Particle Physics

Following the recommendation of the Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics and in view of rising interest shown in the US Snowmass process, a new International Muon Collider Collaboration is forming, hosted at CERN. The presentation will introduce the muon collider concept, the reason for the renewed interest and the main challenges and opportunities.

We explore the Z2 graded product C`10 = C`4⊗ˆC`6 (introduced by Furey) as a finite quantum algebra of the Standard Model of particle physics. The gamma matrices generating C`10 are expressed in terms of left multiplication by the imaginary octonion units and the Pauli matrices. The subgroup of Spin(10) that fixes an imaginary unit (and thus allows to write O = C⊗C 3 expressing the quark-lepton splitting) is the Pati-Salam group GP S = Spin(4) × Spin(6)/Z2 ⊂ Spin(10). If we identify the preserved imaginary unit with the C`6 pseudoscalar ω6 = γ1...γ6, ω2 6 = −1 (cf. the talk of Furey and Hughes), then Pex = 1 2 (1 − iω6) will play the role of the projector on the extended particle subspace including the right-handed (sterile) neutrino. We express the generators of C`4 and C`6 in terms of fermionic oscillators aα, a∗ α, α = 1, 2 and bj , b∗ j , j = 1, 2, 3 describing flavour and colour, respectively. The internal space observable algebra (an analog of the algebra of real functions on space-time) is then defined as the Jordan subalgebra of hermitian elements of the complexified Clifford algebra C ⊗ C`10 that commute with the weak hypercharge 1 2 Y = 1 3 P3 j=1 b ∗ j bj − 1 2 P2 α=1 a ∗ αaα. We only distinguish particles from antiparticles if they have different eigenvalues of Y . Thus the sterile neutrino and antineutrino (with Y = 0) are allowed to mix into Majorana neutrinos. Restricting C`10 to the particle subspace which consists of leptons with Y < 0 and quarks with Y > 0 allows a natural definition of the Higgs field Φ, the scalar of Quillen’s superconnection, as an element of C`1 4, the odd part of the first factor in C`10. As an application we express the ratio mH mW of the Higgs and the W-boson masses in terms of the cosine of the theoretical Weinberg angle. The talk is based on the paper arXiv:2010.15621v3 a copy of which including minor corrections is attached.

Can the 32C-dimensional algebra R(x)C(x)H(x)O offer anything new for particle physics? Indeed it can. Here we identify a sequence of complex structures within R(x)C(x)H(x)O which sets in motion a cascade of breaking symmetries: Spin(10) -> Pati-Salam -> Left-Right symmetric -> Standard model + B-L (both pre- and post-Higgs-mechanism). These complex structures derive from the octonions, then from the quaternions, then from the complex numbers. Finally, we describe a left-right symmetric Higgs system which exhibits, we believe for the first time, an explicit demonstration of quaternionic triality.

From dark matter to the strong CP problem to the dynamics behind the weak scale, a variety of observations make for a compelling case that the Standard Model is an incomplete description of subatomic physics. Yet none of these puzzles provides unambiguous guidance on how we should proceed to find what comes next.

I will argue that this state of affairs calls for a multi-directional strategy in our quest for physics Beyond-the-Standard-Model. Only a combination of new theoretical developments and original ideas, confronted with the vast array of experiments at our disposal, will provide us with the big picture we need to move beyond.

Models of Dark Matter (DM) can leave unique imprints on the Universe's small scale structure by boosting density perturbations on small scales. We study the capability of Pulsar Timing Arrays to search for, and constrain, subhalos from such models. The models of DM we consider are ordinary adiabatic perturbations in ΛCDM, QCD axion miniclusters, models with early matter domination, and vector DM produced during inflation.

"I will begin by reviewing the unified description of pure Super Yang-Mills (SYM) Theory (consisting of just a gauge field and gaugino) in dimensions 3, 4, 6, and 10 over the four normed division algebras R, C, H, and O. Dimensionally reducing these initial theories into dimensions 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 gives a plethora of SYM theories written over the division algebras, with a single master Lagrangian to rule them all. In particular, in D = 3 spacetime dimensions, the SYM theories with N = 1, 2, 4, and 8 supersymmetries enjoy a unified description over R, C, H, and O, respectively. In each spacetime dimension, maximally supersymmetric theories are written over the octonions. In apparently completely different developments, a popular thread in attempts to understand the quantum theory of gravity is the idea of "gravity as the square of Yang-Mills". The idea in its most basic form is that a symmetric tensor (graviton) can be built from the symmetric tensor product of two vectors (Yang-Mills fields), an idea which can be extended to obtain entire supergravity multiplets from tensor products of SYM multiplets. Having established a division-algebraic description of Super Yang-Mills theories, I will then demonstrate how tensoring these multiplets together results in supergravity theories valued over tensor products of division algebras. In D = 3, there are 4 SYM theories (N = 1, 2, 4, 8 over R, C, H, O) and so there are 4 x 4 = 16 possible supergravity theories to obtain by "squaring Yang-Mills". The global symmetries of these 16 division-algebraic SYM-squared supergravity theories are precisely those belonging to the 4 x 4 Freudenthal-Rosenfeld-Tits "magic square" of Lie algebras! Furthermore, the scalar fields in these supergravity theories describe non-linear sigma models, whose target space manifolds are division algebraic projective planes! Performing the same tensoring of SYM theories in spacetime dimensions D > 3 results in a whole "magic pyramid" of supergravities, with the magic square at the base in D = 3 and Type II supergravity at the apex in D = 10. This construction gives an explicit octonionic explanation of many of the mysterious appearances of exceptional groups within string/M-theory and supergravity."

