arXiv subjects

Yongcheng Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Yongcheng Wu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Hunting for Axions in REactor neutrino COherent scattering Detection Experiment

Nuclear power plants are not only vital sources of clean energy but also powerful facilities for probing new physics beyond the Standard Model. Due to the intense gamma-ray flux and an appropriate energy conditions, they are particularly well-suited for searches of light hypothetical particles such as sub-MeV axions and axion-like particles (ALPs). In this work, we propose to search for the ALPs in the REactor Neutrino COherent scattering Detection Experiment (RECODE), where two low-threshold, high-purity germanium detectors are placed at 11 m (near point) and 22 m (far point) from a 3.4 GW nuclear reactor at Sanmen nuclear power plant. With a 10 kg$\cdot$year exposure, we demonstrate that the expected sensitivities to the ALP couplings to the electrons and photons are competitive with or surpass the available results from the beam-dump experiments. A planned upgrade to 100 kg$\cdot$year will fully cover the so-called {$\it$ cosmological triangle} region, probing unexplored parameter space relevant to axions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Electroweak phase transition in the 2HDM: Collider and gravitational wave complementarity

The knowledge of the Higgs potential is crucial for understanding the origin of mass and the thermal history of our Universe. We show how collider measurements and observations of stochastic gravitational wave signals can complement each other to explore the multiform scalar potential in the two Higgs doublet model (2HDM). Accounting for theoretical and current experimental constraints, we analyze the key ingredients in the shape of the Higgs potential triggering the transmutation in phase transition, from the smooth crossover to the strong first-order phase transition ($ξ_c>1$), focusing on the barrier formation and the upliftment of the true vacuum. In particular, we observe that the $ξ_c>1$ regime is favored for lower scalar masses, rendering strong extra motivation for collider searches. We contrast the dominant collider signals at the HL-LHC (high-luminosity LHC) with observable gravitational wave signals at LISA. We obtain that the HL-LHC will be able to cover a vast range of the $ξ_c>1$ parameter space, with scalar decays to heavy fermions $(H,A,H^\pm\to tt, tb)$ being the most promising smoking gun signature of a strong first-order electroweak phase transition in the 2HDM.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Bayesian analysis of the complex singlet model with phase transition gravitational waves

We explore the prospects of probing the complex singlet extension of the Standard Model (CxSM) with gravitational waves from the electroweak phase transition. The study establishes a connection of the scalar potential parameters, the thermodynamic properties of the phase transition, with the directly measured stochastic gravitational-wave background in the presence of astrophysical background and foreground. Considering the space-based gravitational-wave detector Taiji, we construct a frequency-domain likelihood that incorporates instrumental and astrophysical noises, and we perform both Fisher-matrix forecasts and Bayesian nested sampling analysis. The comparison of these two approaches demonstrates consistent parameter recovery and highlights the sensitivity of Taiji to millihertz gravitational-wave signals. We further propagate the inferred constraints on the gravitational-wave spectrum back to the underlying CxSM parameters, obtaining meaningful limits on the Higgs self-couplings. The results emphasize the complementarity between gravitational-wave observations and collider measurements, showing that future missions such as Taiji can serve as a powerful probe of electroweak-scale new physics and the dynamical origin of the Higgs sector.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Sensitivity of the RECODE Reactor CEvNS Experiment to the Dark Axion Portal

Reactor CEvNS experiments provide a powerful probe of the physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) with the intense flux of neutrinos, photons, and other particles produced in nuclear reactors. In this work, we investigate the sensitivity of reactor CEvNS experiments to the dark axion portal, which connects the axion or axion-like particle to the dark photon. We focus in particular on the RECODE experiment, while also considering other reactor-based experiments such as CONUS and MINER. We find that reactor CEvNS experiments offer enhanced sensitivity in the sub-MeV region compared with the existing constraints from B factories, and can probe the portal coupling down to $\mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$ for $G_{aγγ'}$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Search for Light Neutral Scalar in the Georgi-Machacek Model with Forward Detectors at the LHC

