{f}ρ_1/ρ_T^2\ll 1$) with the Standard Model matter $f$. The generic conflict between the bounds on its detection signatures and its proper relic abundance is avoided as dark matter annihilation is $p$-wave suppressed. The former is determined by its very weak interactions with the SM and the latter by its much stronger annihilation into radions. Therefore, there is a vast range in the Dark Matter's parameter space where the correct relic abundance is achieved consistently with the existing bounds. Moreover, for the dark brane with $ρ_1\lesssim 3$ GeV, a confinement/deconfinement first order phase transition, where the radion condensates, produces a stochastic gravitational waves background at the nanoHz frequencies, which can be identified with the signal detected by the Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) experiments. In the PTA window, for $0.15 \textrm{ GeV}\lesssim m_χ\lesssim 2$ GeV the relic abundance is reproduced and all constraints are satisfied.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

$SU(2)_L$ deconstruction and flavour (non)-universality

We study two-site deconstructions of the $SU(2)_L$ gauge group factor of the SM. Models based on this approach can explain the hierarchies of the quark masses and CKM mixing between third and light families if these fields are localised on different sites by the presence of hierarchical new physics scales. The model leads to an accidental global $U(2)_q\times U(3)_u\times U(3)_d$ flavour symmetry which prevents dangerously large effects in flavour observables, making a TeV extension of the SM possible. Given the structure of the PMNS matrix in the neutrino sector, we explore different possibilities for the arrangement of the leptons on the two sites, and consider different models with $U(2)_{\ell}$ or $U(3)_{\ell}$ flavour symmetries. The phenomenology of the models is mostly governed by a massive vector triplet of $SU(2)_L$. We study the interesting interplay between LHC searches and precision observables. In particular, one of the models can give a sizeable lepton flavour universal effect in the Wilson coefficient $C_9$ while naturally suppressing contributions to $C_{10}$, as suggested by current $b\to s\ell^+\ell^-$ data, predicting simultaneously a mild positive shift in the $W$ boson mass.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Exploring CP violation in $H \to τ^+ τ^- γ$

We propose a method of measuring the CP-odd part of the Yukawa interaction of Higgs boson and $τ$ leptons by observing the forward-backward asymmetry in the decay $H \to τ^+ \, τ^- \, γ$. The source of such asymmetry is the interference of the CP-even loop-level contribution coming from $H \to Z \, γ\to τ^+ \, τ^- \, γ$ decay channel with the contribution from tree-level CP-odd Yukawa interaction. We find that the CP violating effect is maximum when the invariant mass of the $τ^+ \, τ^-$ pair is equal to the mass of the $Z$ boson. We propose and utilise various Dalitz plot asymmetries to quantify the maximal size of the asymmetry and perform Monte Carlo simulations to study the feasibility of measuring it in the high luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC).

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arXiv2024

Gravitational production of sterile neutrinos

We consider gravitational production of singlet fermions such as sterile neutrinos during and after inflation. The production efficiency due to classical gravity is suppressed by the fermion mass. Quantum gravitational effects, on the other hand, are expected to break conformal invariance of the fermion sector by the Planck scale-suppressed operators irrespective of the mass. We find that such operators are very efficient in fermion production immediately after inflation, generating a significant background of stable or long-lived feebly interacting particles. This applies, in particular, to sterile neutrinos which can constitute cold non-thermal dark matter for a wide range of masses, including the keV scale.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Phases of Pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone Bosons

We study the vacuum dynamics of pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons (pNGBs) for $SO(N+1) \rightarrow SO(N)$ spontaneous and explicit symmetry breaking. We determine the magnitude of explicit symmetry breaking consistent with an EFT description of the effective potential at zero and finite temperatures. We expose and clarify novel additional vacuum transitions that can arise for generic pNGBs below the initial scale of $SO(N+1) \rightarrow SO(N)$ spontaneous symmetry breaking, which may have phenomenological relevance. In this respect, two phenomenological scenarios are analyzed: thermal and supercooled dark sector pNGBs. In the thermal scenario the vacuum transition is first-order but very weak. For a supercooled dark sector we find that, depending on the sign of the explicit symmetry breaking, one can have a symmetry-restoring vacuum transition $SO(N-1) \rightarrow SO(N)$ which can be strongly first-order, with a detectable stochastic gravitational wave background signal.

