High Energy Physics

I will discuss constraints on the S-matrix of gapped, Lorentz invariant quantum field theories due to crossing symmetry, analyticity and unitarity.  In particular I will bound cubic couplings, quartic couplings and scattering lengths relevant for the elastic scattering amplitude of two identical scalar particles. After a warm-up in 1+1 dimensions I will move to 3+1 dimensions.  In the cases where the results can be compared with results in the older S-matrix literature they are in excellent agreement.

We derive constraints on the operator product expansion of two stress tensors in conformal field theories (CFTs). In large N CFTs with a large gap to single-trace higher spin operators, we show that the coupling of two stress tensors to other single-trace operators ("TTO") is suppressed by powers of the higher spin gap, dual to the mass scale of higher spin particles in AdS. The absence of light higher spin particles is thus a necessary condition for the existence of a consistent truncation to general relativity in AdS. We are led to propose that, in general, the inverse gap scale is the CFT "dual" of an AdS derivative in a classical action. These results are derived by imposing unitarity on mixed systems of spinning four-point functions in the Regge limit. Using the same method, but without imposing a large gap, we derive new inequalities on TTO-type couplings valid in any CFT.

I will discuss the calculation of the axion dark matter relic abundance produced by strings and domain walls in the early universe. These objects appear if the global symmetry that the axion is associated with is unbroken at the end of inflation, and in this scenario there is, in principle, a unique prediction for the axion dark matter mass. I will present results from numerical simulations that indicate that the density of strings may be significantly larger than previously thought, leading to a corresponding change in the required axion dark matter mass. I will also discuss the difficulties in computing the energy spectrum of axions produced in the physically relevant regime, and the remaining uncertainties and challenges.

Many researchers have been studying the time evolution of entanglement entropy in the sudden quenches where a characteristic mass scale suddenly changes. It is well-know that in these quenches, the change of entanglement entropy become thermal entropy which is proportional to a subsystem size in the late time. However, we do not know which quenches thermalize a subsystem. In our works, we have been studied the time evolution of quantum entanglement in the global quenches with finite quench rate (smooth quenches). Thus, we found that diabaticity plays an important role, so that quenches thermalize the subsystem.

If a component of the dark matter has dissipative interactions, it could collapse to form a thin dark disk in our Galaxy coincident with the baryonic disk. It has been suggested that dark disks could explain a variety of observed phenomena, including periodic comet impacts. Using the first data release from the Gaia mission, we search for a dark disk via its effect on stellar kinematics in the Milky Way. I will present new limits on the presence of a thin dark matter disk, as well as measurements on the matter density in the solar neighborhood.

I will discuss a class of models in which thermal dark matter is lighter than an MeV. If dark matter thermalizes with the Standard Model below the temperature of neutrino-photon decoupling, constraints from measurements of the effective number of neutrino species are alleviated. This framework motivates new experiments in the direct search for sub-MeV thermal dark matter and light force carriers.

We suggest that two-to-two dark matter fusion may be the relaxation process that resolves the small-scale structure problems of the cold collisionless dark matter paradigm. In order for the fusion cross section to scale correctly across many decades of astrophysical masses from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters, we require the fractional binding energy released to be greater than v^n ~ [10^{-(2-3)}]^n, where n=1,2 depends on local dark sector chemistry. The size of the dark-sector interaction cross sections must be sigma ~ 0.1-1 barn, moderately larger than for Standard Model deuteron fusion, indicating a dark nuclear scale Lambda ~ O(100 MeV). Dark fusion firmly predicts constant sigma v below the characteristic velocities of galaxy clusters. Observations of the inner structure of galaxy groups with velocity dispersion of several hundred kilometer per second, of which a handful have been identified, could differentiate dark fusion from a dark photon model.

Gravitational shockwaves may signal the breakdown of effective field theory near black hole horizons. Motivated by this, I will revisit the Dray-‘t Hooft solution and explain how to generalize it to the Kerr-Newman background. In doing so I will emphasize the method of spin coefficients (the Newman-Penrose formalism) in its compacted form (the Geroch-Held-Penrose formalism).

Primordial black hole (PBH), which can be naturally produced in the early universe, remains a promising dark matter candidate . It can merge with a supermassive black hole (SMBH) in the center of a galaxy and generate gravitational wave (GW) signals in the favored frequency region of LISA-like experiments. In this work, we initiate the study on the event rate calculation for such extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRI). Including the sensitivities of various proposed GW detectors, we find that such experiments offer a novel and outstanding tool to test the scenario where PBH constitutes (fraction of) dark matter. The PBH energy density fraction of DM (fPBH) could potentially be explored as small as 10^−3∼10^−4. Further, LISA has the capability to search for PBH mass upto 10^−2∼10^−1 solar mass. Other proposed GW experiments can probe lower PBH mass regime.

In this talk I prove that the standard notion of entanglement is not defined for gravitationally anomalous two-dimensional theories  because they do not admit a local tensor factorization of the Hilbert space into local Hilbert spaces.  I make this precise by combining two observations:

    First, a two-dimensional CFT admits a consistent quantization on a space with boundary only if it is not anomalous.

    Second, a local tensor factorization always leads to a definition of consistent, unitary, energy-preserving boundary condition.

    As a corollary we establish a generalization of the Nielsen--Ninomiya theorem to all two-dimensional unitary local QFT:

    No continuum quantum field theory in two dimensions can admit a lattice regulator unless its gravitational anomaly vanishes.

I also show that the conclusion can be generalized to six dimensions by dimensional reduction on a four-manifold of nonvanishing signature.  I will advocate that these points be used to reinterpret the gravitational anomaly quantum-information-theoretically, as a fundamental obstruction to the localization of quantum information.

Standard Model particles account for a small fraction of the matter content of the universe.  If the remaining dark matter (DM) was ever in thermal equilibrium  with itself or with the Standard Model (SM) sector, there must  exist interactions that allowed its number density to be depleted  to its present value.  An interesting possibility for achieving this arises in scenarios  where the DM is composed of ``pions'' of a QCD-like dark sector.  The leading number changing process in these theories is the annihilation of three pions into two pions, which heats the pion bath relative to the SM. Consistency with observations of large and small scale structure in the universe requires a non-zero coupling with SM states, suggesting a multitude of experimental probes. I will review the cosmological production of DM in these strongly interacting dark sectors and discuss the prospects for discovering them at fixed target experiments.