High Energy Physics

I will discuss ongoing work developing Hamiltonian truncation methods for studying strongly-coupled IR physics originating from a perturbed UV conformal field theory. This method uses a UV basis of conformal Casimir eigenstates, which is truncated at some maximum Casimir eigenvalue, to approximate the low energy spectrum of the IR theory. So far, such methods have been limited to theories in 2D, and I will present a new framework for generalizing this approach to higher dimensions. Focusing specifically on the case of scalar fields in 3D, I will then show tests of this framework by comparing with known analytic results at weak coupling and in the O(N) model at large-N, before discussing the possible application to strongly-coupled systems like the 3D Ising model.

I will discuss a class of non-compact solutions to the Strominger-Hull system, the first order system of equations for preserving N=1 supersymmetry in heterotic compactifications to four dimensions. The solutions consists of the conifold and its Z2 orbifold with Abelian gauge fields and non-zero three-form flux. The heterotic Bianchi Identity is solved in a large charge limit of the gauge fields, where it is shown that the topological term p1(TX) can be consistently neglected. At large distances, these solutions are locally Ricci-flat. For a given flux, the family of solutions has three real parameters, the size of the pair of two spheres in the IR and the dilaton zero mode. There exists an explicit analytic solution for the decoupled near horizon region where for a given flux, the size of the cycles is frozen and the only parameter is the dilaton zero mode. This near horizon region also has an exactly solvable worldsheet CFT. When one of the two cycles has vanishing size the near horizon region disappears, but a solution on the unorbifolded resolved conifold still exists.

Asymptotically AdS spacetimes with reflecting boundary conditions represent a natural setting for studying superradiant instabilities of rotating or charged black holes. In the first part of this talk, I prove that all asymptotically AdS black holes with ergoregions in dimension d ≥ 4 are linearly unstable to gravitational perturbations. This proof uses the canonical energy method of Hollands and Wald in a WKB limit. In the second part of the talk, I consider a charged Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS black hole---which is superradiantly unstable to charged scalar field perturbations at the linear level---and study the full *nonlinear* evolution of the instability. In this special case, the instability occurs even for spherically symmetric perturbations, which simplifies the analysis and allows for the use of numerical general relativity simulations. Our results show that nonlinear backreaction causes the black hole to lose charge and mass to the scalar field as the instability proceeds. Eventually, higher scalar field harmonics become nonsuperradiant, and they are reabsorbed into the black hole. The final state is described by a “hairy” black hole, surrounded by a scalar condensate in the fundamental (lowest) mode. I discuss implications of this work on the original problem of the rotating black hole superradiant instability.

In effective field theory, causality fixes the signs of certain interactions.  I will describe how these Lorentzian constraints are encoded in the Euclidean theory, and use the conformal bootstrap to derive analogous causality constraints in CFT. Applied to spinning fields, these constraints include (some of) the Hofman-Maldacena bounds derived from conformal collider physics. I will also discuss applications to holographic theories.

We propose the discovery of the electroweak monopole as the final test of the standard model. Unlike the Dirac's monopole in electrodynamics which is optional, the electroweak monopole must exist within the framework of the standard model because the $U(1)_{em}$ becomes non-trivial. We estimate the mass of the monopole to be around 4 to 7 TeV, and expect the production rate to be relatively large, $(1/\alpha_{em})^2$ times bigger than the WW production rate. This implies that the MoEDAL detector at LHC could have a real chance to detect it.  

If the dark matter is made up of a bosonic particle, it can be ultralight, with a mass potentially much below 1 eV. Well-known DM candidates of this type include pseudoscalars like the QCD axion, and vectors such as hidden photons kinetically mixed with the Standard Model. Moduli, even-parity scalars with nonderivative couplings to the SM, can also be light dark matter. I will show that they cause tiny fractional oscillations of SM parameters, such as the electron mass and the fine-structure constant, in turn modulating length and time scales of atoms. Rods and clocks, used in gedanken experiments in relativity, have since transformed into actual precision instruments. The size of acoustic resonators and the frequency of optical clocks can now be measured to 1 part in 10^22 and 10^18, respectively, and thus constitute sensitive probes of moduli. 

In this talk, I will give an overview of the parameter space of modulus dark matter, and discuss the sensitivity of the proposed experiments compared to existing constraints from fifth-force tests.

For a CFT perturbed by a relevant operator, the entanglement entropy of a spherical region may be computed as a perturbative expansion in the coupling.  A similar perturbative expansion applies for excited states near the vacuum.  I will describe a method due to Faulkner for calculating these entanglement entropies, and apply it in the limit of small sphere size.  The motivation for these calculations is a recent proposal by Jacobson suggesting an equivalence between the Einstein equation and the "maximal vacuum entanglement hypothesis" for quantum gravity.  This proposal relies on a conjecture about the behavior of entanglement entropies for small spheres.  The calculations presented here suggest that this conjecture must be modified, but I will discuss how Jacobson's derivation still applies under the modified conjecture.  

A simple way to trivially satisfy precision-electroweak and flavor constraints in composite Higgs models is to require a large global symmetry breaking scale, f > 10 TeV. This leads to a tuning of order 10^-4 to obtain the observed Higgs mass, but gives rise to a 'split' spectrum where the strong-sector resonances with masses greater than 10 TeV are separated from the pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons, which remain near the electroweak scale. To preserve gauge-coupling unification (due to a composite top quark), the symmetry breaking scale satisfies an upper bound f < 100-1000 TeV, which implies that the resonances are not arbitrarily heavy and may be accessible at future colliders. Furthermore, by identifying dark matter with a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson, the smallest coset space containing a stable, scalar singlet and an unbroken SU(5) symmetry is SU(7) / SU(6) x U(1). Interestingly, this coset space also contains a metastable color-triplet pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson that can decay via a displaced vertex when produced at colliders, leading to a distinctive signal of unnaturalness.

I will describe ongoing work with Miguel Paulos, Joao Penedones, Jon Toledo and  Balt van Rees. We are attempting to bootstrap massive quantum field theories. 

We formulate a massive S-matrix bootstrap which we analyze both numerically and analytically. We confront our findings with the conformal theory results of lecture 1. We will derive analytic bounds for the couplings in massive 2d QFTs and observe that the Ising field theory with magnetic field lies precisely at the boundary of these bounds.  We conclude with higher dimensional speculations.   

I will describe ongoing work with Miguel Paulos, Joao Penedones, Jon Toledo and  Balt van Rees. We are attempting to bootstrap massive quantum field theories. 

A massive quantum field theory can be put in a large AdS space, i.e. in a box. Its correlators define, as they approach the boundary, a conformal theory. The bootstrap of the latter can pose strong constraints on the former as we will describe. We will then initiate a presentation of the general and of the peculiar features of S-matrices in two dimensions.

The LHCb detector was designed to be the dedicated heavy-flavor physics experiment at the LHC, and has been the world's premier lab for studying processes where the net quark content changes for several years. These studies permit observing virtual contributions from beyond the SM particles up to very high mass scales, potentially (greatly) exceeding the direct reach of the LHC.  I will summarize the constraints placed on high-mass BSM physics by such studies, and also highlight a few interesting anomalies.  I will also discuss direct searches for low-mass BSM physics, and a selection of novel SM studies.  Finally, future prospects will be presented.