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arXiv2023

Flavour and Higgs physics in $Z_2$-symmetric 2HD models near the decoupling limit

With no evidence of any exotic particle detected so far beyond the Standard Model, the new physics may lie above the presently accessible energies at colliders and, at low-energies, can be accounted for via an effective description. The interplay of flavour and Higgs physics data allows setting stringent bounds on the parameters of the effective Lagrangian. In this paper, we focus on $Z_2$-symmetric two Higgs doublet models near the decoupling limit: the corresponding effective description relies on only a few parameters, thus predicting many interesting correlations between observables that work as tests of the theory. We present the results of a global fit to the existing data, updating and extending over the past literature. We comment on the triple Higgs coupling as a probe of an extended scalar sector and on the recent CDF II measurement of the $W$-mass.

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arXiv2023

The Low-Scale Seesaw Solution to the $M_W$ and $(g-2)_μ$ Anomalies

The recent CDF-II measurement of the $W$-boson mass shows a strong tension with the corresponding Standard Model prediction. Once active neutrino masses are explained in the context of the Low-Scale Seesaw mechanisms, this tension can be resolved. We investigate the possibility of explaining the longstanding muon anomalous magnetic moment anomaly within the same frameworks. We present a simplified extension of the Standard Model, accounting only for the second lepton generation, that describes a massive active neutrino and provides a combined solution to these anomalies. The model is renormalisable and introduces in the spectrum, beyond the sterile species of the Low-Scale Seesaw mechanism, only one pair of exotic vector-like leptons, doublets under the electroweak symmetry. We moreover discuss the extension of this model to the realistic three-family case.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Goldstone boson decays and chiral anomalies

Martinus Veltman was the first to point out the inconsistency of the experimental value for the decay rate of $π^0\rightarrowγγ$ and its calculation by J. Steinberger with the very successful concept of the pion as the (pseudo)Nambu-Goldstone boson of the spontaneously broken global axial symmetry of strong interactions. That inconsistency has been resolved by J. Bell and R. Jackiw in their famous paper on the chiral anomalies. We review the connection between the decay amplitudes of an axion into two gauge bosons in Abelian vector-like and chiral gauge theories. The axion is the Nambu-Goldstone boson of a spontaneously broken axial global symmetry of the theory. Similarly as for the vector-like gauge theory, also in the chiral one the axion decay amplitude is determined by the anomaly of the current of the axial symmetry in its non-linear realization. Certain subtlety in the calculation of the anomaly in chiral gauge theories is emphasised.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Analytical description of CP violation in oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos traversing the Earth

Flavour oscillations of sub-GeV atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos, traversing different distances inside the Earth, are a promising source of information on the leptonic CP phase $δ$. In that energy range, the oscillations are very fast, far beyond the resolution of modern neutrino detectors. However, the necessary averaging over the experimentally typical energy and azimuthal angle bins does not wash out the CP violation effects. In this paper we derive very accurate analytic compact expressions for the averaged oscillations probabilities. Assuming spherically symmetric Earth, the averaged oscillation probabilities are described in terms of two analytically calculable effective parameters. Based on those expressions, we estimate maximal magnitude of CP-violation effects in such measurements and propose optimal observables best suited to determine the value of the CP phase in the PMNS mixing matrix.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Correlating $ε^\prime/ε$ to hadronic $B$ decays via $U(2)^3$ flavour symmetry

There are strong similarities between charge-parity (CP) violating observables in hadronic $B$ decays (in particular $ΔA^-_{\rm CP}$ in $B\to Kπ$) and direct CP violation in Kaon decays ($ε^\prime$): All these observables are very sensitive to new physics (NP) which is at the same time CP and isospin violating (i.e. NP with complex couplings which are different for up quarks and down quarks). Intriguingly, both the measurements of $ε^\prime$ and $ΔA^-_{\rm CP}$ show deviations from their Standard Model predictions, calling for a common explanation (the latter is known as the $B\to Kπ$ puzzle). For addressing this point, we parametrize NP using a gauge invariant effective field theory approach combined with a global $U(2)^3$ flavor symmetry in the quark sector (also known as less-minimal flavour violation). We first determine the operators which can provide a common explanation of $ε^\prime$ and $ΔA^-_{\rm CP}$ and then perform a global fit of their Wilson coefficients to the data from hadronic $B$ decays. Here we also include e.g. the recently measured CP asymmetry in $B_s\to KK$ as well as the purely isospin violating decay $B_s\toϕρ^0$, finding a consistent NP pattern providing a very good fit to data. Furthermore, we can at the same time explain $ε^\prime/ε$ for natural values of the free parameters within our $U(2)^3$ flavour approach, and this symmetry gives interesting predictions for hadronic decays involving $b\to d$ transitions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Gravitino vs Neutralino LSP at the LHC