Long-lived particle (LLP) is one of the well-motivated targets for current collider experiments searching for the physics beyond the Standard Model. In recent years, many dedicated detectors have been developed for such scenarios which are designed to extend the sensitivity to weakly coupled particles with macroscopic $cτ$. In this work, we investigate the LLP signatures of the neutral component of the fermiophobic fiveplet $H_5^0$ in the Georgi-Machacek model. Due to its fermiophobic nature at tree level, it possesses suppressed decay widths in the low mass region and can naturally be long-lived over a wide region of parameter space. We show that $H_5^0$ can be produced with an appreciable flux in the forward region from the meson decay through loop-induced couplings leading to observable LLP signatures in forward detectors. We evaluate the sensitivity of representative forward detectors to this scenario and compare the result with existing constraints from terrestrial experiments and astrophysical observations. Our results demonstrate that the forward detectors can probe the $s_H$ down to $\mathcal{O}(10^{-5})$ for sub-GeV scalar masses, and hence providing a powerful and complementary probe of the extended Higgs sectors that is inaccessible to conventional searches.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Light Axion-Like Particles at Future Lepton Colliders

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model (SM) that appear in many new physics scenarios, with masses spanning a broad range. In this work, we systematically study the production and detection prospects of light ALPs at future lepton colliders, including electron-positron and multi-TeV muon colliders. At lepton colliders, light ALPs can be produced in association with a photon or a $Z$ boson. For very light ALPs ($m_a < 1$ MeV), the ALPs are typically long-lived and escape detection, leading to a mono-$V$ ($V = γ, Z$) signature. In the long-lived limit, we find that the mono-photon channel at the Tera-$Z$ stage of future electron-positron colliders provides the strongest constraints on ALP couplings to SM gauge bosons, $g_{aVV}$, thanks to the high luminosity, low background, and resonant enhancement from on-shell $Z$ bosons. At higher energies, the mono-photon cross section becomes nearly energy-independent, and the sensitivity is governed by luminosity and background. At multi-TeV muon colliders, the mono-$Z$ channel can yield complementary constraints. For heavier ALPs ($m_a > 100$ MeV) that decay promptly, mono-$V$ signatures are no longer valid. In this case, ALPs can be probed via non-resonant vector boson scattering (VBS) processes, where the ALP is exchanged off-shell, leading to kinematic deviations from SM expectations. We analyze constraints from both light-by-light scattering and electroweak VBS, the latter only accessible at TeV-scale colliders. While generally weaker, these constraints are robust and model-independent. Our combined analysis shows that mono-$V$ and non-resonant VBS channels provide powerful and complementary probes of ALP-gauge boson interactions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Sensitivity Study of the Tau Lepton Electric Dipole Moment at the Super Tau-Charm Facility

This study investigates the intrinsic electric dipole moment (EDM) of the $τ$ lepton, which is an important quantity in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). In preparation for future measurements at the Super Tau-Charm Facility (STCF), we employ Monte Carlo simulations of the $e^+e^- \rightarrow τ^+τ^-$ process and optimize the analysis methodology for EDM extraction. Machine learning techniques are implemented to efficiently identify signal events ($τ^\pm\rightarrowπ^\pmπ^0ν_τ$), which result in a significant improvement in signal-to-noise ratio. Our optimized event selection algorithm achieves $80.0\%$ signal purity with $6.3\%$ efficiency. We develop an analytical approach for $τ$ lepton momentum reconstruction and derive the squared spin density matrix along with optimal observables, which maximize the sensitivity to $d_τ$. The relationship between these observables and the EDM is established with the estimated sensitivity of $|d_τ| < 3.89\times 10^{-18}\,e\cdot\mathrm{cm}$ at a $68\%$ confidence level. These results provide a foundation for future experimental measurements of the $τ$ lepton EDM in STCF experiments.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2025

Deep Learning to Improve the Sensitivity of Higgs Pair Searches in the $4b$ Channel at the LHC

The Higgs self-coupling is crucial for understanding the structure of the scalar potential and the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking. In this work, utilizing deep neural network based on Particle Transformer that relies on attention mechanism, we present a comprehensive analysis of the measurement of the trilinear Higgs self-coupling through the Higgs pair production with subsequent decay into four $b$-quarks ($HH\to b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$) at the LHC. The model processes full event-level information as input, bypassing explicit jet pairing and can serves as an event classifier. At HL-LHC, our approach constrains the $κ_λ$ to $(-0.53,6.01)$ at 68\% CL achieving over 40\% improvement in precision over conventional cut-based analyses. Comparison against alternative machine learning architectures also shows the outstanding performance of the Transformer-based model, which is mainly due to its ability to capture the correlations in the high-dimensional collision data with the help of attention mechanism. The result highlights the potential of attention-based networks in collider phenomenology.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Dark Matter and Electroweak Phase Transition in the $Z_2$ Symmetric Georgi-Machacek Model

