High Energy Physics

The axion solution to the strong CP problem has many virtues but it suffers from the so-called quality problem. This problem is avoided in heavy axion realizations which, however, are harder to probe experimentally. I will show how generic heavy axion models can be tested in current and future gravitational wave (GW) observatories, due to the cosmological GW background produced by the axionic topological defects. Moreover, the resulting GW signal is correlated with a sizable strong CP phase, within reach of upcoming neutron electric dipole moment measurements.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/99150077172?pwd=UWhkZVdzV2lCQittWXVtMnludXBkUT09

Any consistent regularization scheme induces an apparent violation of gauge invariance in non-anomalous chiral gauge theories. This violation shows up in perturbative calculations, and can be removed by including appropriate finite counterterms. In this talk I will discuss the derivation of such counterterms for a renormalizable chiral gauge theory.  I will use the background field method, which ensures background gauge invariance in the quantized theory. As a concrete application, I will show the finite counterterm at one loop in the Standard Model, within dimensional regularization and the Breitenlohner-Maison-'t Hooft-Veltman prescription for gamma5. 

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95507223984?pwd=Y0FDTEJpNDlVaE9Ba1ZNMURXeS9rdz09

New massive "dark" vector bosons are ubiquitous in BSM physics.  I'll discuss the effective theories, interactions, and applications of theories with a (single) massive vector boson with a Stückelberg mass, with the goal of providing a clear and self-consistent approach to the (sometimes confusing) subject.  The critical role of possible couplings of the longitudinal mode will be emphasized, demarcating when theories have amplitudes that grow with energy.  In such theories, I'll identify the cutoff scale, as well as show the potential of longitudinally-enhanced observables given specific couplings of the vector boson.  The Stückelbergian approach to massive vectors also provides insight into generalized dark vector boson theories; I'll demonstrate a specific application to an "electrophobic" vector field that can evade many terrestrial experiment constraints that would otherwise apply to a dark photon.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96937794653?pwd=cjIvM0hxQmo2ZEhuamhxeWx3cVdoZz09

The cosmic radio background (CRB) contains diffuse, discrete and cosmological emission sources from the universe. In this talk, I will discuss  wether an additional contribution coming from low frequency photons is produced by free-free emission during the recombination era of the univers. These photons do not readily thermalise with the electron-proton plasma and therefore might  survive as a small non-thermal relic in the current universe.  Inclusion of such a contribution can alleviate the observed tension between existing CRB models and explain radio source counts between $100 MHz$ to $10 GHz$ to a very high degree of precision.  I will also discuss the challenges and future work we must considere in order to establish wether the signal is created or not.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/99032512514?pwd=eldocVA2VHhoUGVudmtFN3F4NHNEQT09

A black hole quantum state (Hartle-Hawking or Boulware)  is usually defined in a fixed background of a classical black hole. In my talk I will discuss the corresponding space-time geometry when the back-reaction is taken into account. The important questions include: does the back-reacted geometry always contain a horizon?; how it depends on the choice of the quantum state?;  and what is the right choice for the quantum state for the non-physical fields such as ghosts? I will answer these and other questions in the context of a two-dimensional dilaton gravity. The talk is based on a joint recent work with D. Sarkar and Y. Potaux, arXiv:2112.03855.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/5053597405?pwd=YjU2VVF1L3A1dmR1VWpPMHZFQW9rdz09

Three dimensional conformal field theories(CFTs) describe important critical physics in the real world. In the past few years much progress has been made in 3D CFTs using the conformal bootstrap. In particular, using numerical bootstrap, the critical exponents of the 3D Ising, Super-Ising, O(2), O(3) CFTs have been determined precisely with rigorous error bars, while using analytic bootstrap, the information of the leading twist operators at large spins can be computed analytically. The two bootstrap approaches are sensitive to different regions of the spectrum and complement each other. In this talk, I will first give a general review of the numerical bootstrap and analytic bootstrap. Then I will discuss how to combine the numerical bootstrap with the analytic lightcone bootstrap, i.e. a hybrid bootstrap method. As a result, the bootstrap prediction for the actual CFT can be significantly improved.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94186668943?pwd=ejRRb0M4VXNjeVVCWGdnTHQyaWRyQT09