If we live in a supersymmetric world, SUSY has to be broken at some (high) scale. I will show how the presence of a SUSY-breaking hidden sector can lead to gravitational wave (GW) signals at future interferometers. I will focus on first order phase transitions that can occur along the pseudomodulus universally related to SUSY breaking. Current bounds on the superpartners are compatible with GW signals at future interferometers, while the observation of a GW signal from a SUSY-breaking hidden sector would imply superpartners within the reach of future colliders.  Along the way, I will analyze the new field theoretical features of the phase transition along the pseudomodulus direction. These allow us to pinpoint what are the necessary requirements for a SUSY-breaking hidden sector to lead to strong GW signals.

 

Can gravity, in certain regards, be the `product' of two gauge theories, such as those appearing in the Standard Model? I will begin by reviewing the Bern—Carrasco—Johansson colour—kinematics duality conjecture, which implies that one can write the scattering amplitudes of Einstein-Hilbert gravity (coupled to a Kalb-Ramond 2-form and dilaton scalar) as the double copy of Yang—Mills amplitudes. Although the colour—kinematics duality, and therefore the double copy, was quickly established at the tree level, it remains a longstanding open problem at the loop level, despite highly non-trivial explicit examples. I will then describe how one can take this `gravity = gauge x gauge' amplitude paradigm `off-shell’ as a product of spacetime fields: the Yang-Mills BRST-Lagrangian itself double copies into perturbatively quantised Einstein-Hilbert gravity coupled to a Kalb-Ramond 2-form and dilaton, establishing the validity of the double copy to all orders, tree and loop. I will end by briefly discussing the homotopy algebras underpinning this result and the inclusion of supersymmetry, which reveals fascinating octonionic structures (some very well-known, others completely new) that will be the subject of Mia Hughes's talk in the following week.

"I will start by explaining how the (Weyl) spinor representations of the pseudo-orthogonal group Spin(2r+s,s) are the spaces of even and odd polyforms on Cr x Rs. Then, the triality identifies the Majorana-Weyl spinors of Spin(8) with octonions. Combining the two constructions one finds that the groups Spin(8+s,s) all have an octonionic description, with Weyl spinors of this group being a copy of O^(2^s). This also gives an octonionic description of the groups that can be embedded into Spin(8+s,s). Applying this construction to Spin(10,2) gives an octonionic description of Spin(10). The latter arises as the subgroup of Spin(10,2) that commutes with a certain complex structure on the space of its Weyl spinors O4. This gives a description of Weyl spinors of Spin(10) as O2_C, and an explicit description of the Lie algebra of Spin(10) as that of 2x2 matrices (of a special type) with complex (and octonionic) entries. It is well known from the SO(10) GUT that fermions of one generation of the SM can be described as components of a single Weyl spinor of Spin(10). Combining this with the previous construction one gets an explanation of why it is natural to identify elementary particles with components of two copies of complexified octonions. I explicitly describe the dictionary that provides this identification. I also describe how a choice of a unit imaginary octonion induces some natural complex structures on the space of Spin(10) Weyl spinors. For one of these complex structures, its commutant in Spin(10) is SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R x SU(3) x U(1). One thus gets a surprisingly large number of structures seen in the SM from very little input - a choice of a unit imaginary octonion. "

Axion cosmic strings have for some time been considered a potential source of enhancement of axion dark matter production, and have been the subject of extensive simulations (for references, see out in recent years).  But axion strings are rather peculiar entities.  This talk will explore some aspects of these objects, and suggest that they are not likely to play a distinguished role in early universe cosmology.

Various links between supersymmetry and the normed division algebras R,C,H,O were found in the 1980s. This talk will focus on the link between K=R,C,H,0 and supersymmetric field theories in a Minkowski spacetime of dimension D=3,4,6,10. The first half will survey the history starting with a 1944/5 paper of Dirac and heading towards the links found in 1986/7 between R,C,H,O and super-Yang-Mills theories. The second half will review a result from 1993 that connects, via a twistor-type transform, the superfield equations of super-Maxwell theory in D=3,4,6,10 to a K-chirality constraint on a K-valued worldline superfield of N=1,2,4,8 worldline supersymmetry. This provide an explicit connection of octonions to the free-field D=10 super-Maxwell theory.

Detection mechanisms for low mass bosonic dark matter candidates, such the axion or hidden photon, leverage potential interactions with electromagnetic fields, whereby the dark matter (of unknown mass) on rare occasion converts into a single photon. Current dark matter searches operating at microwave frequencies use a resonant cavity to coherently accumulate the field sourced by the dark matter and a near standard quantum limited (SQL) linear amplifier to read out the cavity signal. To further increase sensitivity to the dark matter signal, sub-SQL detection techniques are required. Here we report the development of a novel microwave photon counting technique and a new exclusion limit on hidden photon dark matter. We operate a superconducting qubit to make repeated quantum non-demolition measurements of cavity photons and apply a hidden Markov model analysis to reduce the noise to 15.7 dB below the quantum limit, with overall detector performance limited by a residual background of real photons. With the present device, we perform a hidden photon search and constrain the kinetic mixing angle to  ≤ 1.68×10−15 in a band around 6.011 GHz (24.86 μeV) with an integration time of 8.33 s. This demonstrated noise reduction technique enables future dark matter searches to be sped up by a factor of 1300. By coupling a qubit to an arbitrary quantum sensor, more general sub-SQL metrology is possible with the techniques presented in this work.