We present a comprehensive investigation of the $Z_2$ symmetric Georgi-Machacek (GM) model, focusing on the dark matter (DM) in the model and the electroweak phase transition (EWPT). Our analysis encompasses multiple detections for the DM candidates, including collider searches at the LHC and LEP, the direct detection and indirect detection. Furthermore, we also explore the possibility of a first-order EWPT in this framework. The gravitational wave (GW) generated from the first-order EWPT also provides a detection method for the parameter space in the $Z_2$ symmetric GM model providing viable DM candidate. It is found that the current DM searches, especially the direct detection, provide strong constraints on the parameter space, while the GW signal can be complementary around the Higgs resonant region.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Testing Leptogenesis from Observable Gravitational Waves

Leptogenesis provides an elegant mechanism to explain the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe (BAU), yet its experimental verification remains challenging due to requirements of either extremely heavy right-handed neutrinos or precisely fine-tuned mass splittings. We adapt a solution by introducing an extra scalar field that significantly enhances $CP$ asymmetry through loop-level contributions. This scalar extension not only facilitates successful leptogenesis but also enables a strong first-order electroweak phase transition, generating potentially observable gravitational waves (GWs). We demonstrate a strong correlation between the generated BAU and the GW signal strength, establishing a unique way to test the leptogenesis. We show that when the model achieves a successful BAU, the resulting GW signal from EWPT can have signal-to-noise ratio of $\mathcal{O}(10^3)$ and $\mathcal{O}(10^6)$ at the upcoming LISA and DECIGO experiments, respectively. This work presents a concrete connection between successful leptogenesis and detectable GWs, offering a promising method for experimental testing of the leptogenesis mechanism through future GW observations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Primordial Black Holes from First-Order Phase Transition in the xSM

Supercooled first-order phase transition (FOPT) can lead to the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs). This scenario imposes stringent requirements on the profile of the effective potential. In this work, we use the singlet extended Standard Model (xSM) as a benchmark model to investigate this possibility at the electroweak scale. The PBHs formed during a supercooled FOPT have a narrow mass distribution around the mass of Earth. This distribution is closely tied to the temperature at which the PBHs form, corresponding to the FOPT at the electroweak scale. This scenario can be probed with microlensing experiments, space-based gravitational wave detectors, and collider experiments. Remarkably, the future space-based gravitational wave detector LISA will hold the potential to either confirm this PBH scenario in the xSM or completely rule it out for extremely small total dark matter fraction made of PBHs, down to $f_{\rm PBH}> 10^{-300}$. Interestingly, our findings suggest that PBHs within the xSM framework may align with observations of the six ultrashort timescale events reported by the OGLE microlensing experiment.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Electroweak baryogenesis from charged current anomalies in $B$ meson decays

We demonstrate for the first time that new physics explaining the long standing charged $B$ meson anomalies, $R(D^{(*)})$, can be the source of CP violation that explains the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU). We consider the general two Higgs doublet model with complex Yukawa couplings and compute the BAU in the semiclassical formalism, using a novel analytic approximation for the latter. After imposing constraints from both flavor observables and the electron electric dipole moment (eEDM), we find that a significant BAU can still be generated for a variety of benchmark points in the parameter space, assuming the occurrence of a sufficiently strong first order electroweak phase transition. These scenarios, which explain both the $R(D^{(*)})$ flavor anomalies and the BAU, can be probed with future eEDM experiments and Higgs factories measurements.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Probing long-lived doubly charged scalar in the Georgi-Machacek model at the LHC and in far detectors

Searching for long-lived particles (LLPs) beyond the Standard Model (SM) is a promising direction in collider experiments. The Georgi-Machacek (GM) model extends the scalar sector in the SM by introducing various new scalar bosons. In this study, we focus on the parameter space that allows the light doubly charged scalar to become long-lived. This light doubly charged scalar is fermophobic and predominantly decays into a pair of on-shell or off-shell same-sign $W$ bosons. We investigate three types of signal signatures at the LHC: displaced vertices in the inner tracking detector, displaced showers in the muon system, and heavy stable charged particles. Additionally, we analyze the potential for detecting such doubly charged scalars in far detectors, including ANUBIS, MATHUSLA, FACET, FASER, CODEX-b, MoEDAL-MAPP and AL3X. By combining the LLP searches at the LHC and in far detectors, we project that the limits on the mixing angle, $θ_H$, (between the doublet and triplets) can cover most of the parameter space with $\sinθ_H\lesssim 10^{-3}$ for the mass range of long-lived doubly charged scalars between $50$ GeV to $180$ GeV, assuming the full integrated luminosity at the LHC and HL-LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Footprints of Axion-Like Particle in Pulsar Timing Array Data and James Webb Space Telescope Observations