There are two different standard ways of endowing a physical theory with a symplectic structure: the canonical and the covariant. The former is derived from the well-known symplectic structure of a certain cotangent bundle. The latter is based on the variational calculus. Including a boundary in the canonical formalism poses no problem, however, in the covariant formalism things break apart. In this talk, I will briefly introduce both formalisms without boundary and explain in detail a new framework that allows us to include boundaries in a straightforward way. To show it in action, time permitting, I will apply it to several theories of gravity. Finally, I will briefly show a new result where we proved that, actually, the canonical and covariant formalisms are equivalent in full generality.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/97641588140?pwd=dFl0SFdHOG5BYko2djNVWk11UkhSUT09

Mirror symmetry and time-invariance violating processes were crucial at establishing the Standard Model of fundamental interactions as we know it, their tiny effects eventually measured after enormous experimental effort. Macroscopic material on the other hand can maximally break these symmetries spontaneously. Inside these materials, Dark Matter can exhibit phenomena otherwise impossible in the vacuum. In this talk, I will discuss such a phenomenon that we call the piezoaxionic effect: In crystals whose structure breaks mirror symmetry, which are broadly known as piezoelectric, dark matter candidates called axions will produce a change in the crystals size, i.e. strain. Such a strain can be detected with well-established methods leading to a new observable for this well-motivated class of Dark Matter candidates.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96153495346?pwd=QU1MTENUTzdNOU5sZVc3VzY4NHI1UT09

Holographic complexity proposals are interesting because, on one hand, they express universal properties of black hole interiors and, on the other, they go beyond the area-centric view on quantum gravity. Our best take on complexity in quantum field theory is based on assigning a cost to circuits generated by time-dependent Hamiltonians and its minimization. I will discuss recent progress on understanding how the relevant circuits are realized in holography and what are possible gravity duals to good costs. Based on 2112.12158, 2203.08842 and work in progress.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96487059058?pwd=ZHk1ZHpXMEZoT0UycUZqTEdIb1ZpQT09

In this talk, I will present MicroBooNE's first results probing the nature of the excess of low-energy interactions observed by the MiniBooNE collaboration. The talk will cover all four electron neutrino analyses that comprise MicroBooNE's first results, with a particular focus on the exclusive search for CCQE-like electron neutrino interactions containing one electron and one proton in the final state (1e1p). The result of the 1e1p analysis, along with results from the other electron analyses and the single-photon analysis, will be discussed in terms of their implications for the MiniBooNE excess. Specifically, I will examine the viability of the single sterile neutrino explanation of the MiniBooNE excess in light of the MicroBooNE electron neutrino results. Additionally, I will introduce the Coherent CAPTAIN-Mills (CCM) experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory. CCM has unique sensitivity to a number of exotic BSM models, including leptophobic vector-portal dark matter and axion-like particles, some of which may be able to explain the MiniBooNE anomaly.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/93290406752?pwd=ajIvZkhvVU5YMW90WjVpU3IySUphdz09

Higher dimensional models of black hole evaporation can be studied via double holographic constructions, which can be considered as holographic models of conformal interfaces. In string theory these are realized microscopically by appropriate systems of branes, and in particular limits they give rise to a light graviton mass in the effective gravity theory. For a specific model of D3-D5-NS5 branes in type IIB, I will discuss the properties of the lightest graviton and show how this constrains the existence of islands in Anti de Sitter. I will show a numerical study of islands surfaces for finite temperature black holes, and show how they are affected by a varying dilaton. I will finally comment on the EFT cutoff induced by a light graviton mass, in relation to the islands regime, in function of the microscopic parameters of the string theory construction.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/97993595112?pwd=dE1xRm42MmY3bEVYZ2c4VURtaWV4dz09

Based on 2203.09537. In the context of toy models of holography arising from 3d Chern-Simons theory, I will describe an approach in which, rather than summing over bulk geometries, one gauges a one-form global symmetry of the bulk theory. This ensures that the bulk theory has no global symmetries, and it makes the partition function on spacetimes with boundaries coincide with that of a modular-invariant 2d CFT on the boundary. In particular, on wormhole geometries one finds a factorized answer for the partition function.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91694973383?pwd=VWFCZWxtdy9GczUrN1JFc2xMVUhmdz09