Using the latest LHC data, we analyse and compare the lower limits on the masses of gluinos and the lightest stop in two natural supersymmetric motivated scenarios: one with a neutralino being the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) and the other one with gravitino as the LSP and neutralino as the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle. In the second case our analysis applies to neutralinos promptly decaying to very light gravitinos, which are of cosmological interest, and are generic for low, of order O(100) TeV, messenger scale in gauge mediation models. We find that the lower bounds on the gluino and the lightest stop masses are stronger for the gravitino LSP scenarios due to the extra handle from the decay products of neutralinos. Generally, in contrast to the neutralino LSP case the limits now extend to a region of compressed spectrum. In bino scenarios the highest excluded stop mass increases from 1000 GeV to almost 1400 GeV. Additionally, in the higgsino-like NLSP scenario the higgsinos below 650 GeV are universally excluded and the stop mass limit is $m_{\tilde{t}} > 1150$ GeV, whereas there is no limit on stops in the higgsino LSP model for $m_{\tilde{h}} = 650$ GeV. Nevertheless, we find that the low messenger scale still ameliorates the fine tuning in the electroweak potential.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Real Scalar Dark Matter: Relativistic Treatment

A stable real scalar provides one of the simplest possibilities to account for dark matter. We consider the regime where its coupling to the Standard Model fields is negligibly small. Due to self-coupling, the scalar field can reach thermal or at least kinetic equilibrium, in which case the system is characterized by its temperature and effective chemical potential. We perform a fully relativistic analysis of dark matter evolution, thermalization conditions and different freeze-out regimes, including the chemical potential effects. To this end, we derive a relativistic Bose-Einstein analog of the Gelmini-Gondolo formula for a thermal averaged cross section. Finally, we perform a comprehensive parameter space analysis to determine regions consistent with observational constraints. Dark matter can be both warm and cold in this model.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

A new approach to gauge coupling unification and proton decay

An analytical formalism, including RG running at two loop order, is used to link the supersymmetric and GUT spectra in any GUT model in which the three gauge couplings unify. In each specific GUT model, one can then fully explore the interplay between the pattern of supersymmetry breaking and the prediction for the proton lifetime. With this formalism at hand, we study three concrete GUT models: (i) Minimal SU(5) SUSY GUT, (ii) Missing Partner SU(5) SUSY GUT, and (iii) an orbifold SU(5) SUSY GUT. In each case we derive interesting conclusions about the possible patterns of the supersymmetric spectrum once the present limits on the proton lifetime are imposed, and vice versa, we obtain the predictions for the proton lifetime for specific viable choices of the SUSY spectrum.

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arXiv2018

Axions in a highly protected gauge symmetry model

We study QCD axion or cosmological axion-like particles (ALPs) in a model inspired by the recent interest in 4-dimensional clockwork models, with the global symmetry being accidentally enforced by a gauge abelian quiver with scalar bifundamental fields. For the QCD axion, we analyze the connection between the degree of protection of the axion mass against gravitational corrections, the explanation of the hierarchy $f_a \ll M_P$ and the number of colored fermions needed to generate anomalous couplings to gluons, all linked together by the underlying gauge symmetries. Based on that model and on the comparison with earlier models in the literature, we derive certain general conclusions on QCD axion models that use accidental global symmetries. For the ALPs, assuming that their mass is solely given by gravitational corrections, we identify the parameter space where the decay constant and the mass are consistent with the DM abundance, and we show that this clockwork-inspired model is a particularly economical model for a very light ALP DM candidate.

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