Several Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) collaborations have recently reported the evidence for a stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB), which can unveil the formation of primordial seeds of inhomogeneities in the early universe. With the SGWB parameters inferred from PTAs data, we can make a prediction of the seeds for early galaxy formation from the domain walls in the axion-like particles (ALPs) field distribution. This also naturally provides a solution to the observation of high redshifts by the James Webb Space Telescope. The predicted photon coupling of the ALP is within the reach of future experimental searches.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Status of negative coupling modifiers for extended Higgs sectors

In this work, we study the status of negative coupling modifiers in extended Higgs sectors, focusing on the ratio of coupling modifiers that probes custodial symmetry violation $λ_{WZ} = κ_{W}/κ_{Z}$. Higgs sectors with multiplets larger than doublets are the only weakly coupled models that give tree-level modifications to $λ_{WZ}$, and we explore all such models allowed by the constraint from the $ρ$ parameter and perturbative unitarity. This class of models has a custodial symmetry violating potential, while the vacuum configuration preserves the symmetry. We apply precision measurements from ATLAS and CMS and show that each data set can exclude a vast set of models with $λ_{WZ} < 0$ at greater than 95\% confidence level. We give evidence that $λ_{WZ}<0$ is excluded in all weakly coupled models. [Erratum for this work on page 19 changing our claims of complete exclusion of negative $λ_{WZ}$ to a softer version where only the minimal models are excluded.]

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Gravitational Wave as a Probe of Light Feebly Interacting Dark Matter

Light feebly interacting dark matter is widely predicted in a plethora of new physics models. However, due to very feeble couplings with the Standard Model particles, its relic density produced via the relativistic thermal freeze-out process easily exceeds the observed value. The entropy dilution in an early matter-dominated era provides an attractive mechanism for solving such an overabundance problem. In this work, we note that this dark matter dilution mechanism will lead to two distinctive kinks in the primordial GW spectrum, whose frequencies strongly correlate with the DM mass. We show that the GW detectors, such as Cosmic Explorer (CE) and Big Bang Observer (BBO), can measure the kinks in the primordial GW spectrum and will offer a new avenue to probe light feebly interacting dark matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Can supercooled phase transitions explain the gravitational wave background observed by pulsar timing arrays?

Several pulsar timing array collaborations recently reported evidence of a stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) at nHz frequencies. Whilst the SGWB could originate from the merger of supermassive black holes, it could be a signature of new physics near the 100 MeV scale. Supercooled first-order phase transitions (FOPTs) that end at the 100 MeV scale are intriguing explanations, because they could connect the nHz signal to new physics at the electroweak scale or beyond. Here, however, we provide a clear demonstration that it is not simple to create a nHz signal from a supercooled phase transition, due to two crucial issues that could rule out many proposed supercooled explanations and should be checked. As an example, we use a model based on non-linearly realized electroweak symmetry that has been cited as evidence for a supercooled explanation. First, we show that a FOPT cannot complete for the required transition temperature of around 100 MeV. Such supercooling implies a period of vacuum domination that hinders bubble percolation and transition completion. Second, we show that even if completion is not required or if this constraint is evaded, the Universe typically reheats to the scale of any physics driving the FOPT. The hierarchy between the transition and reheating temperature makes it challenging to compute the spectrum of the SGWB.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Precision test of the weak interaction with slow muons

We propose to use slow muons facilities combined with cyclotron radiation detection for precision test of the weak interaction in the muon decays. Slow positive muon bunches are first injected into a cylindrical superconducting vacuum chamber with uniform strong axial magnetic fields to radially confine the muons. The positrons resulting from muon decays can be detected by their cyclotron radiation, which can be transported to low-noise electronic devices through waveguides coupled to the chamber. The decay positron's energy can be precisely measured down to eV level in the low energy region, which is sensitive to new physics effects such as Majorana neutrinos and new structures of weak interactions.

physics.ins-det↗