Preprints

Decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson into a Z boson and a $\rho^0$(770) or $\phi$(1020) meson are searched for using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at $\sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV. The analysed data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. [...]

Using the approach based on conformal symmetry we calculate the two-loop coefficient function for the vector flavor-nonsinglet contribution to deeply-virtual Compton scattering (DVCS). The analytic expression for the coefficient function in momentum fraction space is presented in the $\overline{\text{MS}}$ scheme. [...]

We present a mechanism for realizing hybrid inflation using two axion fields with a purely non-perturbatively generated scalar potential. The structure of scalar potential is highly constrained by the discrete shift symmetries of the axions. [...]

We perform the first global fit to inclusive $B\to X_s\gamma$ measurements using a model-independent treatment of the nonperturbative $b$-quark distribution function, with next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic resummation and $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^2)$ fixed-order contributions. The normalization of the $B\to X_s\gamma$ decay rate, given by $\lvert C_7^{\rm incl} V_{tb} V_{ts}^*\rvert^2$, is sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). [...]

Electron vortex beams offer unique opportunities for the study of chiral or magnetic structures in electron microscopes and of fundamental effects of quantum interference in particle physics. Immersing a cathode in a solenoid field presents a highly efficient and flexible method for the generation of vortex electron beams which is utilized at accelerators, but has not yet been realized in an electron microscope. [...]

To aid contributions to the Snowmass 2021 US Community Study on physics at the International Linear Collider and other proposed $e^+e^-$ colliders, we present a list of study questions that could be the basis of useful Snowmass projects. We accompany this with links to references and resources on $e^+e^-$ physics, and a description of a new software framework that we are preparing for $e^+e^-$ studies at Snowmass..

We compute the CP-violating (CPV) scalar axion coupling to nucleons in the framework of baryon chiral perturbation theory and we apply the results to a class of left-right symmetric models. The correlated constraints with other CPV observables show that the predicted axion nucleon coupling is within the reach of axion-mediated force experiments as ARIADNE for $M_{W_R}$ up to $1000$ TeV..

Dark matter (DM) as a thermal relic of the primordial plasma is increasingly pressured by direct and indirect searches, while the same production mechanism in a decoupled sector is much less constrained. We extend the standard treatment of the freeze-out process to such scenarios and perform precision calculations of the annihilation cross section required to match the observed DM abundance. [...]

The measurements carried out at LEP and SLC projected us into the precision era of electroweak physics. This has also been relevant in the theoretical interpretation of LHCb and Belle measurements of rare $B$ semileptonic decays, paving the road for new physics with the inference of lepton universality violation in $R_{K^{(*)}}$ ratios. [...]

We point out that there is a high-frequency tail of the stochastic inflationary gravitational wave background that scales as $f^{-1/2}$ with frequency $f$. This contribution comes from the graviton vacuum fluctuation amplified by the inflaton coherent oscillation during the reheating stage. [...]